I’m super glad that Filamentive is making filament from recycled PA 12. We all know that in all polymer powder bed fusion processes, there is waste. Some can be recycled with the percentage and number of times, depending on the material. Depending on your setup and powder, as much as half of it could be thrown away in the end. I’ve been advocating for years for companies to use the LPBF powder as filament. 3Devo demonstrated in 2024 and 2025 how to turn MJF Powder into filament. Since last year, Filamentive has been looking at offering this as a commercial product.

Usually, when you’re making recycled filament, you have to use around 30% virgin material in the filament to maintain processability and properties. In this case, the filament is entirely made up of waste MJF powder.

MJF waste versus recycling in 3D printing. Image courtesy of Filamentive.

Ravi Toor, Managing Director of Filamentive, explained,

“rPA12 is what we believe to be the world’s first commercially available filament made entirely from recycled MJF powder waste, We’re proud to be working alongside 3devo to deliver circular economy solutions that reduce the environmental impact of 3D printing— not just in principle, but in practice.”

The resulting material extrusion material should be tough, resilient, strong, and still be quite allergic to moisture. You should dry the filament before using it and not leave it too long on your printer. The material can be had in one-kilo spools in 1.75 mm. The company hopes that it will be a “viable recycled nylon filament for sustainable engineering applications, helping reduce reliance on virgin polymer” and become a “practical case study for high-volume MJF operators exploring closed-loop production models that can improve both operational efficiency and financial sustainability through better material utilisation.”

The material is currently priced at $67, €57, or £50 per kilo, which, as a pricing strategy, is rather hilarious. New polymer LPBF powder costs like 25 to 90 kilos, depending on the additives, volume, order, and country. Base LPBF powder is cheaper depending on morphology. Usually, it costs money to dispose of waste PA 12 powder after you can’t reuse it on the machine. But. selling it over the asking price that many are paying for the virgin polymer is kind of audacious, really.

It will be a green planet, but my house on it will still be nice. Despite this swimming pool tax, I still love this as an initiative. All firms using polymer LPBF machines should recycle powder internally. You could use this with Stratasys SAF machines, or you could just get a 3Devo set up and make filament for your desktop 3D printers. Universities and corporates should also internally make their own material. This is a no brainer cost wise and plays well with your corporate overlords.

This is a super easy way to go green or burnish your green credentials. But, even if you do not give a darn about the environment, this could still be a very cost-effective thing to do. You’ll earn it back within a few months and thereafter will save considerably on material. I’ve tested recycled PA 12 turned into filament, and the properties and processability are very good. Now, of course, moisture will always suck, but aside from that, this is a super printable, high-performance material that is as cheap as chips. I really think we should have done this decades ago, but please look into this because this can be a very profitable, very green thing to do. We’ve long pretended to have green credentials without actually checking if we do. We’ve long assumed that we’ve been the environmentally friendly choice because we manufacture on demand. Now this sounds nice, but it’s like saying, “You kill chickens en masse, and we kill cows when we need them.” Now, on some level, this sounds quite good, but it does not mean that this is magically sustainable. Turning something you usually throw away into high-performance filament will be a profitable step towards ethical business.