Resurrecting the Scraps: Squee Prints Gets Serious About Recycling
TL;DR: We’re tired of the "printer poop" haunting our studio. Squee Prints is backing the Creality M1 & R1 to turn waste back into art. Help us keep SLC landfills clean by sending us your PLA scraps—check below for the PO Box and drop-off info!
If you follow Squee Prints, you know we love bringing the macabre, the unusual, and the articulated to life. But every vibrant "Creepy Cheshire Cat" or "Evil Clown" comes with a shadowy byproduct: printer poop.
For the uninitiated, this is the "purge" or "wipe" material created every time our printers swap colors. It’s a messy, colorful reality of the craft, but those squiggly coils add up fast—sometimes actually outweighing the finished print. As a maker based right here in Salt Lake City, the thought of all that plastic piling up in our local landfills has been a heavy burden for years.
The Plastic Haunting
We’ve spent a long time trying to minimize the ghost in the machine. We’ve diverted waste into "purge-to-infill" prints, tucked it inside larger models for weight, and churned out countless fidget cubes. But even then, a massive portion of our PLA was still heading for the bin.
PLA is great because it’s derived from renewable resources, but it isn’t "curbside" recyclable. It requires industrial composting to break down, and specialized equipment to turn back into usable filament. Until recently, a desktop-scale solution for a small SLC studio like ours simply didn't exist.
The Solution: Creality Filament Maker M1 & Shredder R1
We’re excited to announce that Squee Prints is backing the crowdfunding project!
This system is a game-changer for our studio, allowing us to:
- Shred our "poop" and failed prints into tiny flakes.
- Extrude those flakes back into high-quality, "mystery color" filament.
It’s the closed-loop solution we’ve been waiting for to make our business significantly greener.
Join the Cycle: A Call to the Community
We want to reclaim as much as possible, and we’re inviting the community to help. If you have a stash of clean PLA waste taking up space, we’ll take it off your hands and give it a second life.
How to Participate: Ready to clear out your scrap bin? Here is how to get your PLA to us:
- Mailing (Anywhere in the US): Send your PLA waste to our PO Box:
Squee Prints
PO Box 57631
Salt Lake City, UT 84157
- Local Drop-Offs (SLC / Utah Area): If you’re a local maker, message us directly to arrange a meetup or drop-off. We’re always happy to coordinate a time to connect with our fellow SLC creators or catch us at a local market such as SLC Creatures & Features Market.
The Ground Rules:
- PLA Only: We can't mix in PETG or ABS (they don't play well together in the melting pot). To keep our recycled filament high-quality, we’re sticking strictly to PLA.
- Keep it Clean: No glue, tape, or non-plastic debris, please!
- Embrace the Chaos: Don't worry about sorting by color, recycled "mystery" shades are half the fun.
We are incredibly grateful for your support as we start this new chapter. Together, we can make the Salt Lake City 3D printing scene a little bit cleaner and a lot more sustainable.
Thank you for supporting our small business!