Researchers at the University of Toronto have, for the first time, turned waste cooking oil – from the deep fryers of a local McDonald’s – into a high-resolution, biodegradable 3D printing resin.

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Using waste cooking oil for 3D printing has significant potential. Not only is it cheaper to make, the plastics made from it break down naturally unlike conventional 3D printing resins.

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“The reasons plastics are a problem is because nature hasn’t evolved to handle human-made chemicals,” says Andre Simpson , a professor at U of T Scarborough’s department of physical and environmental sciences who developed the resin in his lab. “Because we’re using what is essentially a natural product – in this case fats from cooking oil – nature can deal with it much better.”

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The plastic butterfly printed from the researchers’ cooking oil-derived resin showed features down to 100 micrometres and was structurally and thermally stable (photo […]

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