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Injection Molded Paper?

Model Group and Arburg are using Paper-Pearls rather than nurdles

By Rain Noe - October 17

in Materials | Sustainability

Despite the name, Swiss company Model Group makes paper, not models. (It's a family-run business, and Model is their last name.) For several years, the company has been experimenting with creating injection molded products derived from paper.

They've developed what they call Paper-Pearls, which are like nurdles but derived from wood fibers used in the papermaking process—including fibers too short for paper production, which would otherwise go to waste. These Paper-Pearls are combined with bioplastics, and injection-molded by German manufacturer Arburg's machines. "It can be used with conventional injection moulding machines and tools," the company writes, "so that [changing over] is as easy as possible."

As for why they're doing this:

"While traditional plastic is laboriously extracted from petroleum, paper fibers are the basis of our Paper-Pearls – a much cheaper raw material."

Here are some sample items they've successfully molded using Paper-Pearls:

Checker Pieces

Handle

Ashtray (SMH)

Furniture Assembly Aids

Letter Opener

Business-Card-Sized Box

Development is ongoing. The company's ultimate goal is for items molded with Paper-Pearls to become recyclable "in the paper cycle," as opposed to in the plastic cycle. But they're not there yet.

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Alan Nomoto

2 months ago

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For having a useful life of about 3-5 years, maybe iPhones should use this material to cut e-waste.

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Daniel Erwin

2 days ago

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Yet another plastic replacer that is actually just a filler bound with plastic. Not totally a scam, but would be a lot more accurate / less misleading to say it reduces the amount of plastic.

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Zach W

2 months ago

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You should look up PaperFoam....

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