The idea of 3-D printing is exploding right now in almost every sector! Today, I am happy to introduce you, the listeners, to my son, Trent Esser. Trent and his friend are starting a 3-D printing company in St Louis, called Printerior. The company is currently in the beta testing phase, and they are getting ready to have their first product launch within the next two to four weeks. Trent is joining me on the show today to talk about his exciting new venture and explain how 3-D printing works. For this episode, I get the chance to do something cool that I have never done before! I will be working with my son for the very first time!  I’m Marla, the Green Home Coach, and I have my dedicated co-host, Tony Pratte, joining me in the studio today. Be sure to stay tuned to hear what 3-D printing is all about and find out how Trent aims to use 3-D printers to solve the world’s plastic waste problem. Production facility Trent and his team moved into their production facility about a month ago. They are done with the construction phase now and are finally getting everything set up and ready to start production.  About Printerior Printerior is a sustainable additive manufacturing company.  Their goal Their goal is to help solve the world’s plastic waste problem by using 3-D printers and waste plastic to create sustainable products.  A new way 3-D printing is a new way of manufacturing almost anything and everything. It has taken a while to get started in the US, but Trent and his team are working on accelerating things.  Using already-existing plastic Trent uses recycled plastic for the feedstock for his 3-D printing, so he is guaranteed to have enough supply for the rest of his life. 100% recycled filament Right now, they are creating 100% recycled filament for 3-D printers.  What the filament for 3-D printing is The filament for 3-D printers is a bit like the ink in an ink-jet printer. It allows the printer to build up layers and create a shape. The filament is the actual plastic that makes every print. Plastic Almost all plastics are made from petroleum products. We are starting to see more and more plastics made from corn and potato starch, however. In the US, corn starch gets used for making PLA plastic. Different variations of plastic 3-D printing uses different variations of plastic. These include the traditional PLA bioplastic, made from plant material rather than petroleum, and many other kinds of plastic ranging from ABS to PETG, depending on the specific requirement for each application. What compostable plastic means  Although compostable plastic was branded as eco-friendly, it is not quite true. Compostable plastic can only be composted in a commercial composting center because it takes a lot of heat and pressure to do it. There are very few commercial composting centers, and most of them will not compost plastic of any kind. A full recycling service Printerior creates filament from plastic waste sources and 3D printing waste collected through the Printerior Recycling Program. This 100% recycled-content filament is then used to make new 3D prints, completing the cycle. Who they work with Printerior works with universities, school districts, maker spaces, and small-scale businesses that use 3-D printing to manufacture their products.  Incentive Sometimes, prints fail, and the product does not come out as intended. Printerior incentivizes businesses, schools and consumers by recycling the scrap that they would normally throw away and then giving them a discount on their next order of feedstock filament based on the amount of plastic they recycle.  A tricky process Although making plastic from recycled plastic sounds easy, once you get down to the finer details, it can be a tricky process. It requires clean feedstock, formed in the right way, that comes out in the right consistency with the correct material quality. The whole process is not cheap, and it takes a lot of effort. Easy to buy Trent’s product has to be as easy to bu