Using 3D printing to make prosthetics for Colombia war victims

Summer series - Student projects. For her Master's project, Emylou Jaquier decided to tackle the growing problem of plastic waste. She sifted through EPFL garbage bins to collect different types of plastics and test how they could be used in 3D printing. Emylou Jaquier hopes that one day plastic will be recycled rather than burned, tossed into the sea or left to decompose into microparticles that accumulate in fishes' stomachs. These are high hopes, but she is taking concrete steps to get there. Through her Master's project, she is developing ways to not only recycle a wider variety of plastic, but also use recycled plastic in 3D printers to make inexpensive prosthetics for Colombia war victims. Her research is being carried out jointly by EPFL's Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites and Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.