3D printing Used to Create Sustainable Race Markers for London Marathon 2022

Sunday, October 2nd was the 42nd anniversary of the iconic London Marathon. The race, one of the biggest in the world, attracted over 40,000 participants and thousands of viewers. To these people, of course, the race represents a massive undertaking and achievement; it is a chance to excel. Behind the scenes, the same is true for UK-based company Scaled (stylised Scal3D), who produced the race markers. The organization 3D-printed 51 markers made of 14 tons of waste plastics. For the CEO, David Speight, ‘the real winner was the planet’.

The project was based on the work of design students who had entered a competition run by the then-named Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust (now Blueprint for All) to redesign the 18th mile marker for the marathon. They contacted Scaled, who took the designs and brought them to life using 3D printing. The company held a successful bid to design the markers for the entire event. It was a huge project. They 3D printed over 2000 parts continuously over a period of 78 days and performed 60 hours of drilling in order to assemble the parts.

Participants in the TCS London Marathon. Photo credit: Reuters

Material Sourcing

As mentioned, 3D printing featured in the Marathon preparations. They collaborated with sustainability organizations Stormboard, Keep Britain Tidy, and Fillosophy, as well as Hill’s Premier Polymers. Together, the teams collected the 14 tons of waste plastics to create the mile markers. The company worked with their partners to remove four tonnes of plastic from beaches, 6.5 from correx signage from previous London Marathons and 3.5 tonnes from other sources. Even better, not only are the plastics rescued from landfill, they can be recycled again at the end of this use to form further creations. As David Speight puts it ‘the planet wins again’.