Californian Start-Up Unveils First Ever Sustainable Filament Made From Wine

Over the years we have certainly seen some odd alternative 3D printer filaments. There have been filaments made from coffee grounds, hemp and even food waste. These filaments have often been made for a noble cause, namely to address sustainability issues not just in the 3D printing industry but in other markets as well. Adding to this list we have a new sustainable filament from American Start-Up, Wine Not, which is using wine waste, known as grape marc or pomace, as a base for its thermoplastic filaments intended for use in 3D printing.

According to Statista, worldwide, revenue from the Wine market will amount to $381 billion in 2021 alone, with the market expected to grow annually by 8.51%. That means, that worldwide, the average per capita consumption stands at around 3.5L, or in other words a whole lot of wine! Of course, with so much demand for the product, it would make sense that industry would be booming, especially during the Pandemic. But are there drawbacks to the wine industry?

Wine Not’s white wine filament. (Photo Credit: Wine Not)

Apart from the headache and physical symptoms you might experience after a night of over-indulgence, one issue with wine relates to sustainability. Though overall the wine industry is considered one of the most eco-friendly, it still produces a large amount of organic waste that can unfortunately contaminate areas of production. This grape marc is what remains after juice is collected from pressing grapes for wine production and is made up of grape skin, pulp, stems, seeds and residual juice. However, up until now, there has not been a sustainable, effective solution for getting rid of this waste.