MUN’S Enactus team departs to Atlantic competition in N.S.
The team hopes its 3D printer filament project ca advance to the Enactus national entrepreneurship exposition this spring
CORNER BROOK — When Allison Manning was looking for some school clubs to join, the chance to join some business student friends was an opportunity she didn’t wat to pass on.
Manning was an engineering student at Memorial University in St. John’s at the time, though she’s now switching her scholastic focus to physics.
Her business buddies were involved in Memorial’s Enactus team and were looking for someone with the technical expertise that Manning could bring to the table.
“They thought I would be a good fit,” said Manning of how she joined the team. “I was interested, particularly with the sustainability side of Enactus.”
HEADING TO REGIONALS
Enactus is an international organization that helps develop leadership skills among post-secondary students through collaborations that foster innovation and entrepreneurship, with a goal of driving positive social, environmental and economic change.
In Canada, Enactus holds regional and national competitions for school teams to participate in.
The team from Memorial, which is made up of around 20 students, will be attending the Enactus Canada Regional Exposition in Halifax from Feb. 29 – March 1.
The team will be bringing two projects to Halifax, but its flagship venture is called Project R3D (pronounced ‘red’).
Inspired by the environmentally friendly message of reduce, reuse and recycle, Project R3D is an innovative solution that aims to address the plastic recycling deficit. By reverse engineering a 3D printer, the team has developed a system that takes plastic bottle waste and produces recycled 3D printing filament.
At first, the team was going to produce the filament and then make a product form it.
“We had looked into making water filters, but then we realized that clean water is a huge problem that can’t be fixed by a small-scale design,” explained Manning. “There has to be a huge system in place to help improve drinking water for communities.”
SHIFTING GEARS
So, instead, the team shifted focus to just creating the filament itself.
At first, they used a pultrusion process, feeding strips of evenly cut plastic into a machine to be shaped and moulded into 3D printer filament.
They have since switched to developing a more efficient extrusion method, which pushes filament out instead of pulling the raw material in and can produce the filament at a quicker rate.
The team hopes it can eventually commercialize its product.
There are other manufacturers of 3D printer filament in Canada and around the world, but Manning said it is not being made in Atlantic Canada at the moment.
“I think it’s a great local thing,” she said of its potential as a readily available source in the Atlantic region. “There are so many startups and companies here that are staring to use 3D printers. I think not only having a local supply, but a sustainable local supply of it is very important.”
ENTERED IN MULTIPLE CATEGORIES
In Halifax, the Enactus team will enter Project R3D and its other project, called Equipped to Excel, in four categories.
Equipped to Excel focuses on teaching skills to high school students that aren’t really taught as part of the curriculum, including job interview skills, email etiquette and so on.
The categories at the regional competition include the Desjardins Youth Empowerment Challenge, the TD Entrepreneurship Challenge, the Canadian Tire Environmental Sustainability Challenge and the Enactus Alumni Innovation and Impact Challenge.
The winners of each challenge will earn the opportunity to advance to the Enactus Canada National Exposition in Toronto in May.
“Hopefully, we will be able to win some of the challenges and advance on to national portion of these competitions,” said Manning.