Recycled PLA (rPLA): density, print temperature and when to choose it
Recycled PLA (rPLA) is PLA reclaimed from post-industrial waste (trimmings, rejected spools) or, less often, post-consumer sources (remelted failed prints, waste from recyclers). Chemically it's the same PLA, but the material's thermal history is already more complex — meaning properties are less predictable than filament from virgin pellets.
Key properties
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Density | ≈1.24 g/cm³ (same as plain PLA) |
| Nozzle temperature | 190–220°C |
| Bed temperature | 50–60°C |
| Part cooling | 80–100% |
| Shrinkage | minimal, but may vary slightly batch to batch |
| Enclosure required | no |
When to use it
- Projects where the material's environmental story matters (marketing, ESG reporting, eco-focused brands).
- Prototypes and draft prints not sensitive to precise repeatability of mechanical properties.
- Internal technical parts where appearance and minor quality variation don't matter.
When to pick something else
- You need maximum batch-to-batch property stability — recycled material gives more variation than PLA from virgin pellets.
- A final customer-facing item with appearance requirements — recycled PLA more often shows specks and slight color inconsistency; plain PLA or PLA+ is better then.
- You need higher strength — recycling can slightly reduce the polymer's molecular weight and, as a result, strength compared to virgin PLA+ or PLA Tough.
Pros and cons
Pros: a smaller environmental footprint, often cheaper than or comparable in price to plain PLA, suitable for most tasks that aren't precision-critical.
Cons: noticeable property and color variation between batches and even within a single spool, higher hygroscopicity due to uneven thermal history, the exact recycled-content share isn't always disclosed.
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Recycled PLA is usually no more expensive, and sometimes cheaper, than plain PLA — a direct raw-material saving. But budget a small buffer for defects and a test print when switching batches: unpredictability of parameters (flow, moisture resistance) is higher than with stable virgin-pellet PLA, and this should be factored into cost calculations for production runs.