A team of technical experts at The National Robotarium who developed a process for recycling plastic waste from 3D printing have won a brace of awards for their ingenious sustainability efforts.

The 3D recycling group, led by Senior Technician Thomas McGravie and Senior Robotics Engineer Dr Alix Partridge, and supported by Rob Wooley from The University of York, picked up the Outstanding Special Interest Group Award at the UKRAS-STEPS (UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Technical Specialists) annual conference, held at The National Robotarium on 10 June.

Thomas McGravie (left) picks up the UK-RAS STEPS Outstanding Special Interest Group Awards at Dynamic Earth (10 June 2026)

The win follows Thomas and Alix’s Highly Commended nod at the Heriot-Watt University Celebrating Our People Awards, held the day before. The project was recognised in the Sustainability Champion Award category.

The project was sparked by concerns the centre was producing an inordinate amount of plastic waste through 3D printing. The UK’s centre for robotics and AI houses multiple start-up tech companies, alongside industry projects and scientific research, meaning 3D printers in its workshops and technical spaces are frequently used to develop new prototypes and proofs of concept.

The project also received a Highly Commended prize at the Heriot-Watt Celebrating Our People Awards (9 June 2026)

In a previous blog post about the project, Thomas said: “Alix and myself noticed that we were creating an astonishing amount of plastic waste through 3D printing; 54kg in two years!

“At the same time, I was talking to colleagues in other services and schools and found out that the Heriot-Watt is recycling 3 tonnes of plastic bottles a year. So, I wanted to come up with a way that we could repurpose the different types of plastic waste being produced on-campus.”

Through a series of trials, they developed a method of fusing discarded PLA filament waste into injection moulded parts and plastic sheets for laser cutting. The team hope to continue working on the process with the ultimate aim of creating new filament for zero waste 3D printing in the future.

This week’s prizes are not the first for the project team; the team were awarded a Highly Commended prize at the UK-RAS STEPS Technical Conference held in June 2025 and, in April this year (2026), Thomas and Alix won Best Poster at the TechNet Scotland conference, held at The University of Edinburgh.

Find out more about the project: National Robotarium technical team tackles 3D printing plastic problem.