In the latest Protein Journal we featured nomadic design studio Unknown Fields Division and their ‘A World Adrift’ project which investigated the supply chains of consumer technology devices such as mobile phones and laptops. On their journey they visited a toxic lake in Inner Mongolia, which now, due to being the final resting place for so much of our defunct technology, has a radioactive half-life of 100,000 years.

In the United States less that 12.5% of electronic waste (E-waste) is recycled, making it the fastest growing municipal waste stream in the country. In order to draw attention to this, a user on instructables.com (an online community of creatives who share their ideas) called mikelllc is offering instructions for building your own 3D printer for under $60 using recycled e-waste (80%).

The project not only offers an introduction to machine building and digital fabrication but is probably the cheapest 3D Printer on the market all while making us more conscious about the problems related to e-waste generation.