One technology expert says that tariffs on imports from China could make even small, everyday plastic items cheaper to make than to buy. We’ve been manufacturing at home for millennia, from stone tools to clothes and textiles — sewn, knit, woven. Today, most of us purchase more than we make. But one technology expert says that tariffs on imports from China could change that, by making even small, everyday plastic items cheaper to make than to buy. 3D printing is the technology in question. It’s been used by manufacturers for rapid prototyping for decades. As 3D printing technology has developed, manufacturers and researchers have increasingly used high-end printers to make final products out of a range of materials. “But there’s another side to 3D printing, and that’s the low-end, and that’s mostly plastic,” said Joshua Pearce, an open sustainability technology researcher at Michigan Technological University. “And instead of just […]

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