QiTech Recycles Plastic Waste in 3D Printing Filament #GSA22

Executive Summary

Milan graduated in 2022 from Highschool and is the founder of QiTech, a company that recycles bottle caps to create the plastic filament used in 3D printers. He was recently awarded the Newcomer of the Year at the German Startup Awards 2022. Milan has been working hard to grow QiTech into a successful business. In addition to selling the ink for 3d printers call filament, QiTech also sells the machines they use to produce the filament. This innovative approach to recycling has earned Milan recognition as an outstanding young entrepreneur. With his creative solution to the problem of plastic waste, Milan is positively impacting the environment and paving the way for a more sustainable future.

In plastic recycling you have to get down to the details, there is a lot of ‘greenwashing.’

Milan von dem Bussche, Founder QiTech

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“We produce (next to recycled filament) lab scale machines, where you can throw in the right kind of plastic on top and get 3d printing filament out at the end.”

Milan von dem Bussche, Founder QiTech

German Startup Awards 2022

This interview is in media partnership with the German startup association (Bundesverband Deutscher Startups https://deutschestartups.org/). Their German Startup Awards #GSA22 honor each year outstanding female and male founders and investors in special categories. You can learn more about the winners in our interviews and on this website: https://germanstartupawards.de/rueckblick/rueckblick-2022  

You can also have a look at our history, we also interviewed many winners of the German Startup Awards 2021 already. 

 “What we do is really recycling, not downcycling.”

Milan von dem Bussche, Founder QiTech

The Founder

Milan is a young entrepreneur who is already making waves in the business world. In March 2022, he won the German Startup Award, and in the summer of the same year, he graduated from high school. Von dem Bussche started his career at the age of 16 with 3d printing phone cases. He soon realized that there was more potential in recycling phone cases and turning them into 3d printing filament. The filament is the ink of a plastic 3d printer; it is a type of plastic that is heated and then layered on to create a 3d shape. Von dem Bussche and his team soon recognized that the filament business held much more potential than the phone case business, so they pivoted their focus. Their hard work has paid off; today, their company is one of the leading producers of 3d printing filament in Germany. von dem Bussche is proof that with a great idea and a lot of determination, anyone can succeed. As of December 2022, the team has not taken in outside investors, but they funded their startup with award money and a government stipend. 

The Startup

Milan von dem Bussche is a young entrepreneur who founded the startup QiTech. The company started out by 3d printing cell phone cases but later realized that there was a much bigger market in recycling plastics to 3d printing filament. So they pivoted. After being asked to sell their machines for sorting and recycling, QiTech also offers these mac