Despite its toxicity, there are ways to make sure you stay safe when printing with resin. Here are a few ways to protect yourself while working:

• Wear protective goggles and nitrile gloves: The easiest and cheapest way to keep your body from coming into contact with irritating chemicals is to wear physical barriers. It’s certainly not necessary to don a full hazmat suit every time you want to print with resin, but full-coverage nitrile gloves and eye protection will go a long way to keep you safe.
• Work in a ventilated area: Remember the mobility of those small resin molecules? The best-case scenario is to work in a ventilation hood, which is the standard operating procedure if you’re in an industrial or research space. But if you’re a home hobbyist, it’s a good idea to set up your workspace near a window that can open, buy a ventilation fan, or otherwise make sure you’re not working in a sealed environment, where the fumes have nowhere to go but into your lungs.
• Read all safety and operating instructions beforehand: We hope this is a no-brainer for all 3D printing materials and processes, but it’s especially vital when you’re working with toxic chemicals such as resins. All resins will come with a “(Material) Safety Data Sheet” that will give you details on specific hazards, how to properly handle and store the material, and what to do in the case of skin contact. Educate yourself on how to utilize these data sheets, read all of these warnings and instructions several times before you print, and look up anything you don’t understand. That way you’re fully prepared to easily and safely print.
• Cure any resin you plan to dispose of: As briefly mentioned above, one way to transform liquid resin from toxic to harmless is to cure it with UV light. If you have a batch of liquid resin that you’re planning to throw out, expose it to the sun or an artificial UV source until it’s completely hardened. Once it’s dry, the plastic is harmless to touch.

Good to Know

Top 15 Resin 3D Printer Accessories & Spare Parts

As we know, if handled improperly, resin can be harmful to the user. This is true for the environment, as well, so make sure you handle exposure and disposal of resin with extreme care. Here are a few tips on how to keep resin pollution to a minimum:

• Thoroughly clean your work area: As with any manufacturing process, keeping a clean workplace limits toxic exposure for both you and your environment. First, use soap and water to clean up any spills, then wipe it down with isopropyl alcohol. (Isopropyl alcohol is basically a paint thinner, so if you use it before any soap and water, you run the risk of damaging the object you’re cleaning.) This will clear all traces of resin from your immediate printing surroundings.
• Use resin to the last drop: While it’s tempting to rush out and buy new resin for all your projects, this can be quite wasteful (and expensive). To get the most out of your resin, use a polypropylene or stainless steel mesh to pour whatever’s remaining from the printing vat back into the bottle. Just be very careful to avoid cross-contamination with other colors or types of resins!
• Treat it like the hazardous waste it is: The chemicals in uncured resin are considered hazardous waste, as well as any material that it comes in contact with. Don’t forget that the gloves you wear and the paper towel you use to wipe up are contaminated by resin and need to be cured before they can be disposed of. A sunny windowsill should do the trick (don’t forget about ventilation). Be very careful with flammable materials like paper and alcohol if you’re using a heat source for curing. Any isopropyl alcohol or other solvents that contain resin should be treated as hazardous waste and exposed to sunlight before disposal.

For More on Proper Disposal

How to Dispose of 3D Printer Resin

First things first: Just because you’re using an environmentally friendly resin does not mean you can cut any corners when it comes to safety and waste disposal. Bio- or plant-based only means that the ingredients are sourced from biological materials (rather than petrochemicals). It doesn’t say anything about the final chemical product and its hazards, and it certainly does not mean that it’s biodegradable.

With that said, we’re on board with the shift to sourcing chemical precursors from renewable resources. Even better when the final product has the same features as resins with petro-based origins. Here are a few for you to check out:

• Anycubic: This plant-based UV resin comes from an established printer and resin maker, Anycubic. The company claims it’s a low-odor formulation and is suitable for anything from detailed figurines to functional prototypes.
• Elegoo: The plant-based resin from another reliable printer manufacturer, Elegoo, boasts a high precision and low irritant formulation.
• eSun: This so-called bio-based PLA crossover resin maintains the wide printer compatibility that many have come to expect from eSun. Despite the name, this resin will be much tougher than PLA filament but also much more difficult to degrade even in harsh conditions.

Many resins are toxic to individual users and the environment when used without precautions, but with this guide, you should be well on your way to responsibly handling this unique material.