Introducing Madreperla Acrylic
Posted by Jaclyn Baldwin on
Madreperla is a third-generation family business that has produced acrylic sheets for the past 70 years. Beginning in the 1950’s, the company had its start with the manufacture of acrylic buttons. The fashion of the time was mother-of-pearl buttons, hence the origin of the company name, Madreperla, which in Italian, means “mother of pearl.”
Over the years, with an eye on market trends and customer demand, Madreperla has expanded and grown, moving from button production to cast acrylic sheets. Now, as Italy’s leading acrylic manufacturer, Madreperla offers a wide and growing range of acrylic materials in a variety of colors, finishes and more.
For the past ten years, however, Madreperla efforts have concentrated on the development of an eco-sustainable product through a circular economy: Green Cast.
Cast acrylic, made from PMMA, polymethyl methacrylate, is a rigid thermoplastic that is widely used across industries and is popular within the maker community as a lightweight and easy to machine alternative to glass. Aside from it’s beloved durability, PMMA has another important characteristic: it can be recycled. More importantly, it can be recycled without losing it’s optical, mechanical and thermal properties.
With this knowledge, Madreperla implemented an innovative, circular economy in the production of GreenCast. Beginning with the collection and recycling of PMMA sheets from pre and post consumer products, PMMA granules go through a depolymerization process to regenerate raw materials, and are then distilled to separate any impurities. The result is 100% R-MMA: regenerated raw material. Using this “new” raw material, Madreperla is able to produce 100% recycled and recyclable cast acrylic sheets: Green Cast. Sustainability-minded consumers and businesses can use these sheets in place of traditional PMMA panels, thus continuing the circular economy. Scraps and waste from R-MMA acrylic sheets can go through the regeneration process once again.
Green Cast acrylic sheets are available in standard transparent and opaque colors, as well as in a variety of specialty colors and finishes, such as iridescent, metallic and glitter panels.
MakerStock carries a combination of the Madreperla’s Green Cast recycled sheets and Setacryl non-recycled sheets. The Setacryl line from Madreperla is 100% cast PMMA acrylic.
All acrylic sheets from Madreperla are film masked, suitable for laser cutting, engraving and milling.
Email support@makerstock.com with any questions about Green Cast and the Setacryl products from Madreperla.