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27 posts categorized "Plastics"

April 10, 2009

Plastics in turtles, tin in goats, what to do, what to do...

Yet another plastic is evil story...

Leatherback-turtle-photo Plastic Found in 1/3 of Leatherback Turtles, According to Study

The article talks about plastics (mainly from bags) ending up in oceans, ending up in turtles as they look like jellyfish!

What about the jellyfish? The fake plastic jellyfish are SAVING the jellyfish! Go plastics!

But seriously, it touches on my major pet peeve of anti-plastics rhetoric. They are mostly nattering nabobs of negativism that lack clear and better alternatives and solutions.  In this case their simplistic solution? Less bags. Now I'm all for reusable bags as superior to any throw away bag. But the problem is not the bag, the problem is you!


They don't touch on the core issue.  HOW did that bag get there in the first place and what can be done to prevent it?

Keep America Beautiful Many of you will remember Keep America Beautiful's great Crying Indian Ad, where he is sad at the littering.  Ocean trash gets there from litter and tossed trash.  If people had better control of themselves we wouldn't live in a trash filled world. 

So many activists just want to shoot the messenger... throw out the baby with the bathwater... Oh I could go on.  Do ANY of them rail against the litter? Virtually none. They spend ALL of their time villianizing the material.

The true solution reminds me of the Caesar, the dog whisperer, when he says, "Lady, the problem is not your DOG. The problem is YOU!"  If goats really ate tin cans, these folks would all be against the evil tin! Rid the world of tin! Save the Goats!

If every one of the anti-plastics used that energy in a more productive, practical solution mindset and be against littering and simply pro bio-degradable instead of silly plastics is evil routine, we'd just get so much more done!

April 05, 2009

Bacteria Tortured, Plastics the result!

Click to see the molecular structure of PHB Warning! The descriptive imagery of this post may be disturbing to anti-torture greenpeace type activists.

This is not a new story, but it is getting recent press as researchers continue to look for ways to commercialize this thermoplastic polyester produced by bacterial fermentation, PHB, aka Poly-3-hydroxy-butyrate. Another alias is simply polyhydroxybutyrate, but its friends know it as PHB.

The torture? Ah, well wiki explains that this plastic is made "in response to conditions of physiological stress." Aha! See? Torture!  Who cares about the poor bacteria being stressed to produce plastics for greedy capitalist?  Where are the protesters? Bacteria is organic! It's alive! I'm sure it has feelings!

Treadmills3 It seems that bacteria, much like most of us, stores extra energy as fat, bacterial fat. Who knew? And this process makes the bacteria work so hard that they sweat off the fat which solidifies into PHB. I have visions of billions of tiny bacteria strapped to tiny nano treadmills working for the man!

From FirstScience.com:

To make PHB on a big scale you just fatten up bacteria with glucose in giant fermenters and effectively 'brew' the plastic.

One of the more interesting points is in its biodegradability. The reason it is biodegradable? The bacteria wants its fat BACK! Bacteria will eat this plastic to return it to its original form of bacterial fat. Until the man sweats it off them again.

This IS a fascinating plastic though, and one most environmentalist will love.

  • Made from bacteria
  • Limitless supply of cheap bacteria slaves
  • Truly biodegradable (not just smaller pieces)
  • Similar in strength to polypropylene
  • Transparency
  • No nasty toxic residues
  • Currently expensive to make (bacteria must be unionized)
  • Worked on by ICI, Monsanto and Metabolix
  • Biodegradable and medical applications
  • PHB is a type of polyester
  • Ocean breakdown in months
  • Sewage breakdown in weeks

April 04, 2009

Hyundai's Plug-in Hybrid made with Recycled Plastics!

Blue-will-580x403 This is one cool looking car... I think. Someone said it looks like a smiling whale, does sorta, but I still like it... I think.

But what I love is that it features recycled plastics from bottle scrap and plastics derived from plant feedstocks! My kind of car :)

See through solar cells on the roof, It is named the Blue-Will.

March 26, 2009

Some plastics topics discussed around the world today, March 26th, 2009

Here are some plastics things people are saying about us today:

Cedar Grove’s industrial composting facility

Alan Weisman notes 'Polymers are forever'

BPA's safety remains in question

Food Talk : Disposable plastic bottles shouldn't be reused

The over-supplied petrochemical industry

March 21, 2009

Death of a Diaper

Burning Diaper Now I may sound a bit unsympathetic, I'm not. An elderly man burned to death in Seattle and he was wearing an adult diaper. This poor guy was a veteran and had loved ones so this post is NOT about him.

Its about the ridiculous (to me) claim they are making on the diaper mfg that they should have a warning label, and are suing for damages.  From what I've read the real culprit is the elderly home that allowed him to smoke unsupervised, which was against the rules. He was outdoors, fully dressed, windy, and his cigarette started his clothes on fire.

The family is suing the care facility (rightly) AND the diaper mfg (wrongly) because no doubt they have the biggest pockets.  Lawyers...

This reminds me of the hot MacDonalds coffee lawsuit. Oh, but that lady WON didn't she?  These people may too then.  Why doesn't paper come with a flammability warning?

And why blame the diaper when the man was fully clothed with the diaper underneath?  His other clothes had to catch fire before the diaper.

Why? I'll tell you why. Because the diaper is plastic, period. Blame the bad plastic. People are SHOCKED that it burns! Wheres the outrage over paper burning?

Makes me mad. But then I remember it really isn't about the plastic, its about the lawyers and big, fat targets.

That makes me madder, but at least the blame is now in the right place!

Packaging Digest Article

Video interview and burning diaper demo  

March 20, 2009

Faux wood from Hemp and Plastics, Better than Wood?

Click here to see full image As Randy on American Idol says, "Check it out Dude! This is DOPE!" And here it is indeed, a faux wood made from plastic and the hemp plant that looks like it is better for the environment than real wood!

Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment, under Professor Sarah Billington, this material made from hemp fibers and a biodegradable plastic resin called polyhydroxy-butyrate (PHB) behaves just like wood, but can be processed like plastic resin.

Apparently hemp grows faster than trees and is hence a better material environmentally.

Attractive, strong, moldable and it degrades in a landfill environment (but not in the outdoors in air).

Current applications are in wood replacement in construction, but many natural plastics markets have potential.

Stanford Release

* © Stanford University

March 19, 2009

The House of Cellophane

Now this is interesting...

Seems that MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, sponsored this cellophane building platform. Very cool.

Kie01_03-300x225 According to prefabupdate.com...

Cellophane House encompasses the architects’ beliefs in a holistic approach to design: allowing architecture to grow out of its opportunities and constraints. It is a material moment of equilibrium that surrenders itself to any and all entropic forces that may come its way. At its core, the project is no more than a framework from which a designer or client creates an enclosure using a virtually infinite palette of off-the-shelf entities, a veritable model of customization. Through simple modifications, the house can adapt to a range of site conditions, as well as to material, textural, and color options as required by the budget and tastes of the client.

prefabupdate.com

March 17, 2009

Self Healing Paint, but what about the lobsters!

or, How are Plastics and Lobsters connected?

I enjoyed this one...

Lobster Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, which has a leading polymers program, have developed a polyurethane paint coating that is self healing to small scratches.

They use a substance known as chitosan, which is found in the shells of crabs, shrimp and lobster!

When a scratch is exposed to sunlight, the substance starts to form molecular chains which breech the gap and fix the small scratch.

On the bad side, it only works once in a given area, not good for the repeat offender.

On the worrying side, could this make lobsters an endangered species? 

Could it work on a larger scale with pavement? hmmm, potholes!

Anyway, nice work Marek Urban of Southern Miss

Coating makes scratches on cars disappear :: Reuters


and thanks to inventorspot.com for letting me know.

February 03, 2006

I Want One!

74929_225px I want one!  One what? One Hyatt Billiard Ball made of Celluloid and invented by one of our historic founders of the Plastics Industry, Hall of Famer John Wesley Hyatt.

So I've been searching, watching ebay daily, looking through antique shows and shops but no luck yet. At the National Plastics Center the archives hold a few sets, so I've seen em, touched em, but I want my own to add to my personal plastics collection which includes...

Continue reading "I Want One!" »

January 15, 2006

Harken back to yesteryear...

Where did that saying come from anyway?  But I digress before I even get started. I came across a web page that was amusing. Who amoung you is old enough and experienced enough to remember the Mold-A-Rama ?

Continue reading "Harken back to yesteryear..." »

 




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