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March 08, 2005

I stained my hands bright yellow today.

Nitric acid is eating through my pants.

    Well here I am saying my first 'Hello' to the international plastics community; allow me to introduce myself. I am a young plastics trader working out of a recycling facility in Ontario, Canada. I've been given a simple, yet broad directive to simply figure out how to sell and manage co-mingled post consumer plastic scrap.
       For the past week I've been stationed in our most recent addition to the plant: Assay Lab. It is a modern set up with all the toys (including a new ICP Spectrometer).  I'll be updating everyone as I go along, but I can add this little bit of insight: Nitric Acid Stains your hands yellow, and eats through clothing at a terrific rate. If I had spilled any more of the digestion solution on myself, I would have A) Been charged with indecent exposure. or B) Forced to finish the day wearing only a lab coat (which would probably give the wrong impression to any bystanders). Basically my work for the week is set out for me: find rubber pants, and fight the fear of Nitric acid staining anything under my pants bright yellow.
    My problem of the month is simple: I'm attempting to figure out all the ebb and flow involved in 'Plasphalt'. An interesting asphalt hot mix development that was worked on in New Mexico during late nineties. Basically you mix 10% volume (by weight) of commingled plastic regrind into a hot mix asphalt recipe. Your results: asphalt that is 25% more flexible and considerably more resilient to freezing and thawing. The down swing is that it is also 25% more expensive to produce. But in Canada where (estimated number warning) approximately 65% of all road damage can be blamed on the harsh weather conditions it makes a lot of sense. And for all you sticklers out there no I haven't actually run the numbers through with Statistics Canada yet - So to wrap it up, the idea 'in theory' looks quite nice. If anyone out there has any experience in anything to do with this topic please feel free to contact me. And if your wondering why plasphalt isn’t smoothly running over your pitted, cracked excuse for an avenue, it’s the same reason so many good ideas go astray: The shortest distance between two points (being start and finish) is under construction.
   
And Remember: The fact that no one understands you doesn't make you an artist.
 

Comments

Great start Rudy, funny :)

As one of the inventors of Plasphalt I can fill you in on the material and its current state of usage and development.

Dennis Egan


I am a painter, former Professor of Art, UCSB, environmental activist and the originator of the idea to add waste plastic into asphalt to create Plasphalt, tradmarked. Dennis Egan is the gentleman who later created the technology to make this patent possible. I have been stewarding this project for over 18 years. We are bogged down in legal disagreements which very, very sad and seriously stalling the project. My website it above. I recenly visited the earliest "lays" in Albuquerque and they are holding up magnificently. Ciel

Gentlemen: I am a product director with a medical device company that is keenly interested in plasphalt and the potential to revolutionize the medical waste disposal industry. Please contact me at (800) 887-9073, so I can get a better understanding of the state of plasphalt.


If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car
payments.
-- Earl Wilson


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http://xanga.com/dudleymasonhn

Where did Plasphalt go? ANS. into 6-7 years of litigation over ownership and control. Yesterday Jan. 16, 2010 the five corporations merged into PLASPHALT INTERNATIIONAL in the state of california.

You're right, it's a great idea and product. Expect to see a roll out in late 2010-2015.

Leonardo Bowers, Chairman Plasphalt international (PI)

Plastic is a very common material that is now widely used by everybody in this world. Plastic is used in many ways as it is light weight and compact. The maintenance that is required is very less. Common plastic items that are used are bags, bottles, containers and food packages. Whenever you buy grocery, food or any other item from any store you will use plastic bags for carrying them.

The plastic material has many advantages. They are especially very useful for packaging foods as the plastic items are durable, safe and cheap. The ease of use of plastic items has made plastic a great success. The great problem with plastic is its disposal. Plastic is made of polymer chemicals and they are not bio degradable. This means that plastic will not decompose when it is buried. When plastic is burnt it emits harmful chemicals. Though plastic is a very useful material that is flexible, robust and rigid they become waste after their use and they pollute the atmosphere.

To protect the environment as well as to take advantage of plastic, recycling procedure is used. Plastic can be recycled and new products can be formed from waste plastic. Though all types of plastic cannot be recycled a considerable portion can be recycled so that the environment is protected. Plastic recycling involves the process of recovering scrap plastics and these waste plastics are then reprocessed to form new materials that may be different from their original state.

Recycling plastic has many advantages. The use of non renewable fossil fuels is reduced by recycling plastic as manufacturing new plastic materials require more of these fuels. The consumption of energy is also reduced as already prepared plastic are recycled for new use. The amount of plastic that reach the landfill sites are greatly reduced by recycling. This will eliminate land pollution to some extent. The carbon emissions are reduced by recycling plastic as manufacturing units emit more carbon..

Compared to other materials like glass and metal, recycling of plastic is expensive and complex. This is due to the high molecular weight of the large polymer chains that build the plastic material. Heating plastic doesn’t dissolve he polymer chains and hence a tedious and complex process is essential.

Different types of plastic cannot be mixed together for recycling because they phase separate. Such a resulting melting product cannot be recycled to make another plastic product. While making plastic product many fillers like dues and other additives are used. These fillers cannot be separated from the plastic using inexpensive techniques. This makes the recycling process more complex.

The common process that is used in recycling plastic is the inverse polymerization process where the polymers in the plastic are converted into initial monomers that were used in the manufacture. These chemicals are then purified and synthesized to form new plastic materials. Assorted polymers are converted into petroleum in another recycling process. The advantage of this process is that any mix of polymers can be used. A new recycling process generates heat from the friction of plastic materials which melts the plastics. This is then pumped into casting moulds. The great advantage of this technique is that all types of plastics can be recycled.

To aid the recycling process, plastics come with plastic identification code to identify the different polymers that are used in the manufacture of plastic. The recycling process must be started from home. When you have utilized that plastic item for its use you can use the same item for some other use. For example, if you buy a juice bottle you can use the plastic bottle as a storage container for reusing the pet bottle. Also everybody must be aware of the recycling plant in the locality and must produce the waste plastic to the plant for recycling.

http://www.utahasphalt.com

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