Thread: The Problem with Plastic

Originally Posted by cyrille

How are you helping if you're replacing often recycled paper with plastic that almost everyone in Thailand will throw away?

If your non-Thai collapeagues also focussed on building recycling plants I can see the benefits, but you make no mention of that.

Most of the raw materials we have used for our trials has been second grade recycled plastics and we do have an in-house polymer recycling plant and laboratory.

Recycled cardboard box packaging is normally thrown away but a more rigid, water-proof box has a secondary value which most Thais will retain.

We just have to produce a product that is lighter and cheaper.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

Education particularly in third world communities.

Manufacturers, particularly of plastic bags must become legally bound to become actively involved in the re-cycling education of the communities that use these bags.

Cradle to grave laws now govern the producers of such products must firstly recover used packaging and re-cycle the same which in fact is a commercially viable practice.

Once end users know where they can deposit their plastic waste and receive a refund while doing so, the pollution of our oceans and waterways will improve.

All these new chemical additives being developed at present such as bio-degradable and U.V accelerators to break down the physical state of the packaging is a waste of time and money.

I would say it's a combination of cost and government leadership... you have to make it cheaper for manufacturers and retailers to produce degradeable packagaing than non- and that is where government comes in to put tax on the bad and tax relief on the good... that's what all the books say in uni anyway... you need to tax the imports from countries that don't meet a standard that the government (via professional institutions) sets... but they shy away from this because it's easier to add tax than to cut it, and people don't like paying more stuff they've got used to. If collecting plastic was more lucrative than finning sharks, fishermen would be happy to do it

^ I just arrived back from Australia and that government are actively promoting the development of new production processes that creates more environmentally friendly products.

Of course what we are attempting is not easy, as if it was easy it would have already been developed but what we are attempting is basically changing the rheology of the plastic mass when compared to known production processes.

Your right, cheaper is better but when a used packaging product has a secondary use that also should be a clincher.

Someone needs to invent a plastic type product made out of human shit. That would solve two problems with one genius stroke. Jeff - any ideas?

^

I see they are now developing an edible coffee cup which will help the environment by eliminating the need for foam, plastic and paper cups.

Originally Posted by CaptainNemo

I would say it's a combination of cost and government leadership... you have to make it cheaper for manufacturers and retailers to produce degradeable packagaing than non- and that is where government comes in to put tax on the bad and tax relief on the good...

Government leadership? Have you turned into a tree-hugging, fascist lefty recently?

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Someone needs to invent a plastic type product made out of human shit.

There was talk of that several years back...2011 to be exact.

You’ve probably never given a lot of thought to what happens to wastewater, but it’s a major environmental issue. Municipal water treatment plants nationwide process more than 150 million gallons of wastewater every day. When the treated water is released into a river or ocean, it leaves behind more than four million tons of sludge, mostly burned or trucked away to landfills. That’s a lot of waste, and it’s expensive, costing as much as $200 million annually.

That’s where Micromidas comes in. They’ve figured out how to convert sludge into a usable product. “Literally, we are brewing plastic,” said John Bissel, Micromidas CEO. “It’s very similar to brewing beer or anything else.” It’s been known for a while that a chemical in wastewater can be used to make plastic, but the challenge has always been extracting and converting it at a competitive price compared to the source of most of America’s plastic – oil.

The breakthrough lies in Micromidas’ proprietary process. The company takes sludge, renders it down to a liquid resembling chicken broth, and applies a cocktail of designer bacteria microbes. The chemical reactions that follow change the liquid’s composition into a thicker product, which is then run through an extruding machine, producing plastic.

https://cleantechnica.com/2011/11/02/poop-to-plastic/

^ See? Told you cvnts on here I am a genius.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

edible coffee cup

Hope its one of those caramel waffle things you get in starbucks . Coffee and a nibble of that.

^ Someone has thought of it before mate.

A classic.

Originally Posted by Thailandbound

plastic straws do not degrade for hundreds of years.

That's might be exaggerated. I do not know how the plastic straws but some kinds of plastic degrade surprisingly quite fast. Furtunately, the nature can sometimes help itself wonderfully. On my walks thru nature I sometimes see remainders of plastic bags that are partly diminished looking like rotten, disintegrated.

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Someone needs to invent a plastic type product made out of human shit.

There is a paper in Thailand for gift boxes, love letters, envelops, made of elephant shit, why not of human shit?

Originally Posted by aging one

As for the plastics the San Francisco bay area has actively banned the use of plastic bags starting in 2012, they also charge a fee for paper bags

That's really thoughtful. In some countries in Europe this has been exercised already over 30 years...

The Dutch are intending to clean 50% of plastic in the garbage patch by 2020.




Very educational stuff.


https://www.theoceancleanup.com/milestones/

Originally Posted by Maanaam

^ more than that is the plastic micro beads in shampoos and soaps/body washes.
Astronomical amounts end up in the sea.

Already banned in North America.

As far as floating plastic in the oceans/rivers? I think sadly that horse has already bolted?

Not the Dutch this one clever kid and his start up company. Nothing to do with the government. Here is a better read and much more objective and in depth.

'It's important to at least try': Can this 23-year-old clear the oceans of plastic waste?

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Already banned in North America.

Good to hear.

^ Is it just me one or does the idea of floating more plastic in the ocean to catch all the plastic already there seem a bit strange? Ok if you use the collected plastic to make more booms but that is not stated.

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

^ Is it just me one or does the idea of floating more plastic in the ocean to catch all the plastic already there seem a bit strange? Ok if you use the collected plastic to make more booms but that is not stated.

I imagine that irony has occurred to them.
I hope so, anyway.

I'm almost certain the black plastic bags are from recycled plastic.

Originally Posted by Klondyke

There is a paper in Thailand for gift boxes, love letters, envelops, made of elephant shit, why not of human shit?

I'm almost certain human feaces does not contain nearly the same amount of vehetable fibre.

Originally Posted by Klondyke

but some kinds of plastic degrade surprisingly quite fast.

Like what? I thought plastic was non-biodegradable and releases carbon dioxide. Plastic disposed in a landfill can last hundreds of years, sadly.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

I'm almost certain human feaces does not contain nearly the same amount of vehetable fibre.

An Israeli company has made recycled paper from human feces mixed with toilet paper. Go figure!
https://www.treehugger.com/clean-tec...let-paper.html