Rubber

1 April 2020 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets

Natural Rubber

I want some foam rubber. But of course most of it is plastic derived. Apparently there is such a thing as natural foam rubber. But first I had to do a bit more research into actual rubber. Heres what I found…..

There are two major categories of rubber; natural and synthetic. The most popular compounds are;

Natural Rubber
Vulcanised Rubber
Synthetic

History

Thousands of years BC Indians living in Central and South America were using latex to makewaterproof clothes and shoes using latex from rubber trees.

It was unknown in Europe until 1731when French explorer Charles Marie de La Condamine sent back samples of rubber to Europe. It was put to a variety of uses In 1770 Joseph Priestley found he could use pieces of rubber to erase pencil marks.

Others used it to waterproof cloth a series of discoveries that eventually led to Charles Macintosh inventing and patenting the rubberized, waterproof coat or macintosh. But it wasnt until 1839 when American inventor Charles Goodyear discovered how to vulcanize rubber that it really came into its own.

Natural Rubber

also called Latex or Para

Natural rubber is made from latex
Latex is the white liquid that oozes from certain plants when you cut into them.There are around 200 plants in the world that produce latex including dandilions.
99 percent of natural rubber comes from a tree called Hevea brasiliensis, or the rubber tree.

Though it’s sometimes mistaken as the sap of the Hevea tree, latex actuality runs through ducts in a layer just outside the cambium below the tree’s bark.
The rubber tree originates from South America.
90% of all natural rubber comes from these trees grown in rubber plantations mainly found in Indonesia, the Malay Peninsula and Sri Lanka.
This type of rubber is often called Para rubber.

However by itself, unprocessed natural rubber is not all that useful. It tends to be brittle when cold and smelly and sticky when it warms up.

So it is combined with a range of addatives to give it added strength and flexibility.

The tough rubber used for tyres and such like has been further processed or vulcanised.

Vulcanised Rubber

Latex is filtered, washed, and reacted with acid to make the particles of rubber stick together.
Mastication machines “chew up” raw rubber using mechanical rollers and presses to make it softer, easier to work, and more sticky.
Addatives chemical ingredients are mixed in to improve its properties (for example, to make it more hardwearing).
Next, the rubber is squashed into shape by rollers (a process called calendering) or squeezed through specially shaped holes to make hollow tubes (a process known as extrusion).

Finally, the rubber is vulcanized (cooked): sulfur is added and the rubber is heated to about 140°C (280°F).

Biodegradable?

Latex when made from rubber trees a natural sounds like it should be biodegradable. Which has led to claims that that non-vulcanised products like latex condoms and other products are.

This is hotly debated!
Most latex products contain addatives to make them (amongst other things) stronger. It all depends on wether they are biodegradable or not.

While many people say that simple rubber products people do eventually decompose, (not proven), it takes such a long time as to make any claims of biodegradability misleading.Certainly the anti-balloon camp do not consider latex balloons to be biodegradable despite what the balloon industry say.

And yet this….

Very thin rubber products, such as balloons and condoms, will degrade naturally especially if they are subjected to natural sunlight. As is evident from the problems which are associated with sealing rings natural rubber is capable of being biodegraded. It should be possible to compost thin rubber articles
In a composting environment, biodegradation rates over 24 weeks were twice that compared to the fertilized treatment in soils. Degradation of natural rubber condoms in soil was slower compared to gloves with 42% of the initial weights remaining after 48 weeks. In contrast, the manufactured polyurethane condoms were hardly biodegradable.

More Stuff

N.B.
lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x

Join our Facebook group here

Epoxy Resin

To understand plastic you need a lot of time and a good working knowledge of chemistry at the very least. Currently I am trying to find out what epoxy resin actually is. Sigh! Here’s what I got….

It is a thermoset plastic which means it can only be heated and shaped once.

Most epoxy resins are petroleum derived but some plant derived sources are now becoming commercially available such as plant derived glycerol.

Properties Good electrical insulator, hard, brittle unless reinforced, resists chemicals well

Principal uses Casting and encapsulation, adhesives, bonding of other materials. And lining tin cans.

Epoxy resin can be mixed with additives, plasticizers or fillers to create different products with a range of properties Use of blending, additives and fillers is often referred to as formulating.”

Bisphenol A (BPA)

And of course the one everyone is concerned about ….. BPA is an integral part of most epoxy resins.

“The most common and important class of epoxy resins is formed from reacting epichlorhydrin with bisphenol A to form diglycidyl ethers of bisphenol A.”

Many consider BPA to be a health hazard.

Nearly all tin cans are lined with epoxy resin. and have been since the 50s. The liner can be white or yellow or transparent in which case it is undetectable. BPA can leach from the liner into the contents of the can. For more on this read Why Does My Can Have A Liner & Is It Bad For Me.

Other Resins

Bisphenol F epoxy resin
Novolac epoxy resin
Aliphatic epoxy resin
Glycidylamine epoxy resin

Polypropylene

1 November 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 1.6 Definitions

Polypropylene (PP) plastic code 5

It is the second most important plastic after polyethylene.

It is a thermoplastic polymer that is rugged and unusually resistant to many chemical solvents, bases and acids.

It is used to make soup pots, margarine tubs, most bottle tops, waterproof clothing, carrier bags, ropes, non woven fibre products like the fluffy cottonwool type stuff used in tampons and nappies.

Does not biodegrade.

UK Collection Rates for recycling.Not generally collected for household recycling, although it has good potential.However, mixed plastic recycling is expected to be under way within five years. (please note this information is always changing. Updates will be posted here first so you may wish to double check.)

It is expected to net US$145 billion by 2019 and the sales of this material are forecast to grow at a rate of 5.8% per year until 2021.

In 2013, the global market for polypropylene was about 55 million metric tons. Wikkipedia.

Polypropylene is made from propylene. This in turn is made from propane.

Propane is derived from hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbon chains are refined by cracking and polymerising.

Very basically cracking breaks the existing chains and polymerisation is remixing them into something new.

Using high-temperature furnaces, propane is cracked into propylene,

Using a catalyst, a reactor and some heat propylene joins together to create a polymer called polypropylene.

Propane can be derived from Naptha ( which is distilled from crude oil)

90% of propylene is made from oil though that figure is rapidly changing as more is made from shale gas as a result of fracking.

“North America plans to build 6 new plants to to make “on purpose” propylene from propane “In the past the price of propylene and propane were so close in the U.S. that it wasn’t cost effective to dehydrogenate propane, but now with low cost propane from shale gas, it is. “

Polypropylene was discovered in 1951 by two chemists working for Phillips Petroleum Company.

In 2008, researchers in Canada asserted that quaternary ammonium biocides and oleamide were leaking out of certain polypropylene labware, affecting experimental results.

Degradable, biodegradable or compostable

11 June 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 1.1 Plastic Lifecycle, 1.6 Definitions 8 Comments

So most plastics are made from oil and most plastics do not biodegrade. See how and why here…

And yet you will find plastics described as

degradable
biodegradable
compostable

What do these terms actually mean when applied to plastic?

Remember that

Most traditional, oil-based plastics do not biodegrade.
Biodegradable products break down as the result of the actions of naturally occurring microorganisms, such as fungi or bacteria, over a time.
Plastic breaks, tears and cracks. It weathers and sunlight makes it brittle, It falls apart – it degrades – but only into smaller pieces of plastic.
Find out more about the lifecycle of plastic here.

Degradable Plastic

All plastic degrade – i.e. they fall apart into smaller pieces of plastic. BUT when a plastic is described as degradable it could just describe the falling part process OR it could mean t a degradation initiator has been added to make it fall apart faster.

Degradation Initiators and Bio-Degradable Plastics

But suppose there was a way of making plastic biodegradable? The industry argue that they can do just that by means of chemical additives known as degradation initiators. Very basically, these additives break the long unnatural plastic polymers into shorter recognisable polymers that microbes can attack and digest – or biodegrade (N.B. lots more research need to be done on this. It is by no means proven).

Because the degradation initiators are biologically based they are sometimes described as biodegradable. So some traditional plastic bags have been labelled biodegradable.

This is at best confusing if not deliberately misleading. This is not the same process as natural biodegrading. Unlike truly biodegradable products they don’t always break down into harmless substances and may leave behind a toxic residue.

More so as there are some compostable plastics which are also described (correctly) as biodegradable which do actually compost down into biomass.

Compostable Biodegradable Plastics

Truly biodegradable plastics are compostable.

Biodegradable products break down through a naturally occurring microorganism into simple, stable compounds which can be absorbed into the ecosystem. To be classed compostable, items must biodegrade within a certain time (around the rate at which paper biodegrades) For a man-made product to be sold as compostable, it has to meet certain standards. One such is the European Norm EN13432.

Compostable Plastics meet all of these criteria. You can find out more here.

Infographic

Yes they have a vested interest making as they do compostable plastic goods but the info still stands.

Compostable Plastics Index

5 June 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets, 3.1 Composting Tagged 1.1 Plastic Lifecycle, 1.6 Definitions 7 Comments

Plastic was the name given to early synthetic products such as cellophane, that were derived from cellulose. These plastics were biodegradable. Then they learnt how to make similar products from oil. Or rather from the bits of crude left over after they had finished making petrol. The same name was then given the oil derived product. But there were crucial differences. This new product was made in a very different way and did NOT biodegrade.Since then yet more “plastics” have hit the market. Made from all kinds of things. Some from plant starch and some are certified compostable.

To conclude;
Currently, non- biodegradable, oil derived plastics are the most commonly used and so we tend to ascribe their qualities to all types of plastic.
In fact plastics can be made in a variety of ways from a variety of materials; shale gas, oil, plants even chicken feathers;
And different plastics have very different qualities. Some plastics do biodegrade and are certified compostable
Want to know more about plastic? Read up here

Biodegradable, Compostable Plastics

Just to remind you:
What is biodegradable? Biodegradable products break down through a naturally occurring microorganism into simple, stable compounds which can be absorbed into the ecosystem. More about biodegrading here
What is compostable? To be classed compostable, items must biodegrade within a certain time (around the rate at which paper biodegrades), and the resulting biomass must be free of toxins, able to sustain plant life and be used as an organic fertilizer or soil additive.
For a man-made product to be sold as compostable, it has to meet certain standards. One such is the European Norm EN13432.
You can find out more here.

Home Or Industrial Compostable?

Composting can be done at home, by community or on a much larger scale by the council

Home Composting
Composting is usually done on a small scale and most people will be familiar with the concept of a backyard heap or garden compost where household waste is rotted down into garden mulch.

Composting Plastic At Home
While most agree that PLA plastic is indeed compostable, many say that it can only composted in large scale municipal schemes.
They are wrong. I have been composting plastics for years.
Read more HERE

To be sure you are using a compostable plastic get one that has been certified compostable. Check out the logo.

Compostable Plastic Products

See a wide range HERE

Industrial composting
However large-scale schemes are becoming increasingly popular. In the UK communities band together to compost a whole street is worth of waste. Even city councils are getting in on the act.
These larger projects are sometimes called industrial composting

The difference is is that industrial composting is a lot hotter and can work more quickly.

Composting On A Larger Scale

Case Study – A Cafe
Cute Boscastle National Trust Cafe uses compostable disposables and composts them. Read more HERE

Other options include Community Composting
Community composting is where local community groups share the use and management of a common composting facility.
And Municipal or Industrial Comosting
Read more HERE
How councils compost on a large scale – read more HERE

Compostable Plastic Products

These compostable plastics, like oil derived, are extremely versatile.
They can be thin and flimsy which means they can be used to make

PLA Compostable Plastic Bags

And longer lasting products like phone cases

See a wide range of compostable products HERE

Compostable Plastics Types
Cellulose derived plastics such as Cellophane.
Starch based PLA plastics. They are certified compostable.
Polyhydroxyalkanoates or PHAs are linear polyesters produced in nature by bacterial fermentation of sugar or lipids.
chicken feathers bioplastic.

A Note On Bioplastics
Most compostable plastics are also bioplastics. Bioplastics are made from natural materials such as corn starch.
However not all are compostable. For example ethane based plastics as used Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle which replaces 30 percent of the ethanol in their normal polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle with 30 percent plant-derived ethanol. This means the bottle is still considered PET and can be recycled but is NOT biodegradable. Find out more here.

Other Plastics
There is research being done into developing a compostable, oil-derived plastic. Watch this space BUT don’t fall for the old *biodegradable plastic bag trick see below.

*Compostable versus biodegradable plastics
You might see some plastics labelled described as biodegradable. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is the same as compostable plastic. It is not. Some “biodegradable plastics” are oil derived plastics with a degrading initiator added to make them fall apart (degrade) more quickly. Unlike compostable plastics they don’t always break down into harmless substances and may leave behind a toxic residue. Read more here

Compostable Plastic Products

Sponge Cloth Biodegradable

Oh joy - just sourced some plastic free sponge cloths. I love these things. Sponge cloths are extremely porous and great for ...
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Glitter biodegradable

Yes you can get biodegradable glitter and this Etsy company sell it in compostable packaging. Yay! Overview Handmade item Materials: ...
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Vegware – compostable fast-food disposables

Vegware is the UK's first and only completely compostable packaging company. Vegware is forging and leading its own new sector – combining ...
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Pet bowls biodegradable

For the plastic free pooch in your life, a biodegradable plastic food bowl! "Eco-friendly and functional, Becothings are tough and ...
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Cardboard Cups & Pots

So you find what looks like a cardboard container full of yummy ice cream or you see that your favourite ...
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Dog poop disposal

This is something I really hate …. plastic bags of dog @*%! hanging from the bushes. But then plastic bags ...
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Disposable Cups

Disposable cups are made from plastic lined paper, polystyrene or plastic. To make paper cups water proof they are laminated with polyethylene, ...
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Straws Compostable

The picture shows a turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nose (You can watch the video in full ...
Read More

Snact in compostable packaging

Snacks... so good when trekking, so hard to source plastic free. The best we have is loose nuts as sold ...
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Greencane Tissues/ Paper Productsd

A while ago a company called Greencane sent me some tissues through the post. Not just tissues but toilet paper and kitchen ...
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Plant Pots Compostable

Took this form a very interesting article here. I will be looking into them more closely in the future Low-‘e’ ...
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Cutlery – disposable & compostable

Though it's not the greenest option there are times when disposable partyware is the only choice. For our last big bash, ...
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PLA Starch Bags – compostable plastic bags.

PLA starch bags are described as a compostable plastic.Which can be confusing as they are a very different product from ...
Read More

Pots – PLA compostable

These deli pots are made from PLA plastic. This looks and acts just like plastic but is made from corn starch ...
Read More

Companies using compostable plastic.

Snact

Our new innovative packaging, developed by Israeli start-up TIPA, is just as durable and impermeable as ordinary plastic – but it biologically decomposes within just 180 days and becomes a fertiliser for soil, behaving similarly to an orange peel. Read more here.

Vegware
A while ago I got sent some Vegware stuff to review. Vegware make disposable, compostable packaging for the fast-food industry. Hooray for them …. but I am not in fast food. So what would I be using them for? For starters…

Eco For Life
If you must drink bottled water this might interest you; water packaged in PLA compostable plastic bottles

Remember, not all bio- plastics can be composted and some are not as green as they sound

Check out all our composting posts HERE
Want to know more about plastic? Read up here
See our big list of plastic types here

N.B.

lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x

And before you go…

If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project (read more here) or

Polyurethane

24 December 2014 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 1.6 Definitions, 4 plastivan

Polyurethane is a general term used for a class of polymers derived from the condensation of polyisocyanates and polyalcohols.

Polyeurothenes are are petrochemical-based derived polymer and (man) made like all the other synthetic polymers featured in this blog.

Polyurethane is made by reacting polyols and diisocyanates,

Polyols and diisocyanates are derived from crude oil and removed during the refining process just like gasoline.

Polyurethane foam can be flexible or rigid. Each form of polyurethane has many uses.

Most polyurethanes do not melt when heated but there are some (thermoplastic polyurethanes) that do.

Polyurethane formulations cover an extremely wide range of stiffness, hardness, and densities. These materials include:

Low-density flexible foam used in upholstery, bedding, and automotive and truck seating
Low-density rigid foam used for thermal insulation and RTM cores
Soft solid elastomers used for gel pads and print rollers
Low density elastomers used in footwear
Hard solid plastics used as electronic instrument bezels and structural parts
Flexible plastics used as straps and bands
lining the cups of brassieres.

Wikkipedia

Carbon dioxide is used as a blowing agent to create the soft, comfortable feel of a mattress or sofa. The more blowing agent is used, the softer the resulting foam.
In rigid foams, a gas such as pentane is “trapped” in the closed cells of the foam, optimising its insulation capacity.
Rollerblade wheels, on the other hand, do not require a blowing agent and instead have a dense and hardwearing consistency.

Is polyeurothene a plastic?
this answer from Quora is a useful read

There is thermoset and thermoplastic polyurethane polymers. Both can be considered as “plastics”.

Actually “Plastics” is more a shortcut / a general public word. It refer to the fact that most of these materials have a high plasticity (ability to be permanently deform without breaking) under certain conditions. Not to a chemical composition. Specialists prefer to speak of polymers and composites.

In general language, most of common polymers compounds that can be injected/extruded are generally referred as plastics.

When it comes to Carbone/glass fiber reinforced Polyamide or to the Aramids family (including Kevlar and Grivory brands), you will rarely see the word “plastic” used because it would be devaluating for these high performance composites. Yet actually these materials can be extruded or injected quite the same way as generic plastics like PE or PP. So that these are fitting perfectly in the “plastics” category.
So that it is correct to say that thermoplastic and thermoset polymers are plastics. Including PU.

Polyurethanes are polymers. Polymers are best thought of as chains of three-dimensional structures made up of long, repeating smaller units called monomers. These monomers contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. To form the chains, the smaller links are “polymerised” or hooked together.

There are thousands of naturally occurring and man-made polymers. The first man-made polymer to be produced was Bakelite in 1909. Rayon, the first man-made fibre polymer, was developed in 1911. Other well known polymers include nylon, silicon, polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene.

Ethane derived plastics

28 August 2014 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 1.6 Definitions

Ethane is a chemical compound in the form of a colorless, odorless gas .

It is one of the by products of oil refining.
It can be isolated from natural gas,
It can be derived from plants.

Its chief use is as feedstock for ethylene production.
Ethane is treated (cracked) to make ethylene.

Ethylene is used to make.

Polyethylene (Polythene)

Ethylene is one of the raw materials used to make polyethylene (abbreviated PE) (IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene))This is the most common plastic.The annual global production of polythene is approximately 80 million tonnes.

High-density polyethylene (HDPE)
Cross-linked polyethylene (PEX or XLPE)
Medium-density polyethylene (MDPE)
Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE)
Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
Very-low-density polyethylene (VLDPE)

PVC polyvinyl chloride

Ethylene and chlorine are raw materials for PVC. Ethylene is chlorinated then cracked to make the vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). Nearly all VCM is used to make polyvinyl chloride

polystyrene (PS)

Ethylene is reacted with benzene to make ethylbenzene which is further processed into styrene. The main outlets for styrene are polymers and synthetic rubbers such as polystyrene,acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR).

Other Plastics

Ethylene can be oxidised to create ethylene oxide This mostly used to make ethylene glycol, from which polyester fibres for textile applications, PET resins for bottles and polyester film are made.

Recycling & Biodegradability

These plastics do not biodegrade.

They can be recycled.

Other Uses

ethylene oxide is a poison gas. It is highly flammable and explosive.

It can be used to make weapons

The gas leaves no residue on items it contacts, so can be used instead of steam in the sterilization of heat-sensitive tools and equipment, such as disposable plastic syringes.

Other ethylene derivitives are found in in shampoo, kitchen cleaners, personal care products, etc

A few statistics

Global ethylene production was 107 million tonnes in 2005,[4] 109 million tonnes in 2006.[14] NNFCC Renewable Chemicals Factsheet: Ethanol, 138 million tonnes in 2010 and 141 million tonnes in 2011.[15] By 2010 ethylene was produced by at least 117 companies in 55 countries.[16] To meet the ever increasing demand for ethylene, sharp increases in production facilities are added globally, particularly in the Mideast and in China.[16]

In Abu Dhabi, the Borouge III ethane cracker which will produce 1.5m tonne/year of ethylene is expected to start up 2014.

In Mexico Braskem and Grupo Idesa’s $2.5bn 1m tonne/year ethylene XXI project is expected to start up in 2015.

Useful Links

Polyethylene (Polythene)

PVC polyvinyl chloride

polystyrene (PS)

PET resins

Wikkipedia and again

Icis.com market data

Other Plastic Info

Find out about other types of plastic here

Don’t know your crack from you cracking – try this introduction to plastic

PVA plastic

12 July 2014 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 5 Content Veiw 4 Comments

Here is an oil derived plastic that actually dissolves in water, is biodegradable and has been certified compostable. Interesting stuff.

The following is a collection of information that really needs to be properly collated.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH, PVA, or PVAl) is a water-soluble synthetic polymer. It has the idealized formula [CH2CH(OH)]n. It is used in papermaking, textiles, and a variety of coatings. It is white (colourless) and odorless. It is sometimes supplied as beads or as solutions in water.[2] wikkipedia

PVA is produced through multiple chemical reactions. However, the starting compound is ethylene gas. So, where does ethylene gas come from? Well it is actually produced by some plants when their fruit ripens. It can also be produced from ethanol. These methods are just too expensive for commercial production. So, it’s made from you guessed it oil. However, it is able to be broken down by some types of bacteria making it biodegradable.

PVA (Polyvinyl alcohol) the plastic that’s afraid of water

This is to confirm that Flushpuppies pet-waste bags are produced by BPI-approved manufacturers from BPI-certified materials. These products are authorized to carry the BPI Compostable Logo (shown on the right) because they meet all of the requirements
of ASTM D6400 or ASTM D6868: they will disintegrate and biodegrade swiftly and safely in a professionally managed composting facility and not leave behind any non-compostable residues. http://flushpuppies.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2014-New-BPI-letter-Flush-Puppies.pdf

PVA films are used for packages that release their contents upon contacting water. Some brands of sanitizers, dyes, and detergents are packaged in dissolving plastic bags. PVA film has recently found a new use in agriculture. At high concentrations, some pesticides and herbicides can be toxic to humans. Farmers typically purchase concentrated chemicals, then mix them with water to prepare the dilute solutions that are applied to crops. Powdered insecticides and herbicides prepackaged in PVA bags are simply dropped into a container of water, and the farmer is never exposed to the powder. http://www.borlik.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Dissolving-Plastic.pdf

Uses

Polyvinyl alcohol laundry bags are used in hospitals to minimize the contact hospital workers have with contaminated clothing and bedding. Dirty items are put into these special bags, which are then placed directly into the washing machine. Because polyvinyl alcohol is soluble in water, the bags dissolve and are washed down the drain with the dirty water. At the completion of the washing cycle, the clean clothes are removed from the washing machine

This was taken from a website selling the product.

Environmental Friendly characteristic
It has no any bad effect on environment. Once PVA is dissolved in water, specific microorganism will cause it to degrade. When treated with activated sludge, solutions of PVA will be decomposed into water and carbon dioxide.

Water solubility

1.Solubility is related to PVA film’s thickness and temperature. According the time of dissolving, the film has three types, quick, middle, difficult, all depend on its thickness and water temperature. Thicker film makes slow dissolving, high temperature makes fast dissolving.
Water soluble pva film can prevent operators from contacting toxic materials directly.It is safer and more convenient.

Water content

Water content of the water-soluble PVA film can change with environmental humidity. The water-soluble PVA films are usually sealed with the PE film to keep its water content invariable. After the water-soluble PVA films is taken out of the PE film, water content can vary from environmental humidity, whose property also varies with it.

Good gas barrier properties

Water-soluble PVA film has an excellent gas barrier to oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, argon, carbonic acid gas and so on when the humidity is low, but it permit moisture and NH 3 to penetrate . Moreover, it has an excellent fragrance preservation of the contents and can keep products moisture and fresh as well.

Good antistatic properties

Because water-soluble film has a lot of hydroxyl groups in molecule, it does not take charges. It is different from the film that is made from the other synthetic resins and it has the same antistatic properties as cellophane. If PVA film is used for product packing, it could keep products out of dust.

Good printability

Water-soluble PVA film has the h3 polarity and the excellent printability so as to gravure print is beautifully completed without spark-treatment. Presently it has been widely used in the field of special printing, for example, water transfer printing.

Strength and Weathering resistance

PVA film has good tenacity, biaxial tension-strength and anti-tearing strength that ranks high among all kinds of films, flexing resistance is 10 times to other films. It has excellent Weathering resistance and service life is very long.

Good heat sealability and adhesiveness

Resistance to oil and chemicals

The Water-soluble PVA film has the good characteristic to resist the oils and fats such as animal oils, vegetable oils, mineral oils, fats, organic solvents and the hydrocarbons to penetrate. However, it can be affected by h3 acid, h3 base, chlorine free radical and some special chemical which can react with PVA such as borax, boracic acid and coloring matter and so on, so it isn’t fit for packing the above things.

Polyethylene / Polythene

9 July 2014 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 1.3 polyethylene, 1.6 Definitions

is the most common plastic.
the annual global production of polythene is approximately 80 million tonnes.
it is an ethane derived plastic.

Ethane isone of the byproducts of oil refining.
It can be isolated from natural gas,
It can be derived from plants.but most is made from petroleum or natural gas.

Ethene is one of the raw materials used to make polyethylene (abbreviated PE) (IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)

Types of polythene

High-density polyethylene (HDPE)
Cross-linked polyethylene (PEX or XLPE)
Medium-density polyethylene (MDPE)
Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE)
Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
Very-low-density polyethylene (VLDPE)

High-density polyethylene HDPE Plastic code 2

Used to make supermarket type carrier bags, chemical drums, jerricans, carboys, toys, picnic ware, household and kitchenware, cable insulation, plastic milk cartons, juice bottles, shampoo bottles, and liquid detergent containers.

It is tough and can withstand exposure to sunlight and extremes of temperature.

Products made of HDPE are reusable.

Recycling

HDPE is the most commonly recycled plastic and is a relatively simple and cost-effective process to recycle HDPE plastic for secondary use.

Polythene bags can be recycled through the supermarket carrier bag recycling schemes. Sainsburys even print this fact on their packaging – I saw it on their grapes the other day.

If you don’t live near a supermarket (!) with a recycling scheme, then you can send the bags to this company who run a recycling scheme.

New technology allows HDPE to be recycled into new milk bottles.

LDPE (Low density polyethylene) plastic code 4

used to make soft clear bags for packing of vegetables some bread and frozen food bags, trash cans, and garbage can liners. Also used to make toys and clothes, dispensing bottles, wash bottles, tubing, molded laboratory equipment and corrosion-resistant work surfaces.

Parts that need to be weldable and machinable, parts that require flexibility, computer components, such as hard drives, screen cards and disk-drives are all made from LDPE.

It is considered less toxic than other plastics.

It is not commonly recycled yet but recycling possibilities are ever increasing.

Does Not Biodegrade…… or maybe it does

Polyethylene (PE) has been considered nonbiodegradable for decades. Although the biodegradation of PE by bacterial cultures has been occasionally described, valid evidence of PE biodegradation has remained limited in the literature. We found that waxworms, or Indian mealmoths (the larvae of Plodia interpunctella), were capable of chewing and eating PE films.

Rubber

7 July 2014 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 00 working, 1.6 Definitions, 4 plastivan

There are two major categories of rubber; natural and synthetic. The most popular compounds are;

Natural Rubber
Vulcanised Rubber
Synthetic

History

Thousands of years BC Indians living in Central and South America were using latex to makewaterproof clothes and shoes using latex from rubber trees.

Natural Rubber

also called Latex or Para

Though it’s sometimes mistaken as the sap of the Hevea tree, latex actuality runs through ducts in a layer just outside the cambium below the tree’s bark.
The rubber tree originates from South America.
90% of all natural rubber comes from these trees grown in rubber plantations mainly found in Indonesia, the Malay Peninsula and Sri Lanka.
This type of rubber is often called Para rubber.

However by itself, unprocessed natural rubber is not all that useful. It tends to be brittle when cold and smelly and sticky when it warms up.

So it is combined with a range of addatives to give it added strength and flexibility.

The tough rubber used for tyres and such like has been further processed or vulcanised.

Vulcanised Rubber

Finally, the rubber is vulcanized (cooked): sulfur is added and the rubber is heated to about 140°C (280°F).

Biodegradable?

Latex when made from rubber trees a natural sounds like it should be biodegradable. Which has led to claims that that non-vulcanised products like latex condoms and other products are.

This is hotly debated!
Most latex products contain addatives to make them (amongst other things) stronger. It all depends on wether they are biodegradable or not.

And yet this….

Very thin rubber products, such as balloons and condoms, will degrade naturally especially if they are subjected to natural sunlight. As is evident from the problems which are associated with sealing rings natural rubber is capable of being biodegraded. It should be possible to compost thin rubber articles
In a composting environment, biodegradation rates over 24 weeks were twice that compared to the fertilized treatment in soils. Degradation of natural rubber condoms in soil was slower compared to gloves with 42% of the initial weights remaining after 48 weeks. In contrast, the manufactured polyurethane condoms were hardly biodegradable.

Synthetic Rubber

Is produced primarily from petrochemicals by a chemical process known as polymerisation. You can read about polymers and polymerisation here.

Synthetic rubbers

Including
* SBR
* Neoprene
* Hypalon
* Nitrile
* Butyl
* EPDM
* Silicone
* Viton

Polychloroprene
Polyurethane

SBR – Styrene-butadiene or styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) describe families of synthetic rubbers derived from styrene and butadiene (the version developed by Goodyear is called Neolite). These materials have good abrasion resistance and good aging stability when protected by additives.

Neoprene the brand name for polychloroprene often used for dive suits

Butyl rubber,
is gas-impermeable,
is commonly used for inner tubes.
Most modern chewing gum uses food-grade butyl rubber as the central gum base.
The raw materials for making butyl rubber are isobutylene and isoprene. These two components are polymerized at -100 °C

Poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene), or SBS, is a hard rubber that’s used for things like the soles of shoes, tire treads, and other places where durability is important. It’s a type of copolymer called a block copolymer. Its backbone chain is made up of three segments. The first is a long chain of polystyrene, the middle is a long chain of polybutadiene, and the last segment is another long section of polystyrene.

Silicone – read up here

High Quality Rubber Coated Textiles
Also known as technical coated textiles or rubber proofed fabrics, rubber coated textiles grant rubber characteristics to a wide variety of fabrics and materials.
We are able to coat fabrics with a wide variety of rubber compounds, some of the most popular compounds are;
* Natural Rubber
* SBR
* Neoprene
* Hypalon
* Nitrile
* Butyl
* EPDM
* Silicone
* Viton
* Polyurethane

Read more about the different types of plastic here

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Cellophane – a plant derived and biodegradable plastic

15 June 2014 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 0 guest post, 1.3.2 bioplastic, 1.6 Definitions, 3.2.5 composting & compostables 2 Comments

Quick Introduction

Cellophane is made from cellulose
It is biodegradable
However the way it is made results in a lot of other kinds of pollution
Cellophane bags were often used to package candy, vegetables and convenience foods.
Cellophane is easy to tear, reseal and print.
It performs badly at low temperatures and has a limited shelf life
Cellophane is more expensive than most other types of plastic.
“polypropylene has replaced cellophane to a large degree. For a while cellophane and polypropylene were used in conjunction, thus a ply of cellophane was laminated to a ply of propylene. Now, however, cellophane is mostly abandoned altogether.” Read more here.
Cellotape used to be made from cellophane. now it is made from oil derived plastic.

Find out more about compostable and other types of plastic here

Current Uses

Cellophane is now being used to wrap “green” products because it can be composted. Here are the PLA cornstarch and cellulose compostable plastic products I have composted in my back yard bin. They said it couldn’t be done Mwahahahaha! Read more here.

The History Of Cellophane, how it is made and the pros and cons A guest post from Michael Bloch blogging up on Green Living Tips.com

We see many news stories about developments in the plastics industry to make these items greener. With disposable plastic shopping bags being banned in some places and consumer concern acting as the writing on the wall for the industry, it’s certainly in the sector’s interest to make more environmentally friendly plastic bag and wrap products as soon as possible.

Degradable, compostable and biodegradable plastics may seem like recent inventions, but some have been around for a very long time. One such plastic is cellophane – and it’s now experiencing resurgence in popularity.

Cellophane being plant based didn’t click with me until I was doing some research recently for a restaurant employee who was looking for a biodegradable bag suitable for use with a particular food application – it was only then that it clicked with me the “cello” in cellophane stands for cellulose – the structural component of plants.

Cellophane was invented in 1900, but wasn’t commercially available until 1912. At that point it was mainly used for wrapping candy. When moisture-proof cellophane hit the market in the late 1920′s, it rapidly increased in popularity until the 60′s when alternative petro-chemical based plastics became popular – and we all know how that worked out for the planet.

Quite a few modern bioplastics use plants, but often they use corn as the primary component. Similar to using “food as fuel“; should we be using a grain or a crop grown on land suitable for producing food for non-food uses when arable land (without further deforestation) is becoming a diminishing resource?

Cellophane has an edge here as it can be made from farmed trees or from hemp; which can grow in relatively harsh conditions.

Regarding its composting and biodegradable attributes, I’ve read various reports stating uncoated cellulose film degrades within 10 days to 1 month when buried and nitrocellulose-coated cellulose in 2 months to 3 months. Complete biodegradation of cellulose film is between 1 – 2 months for uncoated products, and from 2.5 to 4 months for coated cellulose products. In a fresh water environment, the rate of biodegradation is only 10 days for uncoated film and a month for coated cellulose film.

As far as I know, corn based bioplastics take far longer to degrade and there’s also some issues with recycling bioplastics made with corn as they are currently classified as a number 7 plastic resin, meaning “other”.

That’s the good news about cellophane; but as with most things, there are some negative aspects too environmentally speaking.

Cellophane is made by dissolving plant fiber in alkali and carbon disulfide to create something called viscose. The viscose is then reconverted to cellulose in cellophane form after a sulfuric acid and sodium sulfate bath. The cellophane is further treated with glycerol to make the dry cellophane less brittle. The cellophane may then be coated with nitrocellulose or wax to make it impermeable to water vapor. A few nasty chemicals in that process – for example, high levels of carbon disulfide are toxic; affecting the nervous system.

However, given the amount of processing and nasties it takes to turn petro-chemicals; i.e. chemicals derived from crude oil, into plastics and the damage those plastics do long after having been discarded, it would seem to me that cellophane is probably still better environmentally speaking. Stacked up against corn based plastic bags and wraps, the better/worse distinction is a little harder to discern.

Cellophane films and bags are readily available – just run a query on the terms in your favorite search engine to locate a stockist.

Tip: When composting cellophane, scrunch it up instead of laying it flat on your compost pile. This allows for air pockets and some air is necessary when composting any material.

Trivia: another plastic product that’s been around for at least a hundred years also based on plant material is linoleum.

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P.E.Ts

13 April 2014 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 1.3 PET plastic, 1.6 Definitions 2 Comments

Polyethylene terephthalat frequently shortened to PET or PETE and was formerly called PETP or PET-P.

It is an ethane derived plastic.

PET or PETE (plastic code 1) is most often used for making fibers, things made by injection molding, and containers for food, drinks, pharmaceuticals, make-up etc.

PET fibers are used with other fibers to strengthen them, to make a fiber filling, for fabrics, and carpets, automobile tire yarns, conveyor belts and seat belts, for non woven fabrics for stabilizing drainage ditches, culverts, and railroad beds, disposable fabrics for use in medical applications, sanitary protection, menstrual products and nappies.

Its other major use is for bottles and jars for food processed at low temperatures.

It can be used to make a clear containers allowing the contents to be easily seen and identified.

It is intended for single use food packaging applications as repeated use is said to increase the risk of chemicals leaching from the plastic into the contents. There are claims that some of these chemicals may be carcinogenic and or endocrine disruptors.

PET is only 10% of the weight of an identical glass container, it allows for less expensive shipping and handling, saving a significant amount of money for companies around the world.” Copied from Wise Geek

PET starts softening at around 70 °C (160 °F).

It is claimed that bacteria can colonise the rough surface of a PET.

PET plastic is an easily recyclable plastic and about 25% of PET bottles in the US today are recycled.

It is made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, just like paper. It is claimed that, just like paper, it can be safely burnt and will only produce carbon dioxide and water leaving no toxic residue.

However the Material Safety Data Sheet for PET states

Can burn in a fire creating dense toxic smoke. Molten plastic can cause severe thermal burns. Fumes produced during melt processing may cause eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation.

Secondary operations, such as grinding, sanding or sawing, can produce dust which may present a respiratory hazard. Product in pellet form is unlikely to cause irritation.

You can find MSDA sheets here

You can find information on the other types of plastic here.

Natural Rubber

Biodegradable?

More Stuff

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Bisphenol A (BPA)

Other Resins

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Degradable Plastic

Degradation Initiators and Bio-Degradable Plastics

Compostable Biodegradable Plastics

Infographic

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Biodegradable, Compostable Plastics

Home Or Industrial Compostable?

Composting On A Larger Scale

Compostable Plastic Products

Companies using compostable plastic.

More

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Recycling & Biodegradability

Other Uses

A few statistics

Useful Links

Other Plastic Info

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Biodegradable?

Synthetic Rubber

Synthetic rubbers

More

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Current Uses

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