A comment often made about plastic recycling in, (I would suggest), a rather disparaging tone, is that it is not recycling but downcycling.
Which seems dismissive of the recycling program and is wrong as it does not apply to all forms of plastic recycling
So what is downcycling?
The term down-cycling is applied to a recycled product that is not as structurally strong as the original product as made from virgin materials.
This downcycled material can
only be used to make a different product
or has to be mixed with virgin materials before it can be reused to remake the original product
Paper for example; the fibres in paper degrade as they are recycled so it goes from writing paper to loo roll, by way of newspapers. Cotton too. The recycled fiber is of shorter and harder to spin so it needs to mixed with virgin cotton fibers to improve yarn strengths before it can be reused.
This is true of plastic that is is mechanically recycled. The plastic gets weaker. One example of plastic down-cycling chain is as follows
virgin PET bottle to fleece or carpet
fleece or carpet fibers to plastic lumber
plastic lumber to landfill though manufacturers claim that plastic lumber can be recycled again..
But why call it downcycling?
You may think I am being picky but I think that the name has negative connotations. Down-cycling suggests that the products created by recycling are moving down some kind of linear scale. And if this is so, then toilet paper has a lesser value then writing paper. I beg to differ. Try wiping your bum with Basildon Bond.
Applying the term downcycling to the process of plastic recycling as outlined above, seems even more counterintuitive. If you consider that a bottle has a lifespan of months, a fleece has a life span of years, a carpet decades and plastic lumber hundreds of years, it seems more like upcycling to me. The base material may not be as strong, it may may even need to be mixed with virgin plastic, but it is being used far more sensibly.
Using the term downcycling to describe this process diminishes an essential and valuable practice that results in products with proven use whether it’s toilet paper or carpets. Or have I got it all wrong?
The New Recycling
Just to remind you, not all recycled plastic is “down cycled” and closed loop plastic recycling is already being offered by a number of companies. For example “We take discarded soft drinks and water bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and milk bottles made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) and recycle them back into food-grade plastic. The resulting rPET and rHDPE is then used to make new bottles and food packaging.”
Plus some of the new synthetic fibres can be recycled as the same fabric with no loss of quality almost indefinitely. Patagonia is promoting one such closed loop fabric recycling scheme.
Then there are the associated technologies that turn plastic waste back into oil. While you might argue that is not recycling, you would be hard pushed to call it down cycling.
Did you know that petroleum-derived hexane may be used to harvest your vegetable oil? No me neither but here’s how.
Extraction
Vegetable oil comes from plant components, nuts, seeds, or fruits, but typically seeds.
Oil from plants is can be obtained either chemically with the use of solvents or mechanically (often calledcrushing” or “pressing).
Solvent extraction
Most commercially produced oils are solvent extracted. This involves a chemical solvent like the petroleum-derived hexane and heat up to 500 degrees. Once the oil is dissolved, the solvent is removed by distillation.
This technique is used for most of the “newer” oils such as soybean and cannola oils. Many of these products do not give up their oil easily, it has to be forced from them.
Hexane is a colorless flammable liquid, C6H14, derived from the fractional distillation of petroleum.
It is classified as an air pollutant by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and as a neurotoxin by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It’s unclear how much hexane remains in the food after processing
Testing by Swiss scientists found no detectable levels but independent testing commissioned by the nonprofit Cornucopia Institute found hexane residues in soy oil.
The process recovers 99% of the oil but to get rid of the hexane, the oil is heated to a high temperature.
Also the high temperatures used in this process can and do change the chemical structure of oils. Many argue this reduces or even completely destroys the flavour of many delicate oils.
Mechanical The oi is squeezed or pressed out of the vegetable matter in a variety of ways;
Screw press, a large screw based mechanism in a housing. As it turns it increases the pressure and crushes the oils out of the seeds Ram press uses a mechanise piston in a cylinder that rams out the oil. Ram presses are generally more efficient than screw presses.
Expeller-pressing
Industrial machines for extracting oil mechanically are call expellers. They squeeze the oil out of the raw materials, under high pressure, in a single step. As the raw material is pressed, friction causes it to heat up and can sometimes exceed temperatures of 120°F (49°C). The amount of heat produced is important as heat can change the chemical structure of the oil. Wikkipedia
Cold Pressed Oils
Cold pressing tries to avoid the problems of heat. In this process the nuts, seeds, or fruits from which the oil is being harvested are ground into an even paste.
This is slowly stirred till the oil to separates from the solids.Then pressure is applied,(either with a machine or in the traditional way, with a stone) forcing the oil out.
N.B The friction caused by the pressure will increase the temperature and manufacturers must keep it within a certain degree range to be able to claim that the oil is cold pressed. This varies the world over
European Union cold pressed oil must never exceeds a certain temperature which varies depending on the source material, but is usually between 80° to 120°F (27° to 49°C).
In the United States, labeling is not as regulated, so consumers generally need to contact companies directly to enquire as to their manufacturing process.
Many people believe that cold pressed oil has a superior flavor.
Next
The extracted oil may now be purified, refined or chemically altered. More of that to come.
More
Go back to theoil index to find out about the plastic free oils and butters we use
One of the joys of living plastic free is mooching round the shops seeing what you can source. Better still if they are independant shops rather than supermarkets. But it’s not just about local shops, buying local produce is extremely important to me for a number of reasons, one of which is product miles.
What are product miles?
The distance a product has to travel from growth or production to the place of consumption. is called product miles.
It follows in the better known tradition of
Air-miles – how far a product had to fly
Food miles – the distance from farm to fork
I am sure there are others I don’t know about. Container miles maybe? Ship miles? But I prefer product miles as it covers them all.
Why Count Them
I am always concerned by how far a purchase has to travel to reach me. If it was grown or made next door it will, obviously, have to be transported a shorter distance than one made in China.
I want to cut the carbon cost of everything I use and product miles have an attached carbon cost. The longer the distance a product travels, the more petrol needs to be burnt resulting in more emissions, more trucks are needed on more roads… basically it means more of everything. And a lot of them things I don’t much like including global warming.
Seasonal & Local
Buying closer to home doesn’t always mean that product was produced more ethically. Peppers grown in cold Holland in artificially heated greenhouses may have a higher carbon cost then peppers imported from hot Spain even though it is further away. Out of season U.K. strawberries will have a higher carbon cost (again from heating greenhouses) than ones grown in season.
Buying native fruit and veg in season is the greenest way to buy. But does limit my choice. If I need to buy imported often because there is no unpackaged, local veg my general rule of thumb is seasonal, native from the country of origin. So I will buy imported melons from Spain but only if they are naturally grown in Spain and in season.
Ideally No further away than Europe – bananas being the exception.
Case Study The Product Miles Of A U.K. Made Plastic Bowl
Even then it is not always easy….
Salmon Luke make plastic bowls here in the U.K. This is from their website:
“Here are the product miles for our bowl and cutlery.
One Salmon Luke bowl 1,972 miles
One spoon and fork set 2,164 miles”
But be aware that “the raw ingredient for plastic is obviously oil, but it’s nigh on impossible to find out where ‘our’ oil was extracted. So, for the purposes of our study, we calculated the product miles from the petrochemical company which produced the finished polymer. ”
Shopping British Owned
So we don’t just buy #plasticfree, we try to support our local shops when ever possible and buy British made. Failing that if we have to enter those hellish portals, we try to buy from a U.K. owned chain store. check out our buyers guide 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
There are two types of paper used for cooking and food preparations
greaseproof bakery paper;
waxed paper.
The terms are used interchangably but they are actually different products.
Greaseproof Paper also known as parchment paper is used in baking and cooking. It provides a heat-resistant, non-stick surface to bake on.
It is also used to pack greasy foods like butter.
It used to be made by beating the paper fibres. Now it may have a plastic or chemical coating.
Waxed Paper
Not to be confused with waxed paper. They may look the same but are different products. Waxed paper actually has wax on it. This too creates a non stick surface but for obvious reasons cannot be used at high temperatures so cannot be used for baking.
Waxed paper was often used for wrapping food.
In many cases it has now been replaced with plastic laminated paper. It looks like waxed paper but isn’t.
History
Greaseproof paper was first developed as a replacement for parchment by the engineer Otto Munthe Tobiesen in 1894
During the paper making process, the paper pulp is beaten hard so the fibres bond more firmly. This results in a paper of high density with a small number of pores. It is now less absorbant making it reisistant to grease, fat and oil.
Natural greaseproof paper does not have any chemical treatments or coatings. It can be recycled, composted or burnt.
Waxed Paper was made by coating paper with wax.
The New Papers
Since those innocent days various different types of greaseproof/waxed paper have emerged. These no longer rely on the way the paper has been made but rather are treated, coated or laminated papers. They do not get their grease resistance from denser fibers but from various additives. However they look just like the originals.
They fall into into two types; paper for packaging and paper for cooking.
The treatments for “greaseproof” paper include
Plastic lamination
Chemical
Silicone coating
Packaging
Greaseproof paper and waxed paper were often used for packaging and the names used interchangeably.
They were used in the food industry for many things including wrapping food such as butter and making nonstick containers for microwave food.
However the original papers and cards have been replaced with plastic coated alternatives.
Two common forms of treatment are
Lamination
Chemically treated
laminated
Where the function of the product is merely to stop grease leaking through the product like for instance a butter wrap the paper may be coated with a thin layer of plastic. This is often the case with food packaging where a product wants to maintain an old time look. Don’t be fooled by those charming greaseproof paper bags and butchers wraps on the deli counter. Check them very carefully.
Obviously this kind of greaseproof paper cannot be used for cooking as the plastic will melt and burn.
Read more about laminated paper here
Chemically Treated Perfluorochemicals (PFCs) are a family of man-made chemicals? They are used
as a surface coating for paper and cardboard they make them water and grease resistant and so suitable for packaging processed foods.
They do not break down easily and can last in the enironment for years.
They have been found in both soil and water.
When they enter the food chain they are retained in animal tissue leading to a process called biomagnification, meaning that they are passed on up the foodchain from animal to animal and because they are stored in the body for years the amount increases exponentially as they travel up the food chain.
This type can be used for both cooking and packaging. But is usually used for cooking. It is also called parchment paper.
Silicone Coated
To give parchment paper a really non stick quality some companies are coating it with silicone. Silicone is a kind of synthetic rubber. You can read more about that here .
Sierra say of its silicone coated paper “The baking paper’s silicone coating prevents food products from sticking to the paper or cooking pan. Silicone is an ideal release agent due to its pliability, natural lack of toxins, high insulationability, and heat resistant capability.”
Quilon Coating
This is (I think) a Teflon product also used to give parchment papers a non stick quality. I know very little about it other than that some are claiming it is toxic. I am currently researching it. All input welcomed.
Uncoated Papers
Are they even available? If You Care claimed to provide genuine greaseproof paper products. But while the paper may be green and unbleached, the non stick quality comes from a coating of silicone. They claim their paper is compostable but silicone certainly isn’t biodegradable.
“Experts from the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center said, “We would not recommend composting the parchment paper,” but acknowledged that they could not cite specific studies on the topic”
never used to talk about the silicone coating on their greaseproof paper which makes me wonder was it always there or is it new? And if it is new, is it to replace the toxic Quilon coating (that I never knew about either). If the former, are all parchment papers coated with something and we just never realised?
Buy….More to think about
Reasearch is ongoing and any input is greatly welcomed.
Beyond Gourmet and Regency wraps have been mentioned as being only parchment paper but have not as yet answered my emails. Neither have If You Care.
So far I have been unable to find a verified, uncoated paper for cooking so I won’t use any.
I buy butter that comes wrapped in paper which I just have to hope is genuine parchment paper. I have my doubts but it is the best I can do.
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
Textiles and ultimately clothing start with fibres
Know Your Fibres
Fibres are short fine hairs that can be twisted or spun into longer thread or yarn. This may be woven or knitted into fabric.
Fibres (and then yarns and ultimately fabrics) can be can be natural, synthetic or chemically produced hybrid called regenerated fibres.
Natural fibres Are derived from plants like cotton or animals like wool and silk, Coarse Fibres Are used for rope, string, sacking and industrial uses.Read more HERE
Fibres used for finer fabrics and yarn include cotton, wool and silk. Read more HERE Synthetic fibres are man-made from chemicals many of which are petroleum derived. Read more HERE
Regenerated Fibres The base material is cellulose that can be obtained from a range of sources. It is then converted through a chemical process into fibres. Yarns and Fabric
Fibres are then spun into yarns and threads. These often take the name from the fibre in which they are spun.
Threads can now be woven or knitted into fabric.
Fabric made from regenerated yarn often takes the name of the fibre such as bamboo or go under the trade name.
How Are Regenerated Fibres Made?
The base material is cellulose that can be obtained from a range of sources including wood, paper, cotton fiber, or bamboo. It is then converted through a chemical process into a fiber. One such in bamboo. Most bamboo fabric is made using chemical solvents such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH – also known as caustic soda or lye) and carbon disulfide combined with multi-phase bleaching. Both sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide have been linked to serious health problems. Others are looking extremely promising and are biodegradable. But I don’t really know enough about them and
Regenerated Fibres Include
Rayon
Bamboo Rayon
Viscose
Modal
Tencel
Rayon Notes
Rayon or artificial silk is made from purified cellulose, derived from plants in this case primarily trees.
Because rayon is manufactured from naturally occurring polymers, it is considered a semi-synthetic or regenerated fiber.
The cellulose is harvested and then chemically converted into a soluble compound. The diluted liquid is forced through a spinneret to produce filaments.
These are now chemically solidified, resulting in synthetic fibers of nearly pure cellulose.
While the end products the process is concidered dirty and environmentally suspect. According to wiikipefia
Workers can be seriously harmed by the carbon disulfide used to make most rayon.
However there are many different types of rayon and some are greener than others.
Specific types of rayon include viscose, modal and lyocell, each of which differs in manufacturing process and properties of the finished product.
viscose rayon, which is rayon made using the viscose (cellulose xanthate) process.
Viscose is not a synthetic fiber made from petroleum; but rather it’s a “regenerated cellulosic fiber” made from cellulose – most commonly wood pulp, but many plants can be used, such as bamboo. The cellulose is broken down, and then “regenerated” into a fiber.
One of the major advantages of viscose over synthetics is that it is biodegradable.
The following is information I am collecting on rayon. It is a highly technical product and quickly gets confusing. It is meant to be an introduction only .
It has been hard to find out wether Rayon is biodegradable or not!
There are definitely some biodegradable rayons as made by Lenzing which are touted as such. BUT most rayons are not described as biodegradable so I assume that other rayons may not biodegrade Or rather to be completely accurate like other synthetic polymers they will eventually biodegrade but may take hundreds of years to do so.
If by biodegrade you mean more like compostable then as far as I know, no rayon has ever been classed as compostable. However it is difficult to find hard, understandable data on this – at least I have not found any yet. If anyone knows anything about it I would love to know. So while it is easy to find out how long it takes for cotton to rot when scattered as litter there is no information on rayon.
Then there is this from Wikkedpedia The more water-repellent the rayon-based fabric, the more slowly it will decompose.[10] Silverfish can eat rayon[citation needed]. Many kinds of marine creatures eat rayon fibers and it ends up in their bloodstream which can be fatal.[citation needed]
A recent ocean survey found that rayon contributed to 56.9% of the total fibers found in deep ocean areas, the rest being polyester, polyamides, acetate and acrylic.[11]
So while cellulose plastics used in packaging are often described as biodegradable, many rayons are not described as such. Could be an omission but is a grey area and until research proves otherwise, I will assume they are not.
Bamboo Rayon
Most bamboo fabric that is the current eco-fashion rage is chemically manufactured by “cooking” the bamboo leaves and woody shoots in strong chemical solvents such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH – also known as caustic soda or lye) and carbon disulfide in a process also known as hydrolysis alkalization combined with multi-phase bleaching. Both sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide have been linked to serious health problems. great article here
The big bamboo swindle
“As the Commission charges, even if the rayon used in the companies’ clothing and textile products is manufactured using bamboo as the cellulose source, rayon does not retain any natural antimicrobial properties of the bamboo plant. The rayon manufacturing process, which involves dissolving the plant source in harsh chemicals, eliminates any such natural properties of the bamboo plant. Similarly, the Commission charges that the companies’ clothing and textiles are not made using an environmentally friendly process.
The rayon manufacturing process uses toxic chemicals and results in the emission of hazardous air pollutants. And, despite the claims of Pure Bamboo and Bamboosa, the Commission charges that these rayon products are not biodegradable because they will not break down in a reasonably short time after customary disposal. Most clothing and textiles are disposed of either by recycling or sending to a landfill. Neither method results in quick biodegradation.”
The Rainforest Alliance has this to say about other forms of regenerated fibres
To make popular fabrics, including rayon and viscose, forests are cut down to make way for monocrop tree plantations. Trees from both the forest and the plantations are cut down and go through an incredibly toxic process to create what is known as dissolving pulp, a white fluffy material that gets spun into threads and woven into cloth.
This cloth is made into fabrics by some of the world’s most popular brands, including RAN’s Fashion Fifteen: Forest destruction for fabric has to stop. That’s why RAN has launched our Out of Fashion campaign, to demand the fashion industry commit to forest friendly fabric.
“But it still comes as a surprise to many to learn that some of the most common fabrics used by big name fashion brands — viscose, rayon and modal — also originate as trees in Indonesia, Canada, Brazil, and South Africa. Only now has a public conversation finally started about the fact that the forest fabric industry is causing human rights violations and forest destruction in some of the world’s most critical ecosystems.”
Plantation expansion for pulp has also been devastating to indigenous and forest-dependent communities. Just in the area owned and operated by one company, Toba Pulp Lestari, in Northern Sumatra, a nonprofit organization called KSPPM has documented over 20 distinct cases where land traditionally owned by communities has been forcibly seized without the consent of the community and then clear cut for acacia plantations.
Lenzig & Greener, Biodegradable Rayon
Viscose, Modal and Tencel (lyocell), from Austria-based company Lenzing, are made from wood pulp. These high-purity cellulose fibres are obtained from sustainably managed forests, according to a report by the University of Cambridge’s sustainable manufacturing group. Compared with cotton, wood has the advantages of low water consumption, reduced pesticide use and produces up to 10 times the amount of cellulose per hectare, states the report. And these fibres are 100 per cent biodegradable.
In April I am going to be trawling through my wardrobe, ( such as it is). here is some background information to get you in the mood.
What’s in your Fabric
Synthetics
60% of fibres used today are synthetic and most of them are are petroleum derived, plastic in fact.
The most common are:
Acrylic fibre resembles wool and so is used to replace that natural fibre.
Nylon is used as a silk substitute. It is a very fine and strong fibre so can be used to make ladies tights.
Polyester is one of the most popular man-made fibres. It is the same Polyethylene terephthalat, (frequently shortened to PET or PETE and was formerly called PETP or PET-P), that is used to make bottles and a lot of other plastic stuff.
Natural Fibres
The next big player in the textile market is cotton. Then in much smaller amounts wool and silk.
Regenerated Fibres
The base material is cellulose that can be obtained from a range of sources including wood, paper, cotton fiber, or bamboo. It is then converted through a chemical process into a fiber. One such in bamboo. Most bamboo fabric is made using chemical solvents such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH – also known as caustic soda or lye) and carbon disulfide combined with multi-phase bleaching. Both sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide have been linked to serious health problems. Others are looking extremely promising and are biodegradable. But I don’t really know enough about them and more research needs to be done. They make up a small percentage of the market so for now I am going to discount them!
Natural sounds so lovely and clean but it can be low down and very dirty. Cotton comes with its own nasty a gender. A quarter of the total worldwide pesticide use occurs in cotton farming, hundreds or farmers get poisoned and it can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton. Greedy and dirty!Read more…
Wool isn’t much better “The top three pesticides used on sheep are moderately toxic to humans but they are moderately to highly toxic to fish and amphibians, such as frogs, and they are suspected endocrine disruptors. Some of these pesticides are also highly water soluble which means that they can easily be carried from the sheep dip application site by rain or irrigation water runoff into our streams and rivers and contaminate our groundwater.” From Organic Clothing blog
However there are equally nasty chemicals used in making synthetic fibres. For example when making polyester, “Antimony is leached from the fibers during the high temperature dyeing process which is then expelled with the waste water. If not properly cleaned this results in a hazardous water pollutant. Acrylonitrile used to make acrylic fibres is classed by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen (Group B1).
A main ingredient of Nylon is “the chemical adipic acid. Producing the acid was once the largest source of industrial nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas. Efficient pollution controls have reduced adipic acid emissions 61 percent between 1990 and 2006, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But the chemical still accounts for 5-8 percent of global human-caused emissions of N2O.” read more
Plastic Fabric Pollution
Synthetic sock survives ocean voyage
Moreover synthetic fibres have the same qualities as plastic. The problems with a polyester sock are the same as with a PET bottle. Though you get more wear out of a sock eventually it gets thrown away and because it is now non-biodegradable rubbish it needs to be special disposed of. Which is expensive and not always effective. Often cheap clothes and fabrics are not properly disposed of and go on to pollute the environment in the same way a bottle may. Plus all the other problems attendant with plastic products (you can read more about the problems with plastic here).
Micro Pollution
And it’s not just end of life disposal that is difficult, synthetic fabrics pollute through out their life time. Everytime they are washed they shed thousands of non biodegradable micro plastic fibres that wash down the drains and into the oceans where they are now affecting the ecosystem, (see micro plastics for more)
The base material is cellulose that can be obtained from a range of sources including wood, paper, cotton fibre, or bamboo. It is then converted through a chemical process into a fibre.
Some it is claimed are biodegradable. Some are not.
Natural Fibres Cotton 25 million tons wool production is around 2.1 million tonnes. Silk 150 000 tonnes in 2006 Linen 147 000 tonnes of flax fibre 2007, Alpaca 6 500 tonnes Cashmere” after scouring and dehairing 6 500 tonnes Mohair is estimated at around 5 000 tonnes a year, down from a high of 25 000 tonnes in the 1990s, Angora is estimated at 2 500 to 3 000 tonnes 2009 figures only – google let me down!
Carbon footprint
A study done by the Stockholm Environment Institute on behalf of the BioRegional Development Group concludes that the energy used (and therefore the CO2 emitted) to create 1 ton of spun fiber is much higher for synthetics than for hemp or cotton: KG of CO2 emissions per ton of spun fiber:
Textiles and ultimately clothing start with fibres
Know Your Fibres
Textiles and ultimately clothing start with fibres Know Your Fibres
Fibres are short fine hairs that can be twisted or spun into longer thread or yarn. This may be woven or knitted into fabric.
Fibres (and then yarns and ultimately fabrics) can be can be natural, synthetic or chemically produced hybrid called regenerated fibres.
Natural fibres Are derived from plants like cotton or animals like wool and silk, Coarse Fibres Are used for rope, string, sacking and industrial uses.Read more HERE
Fibres used for finer fabrics and yarn include cotton, wool and silk. Read more HERE Synthetic fibres are man-made from chemicals many of which are petroleum derived. Read more HERE Regenerated Fibres The base material is cellulose that can be obtained from a range of sources. It is then converted through a chemical process into fibres.Read more HERE
Yarns and threads
and what they are used for….
Yarns and threads often take the name from the fibre in which they are spun.
they can be used as a yarn or woven / knitted into a fabric.
See links to plastic free products yarns HERE
Threads can be woven or knitted into fabric.
The fabric often takes the name of the fibre such as cotton or wool.
It can also go under a trade name such as nylon.
Or it can be called something else completely such as denim or crepe de chine.
Natural Fibres
Fibres used for finer fabrics and yarn include
Cotton used to make cotton
Flax is used to make linen. It is one of the strongest vegetable fibres.
Wools include
Sheep’s wool in a range of weights and qualities
Alpaca wool used to make high-end luxury fabrics.
Angora wool -The silky white wool of the Angora rabbit is very fine and soft, and used in high quality knitwear
Mohair also from the Angora goat.
Cashmere wool comes from cashmere goats and has great insulation properties without being bulky
Silk is strong and light weight.
Coarse Fibres for rope, string, sacking and industrial uses include:
Abaca -Once a favoured source of rope, abaca shows promise as an energy-saving replacement for glass fibres in automobiles
Coir -A coarse, short fibre extracted from the outer shell of coconuts, coir is found in ropes, mattresses, brushes, geotextiles and automobile seats. Can also be used in a brush rather like a bristle.
Jute -The strong threads made from jute fibre are used worldwide in sackcloth – and help sustain the livelihoods of millions of small farmers
Sisal -Too coarse for clothing, sisal is replacing glass fibres in composite materials used to make cars and furniture.
Copied from Natural Fibres
Hessian /ˈhɛsi.ən/, burlap in America and Canada,[1] or crocus in Jamaica,[2] is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant[3][4][5] or sisal fibres,[6] which may be combined with other vegetable fibres to make rope, nets, and similar products. Gunny cloth is similar in texture and construction.
Hessian, a dense woven fabric, has historically been produced as a coarse fabric, but more recently it is being used in a refined state known simply as jute as an eco-friendly material for bags, rugs and other products.
About 20 million tones of cotton are produced each year in around 90 countries.
China, United States, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and West Africa account for over 75% of global production.
Cotton represents nearly half the fibre used to make clothes and other textiles worldwide ( the rest is synthetic fibres)It can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton; equivalent to a single T-shirt and pair of jeans. (Though I think there is more cotton in a tee shirt?)Here are some more facts about cotton taken from this article in GOOD
textile mills consume 4.5 million bales of cotton yearly a quarter of the total worldwide pesticide use occurs in cotton farming.
Each year, the World Health Organization estimates that three million people are poisoned by pesticide use
In November 2012, Greenpeace International investigated the use of hazardous chemicals used in dyes and they discovered that 63 percent of the clothing items they tested showed high traces of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), and others had highly toxic phthalates and carcinogenic amines.
A report found that water pollution in China over the past few years has grown, with the textile industry responsible for pumping out 2.5 billion tons of wastewater per year.
Methane is a short-lived climate pollutant with significant climate warming potential.
Methane gas, or biogas, is released when organic material breaks down. But only when organic materials are so compacted there is no oxygen they break down anaerobically and produce methane.
This is why landfill sites produce methane and compost heaps do not
“Rotting stuff in a landfill undergoes anaerobic decomposition and produces methane. A compost pile undergoes aerobic decomposition and requires oxygen (O2) for the process to work. Because it is exposed to oxygen it produces CO2 (carbon dioxide) instead of methane.”
Cow farts are also made of methane.
Global methane emissions from landfill are estimated to be between 30 and 70 million tonnes each year. Most of this landfill methane currently comes from developed countries, where the levels of waste tend to be highest.
Over a 20 year period, one ton of methane causes 72 times more warming than one ton of carbon dioxide (CO2).
This is an area where you want to do your own research and decide what level of protection you need. I do not use antiseptic or disinfectants because I don’t do surgery on my kitchen table or have a low immune system. I keep stuff clean and it seems to work. BUT this is a subject about which I know little. This is my understanding of it. I strongly advise you to do your own research. Here goes…..
Microbes
The world is full of microbes – micro-organisms – or germs. “Microbes are single-cell organisms so tiny that millions can fit into the eye of a needle. They are the oldest form of life on earth. Microbe fossils date back more than 3.5 billion years to a time when the Earth was covered with oceans that regularly reached the boiling point, hundreds of millions of years before dinosaurs roamed the earth. Without microbes, we couldn’t eat or breathe.Without us, they’d probably be just fine.” Which is maybe why we seem determined to wipe them out. Microbes are everywhere. Inside you outside you swarming all over that keyboard you just touched to type in that fantastically appreciative comment.
They can be divided into four main groups – bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Some are good such as the composting microbes, some are bad such as the pneumonia germs, some just bumble about doing what ever it is they do in their teeny tiny world. “By and large, the vast majority of the microbes on this planet are not those that make us sick. We have only scratched the surface to what microbes are out there, and more of them are harmless or even beneficial to us,” Says a scientist.
Kill THEM!!!!!!
But still we want them dead. And here’s how.
Antiseptics & Disinfectants
What are they and now are they different
Antiseptics are antimicrobial substances that slow or stop the growth of micro-organisms (germs)
They are used on living tissues and cells on external surfaces of the body and help prevent infections. Though they are antiseptics they are often called skin disinfectants,
Antibiotics destroy micro-organisms inside the body, NHS website says…Antibiotics are used to treat or prevent some types of bacterial infection. They work by killing bacteria or preventing them from reproducing and spreading. Antibiotics aren’t effective against viral infections, such as the common cold, flu, most coughs and sore throats.
Disinfectants destroy microorganisms which infect nonliving objects.
You would use an antiseptic to clean your hands, a disinfectant to clean your breadboard and an antibiotic to kill pneumonia Wikkipedia tells us that Some antiseptics are true germicides, capable of destroying microbes (bacteriocidal), while others are bacteriostatic and only prevent or inhibit their growth. Antibacterials are antiseptics that have the proven ability to act against bacteria. Antiseptics are not antibiotics.
Using Antiseptics and Disinfectants
This is not meant as advice I am just relating my personal choices. I never use disinfectants or antiseptics. I clean with soap and bicarbonate ( which is mildly antiseptic but not as good as vinegar).
Most Common Uses
Disinfecting The Home
Food preparation, kitchens and bathrooms are the obvious places for disinfectants. You don’t want bad germs in your food. I do the obvious things like wash my hands before eating and after I have touched anything dirty. I keep cooked and uncooked food separate. I don’t eat raw meat. I store food in clean conditions. I wash the chopping board if I have used it for meat before I use it for anything else. I have two boards that I use when preparing food. I clean fruit and veg before eating. For all of this I use soap and hot water. soap and a good scrub. I don’t think think that anything else is necessary. , Also disinfectants kill all microbes, the good the bad the stuff we don’t know what it does yet. Which is unessecary and possibly harmful. There are arguments that living in a sterile atmosphere lowers resistance to infection as the body has not built up any resistance. Clean not sterile is my mantra.
We need to talk about vinegar…..
Commercial disinfectants are extremely effective. Green alternatives are billed as kinder less harmful. They are certainly less harmful to the microbes because they don’t work as well.
Vinegar & Essentail Oils Vinegar is the much touted disinfectant of choice for the plastic free. It is about 5% acetic acid. It’s the acid that kills bacteria and viruses, most probably by denaturing (chemically changing) the proteins and fats that make-up these nasties. It is good but not as effective as common commercial disinfectants. Vinegar will not kill salmonella, “which can transfer from raw meat to chopping boards and onto other foods to give us food poisoning.” Ammonia, baking soda, vinegar, Borax, “are not registered with EPA and should not be used for disinfecting because they are ineffective against S. aureus.
Hydrogen peroxide can also be used The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved hydrogen peroxide as a sanitizer. It can kill salmonella. Research published by the Journal of Food and Science in 2003 showed effective results of using hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate apples and melons that were infected with strains of E.coli. Essentail Oils – there is even less evidence for efface of essential oils and they take a lot of resources to produce.
Cleaning A Wound
For a long time hydrogen peroxide was used as an antiseptic on open wounds and grazes. Now many recommend against it saying it also kills off healthy tissue and beneficial bacteria. In short using any antiseptics on an open wound is an area of medical controversy.
“In clinical practice, antiseptics are broadly used for both intact skin and wounds, although concerns are raised based upon their effect on human cells and wound healing. Opinions are conflicting. Some authors strongly disapprove the use of antiseptics in open wounds.[6-8] On the other hand, others believe antiseptics have a role in wound care, and their use may favor wound healing clinically.[9,10]
Web MD claim that cool running water “is the best treatments for common wounds, and that you should rinse the wound for at least five minutes to remove it of debris, dirt, or anything else that may be in there. The water will clean the wound out well enough for your body to take over without harming the still living tissue around the wound.“
I don’t get many wounds and when I do, I don’t use antiseptics. Most cuts and scrapes seems to clear up with out infection – even when travelling in some of the dirtier places. Again, not a recommendation just an observation.
Skin Disinfectants ( Antiseptics)
Removing bacteria from the skin is done to prevent the spread of disease. The area of skin you need to keep cleanest is your hand which carry microbes from place to place by touch.
Soap
The easiest way to disinfect the skin is to wash with soap and water. But don’t bother with anti bacterial soaps. “Washing your hands is extremely important for preventing the spread of infectious illness, especially at critical points like after using the toilet, changing the baby, or handling raw foods. But consumers can’t assume that antibacterial soaps are better for this than other soaps.”
Soap doesn’t kill bacteria but removes it .
“harmless and harmful microbes stick to the oil your hands naturally produce, and, absent removal, willingly hitch a ride until they reach their ultimate destination (inside of you or somebody else) where they can in some cases wreak havoc…. [washing hands]… for at least 20 or more seconds at a time, is a highly effective way of removing bacteria despite the fact that the bacteria doesn’t die, but is simply flushed away when you rinse (or wiped off on a towel).”
Alchohol
If you have no soap and water or that is not appropriate you can try alcohol. Both ethanol or ethyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, or isopropanol can be used as antisceptics and have similar effects. However ethanol or ethyl alcohol is the stuff that makes you drunk isopropyl alcohol, or isopropanol (also known as rubbing alchohol or surgical spirit) is made from propene derived from fossil fuels and water.You can read more about it here
If you want a petroleum free product use ethyl alcohol.
ethyl alcohol.
Can be used as a skin disinfectant. It effective against a wide range of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi, and kills most bacteria, fungi, and many viruses on the hands and skin.
It is commonly used as skin antiseptics, often in the form of wipes Wise geek
It is
effective against a wide range of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi,
kills most bacteria, fungi, and many viruses on the hands and skin
is commonly used as skin antiseptics, often in the form of wipes or gels, and for disinfecting surfaces
Its main main effect on microorganisms seems to be to coagulate essential proteins, rendering them ineffective, and causing cell death or inhibiting reproduction.
It may also have a dehydrating effect and may interfere with the functioning of cell membranes. Wise geek
Mouth & Mouthwashes
Now this I do use. I have a troublesome wisdom tooth that occasionally flares up. I can keep it at bay with a rigorous tooth cleaning regime. When it is bad I use a salt mouthwash. And I have used hydrogen peroxide which seems to work.
Sodium chloride (salt) solution can be used as a mildly antiseptic mouthwash.
Hydrogen peroxide can be used as a mouth gargle The Merck Manuals recommended diluting the 3% hydrogen peroxide 50 percent with water, but suggest it as a rinse and part of a treatment for trench mouth, for example. The FDA has approved 3% solutions of hydrogen peroxide for use as a mouthwash. Most sources said to use it only for a short time, however, such as part of a treatment of a mouth infection. A report from Well-Connected (written or edited by physicians at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital) recommended against extended use, saying that overuse may actually damage cells and soften tooth surfaces. We were not able to find any authoritative information about hydrogen peroxide and canker sores.
Hydrogen peroxide may be amongst the better options.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved hydrogen peroxide as a sanitizer. It can kill salmonella.
Research published by the Journal of Food and Science in 2003 showed effective results of using hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate apples and melons that were infected with strains of E.coli.
You can use of hydrogen peroxide is to bleach hair. The concentrations are between 3% and 6%.
It can be used to clean blood stains out of clothes and brighten colours but do be careful it doesnt actually leave bleach marks.
DISCLAIMER
Absolutely no animal testing
The information in this blog is for guidance only. None of the recipes or tips in this blog have not been tested on anyone other than me and some fearless chums. I strongly advise you do your own research and proceed very carefully. Be aware of the risks of listening to someone who
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
Do not mix up your alcohols. This is not a warning of the type “wine after beer makes you feel queer” but an explanation of some rather confusing product names.
There are two kinds of alcohol
Ethyl alcohol – also known as booze
Isopropyl alcohol, or isopropanol (also known as rubbing alchohol or surgical spirit)
Ethyl alcohol
is a colourless volatile flammable liquid which is the intoxicating constituent of wine, beer, spirits, and other drinks,
It is produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts.
It is a one of the oldest recreational drugs used by humans.
Its structural formula, CH3CH2OH, is often abbreviated as C2H5OH, C2H6O or EtOH.
Isopropyl alcohol, or isopropanol (also known as rubbing alchohol or surgical spirit) is made from propene derived from fossil fuels (oil) and water. You can read more about it here
Ethyl alcohol
Uses include
The ones that don’t really concern us – as a fuel, an industrial solvent, preservative for biological specimens fuel., a solvent in the manufacture of varnishes and perfumes.
From a plastic free perspective it can be used as a
Short alcohols are what chemists call Amphiphilic; they interact favourably with both polar and non-polar things.
So if you add a bunch of alcohol to your grease the alcohol starts mixing with it. It mixes with it all over (because it is amphiphilic), but one of the important ways it mixes is by getting in between the long fatty chains. This helps liquefy the grease because the long fatty chains packing together is what makes grease a solid; if you stick something small in between the long grease chains they effectively melt (similar to plasticizing agents in polymers).
So why not use ONLY alcohol? Because while alcohol interacts favourably with all of the grease, it can’t actually dissolve much of it on a weight of grease per volume alcohol basis. You can dissolve (note this is not the correct technical term, but is serviceable for us) much, much more fat into water with soap. From Reddit
Buy
you can buy pure Ethanol from eBay. This is 95% alcohol. Do not drink it. Keep it out of the way of children ( which includes daft teenagers). It must be used carefully. Then there is the issue of packaging. It will probably come in a plastic bottle and plastic packaging.
Then you have to consider the additives. Denatured, or industrial, alcohol is ethanol mixed with unpleasant additives making it undrinkable. Obviously you cannot use this to make essences flavourings and tinctures.
The other option is to buy the highest proof booze you can find.
What Is Proof
Alcohol proof is a measure of the content of ethanol (alcohol) in an alcoholic beverage. The term was originally used in the United Kingdom and was equal to about 1.75 times the alcohol by volume (ABV). The UK now uses the ABV standard instead of alcohol proof. Alcohol proof – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The proof then comes out to be about 1.75 times the alcohol by volume percentage. So when alcohol is described as 100% proof it works out at roughly 50% actual ethanol (alcohol) to water.
100% Alchohol
So forget proof lets go for percent – is it possible to get 100% alcohol? Apparently not. This webpage explains why
The highest proof alcohol you can buy is Everclear, at 190 proof. That’s nothing! Let’s get together and make an alcohol that’s 200 proof! Except we can’t possibly do that. There’s a physical limit to how pure alcohol can actually get, and we’ll tell you why.
Difference between ethanol and vodka Ethanol is ~96% ethanol, 4% water. Vodka around 40% alcohol to 60% water.
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
Incineration is to dispose of waste materials by burning them. The end results are heat, ash and gases.
High-temperature waste treatment systems are described as “thermal treatment”.
Incinerating reduces the need for landfill but does not eliminate it. It reduces the soid mass of waste by 80–85% . The reamaining ashes still have to be disposed of.
A dump truck drops the municipal waste into a warehouse-sized pit. Then a giant claw (much like one that picks up loot in an arcade game) grabs nearly a truckload of garbage and dumps it into an incinerator.
The incinerator is initially fired up with gas or other combustible material.
The process is then sustained by the waste itself. Complete waste combustion requires a temperature of 850º C for at least two seconds but most plants raise it to higher temperatures to reduce organic substances containing chlorine. Flue gases are then sent to scrubbers which remove all dangerous chemicals from them. To reduce dioxin in the chimneys where they are normally formed, cooling systems are introduced in the chimneys. Chimneys are required to be at least 9 meters above existing structures.
Technology developed in Europe mixes the waste at temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat then makes steam, which runs a turbine and produces electricity.
Pathogens and toxins can be destroyed by high temperatures making incineration a very good choice for certain kinds of waste.
Unlike landfill there is no release of methane. Every ton of MSW incinerated, prevents about one ton of carbon dioxide equivalents from being released to the atmosphere.
The leachates that are produced in landfills by waste are totally eliminated.
By reducing waste it reduces the pressure on landfill space.
As for carbon dioxide—the big class of emissions that isn’t yet regulated—WTE actually performs quite well compared with other methods of electricity generation. On its face, WTE appears to be very carbon-intensive. The EPA reports that incinerating garbage releases 2,988 pounds of CO2 per megawatt hour of electricity produced. That compares unfavorably with coal (2,249 pounds/megawatt hour) and natural gas (1,135 pounds/megawatt hour). But most of the stuff burned in WTE processes—such as paper, food, wood, and other stuff created of biomass—would have released the CO2 embedded in it over time, as “part of the Earth’s natural carbon cycle.” As a result, the EPA notes, only about one-third of the CO2 emissions associated with waste-to-energy can be ascribed to fossil fuels, i.e., burning the coal or natural gas necessary to incinerate the garbage. In other words, WTE really only produces 986 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour. “So we’re roughly equivalent to natural gas, and half of coal,” Michaels says. “But coal and natural gas don’t manage solid waste.”
However not all good news….
The ashes are toxic and so need further treatment. As such they were cause for concern however “Ash from modern incinerators is vitrified at temperatures of 1,000 °C (1,830 °F) to 1,100 °C (2,010 °F), reducing the leachability and toxicity of residue. As a result, special landfills are generally no longer required for incinerator ash from municipal waste streams”
The gases too need to be “cleaned” of pollutants before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. proponents of the technology claim that the flue scrubbers are up to the job while many others feel there is cause for concern.
Waste To Energy Systems
The heat created when incinerating the waste is used to make electricity which seems like a good idea.
It is important to remember that waste to energy systems do not make money or even cover the cost of waste incineration but they do offset it.
The plants are very expensive to build and once built need a lot of fuel (waste) to run them. They need to be kept running. This means that alternatives forms of waste disposal like recycling are no longer promoted.
Mandatory service area: Spokane County / 430,000 ratepayers Type of contract: Full service/Operate Wheelabrator / Waste Management Ownership: City of Spokane Financing ($110 million): Revenue Bonds – Mandatory debt to entire County
Department of Ecology Grant ($60 million) Start-up: 1991 Expenses and Revenues for 2009: Cost of Operation $17.2 million ($62 per ton) Cost of Ash Disposal $4.1 million ($47 per ton) Cost of Debt $9 million TOTAL COSTS $30.3 million Electricity Revenue $11.4 million Materials Recovery $0.1 million NET COST OF OPERATIONS$18.8million ($68 per ton)
Refuse Combustion:
Operation: 24-hours per day, 7 days per week Process Lines: 2 @ 400 tons-per-day Plant maximum daily capacity: 800 tons Average thru-put: 720 tons per day (365 days per year) Feed system: 2 overhead refuse cranes with ram feeder Grate design: Von Roll reciprocating Combustion temperature: 2500° F Auxiliary fuel: Natural gas Waste weight reduction: 65% Annual Greenhouse Gas Production 600,000,000 Pounds CO2 CO2 per MWH 4480 pounds of total CO2 per Megawatt Hour:
1580 pounds of fossil CO2 / MWh plus,
2900 pounds of bio CO2 / MWh BTU values:
Garbage = 4,800/pound
Coal = 12,000/pound
Plastic = 14,000/pound
Tires = 16,000/pound
The Friends Of The Earth worries about the waste of resources. The Following was taken from the website
Resource efficiency: Incineration wastes valuable resources such as metals, plastics, wood or biodegradable materials that could otherwise be salvaged through recycling. Every tonne of incinerated materials has to be extracted and processed again, increasing environmental damage and the European economy’s dependence on expensive imports. More energy is saved through recycling than is extracted by burning most waste
Climate change: Incineration produces greenhouse gas emissions – a typical incinerator converting waste to electricity produces around 33 percent more fossil fuel-derived carbon dioxide than a gas-fired power station. In contrast, recycling saves greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding the need to extract and process primary resources.
Jobs: Recycling creates jobs. Recycling 10,000 tonnes of waste creates up to 250 jobs, compared to 20 to 40 jobs if the waste is incinerated, and about 10 if it is landfilled.
Laura Haight, senior environmental associate at New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), says that if the petition passes, waste will take incentives away from more sustainable technologies like wind and solar. She also says that presenting the issue as though incineration offsets landfill emissions is the wrong approach.
“In framing this whole debate as incineration versus landfills, they’re pushing the needle back 20 years,” said Haight. “Twenty years ago, people used to say we need to do more recycling; now we’re talking about more burying or burning. No, we need to be doing more recycling.”
Haight points out that more energy is saved by reusing materials instead of destroying them. Also, rather than being burned, biomass could be composted and used for energy recovery, she said.
