Returnable glass bottles

Want something other than water? You can still get drinks in returnable bottles in China. You can get yoghurt in glass jars. And some one to recycle them for you.

3D Plastic

10 July 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 00 edit, 1.3 3D plastic, 1.6 Definitions

There is a new machine on the market that can create 3d components out of plastic without the need for moulds. Using plastic thread and computer design drawings (or even a photo) it builds the product up by layer. It is the same principal as the coil pots you made at school.

“On top of a heated plate, a “pen” squeezes out lines of plastic thinner than a human hair as a fan cools it instantly – turning 3D objects on a PC screen into real, solid plastic models.

Instead of simply putting ink to paper, 3D printers allow anyone to create an object they’ve designed, using plastics or metal. The machine then takes the design and builds up the item one microscopic layer at a time, with it slowly appearing before your eyes.” Yahoo.

This means that anyone with access to one of these machines, a computer aided design program and some base plastic, can make whatever they want. And the machines cost less than £700.00 and can be bought at Maplins, a high street electronics store.

The thought is quite horrific. We are already drowning in a mass of plastic crap we don’t need and can’t dispose of properly but at least amounts were limited, and I say that with a hollow laugh, by manufacturing constraints. Now anyone can build anything.

Maplin First To Sell 3D Printer In UK (techweekeurope.co.uk)

I was worried about the implications for a massive increase in plastic rubbish, concerned that the long-term implications of plastic detritus were being ignored and remain unacknowledged. I should have thought harder.

In May 2013, the US Government demanded that non-profit Defence Distributed (DD) took their design for a plastic pistol off line. Yes the designs for the fully-functional 3D-printed handgun, the Liberator, were available on line. By the time the organisation complied, “the files had “already been downloaded more than 100,000 time and, according to the founder Cody Wilson, are now safe in the hands of Internet communities.”

Frickin A! An unlicensed gun that cannot be detected by airport scanners. For sure it might self destruct after a few rounds – into hundreds of pieces of non biodegradable, polluting plastic.

Composting Standards

12 March 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.4 Additives Fact Sheets, 3.1 Composting, 3.6 Good to know Tagged 00 edit, 1.3 PLA Plastic Products, 3.2.5 composting & compostables 6 Comments

Composting accelerates the natural process of biodegrading or rotting down organic waste material into a rich soil or compost. Its the only sustainable way to deal with our waste… we love it.

Biodegradable means …..
Biodegradable products break down through a naturally occurring microorganism, such as fungi or bacteria over a period of time.
They must degrade into simple, stable compounds which can be absorbed into the ecosystem.
You can read more about that HERE

Compostable means…..
To be classed compostable, items must
Biodegrade within a certain time (around the rate at which paper biodegrades.)The resulting particles must be very small.
The resulting biomass must be free of toxins, able to sustain plant life and be used as an organic fertilizer or soil additive.

Composting Standards
For a man-made product to be sold as compostable, it has to meet certain standards. One such is the
European Norm EN13432
This is a EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste (94/62/EC), EN 13432:2000 – “Packaging: requirements for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation”
It was introduced in 2000.
It has been adopted by the UK and is published as BS EN 13432 by the British Standards Institution.
Comprehensive evidence has to be submitted before a product gets ‘compostable’ certification.

Home Composting V Industrial Composting

HOWEVER compostable in this instance means that these certified products will break down in an industrial composters.
Industrial composting are large scale schemes.
Home composting is a bin in your back yard.
The difference is is that industrial composting is a lot hotter and can work more quickly.
Therefore, while a product might be classed as both biodegradable and compostable, it might not break down in a backyard compost bin.

Home Composting

Vinçotte, a Belgian accredited inspection and certification organisation, provide a home composting certification service. Products that display the ‘OK Compost Home’ logo, can go in your bin.

The Association for Organics Recycling is working to establish a similar specification for the UK.

Compostable Plastics

Cellulose derived plastics such as Cellophane. These plant derived plastics are amongst the first examples of the product and do biodegrade.
Starch based plastics which are compostable such as PLA plastics. They are certified compostable and do biodegrade.

Composting Compostable Plastic At Home
While most agree that compostable plastic is indeed compostable, many say that it can only composted in industrial composters. As we don’t have many large scale municipal schemes this they say is a pointless advantage.I say the days of large scale municipal schemes is fast approaching as governments aim to divert biodegradable rubbish from landfill sites.
AND I have been composting my PLA plastic for years. We have used and composted a number of products (including Biobags , Deli pots and disposable Cutlery)
It does take longer than other products and sometimes I have found shreds of it in my compost but I dig it into the soil where it quickly disappears.

Bioplastics
Most compostable plastics are 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.

To be sure you are getting a compostable plastic get one that has been certified.

Check out all our composting posts HERE

Remember, not all bio- plastics can be composted and do not biodegrade – bioplastics dont mean biodegradable. Yup its confusing but try everything you ever wanted to know about plastic.but were too scared to ask, to find out a lot more about plastic.

Nike Reuse A Shoe Scheme

23 June 2012 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic Tagged 00 edit, 1.7 Plastic trash reused 1 Comment

You take your stinky old trainers to one of the drop off locations, they are collected up and shredded. They can then be incorporated into running tracks, basketball and tennis courts, playgrounds and synthetic turf fields.

Whether you think we should be building plastic playing surfaces is another issue. However, if we are going to build them this, reduces the amounts of virgin materials used.

It also keeps thousands of shoes out of the waste disposal system

You can find drop of locations using the map on the website or search for your nearest location here.

Sun block for a year

12 June 2012 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 6 archive Tagged 00 edit 5 Comments

I have absolutely no melamine and my skin burns even in cloudy conditions. Sure I cover up but I still have to factor up on a regular basis.

I have been making my own sun block for years now and it does work (details below), but when setting off on our plastic free travels I had to ask myself:

Could I really carry a years supply of home made sun tan lotion out there with me?
If so, how I would I carry it?

Last time I went away I took my home-made lotions in metal pots. While they are fine in the handbag they are not so good for hard core backpacking. My pack gets flung on and off jolty old buses and the metal bottles crumpled and creased under the strain. Then the lids could not be removed or started to leak.

Obviously I am not going to use glass bottles.

This is one of those times when plastic bottles are the best option so why not just buy the lotion out there ready made and packed in plastic bottles. Its not even as if those bottles would be going to landfill or end up as litter. In most of the countries we visit plastic bottles represent cash and are collected by litter pickers.

Plenty of justifications for buying ready-made, plastic –packed lotion and yet I was not keen on that idea. Part of it is just stubbornness. I want to see how far I can go with this. Another reason is I hate the crap they put in those creams – all those nasty chemicals and irritating perfumes.

So here’s my solution.

Back home I made some uber strong sun block cream. It’s as thick as axel grease with a factor of about 100. I adapted an Aromantic recipe, reduced the water and upped the sun block ingredients,details below. It was all very ad hoc so there is no recipe.

Now, while travelling, I thin down the axel grease with homemade lotion as needed. I refill the reusable plastic bottles I took from home. I can make a range of factors depending on how much lotion I add. So far it is working.

The logical amongst you will be looking puzzled. Surely the problem remains? Rather then carrying a years supply of sunblock I now have to carry a years supply of lotion to thin the sunblock down with??