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how much energy goes into plastic ?

by Posted in 2.1 reports, stats and studies Tagged 3 Comments

Interesting stuff from Low Tech Magazine

How much energy does it take (on average) to produce 1 kilogram of the following materials?

•Wood (from standing timber): 3-7MJ (830 to 1,950 watt-hours).
•Steel (from recycled steel): 6-15MJ (1,665 to 4,170 watt-hours).
•Aluminum (from 100 % recycled aluminum): 11.35-17MJ (3,150 to 4,750 watt-hours)
•Iron (from iron ore): 20-25MJ (5,550 to 6,950 watt-hours)
•Glass (from sand, etcetera): 18-35MJ (5,000 to 9,700 watt-hours)
•Steel (from iron): 20-50MJ (5,550 to 13,900 watt-hours)
•Paper (from standing timber): 25-50MJ (6,950 to 13,900 watt-hours)
•Plastics (from crude oil): 62-108MJ (17,200 to 31,950 watt-hours)
•Copper (from sulfide ore): 60-125MJ (16,600 to 34,700 watt-hours)
•Aluminum (from a typical mix of 80% virgin and 20% recycled aluminum): 219 MJ (60,800 watt-hours)
•Silicon (from silica): 230-235MJ (63,900 to 65,300 watt-hours)
•Nickel (from ore concentrate): 230-270MJ (63,900 to 75,000 watt-hours)
•Aluminum (from bauxite): 227-342MJ (63,000 to 95,000 watt-hours)
•Titanium (from ore concentrate): 900-940MJ (250,000 to 261,000 watt-hours)
•Electronic grade silicon (CVD process): 7,590-7,755MJ (2,108,700 to 2,154,900 watt-hours).

Note: 1 megajoule (MJ) = 277.77 watt-hour (Wh)

 

Plastic recycling – the law

by Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic Tagged 1 Comment

This is the law relating the use of plastic. I’ll leave you to judge how well it is being applied…. I think you can guess my opinion…

The waste hierarchy refers to the "3 Rs&q...

The waste hierarchy refers to the “3 Rs” reduce, reuse and recycle, which classify waste management strategies according to their desirability. The 3 Rs are meant to be a hierarchy, in order of importance. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

From the  British Plastic Federations website….

The recycling of plastics fits into the Waste Framework hierarchy of efficient and sustainable use of material resources. The hierarchy is now enshrined in law as a result of the recently revised Waste Framework Directive.

Waste Framework hierarchy

Prevention
Using less material in design and manufacture.
Keeping products for longer; re-use.
Using less hazardous material.

Preparing for re-use
Checking, cleaning, repairing, refurbishing, repair,whole items or spare parts.

Recycling
Turning waste into a new substance or product. Includes composting if it meets quality protocols.

Other Recovery
Including anaerobic digestion, incineration with energy recovery, gasification and pyrolysis which
produce energy (fuels, heat and power) and materials from waste; some backfilling operations.

Disposal
Landfill and incineration without energy recovery.

More

See all our posts on how to recycling plastic here.

 

3D Plastic

by Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged , ,

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.

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.

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PTFE Non stick plastic

by Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged , , , 11 Comments

When I was young and innocent, I knew nothing of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Well, it’s not the kind of thing a nicely brought up girl should have to deal with.

Instead, I went out met a man, got married and got given some very nice, very expensive wedding pans. Lovely non-stick pans.

Which brings us right back to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) .

  • This is what the non-stick coating on pans is made from.
  • Teflon is perhaps the best known manufacturer of polytetrafluoroethylene (non-stick) linings.
  • Polytetrafluoroethylene is a plastic and, like other plastics, has a down right nasty side.

Over to wise geek…..
The nonstick coating used in DuPont’s Teflon® pans has been found to release one or more of 15 different toxic gases when heated to certain temperatures, but is generally safe when used according to manufacturers’ specifications. Which chemicals are released depends on the temperature of the pan. This outgassing can be fatal to pet birds and can cause “polymer fume flu,” also known as “Teflon® flu,” in humans.

read the rest here

Teflon say if you use the pans properly(?), there shouldn’t be a problem. Try telling that to the budgie.

Whatever, the pans are too good to throw out, and I feel bad about giving them away, so I am still using them – but in future I will not be buying any more non-stick.

New Non Stick Pans

 

No PTFE non stick frying pan

More info

You can find out about the other sorts of plastic here

 

Terracycle Recycling Scheme

by Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic Tagged 10 Comments

It is almost impossible these days to buy unwrapped plastic free biscuit unless you live in Huddersfield where you can buy them loose.

But if you don’t, what to do? Give up biscuits…..hmmmmm.

OK, it’s not a great solution, but  Mc Vities have started a biscuit wrapper recycling scheme. You save up the wrappers and post them off (for free with pre paid labels) and they get recycled. Its better then binning them. In their own words

Biscuit-Wrappers-Arrow-Image-v2-UK

“McVitie’s has recently teamed up with recycling experts TerraCycle to launch the McVitie’s Biscuit Wrapper Brigade. Biscuit wrappers are recyclable, but very little mixed plastic recycling is carried out by local council kerb side collections, resulting in millions of biscuit wrappers being sent to landfill. McVitie’s and TerraCycle’s initiative – a first for the industry – encourages consumers to help end this enormous waste of resources by sending in their used biscuit wrappers to be recycled. For more information, visit www.terracycle.co.uk.”

Please note, you need to send shipments that weigh at least 0.12 kg -approximately 50 units of biscuit wrappers.

So if you can’t refuse, at least you can recycle…. more tea vicar?

Free recycling programs

TerraCycle offers free recycling programs funded by brands, manufacturers, and retailers around the world to help you collect and recycle your hard-to-recycle waste. Simply choose the programs you’d like to join; start collecting in your home, school, or office; download free shipping labels; and send us your waste to be recycled. You can even earn rewards for your school or favorite non-profit!

For example I use an electric toothbrush because bamboo really doesnt work for me. But they come with a lot of plastic. Which my council wont recycle.

How to participate

There are 2 different ways to participate in this programme:

1) Drop off your oral care products and packaging at your nearest public drop-off location

Find your nearest public drop-off location on the interactive map above and drop off any accepted oral care products and packaging during the opening hours.

To learn more about public drop-off locations, please click here.

2) Set up a public drop-off location

Please note this only applies to members participating in the recycling programme.

If there are no public drop-off locations near you, you can set up your own. Simply follow the steps below:

Create a TerraCycle® account
Find a public place to host your collection (with the prior consent of the person in charge of the place)
Fill out this form to finalise your request
Please note that you have more chances to be selected to open a public drop-off location if you live more than 5 miles away from an existing public drop-off location for this scheme.

To learn more about what public drop-off locations are and what it involves to set up one, please click here.

See all Learn more

See what products can be recycled here https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigadesYou can find other biscuit related posts here.

Upcycling floppy discs

by Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic Tagged 2 Comments

floppy disc planters

Is this a bit bonkers? Or incredibly sweet? Floppy discs (who still has those?) into planters. From recycle Uk Facebook page – recommended!

Want more crafty projects?

Have a look at what these talented folk have done over in the arty crafty part of this blog and visit my PINTEREST board for funky ideas. The people over there are so clever aren’t they?

More information

There are many other ways to recycle and reuse waste plastic, from arty (make your own lampshade) to the very strange.
but our favourite solution is to REFUSE plastics.

make bakeplastic freeHow To Boycott Plastic

Find plastic-free products with the

Plastic-free Resource Index

Read up about plastic & the boycott here

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squirrels eating plastic

by Posted in 2.1 reports, stats and studies Tagged 5 Comments

What squirrels should be eating … and what they are eating. Thanks to  Harry Shuldman for this great picture …..

squirrel in Wash. Sq. Park forcing a wadded up plastic bag down its throat

In his own words… “squirrel in Wash. Sq. Park forcing a wadded up plastic bag down its throat. I tried to shoo him away to stop him from eating the bag, but he was determined to finish it. This is why you need to throw your trash in the trash!”

Of course, as we would say, boycott the filthy stuff.

Every year plastic is implicated in the death and crippling of animals worldwide

Check out the Flickr Plastic Is Rubbish photo pool.. for some really fantastic pictures of plastic polltuion.

More dirty pictures can be found here –  plastic pollution picture index g

Plastic Aware Projects Archive

by Posted in 2.1 reports, stats and studies, 6 archive 1 Comment

Campus to track plastic use for new project Here’s an interesting report from the Daily Californian

English: Campus of the UC Berkeley in Berkeley...

English: Campus of the UC Berkeley in Berkeley, California, United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two weeks ago, the campus ( UC Berkeley)  secured funding for a zero-waste research center to study where waste on campus is coming from and what can be done to reduce it. The first action the center will take is adoption of the Plastic Disclosure Project, a worldwide initiative asking the business world to report and assess how much plastic waste it is producing.

The project was founded last year by UC Berkeley alumnus Doug Woodring, who witnessed the effects of plastic in local waters and at the North Pacific Gyre, an aggregate of plastic floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Woodring said the project is looking to work with businesses “to hold a mirror up to themselves” and address how plastic production and waste effect plastic pollution in oceans. UC Berkeley will be the first campus in the world to join the project.

Read the rest of the article here

Mechanical Methods Of Recycling Plastic

by Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic Tagged 6 Comments

Most plastics are recycled mechanically though they can also be recycled other ways.

Compared with lucrative recycling of materials, such as glass and metal, plastic polymers recycling is often more challenging because of low density and low value. There are also numerous technical hurdles to overcome when recycling plastic. Wikkipedia

Mechanical Recycling

Mechanical recycling, very simply, consists of melting down the old plastic and using it to make new products

Mechanical recycling can only be done a few times before the polymers break down and the quality of the plastic degrades. So, unlike glass for instance, you cannot necessarily use mechanically recycled polymers to remake the same product. You have to use them to make something different. The chain of recycling might go as follows

  • Virgin PET bottle to fleece or carpet
  • Carpet fibers to plastic lumber.
  • Plastic lumber to waste disposal plant – though manufacturers claim that plastic lumber can be recycled again.

This process is sometimes called DOWNCYCLING.

Sadly it is not quite as easy as that. There are hundreds of kinds of plastic – some easy to recycle, others not (plastic film for example ). Consequently is not cost effective to recycle all plastics. While it is theoretically possible to recycle nearly all plastics. generally it is  the simpler plastics that actually are recycled.

ALL the above is open to change and may have changed by the time you read this. It will also depend where you are reading it.  

Sorting Plastics for recycling

Plastics must often be of nearly identical composition to mix efficiently.Wikkipedia

When different types of plastics are melted together, they tend to phase- separate, like oil and water, and set in these layers. The phase boundaries cause structural weakness in the resulting material, meaning that polymer blends are useful in only limited applications. Wikkipedia

recycled plastic lumber featuredThis means that plastics have to be identified and sorted into types. In the olden days recyclers had to rely on the plastic code stamped onto the plastic product and sort by that. These days most use automatic sort systems to identify the resin, such as near infrared (NIR) technology. “NIR sorting is the industry’s preferred plastics sorting technology because it can accurately identity the many different polymers already in use today (different polymers reflect an identifiable light spectrum).” Inez

NB PLA plastic manufacturers claim that NIR technology can recognise PLA plastics (compostatble plastics) and so refute the oft stated claim that PLA plastics bugger up the recycling system. You can see some test results here.

Additives, fillers, and reinforcements are used to change and improve the physical and mechanical properties of plastics. However the widespread use of dyes, fillers, and other additives in plastics can also affect the ease with which they are recycled.  You can read about plastic additives here

“The polymer is generally too viscous to economically remove fillers, and would be damaged by many of the processes that could cheaply remove the added dyes. Additives are less widely used in beverage containers and plastic bags, allowing them to be recycled more often.
The percentage of plastic that can be fully recycled, rather than downcycled or go to waste can be increased when manufacturers of packaged goods minimize mixing of packaging materials and eliminate contaminants. The Association of Plastics Recyclers have issued a Design Guide for Recyclability. Wikkipedia

You can read the Design Guide for Recyclability. here

Mechanical Recycling Case Studies

Melt & Reform my visit to a mechanical plastic recycling plant recycled lastic chair featured

Melt & Press – making innovative plastic sheeting

Plastic lumber sturdy, longlasting and functional? Or tacky as anything!

Make your own plastic recycling machine.

More on recycling here

Other ways to recycle and reuse plastic trash here

Recycling and  waste plastic – a discussion

Related recycling posts

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Bryan Slat’s Sea Hoover – an update

by Posted in 1.5 Technofix & Cleaner Plastics 7 Comments

Those of you watching the Boyan Slat story might be interested to know that the first prototype is now up and floating in the North Sea. Remember Boyan Slat? The guy who proposed hoovering the oceans of plastic debris using solar powered bots? It was back in 2012 that he first suggested it. While the idea was much praised, indeed his TEDx Talk on the subject went viral, there were almost as many negative responses.
Perhaps with some justification. the boy was 19 and still at college and his ideas undeveloped and untested. But still….

Proposal

You can read his proposal for yourself here….

“The essence of Marine Litter Extraction is, instead of fighting it, to use the ocean to your advantage.
The gyres are 5 areas in world’s oceans where rotating currents create an accumulating mass of plastic, dubbed ‘Garbage Patches’. Moving through the oceans to collect plastic would be costly, clumsy and polluting, so why not let the rotating currents transport the debris to you? With Marine Litter Extraction, an anchored network of floating booms and processing platforms will span the radius of such a gyre.These booms act as giant ‘funnels’, where a slight angle of the booms create a component of the surface current force in the direction of the platforms.

The debris then enters the platforms, where it will be separated from plankton, filtered out of the water, and eventually stored in containers until collected.

Feasibility Study

Undaunted by adverse comments he went on to found The Ocean Cleanup foundation, a crowd funded, crowd sourced team of voluntary scientists and engineers to work on the project.

From Boyan Slat’s open letter “As some of you may have noticed, The Ocean Cleanup has just released its feasibility study, investigating the technical and financial viability of the concept I proposed 1.5 years ago. After the concept went viral one year ago, and (besides a tremendous amount of support) I also faced criticism about the feasibility of my concept, I then decided to assemble a team of about 100 people, with whom we performed a feasibility study.The report, authored by 70 people, covers all major topic, including engineering, physical oceanography, ecology, maritime law, finance and recycling.

ABSTRACT

The research described in this feasibility study concludes that The Ocean Cleanup Array is likely a feasible and viable method to remove large amounts of plastic pollution from the North Pacific Gyre. Computer simulations have shown that floating barriers are suitable to capture and concentrate most of this plastic. Combined with ocean currents models to determine how much plastic would encounter the structure, a combined cleanup efficiency of 42% of all plastic within the North Pacific gyre can be achieved using a 100 km array. In collaboration with offshore experts, it has been determined that this array can be made and installed using current materials and technologies. The estimated costs are in total of 317 million euro, or 31.7 million euro per year. This translates to 4.53 euro per collected kg of ocean trash.

First Prototype Launched

And now there is this

THE HAGUE, June 22, 2016 – The Ocean Cleanup, the Dutch foundation developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic, today unveiled its North Sea prototype. When installed later this week, the prototype will become the first ocean cleanup system ever tested at sea. The prototype will be installed in the North Sea, 23 km (12 NM) off the Dutch coast, where it will remain for one year. The objective is to test how The Ocean Cleanup’s floating barrier fares in extreme weather at sea – the kind of conditions the system will eventually face when deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Well Done YOU!

So exciting. We will be watching with interest.

You can keep up to date with the project over on their website

 

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Composting Standards

by Posted in 1.4 Additives Fact Sheets, 3.1 Composting, 3.6 Good to know Tagged , , 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.

More

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.

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Polylactic acid, (PLA)

by Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged , , , 1 Comment

There are some truly biodegradable and compostable bioplastics.
Biodegradable products break down through a naturally occurring microorganism into simple, stable compounds which can be absorbed into the ecosystem. More about biodegrading here.
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.

Compostable Plastics – PLA

Polylactic acid, (PLA), plastic is an example of a biodegradable bioplastic. PLA or polylactide was discovered in 1932 by Carothers (at DuPont). (Whats a bioplastic? Find out here)

PLA is a bio-polymer
Bio-polymers can be produced from natural resources
A natural bio-polymers is one that is extracted directly from biological raw materials such as cellulose and cotton from plants, wool from sheep and silk from moths
Man made bio-polymers are also derived from plants but then further treated using chemicals.

Poly-lactic acid (PLA), falls into this category.
PLA is made from the starch found in plants including beets, sugar cane, and tapioca.. Starch is a natural polymer, a white, granular carbohydrate produced by plants during photosynthesis Starch can be made into bio-plastic. However when exposed to water starch bio-plastic swells and deforms.To stop this happening the starch needs to be modified

Starch is transformed into PLA by;
1) Using microorganisms to transform it into a lactic acid – a monomer
2) Then chemically treating the lactic acid to create a long chain polymer, polylactic acid – PLA

There are several different types of Polylactic Acid
Racemic PLLA (Poly-L-lactic Acid),
Regular PLLA (Poly-L-lactic Acid),
PDLA (Poly-D-lactic Acid),
and PDLLA (Poly-DL-lactic Acid).

Recycling

PLA can be recycled back into lactic acid and used to make products of the same quality as the original- there is no down-cycling. Currently only recycled in Wisconsin and Belgium.

Biodegradable

PLA products biodegrade into water, carbon dioxide and organic materials. and so can be composted.

“First, the moisture and heat in the compost pile split the polymer chains apart, creating smaller polymers, and finally, lactic acid. Micro-organisms in compost and soil consume the smaller polymer fragments and lactic acid as nutrients. Since lactic acid is widely found in nature, a large number of organisms metabolize lactic acid.  The end result of composting is carbon dioxide, water and humus, a soil nutrient.  This degradation process is temperature and humidity dependent. “
In commercial composters this should take about 30-45 days. In home composting bins it might take longer. Obviously the bulkier the product the harder it is to break down, and the longer it takes.

Rotting Away

a PLA bottle left in the ocean will biodegrade in six to 24 months.
It can be used for medical implants that biodegrade over time

NB PLA will not compost in landfill.

Composting PLA Plastic At Home
While most agree that PLA plastic is indeed compostable, many say that it can only composted in large scale municipal schemes. 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.
Moreover I have been composting my PLA plastic for years. We have used and composted the following PLA plastic products ( including Biobags , Deli pots  and disposable Cutlery  )

The Rest

Are PLA products safe to eat?
People …PLA products are not edible yet are generally non-toxic. Small pieces of PLA will most likely pass harmlessly through the gastrointestinal tract. Once passed through the gastrointestinal tract it will be eliminated in the stool. 
Pigs …PLA can apparently be returned to the food chain. I have heard it suggested that you can feed it to your pig. Please double check.
I am allergic to corn; could I still use PLA products?
Yes, the heat used in the process of deriving the starch from corn destroys the immunologically reactive profiilin. Profilin is the chemical that usually causes an allergic reaction and is not found in PLA products.

Burning PLA Plastic
PLA will not emit toxic fumes when incinerated.

Useful stuff to know

Remember, not all bio- plastics can be composted and some are not as green as they sound
Find out about composting here.

PLA products I use