Captain's Phlog 2020.03.03
_____________________________________________________________
Talking about Actually RECYCLING Plastic (LDPE in this case)
"Most plastic is only reprocessed once before it goes to a
landfill. "Downcycling" is a more accurate term than
"recycling" when it comes to plastic. Unlike glass or
paper, plastic recycling does not "close the loop" because
most post consumer bottles are not made into new plastic
bottles. Instead, milk jugs, soda containers and other
bottles are turned into lower-grade products such as jacket
fill, fleece, carpet, toys or plastic lumber. None of these
products are in-turn recyclable. Therefore the recycling
process only delays the plastics disposal. The final
destination for all plastic is either a landfill, where it
does not decompose, or an incinerator, where it can release
harmful chemicals into the atmosphere when burned."
This isn't a post about 'doing the right thing' it's about
looking at some applied science and craft concerning
plastics (specifically LDPE in this case). I know you're a
pretty sharp cookie - You must be - You're using Gopher fer
Christsakes! You already know that those little triangles
denote different TYPES of plastic. Different compounds that
have very different properties.
Those symbols are useful for sure. But sadly they're not
ubiquitous. Take a personal example: Bread bags from Aldis.
They're unmarked. What are they? What do you do with them?
Immaterial. My waste service says to chuck them. In fact
that's what most services in the US do. Plastic sheeting
fouls their machines it would seem. They pull it out and
send it to a landfill. So what can we do with stuff of
unknown composition? Can it be USED?
Here [1] is an interesting read about household plastics in
general and a grade school science class lab that sorts
unknown plastics with a density column. But this is beyond
our needs. What I did was just dive right in! There are a
number of videos on YouMonetize about processing HDPE (milk
jugs, etc) but not much on LDPE (bags & sheeting) so I went
into this mostly blind.
Most every bread bag seems to be made from the same stuff as
any bread bag. If it's tacitly VERY different it's likely
you're looking at some different composition, beware. My
initial judgment call comes from the fact that I'm a comic
geek. There are two types of comic bags "Polypropylene" and
"Polyethylene". The latter seem equivalent to bread bags and
this was my initial assumption.
Making Sheets:
Lay down a sheet of parchment paper over a terrycloth towel
on a hard surface. Lay out several layers of bread bags on
top of each other. Cover with another layer of parchment.
Using an iron on medium heat, press firmly over the entire
surface constantly moving the iron at a slow steady speed.
After about 30 seconds ( assuming your work-piece is ~1' or
~30cm square ) peal back the parchment, turn the sheet over,
and repeat.
Check your work. You should have a pretty well fused sheet
composed of several layers of bread bags. I layed out
a pattern for a crude bill fold and trimmed the sheet to
size. I sealed the ends. To do this insert a piece of
parchment inside where you want the bills to go (so the
whole wallet doesn't stick shut) and iron the fold so it
stays folded. Finally, turn the iron on Medium-High and iron
the two sides to weld them together - Just like before, but
on higher heat, and with the edge of the iron.
I would show you a picture... but this is Gopher after all
and I do LOVE my pure text. :-D That's it for now. Take
chances and get messy!
[1]
http://www.nclark.net/Density_Column.pdf
0x04 [EOT]
