Sciencemadness Discussion Board

What to do with lots of plastic packaging ?

Sulaiman - 11-2-2019 at 08:09

I am slowly starting to pack up our house belongings to relocate.
I will use rolls and rolls of plastic :o
PE bubble wrap
PE cling film
PP packing tape

After unpacking at the destination what can I do with the waste ?

Unlikely:
. store it for re-use
. give to someone with an immediate need for packing material
. develop a clean waste-to-energy converter
. burn it
. send to the dump

Possible:
. melt into a solid block then send to the dump
. melt the PE and cast it into something useful

First choice:
. degrade the plastic with the least environmental impact.

I will plant a tree out of guilt :P


Any suggestions for "degrade the plastic with the least environmental impact" ?

symboom - 11-2-2019 at 09:23

What about distilling it into fuel
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vViSu4bcxpE


[Edited on 11-2-2019 by symboom]

morganbw - 11-2-2019 at 11:59

Good luck with your move. I hope it has the space you need for your hobby.
Sorry that I have no advise to give for the plastic disposal/use.

Twospoons - 11-2-2019 at 14:24

You don't have lots of old newspaper to use instead?
I would hope someone would be able to re-use your bubble wrap, the rest really is un-reusable unfortunately.
PE is resistant to a lot of things. High power UV might do it, but it will take time. I doubt your bubble wrap or cling film has UV stabilisers in it.

The problem of single-use plastics has come to the fore in NZ recently with most of the major supermarkets phasing out plastic shopping bags. Personally I've been using re-usable shopping bags for years, as much for practical reasons as environmental concern. Re-useable bags are so much stronger, better insulated, the handles don't cut into your fingers, and you don't end up with piles of plastic bags to dispose of.
Still, I was standing there looking at the supermarket shelves stuffed with things wrapped in layers of plastic, thinking that while we've made a start, we have a long, long way to go.


[Edited on 11-2-2019 by Twospoons]

fusso - 11-2-2019 at 15:00

I'd prefer keep using plastic as I'd heard that reusable ones are worse than plastic. I'd not want to make a change and later find out it's worse than not changing.
And for the plastic, i like symboom's suggestion, though the rxn should be called cracking/pyrolysis.

andy1988 - 11-2-2019 at 16:33

I recall a U.S. injection molding factory owner talking about using recycled plastic for bulk items, like truck bedliners and maybe plastic barriers.

I like this process, they advocate using NMP instead of DCM. I like their candy analogy. I expect they can fractionally distill out unknown additives in the feed, like dyes and plasticizers.
Quote:
One particularly efficient feature of the new process is the ability to condense the evaporated solvent for reuse again and again. "The objective of studies like these is not only to find ways to recycle this abundant mixed-plastic waste, but to do so efficiently in an environmentally benign way," Sharma said.


Lots of interesting things in that ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering journal. I'm not fond of approaches converting plastic waste to fuel as it runs contrary to all the 'put CO2 in the ground' research...

Extruding inexpensive solar collector parts (specifically twinwall) would be something worthy of investigation. I expect this is done with a sheet die attached to the extruder. Take SunChips for example, they're cooked using solar collectors (sun->steam->cooking oil->chips).

[Edited on 12-2-2019 by andy1988]

Ubya - 12-2-2019 at 04:46

Quote: Originally posted by andy1988  
I recall a U.S. injection molding factory owner talking about using recycled plastic for bulk items, like truck bedliners and maybe plastic barriers.

I like this process, they advocate using NMP instead of DCM. I like their candy analogy. I expect they can fractionally distill out unknown additives in the feed, like dyes and plasticizers.

Quote:
One particularly efficient feature of the new process is the ability to condense the evaporated solvent for reuse again and again. "The objective of studies like these is not only to find ways to recycle this abundant mixed-plastic waste, but to do so efficiently in an environmentally benign way," Sharma said.


Lots of interesting things in that ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering journal. I'm not fond of approaches converting plastic waste to fuel as it runs contrary to all the 'put CO2 in the ground' research...

Extruding inexpensive solar collector parts (specifically twinwall) would be something worthy of investigation. I expect this is done with a sheet die attached to the extruder. Take SunChips for example, they're cooked using solar collectors (sun->steam->cooking oil->chips).

[Edited on 12-2-2019 by andy1988]


i don't think this to be suitable as a backyard project

Vomaturge - 12-2-2019 at 10:02

Quote: Originally posted by andy1988  
I'm not fond of approaches converting plastic waste to fuel as it runs contrary to all the 'put CO2 in the ground' research...

[Edited on 12-2-2019 by andy1988]


true it is taking a petroleum based product and making it into CO2, but what's the harm if it is used in place of some other carbon rich fuel? That way you could use less of your normal fuel, using waste-plastic-derived-fuel instead of a portion of it, to make the same amount of energy and CO2. You're making as much CO2 as you normally would, while NOT making as much plastic waste, and NOT requiring as much petroleum as if you buried the plastic and burned a dedicated fuel.

But I think that whole process is hard to do as a backyard experimenter. Sure you can get a liquid that burns, but it may not be handled well inside a heater or engine. Clogged fuel filters, partial combustion, and exhaust full of BOTH unused oxygen and black unburned fuel particles is the likely result.

What would I do? Well, if I couldn't wrap it all in paper, I'd limit the bubble wrap to items that really need to be protected. I think I would try to give it to someone with an immediate need for packing material; UPS or FedEx shipping centers will sometimes take used packaging supplies. If they didn't take it, then I guess I would be saving it or taking it to the dump:(