Have you noticed degradable plastic bags cropping up at various stores? I have railed in the past that this approach makes no sense. Now a major European recycling group has issued a statement calling use of degradable additives in plastics “nonsense” that can do more harm than good. It’s an unusually strong statement in the normally clubby world of plastics suppliers. There’s no new ground here, but the group states clearly and strongly the major arguments:
1) Plastics have value as recovered commodities,
2) The biodegradable additives don’t reduce the carbon footprint of packaging,
3) The degradable additives jeopardize recycling streams, and
4) They will not solve the littering problem.
The European Plastics Recyclers Association don’t address the issue of the degradability of plant-based plastics, which may reduce the carbon footprint of packaging, but have the additional problem of pulling corn, potatoes and other plants from human food supply.
Bioplastics are entering a boom phase, and will be a centerpiece of the National plastics Exposition in Chicago next week. Plaant-based are growing because they are taking a new tack. Most of the big players are moving away from the packaging angle and toward the OEM engineering angle. The emphasis in that push will be on the carbon footprint issue.
Your post is interesting, but I am afraid that you are confusing bio-degradable bags and photo-degradable bags. Thus there are some factual errors in your article. Photodegradable bags, such as ECOgrade bags, are not bio-degradable, and therefore do not have the issues associated with your comments. Specifically,
1) Plastics have value as recovered commodities,
AGREED: Certain photo-degradable bags, such as ECOgrade, can be recycled, and therefore maintain this value.
2) The biodegradable additives don't reduce the carbon footprint of packaging,
TRUE FOR BIODEGRADABLE, BUT NOT PHOTODEGRADABLE. Photodegradable bags contain 46% less plastic resin, and produce 34% less Greenhouse Gas in preproduction, as well as use less energy in manufacture. They do not produce GHG upon degradation.
3) The degradable additives jeopardize recycling streams, and
NOT TRUE FOR CERTAIN TYPES, SUCH AS ECOGRADE. ECOgrade does not contain toxins that jepordize recycling, and do not degrade once mixed in the recycling stream
4) They will not solve the littering problem.
Depends how you define this. We all beleive people should not litter. But if littered, photodegradable bags will degrade and go away, minimizing risk to wildlife and the resulting "urban tumbleweed"
The European Plastics Recyclers Association don't address the issue of the degradability of plant-based plastics, which may reduce the carbon footprint of packaging, but have the additional problem of pulling corn, potatoes and other plants from human food supply.
AGAIN, THIS IS BIO-DEGRADABLE: Photodegradable bags do not contain corn, potatioes, and other food items.
THiese are common confusions, and misspercetions. I hope this clarification helps clear this up. For more information you can view FAQs at http://www.gxtgreen.com/page/menu_3/12908.html
The 100-percent solar-powered Solar Impulse plane flies on a piloted, cross-country flight this summer over the US as a prelude to the longer, round-the-world flight by its successor aircraft planned for 2015.
GE Aviation expects to chop off about 25 percent of the total 3D printing time of metallic production components for its LEAP Turbofan engine, using in-process inspection. That's pretty amazing, considering how slow additive manufacturing (AM) build times usually are.
A $1,500, hand-operated, bench-model, plastic injection machine crowdsource-funded via Kickstarter can be used to mold small, quality, plastic parts inexpensively, on demand.
The federal government is launching competitions to kickstart three more manufacturing innovation institutes, including one focused on Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation.
The airframe of Airbus's A350 XWB consists of a bigger proportion of carbon-fiber-reinforced composite structures than any other commercial jet to date: over 53 percent by weight.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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