Plastics: From the Recycle Bin to the Battlefield

As our CEO, Chris Allen is a former Marine, we found this story especially interesting. If the Pentagon gives the go-ahead, drinking bottled water could translate into helping defend the country. According to the Marine Corps Times, a Senate committee is asking the Pentagon to determine what recycled fabrics could fit into the military dress code as part of a government-wide eco-friendly initiative.

Ohio based Cintas says they can, in essence, replicate the same polyester found in current garb, including battle dress uniforms, made of a polyester blend. The company says the bottles are shredded into flakes and transformed into filament, before it is woven into fabric and turned into polyester.

 Cintas style consultant Sarah Levi hopes she'll soon have a new customer -- the U.S. military. "According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it takes 66 percent less energy to make recycled polyester compared to traditionally manufactured polyester," said Levi.

The Dawn of a Faux-Bronze Age?

From the Wall Street Journal...Sculptors are the lastest "molders" to utilize resin!

We don't think of artists as people who cut corners. As poor as he was, Vincent van Gogh didn't use 10% less paint on his canvases to save money, and Michelangelo didn't substitute quartz for marble. But the rising price of copper, the main component of bronze, has forced more and more sculptors to economize.

"It's ridiculous how expensive bronze has become," Manhattan sculptor Bryan Hunt said. Piero Mussi, owner of Artworks Foundry in Berkeley, Calif., stated that the per-pound price of bronze has risen in the past 10 years to $5 from $1.20. And Marc Fields, owner of New York's The Compleat Sculptor supply house, claimed his prices have more than tripled since 2008, reaching $7 a pound. (He also noted that shipping costs to New York City are higher than elsewhere.)

As a result, Mr. Hunt now casts some of his sculptures in a water-based plaster called Aqua-Resin, allowing him "to save way more than 50%. It's quicker to produce and less expensive for me, and I think the quality of the material is high."

He is not alone. Kitty Cantrell, a wildlife sculptor in Ramona, Calif., used to work primarily in bronze, but foundries now cast her work in polyester resin, which saves her more than half what she used to pay. "I'll work in bronze if someone is willing to pay 50% up front for casting," she said.

Hey, Somebody Call the Hyperbole Police

We liked Don Loepp's blog post from last Friday and wanted to share it. We agree, Don.

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Whenever you read a statistic in a story like this — “The amount of plastic produced since the beginning of the Plastics Age is enough to wrap the world in plastic bags six times over” — you can thank a journalism school professor. (That example came from the trailer for the film Plastic Planet, which opened in U.S. theaters Jan. 14.)

Journalism school teaches budding reporters to put data in terms that are easy to understand. Don’t just write “one part per million,” they say. Write that “it’s the equivalent of a shot glass of whiskey in a railroad tank car full of water.”

So when researchers described the “Great Garbage Patch” as an island of plastic twice the size of Texas, the news media — naturally — repeated the description.

Except it’s not true.  Read the full post>

New Fully Biodegradable Thermosetting Resins

Modern synthetic resins are made from fossil sources, are not biodegradable and can only be burned under strict precautions due to the release of toxic substances. Prof. Gadi Rothenberg and Dr. Albert Alberts of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) have discovered a range of new thermoset resins made from renewable raw materials which are fully biodegradable, non-toxic and non-hazardous. This according to azom.com.
 

Most plastic products for domestic or construction use consist of three-dimensional networks of cross-linked polymers. These are thermosetting plastics. A classic example is the Bakelite resin produced from the reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. This material is still used to bind wood fibers in pressed wood such as medium density fiberboard (MDF) and formica. Synthetic resins are widely used in the construction industry. The resin of urea / formaldehyde is used Medium Density Overlay (MDO), a combination of concrete and plywood, used in concrete molds.

Completely biodegradable bioplastics

By selecting the right raw materials and process conditions for the cross-linking reaction the scientists, who work for the UvA's Heterogeneous Catalysis and Sustainable Chemistry research group, were able to make a range of bio-plastics ranging from hard foam material to flexible thin sheet materials. These are non-toxic and biodegradable. The process requires no toxic ingredients and no harmful substances are released from combustion. Moreover, the raw materials are readily available at competitive prices on the world market.

The new plastic could replace polyurethane and polystyrene in the construction and packaging industries. This also applies to the epoxy resins used for panels such as MDF. The follow-up research will focus on new applications and process development and upscaling.

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There Is a New Resource For Injection Molders and Extruders

Hanna Prime, Inc. announced today that its name will change to Resin Resource, Inc. effective November 1, 2010. At the same time, the company will unveil a new identity and Web site, www.resinresourceinc.com.

Click to read more ...