Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

Post by PKop » Fri, May 20, 2022, 4:14 AM UTC

braingenious wrote: post #111

PKop wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When a blog is titled "Black Woman Engineer Turns Plastic Into Bricks That Are Reportedly Stronger Than Concrete" on a blog called People of Color in Tech, it's going to get commented on, don't be naive. Maybe if these qualifiers aren't worthy of discussion, they shouldn't be used. If the article was titled "Engineer does X.." on a tech blog not singling out a particular race, it wouldn't be an issue. If bricks and p…

> If the article was titled "Engineer does X.." on a tech blog The title on HN is: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete I clicked on it and read it because of that. I am, unfortunately for the sake of this conversation, of the opinion that it’s an article about somebody that made plastic bricks. I understand that you appear to have read some sort of referendum about race that…

Post by justinator » Fri, May 20, 2022, 4:20 AM UTC

guelo wrote: post #116

lelandfe wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think plastic probably makes more sense as a construction material than for roads. Cars are really tough on roads. I have to imagine that plastic in roads would get shredded into microplastics and wind up all over the place.

Would this be any worse for the environment than the petroleum in asphalt roads?

Post by leksak » Fri, May 20, 2022, 4:38 AM UTC

balaji1 wrote: post #63

SCAQTony wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bricks will aspirate toxic chemicals when exposed to direct sunlight: "...Plastics leached twice as much pollution in sunlight as in darkness, they found. One bag leached 263 different chemicals in the dark but more than 13,000 when exposed to light! Others leached even more. And the longer bags were exposed to sunlight, the more chemicals they leached. ..." https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/everyday…

Clay and other concrete based bricks must be cheap enough already, and work well. If we intend to reuse plastic in bricks, maybe use those bricks for building things in and around landfills or things like storing nuclear waste - so that toxicity is concentrated. Otherwise, plastic bricks seem like one of those things that will be discovered to be toxic eventually.

Post by partomniscient » Fri, May 20, 2022, 4:47 AM UTC

astatine wrote: post #70

Mixing plastics with asphalt has been tried for roads in India for many years now. There is one stretch near where I live which was done 10+ years ago. There is an official policy on trying this, as a pilot, for any agency that wishes to use it. See: https://www.prakati.in/use-of-plastic-for-road-construction-... The road which I use occasionally seems reasonably good as roads go. Unless you see the boards informing…

Post by daniel-cussen » Fri, May 20, 2022, 5:06 AM UTC

suifbwish wrote: post #119

astatine wrote: post #70

Mixing plastics with asphalt has been tried for roads in India for many years now. There is one stretch near where I live which was done 10+ years ago. There is an official policy on trying this, as a pilot, for any agency that wishes to use it. See: https://www.prakati.in/use-of-plastic-for-road-construction-... The road which I use occasionally seems reasonably good as roads go. Unless you see the boards informing…

I recommend reading this in Lucasarts gaming style text: Meanwhile deep in a laboratory somewhere deep in the Caribbean…… several scientists hell bent on solving the landfill problem work frantically on bacteria which are capable of breaking down plastics as their primary food source.