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Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

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Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#61

Post by mrtranscendence »

shiftpgdn wrote: post #55
rockostrich wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the very kitchen focused comment but the kitchen is where I used the most plastic. Polycarbonate is a very useful plastic for food containers ("cambros") because it's lightweight, durable, and can be transparent. Sure, glass could work but it's a lot more fragile, especially if you were to try to constantly stack/unstack them in a commercial kitchen. To a lesser extent the same argument could be made for po…

Proof bread with a cloth. Glass containers for food are very durable, I've yet to break one.

How long have you been cooking? I've broken pie dishes, 9x13 baking dishes, measuring cups ... probably other things. Maybe I'm a butterfingers but that doesn't change matters.

Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#62

Post by myshpa »

postalrat wrote: post #35
myshpa wrote: post #21

Change my mind: 90%+ of plastic is not necessary. Not necessary: - plastic bottles (good only for coca-cola's profits etc., 90% of bottled drinks contain microplastics, use glass) - food wrappers (use paper & natural wax, not pfoas) - plastic shopping bags (use textile bags like our grandma's did) - eshop packages (ever received goods in plastic bags wrapped in insane amounts of additional plastic?) - tea bags made w…

Plastics and acids don't get well together? Is there some science behind this? Very strong acids are often stored in plastic.

You're right ... that's just an assumption I've held for whatever reason. Couldn't find a source either. Edited the post. Thank you.

Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#63

Post by Clamchop »

hammock wrote: post #23
myshpa wrote: post #21

Change my mind: 90%+ of plastic is not necessary. Not necessary: - plastic bottles (good only for coca-cola's profits etc., 90% of bottled drinks contain microplastics, use glass) - food wrappers (use paper & natural wax, not pfoas) - plastic shopping bags (use textile bags like our grandma's did) - eshop packages (ever received goods in plastic bags wrapped in insane amounts of additional plastic?) - tea bags made w…

>natural wax The only commercially viable wax is paraffin, which is petroleum derived >bamboo All of the bamboo products for sale are glued together with petroleum derived adhesives and often finished with petroleum based products like mineral oil

Because mineral oil isn't a "drying" oil (it doesn't polymerize in air), it's an unlikely choice for finishing furniture because it stays greasy and will rub off on things.

More likely is a drying oil, like linseed, or a synthetic finish, like polyurethane or epoxy.

Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#64

Post by Clamchop »

tokai wrote: post #45
sdenton4 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trash burning is still pretty common in some parts of the world. It's incredibly bad when plastics and disposable batteries start getting burnt, as is inevitable when burning is the primary trash disposal strategy.

Thank God it is. Burning trash is much better than landfills. Modern incineration plants are not very dirty and they don't poison ground water and wreck nearby ecosystems.

Don't think this is what was meant by trash burning.

Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#65

Post by clcaev »

BeFlatXIII wrote: post #53
rockostrich wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the very kitchen focused comment but the kitchen is where I used the most plastic. Polycarbonate is a very useful plastic for food containers ("cambros") because it's lightweight, durable, and can be transparent. Sure, glass could work but it's a lot more fragile, especially if you were to try to constantly stack/unstack them in a commercial kitchen. To a lesser extent the same argument could be made for po…

Plastic wrap is also far easier than finding the correct matching lid, in my experience.

There are now silicone lids you can purchase for pyrex storage containers. As a bonus, they stay supple and don't crack. Even so, lids do not touch food as much as the container itself.

Sadly, silicon freezer bags have yet to work as well as plastic ones. Give them time.

Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#66

Post by jessekv »

rockostrich wrote: post #39
myshpa wrote: post #21

Change my mind: 90%+ of plastic is not necessary. Not necessary: - plastic bottles (good only for coca-cola's profits etc., 90% of bottled drinks contain microplastics, use glass) - food wrappers (use paper & natural wax, not pfoas) - plastic shopping bags (use textile bags like our grandma's did) - eshop packages (ever received goods in plastic bags wrapped in insane amounts of additional plastic?) - tea bags made w…

Sorry for the very kitchen focused comment but the kitchen is where I used the most plastic. Polycarbonate is a very useful plastic for food containers ("cambros") because it's lightweight, durable, and can be transparent. Sure, glass could work but it's a lot more fragile, especially if you were to try to constantly stack/unstack them in a commercial kitchen. To a lesser extent the same argument could be made for po…

In South East Asia, you can buy a lot of different prepared foods in banana, lotus, or bamboo leaf wrappings. Additionally, corn husks are used for wrapping tamales in Mexico. I wish I knew what the equivalent would have been in Europe. I would love to see traditional packaging getting popular in supermarkets around the world.

Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#67

Post by PeterisP »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #31
myshpa wrote: post #21

Change my mind: 90%+ of plastic is not necessary. Not necessary: - plastic bottles (good only for coca-cola's profits etc., 90% of bottled drinks contain microplastics, use glass) - food wrappers (use paper & natural wax, not pfoas) - plastic shopping bags (use textile bags like our grandma's did) - eshop packages (ever received goods in plastic bags wrapped in insane amounts of additional plastic?) - tea bags made w…

One use that comes to my mind are trash bags. I'm almost embarrassed to ask this, but what did people use for trash bags before plastic was invented? I've tried Googling this a few times with unsatisfying results. Trash bags by definition need to be disposable.

Before wide availability of plastic bags, reusable bins/buckets were used for trash. It's not even that historic, for example, 1980s USSR did it that way if I recall it correctly.

Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#68

Post by hammock »

Clamchop wrote: post #63
hammock wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>natural wax The only commercially viable wax is paraffin, which is petroleum derived >bamboo All of the bamboo products for sale are glued together with petroleum derived adhesives and often finished with petroleum based products like mineral oil

Because mineral oil isn't a "drying" oil (it doesn't polymerize in air), it's an unlikely choice for finishing furniture because it stays greasy and will rub off on things. More likely is a drying oil, like linseed, or a synthetic finish, like polyurethane or epoxy.

I was thinking of bamboo kitchen items. I know he said toothbrush so maybe I typed too quickly

Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#69

Post by dsfyu404ed »

mrtranscendence wrote: post #60
littlestymaar wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All over-packaging plastic use aren't at all related to paying more. In fact, it costs more to put additional plastic wraps around product to make “bundles” …

If the bundling prevents breakage, which prevents customer support requests / returns ...

Generally speaking when you see some boring industry with margins too tiny to indulge in cargo cutting doing something it's because that something offers measurable (and therefore quantifiable improvement to the bottom line, usually by undercutting competition.

Re: Plastic-based fuels may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health

#70

Post by corbulo »

mort96 wrote: post #30
jdthedisciple wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's my cynical take: Sounds like the environmentalists will soon advertise their campaigns with "Get cancer to save the climate!".

Why's that? Do you often see a trend of environmentalists championing releasing a bunch of toxic chemicals into the environment? Aren't they usually the group most strongly opposed to releasing harmful chemicals into the environment?

They're usually more about strongly opposing the appearance of releasing harmful chemicals. See Nuclear Energy NIMBYism, lithium/ cobalt mining, emissions and supply chain required to make solar panels, and wind turbine blade disposal. To call any of it "clean" energy is quite a stretch.
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