You Gonna Eat That? It Could Become Plastic

Kaz Riprock writes "Jian Yu and associates at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute have been working on a system to convert food waste into plastic polymers. There is a CNN article that gives an overview of the process. More information on the anaerobic acidogenesis and aerobic synthesis at Dr. Yu's page at HNEI. This could be a really good step in the right direction, assuming it provides a cheaper source of plastic than current methods (to be accepted and highly regarded by the plastic industry)."

Comments

Nope -- we use too much plastic

[upper]

Plastic is a useful material, and there are times when it is a better choice than anything else. But an awful lot of plastic used today isn't necessary. Consider a typical plastic toy for a preschooler. Plastic is often a good choice for the toy itself -- you can make odd shapes easily, and the result can be smooth, rugged, and rustproof with no paint to put on or chip/wear off. But when you buy it, it's nested in a plastic box-filler, in a box which is shrink-wrapped, and you take it out of the store in a plastic bag. That's four layers of packaging, three of them plastic. One of the layers may be necessary, but only if there are multiple pieces.

Furthermore, plastic is only "easily and cheaply recycleable" if you leave a bunch of things out of the numbers:

• Only PETE (#1) and HDPE (#2) are recycled in any volume; other plastics are almost completely burned or landfilled.
  
• Recycled plastic bottles aren't made into new plastic bottles. They're made into things like "plastic lumber" and carpets. Then they're landfilled. So much for repeated use.
  
• Cleaning and de-labeling a plastic bottle isn't usually a big deal -- but do you know how hard it is to wash out a thin plastic bag? How about separating the plastic in a bubble-pack from the paper?
  
• Because beverage bottles are low density (i.e. very bulky for their weight) they are a nuisance to transport. The truck fuel used transporting them isn't trivial.
  

Plastic recycling is a sham. I do it, because it might someday evolve into something real, and because twice through is better than once through. But mostly I try to buy less plastic packaging.

Here's a novel idea...

[Call Me Black Cloud]

Instead of turning leftover food into plastic, how about using it to feed people?

Organizations like Second Harvest already exist. They need not only food but also donations of time and talent or money. Check them out!

Re:Nice, but still missing something.....

[Daniel Quinlan]

Just do a little experiment: during a full week, do your shopping as usual, and pay attention to all plastic stuff you trash immediately after purchase. Figure you really needed how much of all that plastic ?

Yes. Almost all of it is needed. Without the plastic, a lot more of the even more expensive stuff the plastic was covering would be wasted by spoiling, being damaged during shipping, etc.

Even more importantly, plastic can be recycled. It's effectively impossible to recycle paper used to wrap food because it is hard to disinfect without ruining the material. You also have to use really toxic chemicals, specifically bleach. Plastic is relatively easy and cheap to recycle.

The other thing that gets me about this stuff is biodegradeability. Do you think stuff really degrades in a landfill? Landfills are locked out of the water system and stuff doesn't degrade like it does sitting in your compost heap. It doesn't really matter whether it's made out of corn or oil. It's still going to be there in 100 years. I think the most interesting aspect of food-based plastics is that they could become more economical or allow plastic to be used in new situations where biodegradeability really matters.

Finally, I just wanted to say that I love styrofoam. Ever see how much plastic actually goes into a styrofoam cup? They're almost all air. (Of course, I still prefer paper cups since my hot coffee will cool off faster so I'm less apt to burn myself.)