Precious Waste - Reusing Plastic Bags in a Beautiful Way

Casie Becker wrote:Have indoor/outdoor rugs on my mind. This looks like the perfect material to make them with.

maybe we should just stop using plastic all together!

Does melting the plastic into bricks etc cause off-gassing of the plastic that is harmful?

As much as I love the idea of repurposing materials, I think that plastic grocery bags have too short a life span to be really useful before they just naturally disintegrate into those tiny bits of plastic that have permeated our world......I don't know if rugs would be a good way to sequester something on it's way to becoming more trash? I think I like the idea of making them into plastic 'bricks' though....for the moment I try to avoid bringing anything home in them and those that show up here are taken to the recycling center...not sure if that's the best choice but it's one I'm more comfortable with.

Julia Winter wrote:

Casie Becker wrote:

I wouldn't recommend melting plastic bags unless you have a brisk windy day and outside work space.  The fumes can't be good for you!

and those same fumes are not that great for the air outside and those who breathe it.

sarah jane wrote:Hmm what do we think about making plastic bags into ... shoe rack herb garden.. you know those cloth shoe racks that are filled with earth to make the garden go up the wall?

Judith Browning wrote:As much as I love the idea of repurposing materials, I think that plastic grocery bags have too short a life span to be really useful before they just naturally disintegrate into those tiny bits of plastic that have permeated our world......I don't know if rugs would be a good way to sequester something on it's way to becoming more trash?  I think I like the idea of making them into plastic 'bricks' though....for the moment I try to avoid bringing anything home in them and those that show up here are taken to the recycling center...not sure if that's the best choice but it's one I'm more comfortable with.

Lynne Webb wrote:

A person well versed in conservation and all things natural said all the hype over plastic bags is wrong. As a test leave them out in the sun and they break down into nothingness. Not in a week, it takes longer than that but it happens.

Even though polyethylene can’t biodegrade, it does break down when subject to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, a process known as photodegradation. When exposed to sunshine, polyethylene’s polymer chains become brittle and crack, eventually turning what was a plastic bag into microscopic synthetic granules. Scientists aren’t sure whether these granules ever decompose fully, and fear that their buildup in marine and terrestrial environments—and in the stomachs of wildlife—portend a bleak future compromised by plastic particles infiltrating every step in the food chain. A plastic bag might be gone in anywhere from 10 to 100 years (estimates vary) if exposed to the sun, but its environmental legacy may last forever.

the only real way to break down plastic is through photodegradation. This kind of decomposition requires sunlight, not bacteria. When UV rays strike plastic, they break the bonds holding the long molecular chain together. Over time, this can turn a big piece of plastic into lots of little pieces.

These might end up in a ditch somewhere but it's highly unlikely they would shred to pieces and scatter in the wind or drift into the sea.