Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

Register Log in

Learn the Surprising Truth about Plastics & The Environment 5

Status
Not open for further replies.
Demon3

Demon3

Materials
Jun 6, 2005
1,850
0
0
US
As you all know, I am a leading plastic materials scientist. So, I became concerned when my children were taught clear lies about plastics at their Elementary School.
My response was to read over 2000 peer-reviewed articles on waste, litter, ocean plastics, microplastics, degradation etc. and publish a book.
That book, The Plastics Paradox is available for free at plasticsparadox.com

What did I find?
1/ Plastics are 0.5% of materials and waste
2/ Plastics massively reduce waste
3/ Plastics are usually the greenest option
4/ People cause litter, so blaming materials is unjust
5/ Plastics degrade rather rapidly (a plastic bag in under one year outside)
6/ Most microplastics research is junk and there is no credible evidence of harm
7/ Plastics are not a significant threat to turtles or whales
8/ There are no floating islands of plastic or “soup"
9/ NGOs have lied to us to get our donations

If you know any execs, reporters or politicians then please make sure that they know about it.
Much more information is available there free of charge and all with citations to the proof.
So, that's what I've been doing for the last two years (unpaid in my spare time).
I hope that you take the time to look at the evidence because we need facts upon which to make wise choices.

Chris

P.S. here's the direct free download link
Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC
President

Plastic materials consultant to the Fortune 100
Creating New Materials - Problem Solving - Innovation Keynotes - Expert Witness
 
Thanks! It's amazing how the majority don't care about the truth or the environment. But a few wise people do care.

Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC
President

Plastic materials consultant to the Fortune 100
Creating New Materials - Problem Solving - Innovation Keynotes - Expert Witness
 
Am I wrong to think we should be burning plastics for power generation, provided they are halogen-free, instead of recycling?
 
Hi Tugboat. Burning is actually not a bad option. I discuss that in the book. It's as good at generating heat as oil or coal and you can make electricity from that.
However, mechanical recycling is probably greener where feasible.

Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC
President

Plastic materials consultant to the Fortune 100 - As seen on CBS 60 Minutes, BBC & Sky News
Creating New Materials - Problem Solving - Innovation Keynotes - Expert Witness
 
When plastics degrade, they eventually degrade into monomers? What happens at this level? Do they simply exist for eternity or is there a natural process to continue the decomposition into the elemental state? This is my concern about plastics, all of them monomers floating around and mimicking other molecules. This is also why I'm a fan of burning plastics.
 
How about using plastics to fuel cement kilns?
I have been told that any halogens will combine with the lime to create salts in small enough percentages so as not to affect the quality of the cement.
Is this an accurate statement?

Bill
--------------------
Ohm's law
Not just a good idea;
It's the LAW!
 
Hello TugboatEng,
Plastics degrade into carbon dioxide and water just like other organic matter like leaves, sticks, food and so. They degrade at about the same rate as those materials too.
More on that here:
waross,
Plastics burn to give as much energy as coal or oil. Plastics like PE and PP burn cleanly like oil. The vast majority don't contain chlorine (PVC is the exception).
I have not heard about burning them for cement kilns specifically.

Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC
President

Plastic materials consultant to the Fortune 100 - As seen on CBS 60 Minutes, BBC & Sky News
Creating New Materials - Problem Solving - Innovation Keynotes - Expert Witness
 
I heard someplace that the only issue with burning bags is the ink used to print store names an logos on the bags. I think it contained stuff like lead and arsenic. If true, stop printing on the bags and its pretty safe to burn, right?

Rick Fischer
Principal Engineer
Argonne National Laboratory
 
I don't think bags could be sold in USA or Europe if they contain any lead whatsoever. However, inks my contain halogenated compounds and those do produce toxic gasses when burned.
 
Hope some of you read the book or at the very least watch this short video. You will shocked about the lies we've been told, who told them and why:
Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC
President

Plastic materials consultant to the Fortune 100 - As seen on CBS 60 Minutes, BBC & Sky News
Creating New Materials - Problem Solving - Innovation Keynotes - Expert Witness
 
 
Hello seplanti - I'm told that I have the largest collection of science on this at well over 2000 peer-reviewed articles. I hope you visit the website and watch the video to see who misled us and why.

Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC
President

Plastic materials consultant to the Fortune 100 - As seen on CBS 60 Minutes, BBC & Sky News
Creating New Materials - Problem Solving - Innovation Keynotes - Expert Witness
 
Thermoplastics can be readily recycled, or more properly down-cycled.

What we need are better systems to ensure that they are collected clean enough for this purpose. Deposit-return does a great job of that.

What we don't need is inaccurate fear-mongering about imaginary environmental impact. And we shouldn't be confused about where ocean plastic comes from. It comes from fishing, and from poor people with no sanitation.

When plastics can't be recycled, down-cycled or chemically down-cycled to short polymers or monomers, they should be BURIED. In a properly constructed anaerobic landfill, they do not appreciably degrade over a period of thousands of years. They therefore become permanently sequestered fossil carbon.

What we should NOT do is react to plastic waste by burning it, either directly or indirectly via waste to fuels schemes. Traces of chlorinated plastics like PVC make that a bad idea from a toxic emissions perspective, and the GHG emissions are likely higher than the GHG emissions produced by natural gas if it were used for energy instead. We should not confuse waste management practices with "biofuels" or "alternative energy" projects. Most of the net calorific content of municipal solid waste- even with recycling sorting at source- is still of fossil rather than biological origin. The biological stuff should be sorted out and anaerobically digested so it doesn't release methane in the landfill. The rest should be landfilled.

Yeah, I know, people in Europe don't want to landfill anything. Then they should stop generating so much waste, rather than burning it, so they have less to bury.
 
Hi Demon3,

I am not a chemical engineer, however I believe what I have seen in my lifetime. I have put my reply in the following topic;


I am sure that you have many articles, papers. I heard, in my lifetime, about some Phd papers on cigarette smoking does not cause any problem in human health, and it was denied by the lost lives of many. Everything depends on Who’s hat you are wearing.
 
Hi saplanti,

Thank you for posting. All I can say is that your current views are not supported by the scientific evidence. There are literally thousands of peer-reviewed articles by professional scientists proving that you are wrong.
The proof is here If you really care, then please look at the evidence. I spent 1000 hours checking this. How many thousands of scientific articles did you read to come to your current opinions?

All the best,

Chris

Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC
President

Plastic materials consultant to the Fortune 100 - As seen on CBS 60 Minutes, BBC & Sky News
Creating New Materials - Problem Solving - Innovation Keynotes - Expert Witness
 
I have just looked at your profile. What can I say? Your life is plastics. Of course you will say that plastics are not pollutant, you earn from plastics.

Just rise your head, and look around. Check what other people, nations talk about the pollution. Help them, join the cleaners of beaches, visit council’s Resource recovery centres(waste collection and separation stations). Talk to them and you will see what are the pollutants. You do not need papers for these activities I guess.

I wish everyone, including yourself, and any living thing (we cannot separate ourselves from them) a healthy life, healthy soil and water without pollutants, and clean air to breathe.

Regards.
 
Hello saplanti,

Your comments are not relevant to the discussion. I made several statements and proved all of them. You utter slurs without proof or substance.
If you care about the environment then I really do suggest that you prove it by looking at the evidence. See this video to know who misled you:
Best regards,

Chris

Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC
President

Plastic materials consultant to the Fortune 100 - As seen on CBS 60 Minutes, BBC & Sky News
Creating New Materials - Problem Solving - Innovation Keynotes - Expert Witness
 
Your cite argues both sides of the argument; no one disputes that untreated plastic are UV sensitive and destroyed by sunlight, but almost all plastic products are treated to survive prodigious amounts of sunlight, as the webpage suggests. They cite auto headlamp covers, and yet despite a surface layer of UV damage, it's easily buffed out, and the remainder stays intact even after a decade. In fact, if they actually did break down in anything less than 30 years, there would be a lot of pissed off drivers. The website also shows as evidence lawn chairs, but again, it's only surface UV damage; it'll take decades for the chair to completely disintegrate.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Xabi33
  • Locked
  • Question
Electrical resistivity of molten plastics 2
Replies
2
Views
10
Pud
Pud
LouisL
  • Locked
  • Question
Can PA66+GF30 be the thermal bottle?
Replies
3
Views
12
Pud
Pud
Charles West
  • Locked
  • Question
Stabilizing UHMWPE for the space environment
Replies
1
Views
7
Pud
Pud
eng10001
  • Locked
  • Question
Choosing the right plastic
Replies
10
Views
12
Carlos Gomes
Carlos Gomes
Demon3
  • Locked
  • Helpful tip
The Last Straw, Lies & Bad Journalism - some facts about plastics 4
Replies
12
Views
13
moltenmetal
moltenmetal
Back
Top