Are plastic wads doomed?

[Xaphan]

I work in the plastics industry and have done for the last 25 years. some of the things we make are single use like bottles and caps, some aren't like cases for multi-meters and expansion tanks for cars.  There is no shortage of orders since all the media coverage started to highlight the issues with plastics.   the one thing they do really fail to mention is that the problem isn't the plastic itself its the massive failure by governments across the globe to control waste of plastics. Plastic doesn't walk itself into the oceans its put there by people.. apart from thermoset plastics like Bakelite, PTFE and rubber to name a few, all plastics can be recycled and used many many times. we grind up any waste and excess materials used in the moulding process ready for re-moulding. very little is wasted.

governments have failed to facilitate recycling processes for the multitude of materials that are in circulation in consumer products. the UK sells thousands of tons of materials to china for recycling and landfill some of which probably ends up in the ocean before it makes it to china simply because we don't have the facilities in this country. China then recycle it and sell it back to us either in raw material form or more consumer products and then the cycle begins again. we aren't really an oil producing nation so we have to buy plastics from abroad at great expense to not have the facilities to recycle is crazy but its a reality.

the single use market is bound to take a hammering soon I have no doubt about it but there will always be a need for plastics because you cant make the intricate shapes with many the mechanical and insulating properties out of any other materials and shotgun cartridges are no exception to this. the move to Bio-plastics (made from corn starch and sugar etc.) and Bio-degradable plastics is probably the way to go in future but current bio-plastics don't perform anywhere near as well as plastics made from good ol' fashion oil. research into Bio-plastics is expensive and since the world is pretty much run by the oil companies and with many governments fed backhanders from them its not in their interest to fund it. The other issues with  current Bio-plastics is that although they do bio-degrade, they are still harmful to aquatic life when it does so in water. so we return to the lack of waste management issue.

 

[Wonko the Sane]

PP, your sums are a little exaggerated , where can you go wildfowling every weekend?

I believe Bismuth prices have dropped in the USA ( Kent Gamebore) this could be due to being propped up by UK Gunners.

I would think that if one is compelled to kill things for sport without a regard for an outrageous $/lb cost then the prices for carts is really inconsequential.  Why people insist on doing things at an economically unjustifiable cost and then whining about it remains a mystery to me.   :sclerosis:

since the world is pretty much run by the oil companies and with many governments fed backhanders from them its not in their interest to fund it.

Can we get an AMEN ! ! ! ! !   Knowing who owns your government can be illuminating but never satisfying.

 

[ChrisPackham]

PP, your sums are a little exaggerated , where can you go wildfowling every weekend?

I believe Bismuth prices have dropped in the USA ( Kent Gamebore) this could be due to being propped up by UK Gunners.

That being the case then the 1100 would last even longer...

I work in the plastics industry and have done for the last 25 years. some of the things we make are single use like bottles and caps, some aren't like cases for multi-meters and expansion tanks for cars.  There is no shortage of orders since all the media coverage started to highlight the issues with plastics.   the one thing they do really fail to mention is that the problem isn't the plastic itself its the massive failure by governments across the globe to control waste of plastics. Plastic doesn't walk itself into the oceans its put there by people.. apart from thermoset plastics like Bakelite, PTFE and rubber to name a few, all plastics can be recycled and used many many times. we grind up any waste and excess materials used in the moulding process ready for re-moulding. very little is wasted.

governments have failed to facilitate recycling processes for the multitude of materials that are in circulation in consumer products. the UK sells thousands of tons of materials to china for recycling and landfill some of which probably ends up in the ocean before it makes it to china simply because we don't have the facilities in this country. China then recycle it and sell it back to us either in raw material form or more consumer products and then the cycle begins again. we aren't really an oil producing nation so we have to buy plastics from abroad at great expense to not have the facilities to recycle is crazy but its a reality.

the single use market is bound to take a hammering soon I have no doubt about it but there will always be a need for plastics because you cant make the intricate shapes with many the mechanical and insulating properties out of any other materials and shotgun cartridges are no exception to this. the move to Bio-plastics (made from corn starch and sugar etc.) and Bio-degradable plastics is probably the way to go in future but current bio-plastics don't perform anywhere near as well as plastics made from good ol' fashion oil. research into Bio-plastics is expensive and since the world is pretty much run by the oil companies and with many governments fed backhanders from them its not in their interest to fund it. The other issues with  current Bio-plastics is that although they do bio-degrade, they are still harmful to aquatic life when it does so in water. so we return to the lack of waste management issue.

Excellent post, thanks!

 

[jwpzx9r]

I work in the plastics industry and have done for the last 25 years. some of the things we make are single use like bottles and caps, some aren't like cases for multi-meters and expansion tanks for cars.  There is no shortage of orders since all the media coverage started to highlight the issues with plastics.   the one thing they do really fail to mention is that the problem isn't the plastic itself its the massive failure by governments across the globe to control waste of plastics. Plastic doesn't walk itself into the oceans its put there by people.. apart from thermoset plastics like Bakelite, PTFE and rubber to name a few, all plastics can be recycled and used many many times. we grind up any waste and excess materials used in the moulding process ready for re-moulding. very little is wasted.

governments have failed to facilitate recycling processes for the multitude of materials that are in circulation in consumer products. the UK sells thousands of tons of materials to china for recycling and landfill some of which probably ends up in the ocean before it makes it to china simply because we don't have the facilities in this country. China then recycle it and sell it back to us either in raw material form or more consumer products and then the cycle begins again. we aren't really an oil producing nation so we have to buy plastics from abroad at great expense to not have the facilities to recycle is crazy but its a reality.

the single use market is bound to take a hammering soon I have no doubt about it but there will always be a need for plastics because you cant make the intricate shapes with many the mechanical and insulating properties out of any other materials and shotgun cartridges are no exception to this. the move to Bio-plastics (made from corn starch and sugar etc.) and Bio-degradable plastics is probably the way to go in future but current bio-plastics don't perform anywhere near as well as plastics made from good ol' fashion oil. research into Bio-plastics is expensive and since the world is pretty much run by the oil companies and with many governments fed backhanders from them its not in their interest to fund it. The other issues with  current Bio-plastics is that although they do bio-degrade, they are still harmful to aquatic life when it does so in water. so we return to the lack of waste management issue.

On the point of not establishing any plastic recycle facilities you can understand why. The simple truth it British people will not do that sort of work for what it is worth in wage terms.

True story and unbelievable. Youngs sea foods used to have a processing plant in the NW of Britain... they laid off the workers and closed it then sent all the seafood to be processed to the far east by airfreight to be processed and sent back to the UK... and it was still more profitable for them!

When Brexit is final the people of Britain are going to find out just what good value those east European workers were when the see the price of their groceries for fresh fruit and veg because British workers are too lazy to work for the sort of  hours those people had to put in for a pitiful wage... there will inevitably be a clause in the Brexit agreement to cover those workers.

 

[schmokinn]

On the point of not establishing any plastic recycle facilities you can understand why. The simple truth it British people will not do that sort of work for what it is worth in wage terms.

True story and unbelievable. Youngs sea foods used to have a processing plant in the NW of Britain... they laid off the workers and closed it then sent all the seafood to be processed to the far east by airfreight to be processed and sent back to the UK... and it was still more profitable for them!

When Brexit is final the people of Britain are going to find out just what good value those east European workers were when the see the price of their groceries for fresh fruit and veg because British workers are too lazy to work for the sort of  hours those people had to put in for a pitiful wage... there will inevitably be a clause in the Brexit agreement to cover those workers.

Unfortunately certain past governments have F***ed the economy by creating a benefit culture so people will not work and they get paid for sitting on there arses watching jeremy kyle or standing on the doorstep endlessly smoking and chatting to their neighbour who is also sucking the life out of GB.

 

[jwpzx9r]

Unfortunately certain past governments have F***ed the economy by creating a benefit culture so people will not work and they get paid for sitting on there arses watching jeremy kyle or standing on the doorstep endlessly smoking and chatting to their neighbour who is also sucking the life out of GB.

Agree with much of what you have said here... but things are going to have to change if those who voted to be rid of those Eastern Europeans coming here to steal jobs or sponge of the state, which is something I largely do not think is the case with the workers from the EU.

I remember many years ago a program on the BBC about unemployed knuckle draggers in Lincolnshire complaining that these EU foreigners were stealing their jobs. Not one of them was working, I would be willing to bet no one of them could read or write either, but they were all willing to complain about how their livelihoods were being stolen. It was pointed out to them right away that there were plenty of jobs for them and they could start the very next day. They were told to be at a certain pick up point at 5.30 am to start work at 6.30am ... a handful of them turned out for the first day, complained like F*** all day and not one of them turned up the next day. So what is the take home message here? There are unemployed people out there who have no qualifications to do better work who will not go and work in fields lifting crops to earn a living... but plenty of workers from the EU countries will... if they are no longer there to do it who will ? This by the way is not only a UK situation most of the more affluent EU countries have foreign workers lifting their veg crops.

 

[Wonko the Sane]

This by the way is not only a UK situation most of the more affluent EU countries have foreign workers lifting their veg crops.

And has not that been an outstanding social and political triumph ? ! ?  Be happy that you're old.  Cheap labor in the interests of Neoliberalist Economics.

here's how it works if you're interested.  You should not be worried about whether plastic wads are doomed but rather, are you?  OK, the bad news is that you are.  Irretrievably.

https://corpwatch.org/article/what-neoliberalism

have a nice whatever-you-have-left