Low Plastic » DIY http://lowplastic.com Use less plastic. Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:41:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 “Printing” recycled plastic goods http://lowplastic.com/2009/04/08/printing-recycled-plastic-goods/ http://lowplastic.com/2009/04/08/printing-recycled-plastic-goods/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:13:04 +0000 Scott Wells http://lowplastic.com/?p=168 I’m not a terrible fan of plastic, unless I come up against a product that really is better made of plastic than an alternative. A toothbrush head comes to mind.

That, and the world is already filled with plastic waste. How might we make something of it?

OK, the RepRap (Replicating Rapid prototyper) is something the hacker kids love: a device that prints three-dimensional items — layer by ultrathin layers — and might use waste thermoplastic to make new items.

Sure, the current plastic-for-everything economy won’t work with these, but that’s my point. This could be option when we do need plastic tools, and where we it makes sense to treat it as a valuable resource.

See this Open Source Ecology article for details and an interesting video

]]> http://lowplastic.com/2009/04/08/printing-recycled-plastic-goods/feed/ 0 Make your own deodorant http://lowplastic.com/2009/02/01/make-your-own-deodorant/ http://lowplastic.com/2009/02/01/make-your-own-deodorant/#comments Mon, 02 Feb 2009 02:44:19 +0000 Scott Wells http://lowplastic.com/?p=143 Next to shampoo, the Deodorant Question looms the largest in the world of the seriously plastic-free. And somewhere in my head I made the calculation and thought “that’s too far.” I can zap plastic in other parts of my life before I go there. Thus LowPlastic.com.

But I’m sympathetic enough (and frugal and wary of toxins) to pass along an idea if someone else can make something of it. Queercents — a lesbian, gay etc. etc. finance blog; gave a transman article on affordable testosterone, for instance — recently ran an article by Elizabeth (no surname given) who makes her own toiletries.

Her research and experiments came to some counterintuitive conclusions, so I recommend you read the whole thing. You’ll end up with a two-fer! And it’s not a messy lotion-type concoction like your grandparents might have suffered.

DIY Experimenting: Making Deodorant

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