Low Plastic » Technology http://lowplastic.com Use less plastic. Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:46:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Replace plastic with clay and water? http://lowplastic.com/2010/01/20/replace-plastic-with-clay-and-water/ http://lowplastic.com/2010/01/20/replace-plastic-with-clay-and-water/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:38:15 +0000 Scott Wells http://lowplastic.com/?p=229 Watching NHK World, the Japanese state broadcaster, in English tonight and a news segment noted Takuzo Aida of the University of Tokyo announcing a possible replacement for plastics made mostly of water, clay and organic materials. Potential uses include surgical implants.

New Scientist has details “Smart mud could be the new plastic“

]]> http://lowplastic.com/2010/01/20/replace-plastic-with-clay-and-water/feed/ 0 “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

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