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[BubbleCat]

So I've stumbled across this:
http://preciousplastic.com/index.html
Despite having reservations I might dable in it for a bit, after all my opinion might aswell change.
I'm all for recycling and the grass roots approach. But there is a few things:

Keeping things acessible is great. But that doesn't mean dumbing down everything beyond what is reasonable or safe. While the superficial descriptions on the site do make a distinction it mostly feels like an invitation to mash together just any sorts of plastics, bring them up to a temperature where most of them enter a plastic state and mold whatever you want. That is beyond amateurish and might actually deprive commercial recycling where the focus lies on purity of products of its raw materials, while at the same time producing inferior products.

I'm not sure if those folks care about extraction. Some plastics, especially when indiscrimminately (see above) brought to high temperature, do emit volatile organic compounds and nasties in general. Again, an industrial plant, where the material would have otherwise ended up, is very likely subject to some regulation that mandates capturing airborne nasties and also has plenty incentive to do so anyways.

Then there is the issue of the economy of scale. While its cute and merry, small scale processes usually lack the efficiency to compete. This again can lead to entirely missing the original goal of being sustainable and environment-positive very fast.

What do you guys think ?

But im really curious if there is an image recognition training set of plastic waste items and their respective weights and materials out there. If anyone knows about such thing do tell and link pls.

[ONandONandON]

This is helpful link thanks! i've started saving plastic about a year ago, still planning to melt it in oil and set in molds.
it's easy just heat up used motor oil on a fire and melt in plastic bottles etc. then cast the goo into wooden molds.
after some searching found this video of similar idea..

you can also mix sand or whatever into the hot goo.

most plastics are made from petroleum oil, when they are heated enough, they turn back to petro oils..
So distilled plastic = flammable oil.. useful in an end of the world situation.

[BubbleCat]

I wonder if one could come up witg hydroponic equipment designs that lend themselves to production employing these methods and rival ease and cost efficiency of things like punching holes in cable channels.