Comments on: Where Christmas Lights Go to Die (and Be Reborn as Slippers) http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/12/28/where-christmas-lights-go-to-die-and-be-reborn-as-slippers/ Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:34:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Geack http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/12/28/where-christmas-lights-go-to-die-and-be-reborn-as-slippers/#comment-31051 Geack Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:01:24 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=34147#comment-31051 @ Sara M 3. : When was the last time you bought a pair of plasitc slippers made in the US? Just too darn expensive. No point in recycling materials for something you don't make. And, no, the two processes aren't likely that similar. The playground mats you're talking about are made from a very simple, low-effort process of basically grinding up the rubber and binding the chunks togehter with heat. Anything more complex than that gets much more expensive, which makes it impractical even if the US had a use for the material. Sad but true. @ Sara M 3. : When was the last time you bought a pair of plasitc slippers made in the US? Just too darn expensive. No point in recycling materials for something you don’t make. And, no, the two processes aren’t likely that similar. The playground mats you’re talking about are made from a very simple, low-effort process of basically grinding up the rubber and binding the chunks togehter with heat. Anything more complex than that gets much more expensive, which makes it impractical even if the US had a use for the material. Sad but true.

]]> By: Paul D. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/12/28/where-christmas-lights-go-to-die-and-be-reborn-as-slippers/#comment-31050 Paul D. Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:38:54 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=34147#comment-31050 John D.: plastics are currently made mostly from ethane and other light hydrocarbons, derived mostly from natural gas. But even if fossil fuels become unavailable, plastics can be made from any carbon-containing feedstock, including biomass or even CO2 (with enough energy input). Copper, on the other hand, is copper, and unless you're doing transmutation it has to be either recycled or mined. John D.: plastics are currently made mostly from ethane and other light hydrocarbons, derived mostly from natural gas. But even if fossil fuels become unavailable, plastics can be made from any carbon-containing feedstock, including biomass or even CO2 (with enough energy input).

Copper, on the other hand, is copper, and unless you’re doing transmutation it has to be either recycled or mined.

]]> By: Sara M. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/12/28/where-christmas-lights-go-to-die-and-be-reborn-as-slippers/#comment-31049 Sara M. Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:36:51 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=34147#comment-31049 My question is why can't the plastic be recycled into something useable like slipper soles in the U.S.? You see things like old flip flops being made into mats under playgrounds. I imagine it would be a similar process. My question is why can’t the plastic be recycled into something useable like slipper soles in the U.S.? You see things like old flip flops being made into mats under playgrounds. I imagine it would be a similar process.

]]> By: John D http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/12/28/where-christmas-lights-go-to-die-and-be-reborn-as-slippers/#comment-31048 John D Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:39:08 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=34147#comment-31048 Plastic are made from petroleum, hardly inexhaustible. Plastic are made from petroleum, hardly inexhaustible.

]]> By: Paul D. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/12/28/where-christmas-lights-go-to-die-and-be-reborn-as-slippers/#comment-31047 Paul D. Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:29:49 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=34147#comment-31047 It's more important to recycle the copper and zinc in the metals than it is to recycle the carbon, hydrogen and chlorine in the plastic. The latter are available inexhaustibly, while the metals have to be mined from leaner and leaner sources. It’s more important to recycle the copper and zinc in the metals than it is to recycle the carbon, hydrogen and chlorine in the plastic. The latter are available inexhaustibly, while the metals have to be mined from leaner and leaner sources.

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