On plastics

via EB

Adored, Deplored and Ubiquitous
Natalie Angier, New York Times
Come next Tuesday, in a move flagrantly timed to coincide with Earth Day, the Whole Foods supermarket chain will no longer offer its customers the plastic bag option. Seeing that “it can take more than 1,000 years for a plastic bag to break down in a landfill” and that “in the U.S. alone, about 100 billion plastic bags are thrown away each year,” the company said it could not in good conscience contribute to the crisis.

Bravo. Now tell me this: What am I supposed to line my garbage cans with?

... Glancing around my office, I see how difficult it would be for me to live plastic-free. I’m typing on a computer keyboard made partly of molded polyvinyl chloride, which also serves as the source material for that ultimate plastic item, the credit card.

.... The reason petroleum so often serves as the foundation for plastics production is that it offers an ultraconcentrated source of carbon, but carbon is carbon and with the right manipulations other handier biosources like lawn litter will do. Add chlorine to your carbon backbone for hardness and heat resistance. Tack little methyl groups to the carbon backbone for durability, compactness and a ropy indifference to chemical abuse. Extrude your melted mixture through die holes to form pipes, hoses, drinking straws and fibers. Inject it into moldings shaped like Barbie, Ken or a comb. Blow it out like a balloon and you’ve got a new bag. When you’re done, hand it over: I will put it to use.
(15 April 2008)
A surprising lack of ecological awareness on the part of the New York Time's lead science reporter. OTOH, the science background on plastics is interesting. -BA