We Can Use Plastic As A Raw Material

          After doing a little research of my own, I stumbled upon a video from TEDTalks of an idea given by Mike Biddle. In the video he give states that less that 10% of plastic trash is recycled in comparison to the 90% of metals. The reason behind this is because the two different raw materials have different and complicated ways of sorting the material. Metals are little bit easier because of the variation in density and magnitude, though plastics when all said and done, come from oil and the similar materials.

          I am interested in the topic of recycling plastics because they do not go away like we think they might. Most plastics end up in landfills or polluting the atmosphere because of the toxic gases released while burning them. It is also known that plastics end up in third world country landfills. Mike Biddle addresses this issue as its own. In my opinion no first world country such as the United States should be damaging a third world country such as parts of Mexico and central America. Though I do not have pictures, I witnessed this issue first hand in Tijuana, Mexico on a mission trip. We found my 5yr old brother at the time playing with the other kids on the side of a mountain. Which come to find out was mound of trash built up over the years.

          In the video, Mike Biddle shows his audience how he himself along with other acquaintances have developed a cheap and incredibly efficient plant that cam recycle any kind of plastic. His plant is named MBA Polymers, at least according to google. In 1992 Mike Biddle known as a plastic engineer, set up a lab in his garage in Pittsburg, California. From here he began experimenting with complex-plastics recycling, borrowing ideas from such industries as mining and grain processing. Biddle has developed a patented 30-step plastics recycling system that includes magnetically extracting metals, shredding the plastics, sorting them by polymer type and producing graded pellets to be reused in industry. This process that takes less than a tenth of the energy required to dispose of plastics and waste, makes virgin plastic that is put back into our toys, electronics and every day appliances.



He says: "I consider myself an environmentalist. I hate to see plastics wasted. I hate to see any natural resource – even human time – wasted.”

Listed below are websites about Mike Biddle, his company and his talk.

http://www.mbapolymers.com/home/our-company

http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_biddle.html

Listed below is an idea where we take plastic and convert it into building blocks.

http://inhabitat.com/plastic-concrete-repurposes-landfill-waste-into-building-bricks/