Plastics Part 3: Things to do with Plastics

 Things to do with Plastics

Dr Abe V Rotor

Here are things we can do with plastics.

Re-use plastic bags and bottles at home. 

 Biodegradable plastic in various stages

1. Re-use plastic bags and bottles at home. Remember that plastics are durable. Be sure to clean them properly before using. 
2. Gather plastic bottles and unserviceable plastic wares for recycling. Arrange with cart pushers and your nearest junk shop. Do not attempt to re-melt plastics. The process is not as simple as you think. Don’t burn to dispose them either. Burning plastics emits smoke and fumes deleterious to health.
3. Do not use plastic if you can help it. Use paper or glass containers. This is also advantageous to your health. Do not use plastic containers for soft drinks, vinegar, salt, patis, toyo. These are strong solvents. There are studies that show that there are plastics that are carcinogenic.
4. Keep plastic materials away from your bedroom. As plastics age, they emit gaseous substances which when inhaled may cause allergy, asthma and other ailments.
5. Patronize products that use non-plastic containers, wrappers, bags, utensils, etc.
6. Be part of a community environmental project. Attend seminars and workshops about the environment. Tie up ecology with leadership, entrepreneurship (re-cycling), values formation, and the like. Be an ecologist yourself.

The incidents about the goat that ate plastic, and fish fry trapped in plastic bag open to mind the need of a second revolution about this non-biodegradable material - the development of a second generation of plastics that are biodegradable and environment friendly.

Nata Laminate – Potential Plastic Substitute

Now, this is one for the Book of Guinness. Shoes made from nata de coco. At St. Paul College QC, Dr. Anselmo S. Cabigan and his advisee Amparo Arambulo developed shoes made from nata laminate. The laminate is actually compressed nata de coco, dried and layered into ply, and subjected to the usual tanning procedure. It is cut and sewed into shoes. Nata laminate is strong, even stronger than leather. It gives a good finish and it looks like leather.

In another research, nata was made into surgical thread. Since nata is a natural product – capsule of the bacterium, Leuconostoc mesenteroides - it is soluble. It may be a substitute to expensive commercial absorbable surgical threads.

Nata laminate is also a potential substitute to special paper, such as sheepskin, and an exotic material in making wallets, bags and belts. Unlike plastic, nata laminate is biodegradable. It also offers a solution in saving animals, especially those in the endangered list.

Plastic Devouring Microbes
At the UST Graduate School, Dr. Irineo Dogma and his advisee isolated plastic devouring bacteria with promising results. There are similar experiments here and abroad which show that there are ways to break the invincibility of this Franken material. The genius of man in discovering plastics cannot just end up with the creation of the monster. Taming it requires greater genius.
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The Living with Nature Handbook, AVR, UST Publishing House, Manila