Fusing plastic bags together = harmful?
what you do is take plastic bags then you use a layer of paper, then your layers of plastic bags, then another piece of paper and use an iron to fuse/melt the plastic bags together to form one material...
view these sites to see what i'm talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb1me8e35...
http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/05/lon...
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php...
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now i thought this was totally cool, i mean get rid of plastic bags to make cool stuff like totes, wallets, etc. instead of them going to the trash. but i was just wondering -- was this doing more harm than good? i mean, do you think there's harmful fumes that are going in the air? now obviously you'd do this in a well ventilated area, but are the possible fumes being emitted from the "melting" harmful to the environment?
just wondering, thanks.
Answer:
I am not a chemist, nor an expert on plastic byproduct. But there is another very cool way to reuse plastic bags. Turn them into mattress stuffing! I read this article about making mattresses for the homeless and for poor families by stuffing them with LOTS of plastic bags. There is this book "Choose to Reuse" that gives you lots of other great ideas about how to reuse plastic bags.
Yes, the biggest problem with any melting of plastic is the dioxins (very toxic) that are released into the atmosphere. This is why most plastic material is brought to a recycling center where the plastic can be recycled in a contained area and any gases that are emitted are trapped in their custom scrubbers.
You aren't melting the plastic only fusing it together. If you were melting it then there would be fumes coming off it and it wouldn't stick together. I've used the same method to make a plastic fly to go over a camping tent. Works well.
We are so behind in alot of America and Canada we always used paper bags you carried to the car.Cant we now use recycled paper for bags but still levy a charge for all bags.Maybe we will bring or reuse or get over ourselves and pay..
Never ironed bags together.
I recycle mine by taking them over to Penny Wise.
this is a resale shop on Murphy Road or as some know it, FM1092.Near Main Street. and rail road tracks.
they always need bags for their sale items.
barb
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