Re: [GreenYes] recycled plastic bycicles

["Michele Raymond" <michele@raymond.com>]

If you look at the lifecycle stuff, and look at pollution from metals 
industries, I would have to agree plastics is no worse.
I have been covring this issue fo 13 years. -- Michele Raymond

At 07:21 PM 10/24/01 -0700, Helen Spiegelman wrote:
>I enjoyed your little rant on plastic, but before you settle on an metal 
>fenders, check out the impacts of electroplating!
>H.
>
>At 06:34 PM 10/24/2001 -0700, Paul Goettlich wrote:
>>Dear Inês
>>
>>Many would prefer that you didn't use plastic to make your bike.
>>
>>With regards to health effects, one thing that can be said about plastics is
>>that there hasn't been a good one yet. Every step of its "life" is toxic.
>>Some are worse than others (PVC the worst), but, in general, plastics should
>>be avoided if at all possible. And it is possible.
>>
>>The plastics industry is already working hard to recreate the world from
>>plastics, so you don't need to help them.
>>
>>Plastic is light-weight, but a cruel joke to play on an unsuspecting buyer
>>that thinks it can perform like real materials.
>>
>>Plastic is not recycled...
>>at least not in the true sense of the word. It's only reused a few times
>>before it becomes trash shipped off to our freinds in India, because they
>>really need the cash we pay them to take it. Maybe a bit of it makes it to
>>being reincarnated as a park bench or plastic decking material. Plastic wood
>>is only used for nonstructural applications because it has no strength, a
>>huge coefficient of expansion, and weighs almost as much as iron. All those
>>plastic benches -- when the earth will collapse from the weight?
>>
>>Plastics make terrible mechanical parts -- the weak point of most products.
>>Last week I borrowed a handcart from the Ecology Center that had plastics
>>wheels. What I carried wasn't particularly heavy, and I didn't give it any
>>shocks like running it up stairs. One of the wheels broke. I spent most of
>>the afternoon searching for a replacement. After exhausting all possible
>>outlets, I gave up and got prices for new hand carts.
>>
>>I made the mistake of buying a plastic bike rack for my car. I got talked
>>into what I thought would be easily adapted to various cars. It cost more
>>than the simple metal model, and it didn't last one summer. Junk. Pathetic
>>junk.
>>
>>Manufacturers of car engines make some parts from plastic -- they say to
>>lighten the load... it's more likely to lighten the manufacturing cost
>>(without droppping the price.) Those parts always break first and most
>>frequently. The new plastic bumbers look horrible after one tiny bump from
>>the car in front backing out of a parking space, and forget about actually
>>pushing a car on its plastic bumper.
>>
>>Plastic kitchen tools are worthless. And who wants to drain spaghetti and
>>get toxic chemicals along with it at the same time? Or how about killing
>>your paraquet while you fry and egg in a teflon pan?
>>
>>Plastic does goes well with nonorganic milk. That combination gets all the
>>toxins in one place...
>>    rBGH - genetically engineered growth hormones
>>    milk   -  pesticides, antibiotics, and whatever else can be dumped into
>>it
>>    plastic cup - plasticizers, stabilizers, etc.
>>
>>Check out this article on a new genetically engineered plastic tree, then
>>get back to making the bicycle out of metal that will last:
>>http://www.mindfully.org/GE/McDough.htm
>>
>>Paul
>>
>>Paul Goettlich
>>PO Box 517
>>Berkeley  CA  94701
>>www.mindfully.org
>>gottlich@infi.net
>>Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: scully_101@iol.pt
>>To: greenyes@grrn.org
>>Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 5:30 PM
>>Subject: [GreenYes] recycled plastic bycicles
>>
>>
>>Hi! I'm new here, but I hope that you can help me with this:
>>
>>I'm an environmental engineer student in Portugal, and I'm doing a research
>>about bicycles made, or partiatly made, of plastic, but I don't have any
>>information about that specific theme ( about design, type of plastic
>>needed, etc...). The resarch over the internet isn't going very well, so I'm
>>hoping that someone could help me with a link, or a e-mail contact to
>>someone that can share the information?
>>
>>Thanks for helping!
>>
>>Inês
>>www.IOL.pt
>>Todo o mundo passa por aqui!
>>
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Michele Raymond
Publisher
Recycling Laws International/ State Recycling Laws Update
5111 Berwyn Rd. Ste 115 College Park, MD 20740)
301/345-4237   Fax 345-4768
http://www.raymond.com

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