Turning plastic into soap?

[VikingChick]

I just came across this article and I thought it was pretty interesting. I know many of us got into soapmaking because we wanted to get away from synthetic products, but at least this would be a way to recycle all that plastic we throw away in this world.

Chemists turned plastic waste into tiny bars of soap

 

[KiwiMoose]

Recycling plastic? Tick
Finding even more ways to get it into our waterways and ultimately food chain? NO THANK YOU

 

[2lilboots]

Well, plastic is petroleum based.

 

[AliOop]

Apparently like all other soap ingredients, it is no longer plastic once it is converted into a surfactant. Thanks for sharing the article, @VikingChick!

 

[Savage Daughter]

I just came across this article and I thought it was pretty interesting. I know many of us got into soapmaking because we wanted to get away from synthetic products, but at least this would be a way to recycle all that plastic we throw away in this world.

Chemists turned plastic waste into tiny bars of soap

This is absolute insanity. Is this how utterly stupid the scientists are who are being educated in universities to the tune of stupid amounts of dollars? I guess the answer to that is abso-freakin-lutely

Scientists already know that waste plastic can be turned back into fuel. People already do this independently themselves for the love of god....so why is this not being done? Why are governments not forcing oil & gas companies, plastics manufacturers etc to be responsible for the massive amount of petroleum / plastic waste they are producing, including 'vegan leathers' & other such toxic nonsense? Rather than continuing to drill for more oil & gas, producing MORE plastic, decimating the environment? Why are they not working diligently on plastics which would degrade in sea water in a non-toxic form that won't harm us, the planet, our waters or aquatic animals?

Yet they tell US to 'reduce / reuse / recycle & think that us WASHING in waste plastic by-products is a better idea?!? to them all.

The day I make a bar of soap from waste plastic products is NEVER.

Not freaking on you @VikingChick....I am freaking out on these 'educated' mental midgets

 

[Savage Daughter]

Just wanted to leave this here: Plastics Can Be Broken Down Into Fuel, And We Just Found a Great Method For It

Very early in the article: only 9% of plastics end up being recycled, the rest being burned or ending up in landfills & the oceans. A whopping 9%....after how many years we have all been recycling? And how much time we spend recycling? For what purpose? Ask yourself: what is wrong with this picture? Why is this? And why do we accept this, and go about buying more plastic things, which are packaged, wrapped & shipped in....plastic? Wrapping, packaging & shipping our own products in plastic?

You can find all sorts of people who upload their videos showing the process of recycling plastics into useable fuel, from the most basic processes to much more sophisticated processes, but very often done in people's back yards. Not to mention individuals who are turning waste plastic into incredibly strong construction materials that last indefinitely. If individual people are capable of doing so on a small scale with little money, why is it that manufacturers, recyclers, governments, corporations with billions of $$ seem to be incapable of doing so on a large scale? Incapable? Or unwilling? And why might that be?

 

[AliOop]

My understanding is that home recycling of plastic into fuel creates some pretty toxic byproducts, one of the worst of which is lead.

 

[Gaisy59]

Here in Canada our “esteemed” prime minister has implemented a carbon tax on all of us tax payers instead of charging the corporations that manufacture all this pollution in the first place. I don’t need more plastics, microplastics, etc and as for recycling don’t get me started. Oh what the heck…we produce it, we recycle it, we ship it overseas to reproduce it and best of all we dump it into the ocean for all the innocent creations to chew on.

And that’s my soapbox (get it wink wink) for today

 

[paradisi]

My understanding is that home recycling of plastic into fuel creates some pretty toxic byproducts, one of the worst of which is lead.

Mine as well. Plus.. a YT vid by Some Guy on the Intertubes isn't the sort of factual basis I'd depend on for cutting edge technology .

The reason plastics aren't being turned into fuel on a commercial scale is not that corporations wouldn't do it if they could. It's that it's not as feasible as it sounds. They'd adore to make money doing it and reaping the benefits of being eco friendly.

As for making, or using, soap from garbage..that would get into water and earth and food... a world of No.

 

[VikingChick]

But just because it starts as trash/plastic doesn’t mean that the soap it ends up as is trash. I’ve got a pair of shoes that (supposedly) are made from recycled plastic bottles. I don’t consider myself to be wearing garbage on my feet. Starting life as one thing doesn’t mean that’s our final and only destiny. Heck, if that was the case a lot of us would be screwed. Would producing less plastic in the first place be better? Obviously. But to each their own, I just thought it was interesting.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Oh yes - very interesting Viking Chick. I am still worried that once it gets into our waterways it starts to have other effects though. That's not to say it wouldn't have ended up there anyways in another form eventually....

 

[Savage Daughter]

My understanding is that home recycling of plastic into fuel creates some pretty toxic byproducts, one of the worst of which is lead.

That's food for thought when it comes to all the plastics we use for eating & drinking, including water bottles

As I said, our governments should be making it absolutely mandatory that corporations / manufacturers etc who choose to use / make plastics put their scientists to work safely & effectively recycling those plastics into fuel, construction materials, whatever they can be used for without creating more environmental & health hazards, which would go a long ways towards working on getting plastics out of our environment. We have a literal ISLAND in the middle of the ocean which has come together, all PLASTIC. Fact! And that's just one which we have been told about.

Funny thing is, when I receive raw materials & supplies of various kinds from the UK my packages are sent in envelopes padded with materials such as recycled wool batting. In North America, we are STILL using bubble wrap! My orders from the UK are also protected from damage using similar materials, as well as things like biodegradable packing peanuts made from starch.

 

[Savage Daughter]

But just because it starts as trash/plastic doesn’t mean that the soap it ends up as is trash.

What will it do to further contaminate our environment, our bodies, every living thing on the planet? And, as to what @AliOop mentioned, if turning plastics into fuel can result in a release of lead, how about the likely possibility of lead being in this 'recycled' rubbish used to make soap? And all sorts of other stuff?

I’ve got a pair of shoes that (supposedly) are made from recycled plastic bottles. I don’t consider myself to be wearing garbage on my feet.

I do consider this to be us wearing our garbage, quite literally. My local grocery store stated they would 'get rid of plastic grocery bags'....and then brought in plastic bags, but in another form, which look like fabric And all the fruits & vegetables we buy still need to be put in plastic bags. How is this a solution? What is there that we eat, wear, drink, breathe, bathe with etc which is not synthetic anymore? That is not one from or another of petroleum or petroleum by-product, including but not limited to plastic? This is something to think about. Very few of us even wear natural fibres of any type anymore. All of these things affect our health & the health of the earth.

Starting life as one thing doesn’t mean that’s our final and only destiny. Heck, if that was the case a lot of us would be screwed.

Yeah, we have been screwed for quite some time now, and we have been doing it to ourselves Our collective consciousness regarding these things really needs to evolve.

Would producing less plastic in the first place be better? Obviously. But to each their own, I just thought it was interesting.

As I said, I wasn't ragging on you I am simply appalled at the plethora of non-solutions which we are constantly presented with which are absolutely illogical & downright stupid. If we can launch satellites & rockets & all sorts of other stuff into the sky, I know we can do a whole lot better than turning our voluminous mountains & literal islands of plastic into more that will end up on our bodies & in our waters.