Plastic Bag Solution
 

A Canadian 11th grader, as a science project, has isolated the microbe that eats plastic bags. It's not the ultimate solution, but it is a major step toward it.Probably a research lab could have done this long ago, but there hasn't been any substantial interest (money) in this kind of research. They're to busy looking for things they can sell.What if they scientifically increase the number of these rare microbes in the world and they start eating everything made of plastic... the microbe that devoured walmart!Think this kid will have trouble getting a job, after he's used up the scholarships he's won?

link

when I saw the title of this thread I immediately thought someone had killed themself.


whew.

glad it's just more nerd mongering.

Is Burd certain that living things eating plastic will not form some sort of mutant beings - maybe tiny Borgs - plastic bacteria Borgs - Burd Borg Bacteria!

Are high school kids certain of anything?
Come to think of it, is there anything they are not certain of?

I see the fly in the ointment here, is the bags have to be gathered and put into this cooker. If they gather them up, why not just melt them down and reuse the plastic?

The average cost of recovering plastic retail bags is somwhere between $1.25 and $1.50 per bag. Which plastics do you want to recover / recycle?

Recovering? It that the term for reusing the plastic?
Are grocery bags made of one of the bad plastics, unlike beverage bottles, that is hard to recycle?

So which type of plastic does these bacteria eat? Or are these bacteria so destructive as to become an Andromeda Strain? All those women with plastic surgeons are in trouble.

Whatever type they make plastic bags from, that's all he tested. The article didn't say what type of bags, either... shopping? trash? sandwich?
I still don't understand where you came up with $1.25/$1.50 per bag?

Looks to me like a grocery bag in the article photo.

The ones around here are white or brown (cardboard color), but that one may have been nom nom nomed by the microbes.

I thought you were male. Do you not fear what these microbes might do to beauty in Silicon Valley? We must put fear into perspective. 20-20 and 90-60-90 are numbers that must be protected.

Sorry. I get distracted by things that are actually important. What was that question? Oh. What kind of plastic would be consumed? That plastic is a problem only when it goes where recylcing (and microbes) cannot get at it. Sounds like these microbes are a solution still looking for a problem.

Plastics that are problematic are ones that escape the recycling bin. That microbe solution is woefully ill-defined by unanswered questions such as which type of plastics get eaten, what are those plastics converted into, why is this method better than existing recycling methods, and what will protect those medical wonders from Silicon Valley?

How is $1.25/$1.50 per bag not a problem? And please, once again, tell us where you got that number. Numbers without evidence are just lies, as I'm sure you know.

Wait...have we asked the topmost questions?

Me too Bri hmmm

tw doesn't answer questions, he just throws out bullshit and expects you to genuflect, while he runs off on another tangent.
Most of the time, I get the impression he didn't even read the first post.:rolleyes:

He certainly didn't go to the link in it yet.

Again, those numbers are only symptoms of a problem not addressed by the microbes. $1.25 etc are estimated costs per bag of recovering that plastic bag. Microbes remain an innovative solution still seeking a problem to solve. Plastics that are a problematic are plastics that escape recycling - ie $1.25+ per plastic bag.

Contrary to what xoxoxoBruce posted, the relevant point was answered then and is answered here again.

The next disaster film: Attack of the Polysysticvinyl Microbes.

Imagine, if you will, what kind of tools are found in that kid's basement that he can build a bacteria.

Similar to those in yours?











j/k

nah, there's only one tool in tw's basement.

Mine is full of quantum physics thought experiments. Paperless of course so as to be environmentally friendly.

So, like you've trapped a cat in a box?

Dana, aren't you supposed to be studying? (Just like I'm supposed to be working.)

Umm.....kinda....I broke off with the intention of getting to bed early and found myself back on here....

Bruce, nice pun in the title, by the way.

Oh! I hadn't spotted that :)

Here allow me. OOGA OOGA BOOGA GEORGE JR!

Ifyou were smart like tw you'd already know where he got the information.How many times does he have to share his wisdom with us?

I bet it's a misremembered statistic that actually refers to a large plastic bag full of plastic bags.

har. i thought it was that one where the kid demonstrates how to seal a bag of chips with a clever fold.

I'll give tw $1.25 to stfu!

You got me. I did say paperless. The box instead uses kitty litter.

So it creates waste and fills our land fill with your feces and discarded used kitty litter?

Recycling.

It's not a problem because its is your land fill - not ours.

Not.