SciTech Chronicles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jan 18, 2025
#P3HB #adhesive #reusable #biodegradable #geothermal #Borobotics #Grabowski #heat-pump #Nitrogen #isotope #plant-based #enamel #light #heavy #PET #bacteria #DNA #biodegrade #Microplastics #ELIZA #chatbot #Weizenbaum #MAD-SLIP #Lisp
"In order for #PVA to #biodegrade, special PVA-adapted microbes need to be added at high levels and for long durations. Currently, most water treatment facilities do not sufficiently treat PVA in water, and therefore poses a series of environmental and safety concerns. "
Also:
"the production of PVA film involves heavy environmental and safety burdens in carcinogenic toxins, ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication, and fossil fuel depletion."
https://dirtylabs.com/blogs/the-dirt/ask-dr-pete-are-laundry-pods-and-sheets-really-sustainable
Can we #design all material resources to #biodegrade at end-of-use into simpler substances that feed #ecosystems?
When finished looping, can the materials we’ve used break down—either on their own or on command? Designing for impermanence calls for material reformation and #innovation. Materials used across controlled-loop #systems must recirculate within usable timeframes—over days, weeks, months, years, or decades rather than millennia.
(5/n)
"...strong carbon-fluorine bonds. That means such #chemicals are both highly stable and useful in products designed to repel grease and water [#hydrophobic]. But it also means they do not readily #biodegrade..."
Breakthroughs like the one in #Canada are therefore sorely needed because the Forever Chemicals might as well be called "Everywhere Chemicals", too:
"Widely used in consumer products such as #cookware and #clothing, these substances are turning up *everywhere* from..."
The additives are in theory now illegal in the EU but were probably never added to less-expanded forms of polystyrene that didn't pose a fire hazard, like cups. So #Mealworms appear to be a practical and rapid way to #biodegrade coffee cups (PS/PE plus cardboard) and Polystyrene drinking cups. I'll also experiment with food packaging #WastePlastic.
Tonight, they're munching on some waste chicken, so apparently that's a success, already. :)
#Composting
