New Use For Thin Plastic Store Bags

Flammability issues?

I thought about that, and it wouldn't surprise me if some bureaucracy said no. But you wouldn't believe how flammable the carpet, curtains, upholstery, mattresses, etc. are. Anybody caught in a burning house would be dead long before the fire reached the plastic.

For protection from possible fire from wiring shorts in the walls, traditional fiberglass could be used around outlets and junction boxes. As far as the insulating properties, I think the R-value would be pretty high.

I think the flammability issues of those plastic blocks would be very real issue...that and the very nature of the smoke toxicity.

More people are killed by smoke inhalation than the actual flames...

Why not just simply recycle the plastic bags?

Personally, I use them to pick up dog crap in the back yard.....5 Border Collies & a Corgi can create a whole lot of pooo.....ackkkkk!!!!! ahahahahahaha

As I understand it's their undesirability to be recycled has lead others to take them and make use of them. They are used in the manufacturing of plastic decking. Seem they have found a way to take some of the recycling problems out of a resource no one wants.

ozzb, you're correct that they're being recycled and used in those engineered deck planks. They're a tremendous product. When it comes to replacing my rear deck on this house I'm going with them, in lieu of pressure treated lumber even if they are more costly....but in the long run they will hold up much much better, and last longer too.

Used them in design of some material handling carts as decking. The have held up better then the ones with wood on them.

Be careful and get well informed before you start your composite deck. There are lots of blogs showing up reputing many of the claims of composite decking.I have been trying to help a neighbor build a deck out of composite wood but it is going very slow. He inspected a new one built this summer by a friend of his and discovered that the deck was already warping with 16 inch centers. He is now installing joists between his 16 inch centers to make it 8 inch centers. My own builder would not use composite and talks his customers out of it. I suspect they eventually will have to construct these decks thicker than the current 1 inch and may even have to go to 2 inch. It moves tremendously and requires special clips. They don't fasten the deck down but rather allow the deck to move with summer/winter contrasting temps. The deck essentially floats on the underlying joists. I am not impressed at all and in fact would not use the present technology for decks. Unless they improve the product my advice is to stay away from the stuff. It is at the very least controversial. Still likely some uses for it but not on decks.

I have three different decks made of this material - not a problem with any of them - two in full sun and one shaded.

Quite often complaints of this nature are just to cover up different problems - understood or not understood. The joists under the material are steel box profile in my case.

They might be getting harder and harder to find... In Portland the mayor has placed a "plastic bag ban" on those bags, and no stores within the Portland city limits is allowed to sell them... So much for my pooperscooper bags :(

Sounds to me that Mayor of Portland OR has overstepped his legal authority with his plastic bag moritorium....

Has anyone challenged his local law in court yet?

[Hey, another good use for the plastic bags is to use them as litter bags in you vehicle of choice, rather than just as a doggiepoopiescupper baggie!!!! Maybe i should have gotten ferrets instead of digs, hahahhaha Ya'll know hard it is to buy a dedicated car plastic litter bag these days??? It's nearly impossible around these woods..... ]

He has overstepped his authority, But it hasn't stopped him in the past. He has been caught red handed with an under age 17yr old "boyfriend" (he is proudly homosexual), and still holds his seat. He has fired the chief of police, and granted himself as the new top man at the police department, and still holds his seat, and now he has single handedly taken up a war on plastic grocery bags. there is no limit apparently.

Keep Portland weird, as they say.

If you're using the composite decking, make sure to put a nice big barrier under your grill. The grease stains won't come out.

I think mayors have decided that they are the kings of their territories......................look what Bloomberg is doing in NYC. He's practically writing the recipes that restaurants can use.

I once used to work for a Mayor of a small upstate NY city as the City Engineer such as this guy from Portland.....he got away of wearing the City Engineer's hat as well as the Mayor's hat when there was a long term vacancy for the CE's position prior to me taking it.

He was a tyrant to say the lease and got away with it until several newly elected alderman called him on the carpet that what he was doing was against the City Charter. That fixed him real good forever more! hahahha Also, prior to this squash he was telling me how to engineer which is illegal in NYS.

So it is back to paper bags... These are easier to dispose of. When the bag is full, you just set it down on a busy street corner, light it afire, and walk away. Sure as can be, someone will come along and stomp the fire out.

If you come over to Vancouver, look at the street corners for brown spots.

Just kidding

Bill

The trouble is; mayors have closer ties with the community than other politicians do. The government ladder is a lot shorter than in state and national government.

Doesn't take any intelligence to get your self elected mayor. All it takes is connections.

Here in Arizona, we have living proof that it doesn't take any intelligence to get yourself elected governor or into the legislature either.

In Portland it helps to be loony - has for many years. Supposed to be progressive or some such thing.

Beautiful area to live but decent paying jobs are hard to come by.

Do-it-yourself recycling is not easy. I tried to melt plastic water/milk jugs into blocks. What a stinky, smoky failure. Lots of times the vapors are very dangerous, too. From what I see, the plastic bags, maybe even the jugs, are now made of plastic that decomposes fairly quickly. I'll find them crumbling sometimes. I used some kitty litter tubs to hold stuff in the back of my truck. They are crumbling, too. Even paint pails get brittle after a long time.

I wasn't thinking about doing it myself. Just throwing it out there.

I've done some plastic experiments myself. Most of our butter knives are black at the end...........................they make good shapers and spreaders.

My wife is not a happy woman.

All of the crumbling is due to UV radiation, which wouldn't come into play in an insulation scenario.

Bad or good, it never hurts to throw out an idea.

Given the current state of the planet, I'm also trying to hone my own survival skills.

Those bags might come in handy.

I suggest that this web site start a weekly creative "reuse" thread much like the weekly caption this thread. Different members get to suggest items that normally get discarded as candidates for us to throw creative ideas about.

Plastic bags have always been used around here to help slip shoed feet into winter boots. Just leave them there and when it is time to put them back on at work or school they still do the job.

I have one favorite store that uses a slightly larger plastic bag and they fit my paper shredder plastic can under the shredder part. When it is full it is an easy tie up and toss verses a dumping job that usually has static as my opponent. I did have to use some gorilla tape to cover some sharp edges so that when the bag is full it slips out without tearing.

There is a company that makes plastic hooks that go around the car and truck headrest posts and the other end has clip/hooks to attach the bag handles. I keep one behind the wife's seat and I can reach it to deposit empty refreshment cans and bottles, coffee cups, etc. When it seems full or has stinky contents we drop it at the next rest area, attach a new bag and away without any remorse of a stylish fake leather $9 bag.

I also have my jumper cables in a upscale bag provided by a major high end department store. They have a better quality bag that is stronger and more durable and happened to be the right size.

I always capture the plastic bags that are different shape, size, strength and feel very proud when I find a new free use. I have save the narrow long bags used to protect the newspaper on the rainy mornings, they do make good sleeve/arm protector for dirty jobs like painting with a roller or cleaning out the ductwork from the furnace.

I have saved the bigger clear bags that flat screens, etc come in and use them to cover my not so often used tools in the garage. Drill press, jig saw, table saw, power washer, etc.

I would never use them for insulation for already mentioned reasons. I also do not want to proliferate the plastic mice living in the walls of this old house.

Moving away from plastic bags there are also a lot of plastic food containers that get tossed but with a little ingenious label removal, they come back to life in my garage as great storage containers. All sizes again. Little parts easily separated. I know glass jars have been doing this, and the baby food jars, but I also have had them break sending contents and glass all over. I use the larger gallon 2 gallon for bunches of short extensions used at Christmas time, leftover scraps of webbing, strapping. I have one full of match books and another with more box cutters than Taliban has.

Ok, somebody pipe in here before I giveaway all my secrets.

Yes your idea will work. Research "Castle Blocks" there is a load of adaptable info extractable from that topic.

Fire need be no bother, the Castle Blocks won't burn and a pure plastic version using bags and some borax is self extinguishing. The advantage of the Castle Blocks is they are designed to utilise waste paper as well, stuff like glossy brochures that don't recycle well. The lime, cement and sand just make the thing undebustible.

You would not need huge moulds (unless the published bullet proof capability is important), just weld up moulds to suit the job.

The only thing I could find on castle blocks was toys.

I did find this though. Styrofoam is being used all over in modern building. I wouldn't think the compacted bags woud be more of a hazard.

It seems like the insulation factor would be low unless you incorporated some air bubbles into your substrate. Otherwise, the idea sounds plausible to me.

I keep mine because I can't stand to throw them away. They keep me from purchasing bathroom trash can liners.

I don't throw stuff away that can be useful either. It's not a "green" thing, but we wash and reuse ziplock freezer bags too. Just no sense in throwing them away if they're good. Same with plastic paint buckets. I can't bring myself to throw them in the trash. Problem is, it can get a little junky looking around here.

That's the beauty of it, the compacted bags would have small air pockets built right in.

I'm already glad I started the thread. Somebody mentioned boats. I have a 14' bass boat with a bit of a V shape on the bottom. I fitted it with a 3/4" plywood floor, but it's a little heavy. I think I can compress these bags under a thinner floor material, seal them in so no water gets to them, and I should be able to shave some substantial weight from the boat..................maybe. I'll have to do some tests.

I find that stuff can be hard to find a second time if months have passed since last viewing, if I get time I'll dig around again.

There was some info floating about where the idea was to shred plastic, paper and other unwanted bits while adding cement and a bit of fine sand. One author showed blocks he had shot a variety of bullets into, bashed with a hammer etc etc. He claimed they were indestructible.

There was also a design for making an oversized blender out of a 44 Gal (205 litre) drum.

In the UK, we now have to PAY for a bag when shopping. Yes they were free, but as the number of plastic bag trees has doubled over the years, and in an attempt to stop the wanton abandonment of "used only once" bags, local and National government has now got us paying for bags, even brown paper bags from McDonalds.

Has it made a difference? To early to tell, but it is really bloody annoying when shopping if you forget your bags and have to buy new. The cost.. 5 pence, or about $0.08 cents.

On the other hand, certain bored retired OAP's collect the bags.. stretch the hell out of them and then knit with them, making all kinds of stuff.(local news item covering the national implementation of pay per bag).

So if it works in the UK, them maybe it will travel over the pond...... How will that affect WallMart and the like?

Thinking on this, there is that certain feeling as you leave the store, if the item you have bought is not in a bag.. you've stolen it! The bag was the identifying part of the transaction that you have paid for your item, the times I've left a store WITHOUT a bag, wondering if security are going to chase me down as a shop lifter.

Just something else to make shopping stressful... if shopping isn't stressful enough for a man as it is!!

BYOB is a new term? or BOB, Buy our Bag or make many trips to the car Can we see the reuse of 'ACE' bags in Walmart and Target bags in K-Mart and TSP bags filled on the block with dog manure and we still have the 'old bag' to get rid of in the land fill. To dream up a way to reuse the many bags in siding, flooring boards, insulation, fish floats or boats would make them usable for years to come. Place your bag here stations in the stores lobbies would keep many out of landfills to be recycled. Love the Ideas, Just needs a little engineering.

I'm quite glad the politicians here haven't got around to this stuff yet - with any luck and maybe 15 years I will be long gone and others can put up with the nonsense.

AIUI, the recycling process for LDPE film is very contamination sensitive beacuse the temperatures just aren't high enough to burn away contaminants. Remember, in my experience, recycling just won't happen until you get tons of material of the right specification together in one place- how many carrier bags are in a ton?

millions!

Yeah. Finding a reuse for plastics, etc., is the easy part...........................it's collecting them that's the real challenge.

Be careful, those bags, bottles, buckets have a limited life time.

The basic materials are to be contaminated with organic material "on purpose" to age and break down (often potato dust is mixed in). I have build a raft with milk bottles and in sea water it lasted less than a year.

Cracking and pulverizing.

Most of that is due to UV from the sun. Any reuse that kept the plastic in the dark and dry would probably last forever.

not exactly

But there are companies using recycled PE as a binder for recycled PET fiber insulation.

One advantage, contrary to previous opinion, is the insulation will 'shrink away' from hot cables, or light fittings - allowing cooling. Interestingly, many fires are actually due to glass fiber, or treated paper, not doing this.

_{(warning: I have vested interests in the insulation technology area)}