plastics
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Adidas pledges to only use recycled plastics by 2024
Adidas is planning to expand its use of recycled plastics well beyond its flagship shoes. The sportswear maker has promised to only use recycled polyester in its shoes and clothing by 2024. While the company's Eric Liedtke didn't provide a detailed roadmap in a chat with the Financial Times, he characterized it as a transition that will see Adidas take "right-sized bites" out of its budget to make the switch without hurting its profit margins. It's no mean feat -- about half of Adidas' material is polyester right now, Liedtke said, so an "overnight" changeover isn't in the cards.
Plastics breakthrough could improve your car's mileage
A new thermal engineering process could make it viable to use lighter plastic product components in things such as vehicles, LEDs and computers. Until now, the material has been overlooked for certain applications because of its limitations in dissipating heat, but scientists from the University of Michigan have found a way to change plastic's molecular structure, making it as thermally conductive as glass. This advanced plastic could make products lighter, cheaper and more energy-efficient, and would be particularly useful in electric vehicle manufacturing since weight has a direct bearing on range.
Scientists find new bacteria species that can eat plastic
Plastic is a problem. We use too much of it -- over 300 million tons are produced every year -- and we can't easily get rid of it (there's that whole lack of biodegradability thing). But scientists in Japan may have come upon a solution to our environmental woes with a new bacteria, Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6, that can fully break down PET, which is used to make plenty of plastic material. As Fast Company notes, this is the first time we've found bacteria that can completely degrade PET.
Project Ara collaborator will give you $12,500 to recycle plastic better
Sure, the idea of keeping your phone up-to-date by swapping out parts is nice. But Dave Hakkens didn't invent Phonebloks (with tech Motorola borrowed for Project Ara) so you could have the latest electronics -- he was simply trying to reduce waste. He also wants more plastic recycled, and was recently awarded €10,000 ($12,500) to improve his small scale recycling machine, called "Precious Plastic." With Phonebloks, Hakkens doesn't have the time to make it happen personally, so he's willing to give that money to someone who does -- along with the use of his large workshop, tools and even lunch.
Researchers develop new plastics that 'bleed' and heal like human skin
It looks like plastics may not be something for the squeamish in the not-too-distant future. Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi recently revealed a new type of plastic they've been working on that takes its inspiration from human skin -- it "bleeds" red when it's scratched or cut and then heals itself when it's exposed to light. As Popular Science notes, self-healing plastics aren't something entirely new, but the "bleeding" (achieved using small molecular links or "bridges" that break when the plastic is scratched) is, as is the fact that this plastic can heal itself over and over again in the same spot. What's more, as it's made from water-based copolymers, it's also more environmentally-friendly than other plastics. Of course, it's all a ways from being used in actual products, but the researchers see no shortage of possibilities, including everything from self-healing car fenders to aircraft applications that could warn of problems before they get too severe.
Paper alloy takes shape for biodegradable consumer electronics (write your own origami joke)
So you're anxiously awaiting your biodegradable car and your biodegradable 3D glasses, waiting for the day when everything you own can return to the loam from which it sprang. But, what about the computer you're using this very moment? It's probably made of non-green materials like injection-molded plastic, and slapping some bamboo on it isn't fooling anyone. Design and engineering firm PEGA comes to your rescue with a new composite material made of recycled paper and polypropylene alloy. Lightweight, durable, and inexpensive to produce, it acts just like typical ABS plastic -- and it even comes in the classic soul-killing beige. Maybe this is what Apple's been waiting for.
DIY'ers create homemade 3D printer
Hot on the heels of the candy-object-making printer, an ingenious group of DIY'ers from Russia have managed to create a homemade 3D printer from a CNC lathe kit and some cobbled together bits and pieces. Typically, 3D printers are quite expensive (running anywhere from $20,000 up to $100,000), but working with cheap materials and using free, open source software, the designers were able to construct this project for considerably less. The printer software uses standard STL (a stereolithography CAD file) to render the objects, and it employs inexpensive plastic waste or powdered paint as raw material to create the real-world item. Motor over to the translated Russian site to see how it all takes shape -- pun intended.[Via Make]
