Even though you recycle the plastic you discard, you sometimes feel guilty about how much you throw out and worry about where it's going. Would you like to be a little more hands on and proactive and recycle some of your plastics yourself? If so, I've got some ideas for you. [more inside]
posted by orange swan on Nov 1, 2008 - 28 comments

Most people are familiar with welding metal, but it’s entirely possible to weld plastic. There are a surprising number of ways to weld plastic, but first you will need to identify what kind it is. The smell of burning plastic is a particularly effective diagnostic. This man is welding with hot air. Many instructional videos are made by companies whose products are featured in the video, like this somewhat surreal demonstration of speed tip welding. Perhaps the most low-tech method is with a soldering iron.
posted by Tube on Jul 19, 2008 - 42 comments

The Faces of War, a fascinating document of the prosthetic masks used to cover serious facial injuries from the battlefield. Before plastic surgery was widely practised and used to reconstruct the horrific facial injuries of the First World War soldiers, men with the most serious facial injured were often hidden away from society.

Men such as those recorded in watercolour, and in pastels (warning: some may find these images disturbing); patients of Harold Gillies, pioneer of facial reconstruction at Queen's Hospital, Sidcup, the wars major centre for facial reconstruction and plastic surgery.
posted by chrisbucks on Oct 1, 2007 - 24 comments

Microscopic fragments of plastic are a "major pollutant", floating in the ocean, settling on seabeds, and washing up onshore - with unknown consequences for marine ecosystems, according to a new study. "We've found this microscopic plastic material at all of the sites we've examined," [lead researcher] Dr Richard C Thompson [of University of Plymouth, UK] said. "Interestingly, the abundance is reasonably consistent. So, it suggests to us that the problem is really quite ubiquitous."
posted by mcgraw on May 7, 2004 - 15 comments

Plastics! A new revolution in packaging, "By some measures, films made of metallocene-based polyethylenes can have two to three times the tensile strength, five times the impact strength, and twice the tear strength of a traditional polymer. That allows users to make much thinner films and parts, saving on everything from plastic resin to transport costs."
posted by kliuless on Dec 17, 2001 - 1 comment

One word...Plastics. New techniques for restoring bones. Speaking of broken bones, is everyone else dreading the full media coverage of Ronald Reagan's slow liquefaction over the next several years.
posted by ritualdevice on Jan 15, 2001 - 12 comments