Here is TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING------99% of global citizens have been shouting these few decades ENOUGH OF THE PLASTIC CONTAINERS from bottles and containers. We are told DON'T WORRY IT IS NOW RECYCLABLE------so now all that was steel or metal ore ---from tools to machine parts are being taken plastic BECAUSE we are nearing a crises in natural resources of metal ore.
There is a second reason for going all plastic-----99% of WE THE PEOPLE cannot manufacture plastic unless we have the capital to purchase both industrial equipment and or the refined oil to plastic chemicals. Think how for thousands of years humans created tools and building materials----then think about all those natural resources we simply picked up from the ground ----NO LONGER THERE. No doubt we will always have STONE ---we can return to STONE AGE---
The amount of pollution created from plastics ----THROW AWAY PRODUCTS----rather than the glass and clay containers we use over and over and over again. Now this is coming to our industrial tooling and parts.
THIS IS 'INNOVATIVE' TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING BEING CALLED 'GREEN'---ENVIRONMENTAL.
'IBanPlastic added a new video: River Flowing with Plastic Pollution.
September 20 at 10:37pm ·
This needs to go Viral! Literally, a River Flowing with Plastic Pollution.
Sign it! - www.iBanPlastic.com'
Resin Casting: Going from CAD to Engineering-Grade Plastic Parts
Synthetic polymers play a role in almost every single commercially manufactured item on the planet. Plastics are not just ubiquitous, but extremely versatile: some of them are incredibly stretchy, while some are hard as nails; some are crystal clear, and others come in all colors of the rainbow; some can survive extreme temperatures, and yet others can stop a bullet mid-flight.
When you think about all this, it’s hard to believe that even for hobbyists well-accustomed to 3D manufacturing, engineering-grade plastics are still taboo. Sure, we may own 3D printers, but the output from affordable PLA and ABS extruders doesn’t even come close to the strength or variety of cheap injection-molded parts. The owners of CNC mills also have no reason to be smug: most of them shy away from plastics altogether, or resort to inexpensive but poorly-performing materials such as acrylic or HDPE.
Oddly enough, there is no reason why things need to be that way. There is a pretty safe, low-cost, and hassle-free technique that lets you make incredibly tough and precise parts in your workshop, in a matter of hours. The only problem is that almost all the available tutorials about this process – known as resin casting – are written by artists, with other artists in mind. Applying their approaches in engineering projects is usually not a good plan.
Fabricating patterns for single-part molds
If you follow the usual advice for replicating hand-made parts, you will be instructed to coat or submerge the original item in a flexible material, such as alginate or silicone rubber. Once this is done – and the shell is fully cured – you will be asked to cut this rubbery blob open and retrieve the original model. At that point, you will also fill the hollow void with another thermosetting compound that takes the shape of the initial part – and clamp the entire thing shut.
This process works, but has a number of drawbacks, especially if you want to get predictable results – and want to get them fast. For example, it can be taxing to build an appropriate box for a mold and then properly attach and orient the original model inside of it. It can be just as tricky to remove the original part without ruining the model, the shell, or both. Heck, even putting the mold back together without compromising the dimensional accuracy of the resulting part is quite a challenge on its own.
Luckily, all these problems can be avoided when dealing with computer-designed parts: all you need to do is to attach the desired geometry to a CAD-sketched mold cavity, forming a positive mold known as a pattern – and then manufacture them together in a single step. We will talk about more complex examples later on, but for now, let’s take a part with a flat bottom and limited undercuts. In such a scenario, the pattern can be as trivial as this:
Designing a simple pattern for a single-part rubber mold.
Adding a box around the part has a fairly modest impact on 3D printing, but makes a huge, positive difference for CNC milling work. That’s because you can quickly machine a pattern on top of an oversized piece of stock material, leaving most of it intact for future use. This saves you money, time, and eliminates the worry about fixturing the part so that it doesn’t fly away from underneath the tool.
CNC mill finishing a complex mold for a planetary gearbox on top of a random block of stock material. Machining these gears directly would be a lot more challenging and wasteful.
Patterns can be made out of any material that processes easily and produces predictable results. With 3D extruders, this usually means PLA. For CNC mills, machinable wax and HDPE should work acceptably well, although I always recommend a more predictable and cheaper alternative: medium-density prototyping boards. My favorite variety is RenShape 460 — a lightweight and fairly durable substance that machines like butter, but delivers amazingly fine detail:
Close-up of a CNC-machined pattern in RenShape 460. This material costs a few cents per cubic inch and is actually less expensive than machinable wax.
Producing negative molds
With a pattern cavity ready to go, we need to find a suitable material that will form a flexible, negative mold. In artistic applications, such molds are commonly made out of latex, alginate, polysulfide rubbers, or tin-cure silicones. All these options have significant downsides — ranging from poor strength to marked toxicity — and contribute to the perception that moldmaking is a messy affair.
In precision work, the only worthwhile choice is two-component, platinum-cure silicones. These materials are non-toxic and odor-free; on top of this, their mode of polymerization ensures incredibly high dimensional accuracy. The resulting rubber is remarkably tough, exhibits excellent rebound characteristics, is resistant to chemicals, and comes with an inherently non-stick surface that easily detaches from the pattern and from the final parts. In short, platinum silicones are one of the coolest polymers you get to play with at home.
Pouring silicone into a machined pattern.
Over the years, I have tried about a dozen different moldmaking rubbers, many of them from popular, hobbyist-oriented manufacturers – and to put it kindly, it is very easy to end up with a variety that is far too viscous, far too fragile, or far too soft for small parts. I have put together a detailed guide for selecting just the right formulation; if you don’t have time for that, I think that two products really leave the competition in the dust: the easily pourable, low-viscosity Quantum Silicones QM 262 and the nearly indestructible, translucent Silicones Inc XP-592. Both of these products cost around $15 per pound, and usually come in 10-12lbs kits.
With the moldmaking composition selected, the whole casting process is almost embarrassingly simple: the resin is mixed for several minutes, poured into the mold, and covered with a flat sheet of plastic for a couple of hours. That’s really about it.
Cured silicone mold. Note the flawless pick-up of sub-millimeter detail, including tiny protrusions and thin walls.
Well, to be fair, there is one more step worth taking in between: to ensure excellent reproduction of intricate detail without biting your nails, it’s wise to get a vacuum degassing rig. The term may be scary, but the device isn’t: a small and relatively quiet vacuum pump costs around $100, and a shatterproof polycarbonate vacuum jar sells for less than $60. Two or three minutes under vacuum ensure that there is no air trapped in between the mold and the still-liquid resin – and you are done.
Vacuum degassing helps avoid air entrapment in a fast, easy, and reliable way.
You can also use several other hacks, such as applying the rubber with a brush or a syringe – but frankly, except for very simple geometries, it’s just not worth your time.
Casting final parts
As soon as the negative mold is ready to go, you can start making final parts. The workflow is very similar to the steps discussed above: a two-component resin (optionally pigmented with commonly available, super-low-cost dyes) is thoroughly mixed, poured into the flexible mold, briefly degassed under vacuum, and finally covered with a flat sheet of non-stick plastic – polypropylene or HDPE will do. That’s it: the polymerization reaction kicks in, and in a couple of hours, the finished parts can be removed from the mold.
Final parts on their way; today’s color is blue. Molds are covered with a sheet of polypropylene and weighed down to ensure flatness and avoid flash. Since the mold is made from a fairly rigid rubber, it maintains excellent dimensional accuracy even under heavy load.
The casting process itself is simple, but selecting the right plastic can be a challenge: many of the popular resins sold under hobby brands are smelly, harmful, exhibit significant shrinkage, cure too quickly or too slowly, or simply produce flimsy parts. It may not matter if you are making a decorative paperweight – but for a functional mechanical assembly, it probably will. To avoid unpleasant surprises, you should stay clear of epoxies and polyesters; polyurethanes are a much better choice. This family of remarkably versatile polymers can faithfully approximate almost every other type of plastic or rubber – and offers excellent resistance and dimensional accuracy, too.
Alas, most of the polyurethane compositions marketed to artists and other DIYers are almost guaranteed to disappoint in one way or another. To avoid common pitfalls, you can have another look at this in-depth guide; but in short, I strongly recommend sticking to Innovative Polymers, a little-known manufacturer from Michigan. They do not seem to target hobbyist audiences, but they carry a remarkable range of top-notch, workshop-safe plastics for demanding applications (and for taxidermy – your guess is as good as mine!). In particular, their IE-3075 resin has no match: it is exceptionally strong and rigid, outperforming injection-molded Nylon or ABS in almost every way. Just as importantly, it’s very easy to work with and dirt cheap, selling for less than $8 per pound.
Micro-scale parts made out of Innovative Polymers IE-3075 (dyed orange) and OC-7086 (water clear). The accuracy – CAD model to finished part – is better than 5 µm.
Innovative Polymers also carries a selection of comparably tough, UV-resistant crystal-clear resins (e.g., TD 283-18), a range of indestructible, stretchy rubbers with superb abrasion and cut resistance (HP-21xx series), and a lot more. Really, if you are in North America and want to get going with resin casting, it’s a crime not to give them a try.
A word of caution is in order: although the resins mentioned in this article are safer than most of the formulations employed in artistic work, they are still based on fairly reactive chemicals, and need to be treated with respect. Before starting any casting projects, familiarize yourself with product safety datasheets and review common-sense workshop safety tips.
But what about more complex parts?Good question! We glanced over this topic earlier on, but it’s time to catch up. For geometries that can’t be easily cast in single-part molds – for example, because they do not have a flat bottom, or because they have pronounced undercuts – you need to build a mold that consists of two or more interlocking bits. The idea may sound intimidating, and involves a bit 3D problem-solving – but in most cases, the task isn’t as hard as it seems. One of the many possible approaches is shown below:
Creating patterns for a two-part negative mold. A very thin sprue is also added near the parting line to allow the resin to be poured in with a syringe.
In fact, multi-part molds may simplify your life. Directly manufacturing the part shown above would be difficult, because low-cost 3D printers tend to struggle with overhangs, while entry-level three-axis CNC mills can’t cope with undercuts (unless you manually rotate the workpiece in the middle of a cutting job). The split-pattern approach makes this problem go away: all the individual molds have simple shapes, and are combined to cast a monolithic part with a more tricky geometry later on.
Final words
Resin casting is not a silver bullet – but it offers compelling benefits even for one-off parts, and is not getting the recognition it deserves in the DIY 3D community. Once you get a hang of the process, the overhead involved can be surprisingly low – and in many cases, the approach may actually simplify your projects, working around the inherent limitations of 3D Printers and CNC Mills.
In exchange for taking the slightly longer route, resin casting gives you the ability to quickly crank out parts with almost any mechanical properties, from true rubbers to exotic composites. In fact, even if you limit yourself to a single type of a polyurethane resin, you still get a surprising degree of flexibility: fillers such as milled glass fibers or glass microspheres can be used to make rock-hard composites or ultralight syntactic foams by just throwing a spoonful of commodity powder into the mix.
Best of all, once you have a negative mold or two, you can replicate your parts in large quantities, at almost no cost, and much faster than you could ever print or machine them. To change their appearance, you just need a drop of dye and a good stir. No other approach even comes close to that.
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NOW the marketing term for plastic is ENLIGHTENED BUYERS-------global 99% are being SMART if they allow everything in their lives to be made of PLASTIC.
IT IS RECYCLABLE YOU KNOW! THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY.
Global banking is moving to all that is plastic not because it is INNOVATIVE----we simply no longer have the natural resources to build with metal ore----with WOOD----with even SAND CONCRETE----so global 1% must tell WE THE PEOPLE THE 99% we need to be ENLIGHTENED TO PLASTIC CIRCULAR ECONOMY.
If we can imagine what China did to their environment with toxic metal manufacturing-----we KNOW what China will do with PLASTIC MANUFACTURING and plastic is as toxic as metal. The idea that the recycling process of plastics is NOT TOXIC---is somehow GREEN ----
IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS.
'Enter enlightened buyersEnlightened buyers can make an enormous impact in the world today, because they can cater to the demands, regulations and desires of their home markets. They can do this while greatly benefiting their sourcing countries if they start asking for materials and products that fit within the circular economy'.
So, now we will have corporate CIVIL ENGINEERS telling us plastic sidewalks, plastic walls in homes and buildings is PUBLIC INTEREST. When our local government CIVIL ENGINEERS are public employees hired from our local communities ---when our public universities work in PUBLIC INTEREST making sure to hold corporations and politicians accountable in PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH----then we have civil engineers working for WE THE PEOPLE THE 99% telling corporate engineers BUILDING TO FAIL ----that they are SOCIOPATHS.
Is cleaning the oceans of massive floating islands of plastic a good thing? No doubt----but EXPANDING THE USE OF PLASTIC to every kind of product defeats this----we will have more and more kinds of floating plastic products needing to be cleaned from our rivers, soil, and nothing more toxic in air---then melted plastic.
THIS IS PROPAGANDA ADVERTISING
'recycling and solutions for a world without the waste footprint'.
Plastic, China and how to drive your brand into the circular economy
Doug Woodring
Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - 1:35am
Photocollage
As our seafood gets overfished, and with a growing global population that consumes many more products and plastic, we are facing a growing waste challenge which may lead us to having an ocean that has more plastic than fish by 2050. Part of me believes this tragic result will come much earlier, due to the vast underestimation of the amount of illegal fishing that is going on in the world today and the lack of global capacity for recycling and waste management.
The other part of me believes that we will never reach this outcome, because we are moving into an era of greater corporate and community enlightenment which will propel technological solutions into existence in a way that we have not seen in the past. This complements the fact that we are finally starting to understand the vast importance of the ocean and need for proper fisheries management.
You also may have read reports in the past year about which countries are adding the most plastic pollution to the ocean, many of which are in Asia. We all have a waste issue, and simply because a country has a lot of land and buries it, or because they have ways to incinerate it, does not mean that it is efficient in "removing" those resource assets from the community.In countries that don’t have the full capacity to handle humanity’s consumption, it is estimated that over 40 percent of the world’s trash in the world today is burned, most of which is in open-pit scenarios, where toxins then get into the air and back into our environment.
Challenging times
So let’s fast-forward to a slowing economy in China, but one that is rapidly modernizing its methods of production, building new sectors that are leading on innovation, and even becoming robotic. Its resources are stretched, but oil prices are low and are likely to stay that way for some time due to the decentralized oil pricing that fracking has brought to the equation, as well as the economies of scale that are unfolding in the space of renewables, batteries, electric cars and the movement of smart money away from carbon-focused entities.
This also poses a challenge for the recovery and re-use of plastic, versus cheaper virgin material which follows low oil prices, and for those hoping to reduce the waste impact.
Some of China’s provinces and companies are now moving into business operations that foster the growth of the circular economy.
Some of China’s provinces and companies, however, are moving into business operations that foster the growth of the circular economy, which means designing products that can be taken apart, re-blended or recycled so that waste is not an end result. This is complemented by the fact that the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) recently signed on to the World Plastics Council, which also has a goal of reducing plastic waste in the environment. The issue is that many companies do not yet know how to obtain good quality recycled content for their supply chains, nor do the municipalities necessarily have the systems in place to provide it.
Now enter Western buyers into this equation — the brands from afar that have moved much of their sourcing to China and Asia, and which also are often trying to sell to these growing populations. These new countries and markets, however, have not had the capacity to recycle or handle the waste that is created along the way. Even Hong Kong, one of the wealthiest cities in the world, has not figured out how to efficiently recover its resources.
A win-win situation can be created, however, as Western brands begin to face greater challenges and demands of sustainability in their own markets, and are wanting to move up the value chain of brand reputation while giving back to the communities and populations they serve.
Enter enlightened buyers
Enlightened buyers can make an enormous impact in the world today, because they can cater to the demands, regulations and desires of their home markets. They can do this while greatly benefiting their sourcing countries if they start asking for materials and products that fit within the circular economy.
An increasing number of suppliers in Asia and elsewhere want to be at the cutting edge of technology, recycled content and material management, but the enlightened buyers from abroad really can expedite the tipping point for the circular economy.
The supply of recycled plastic is there, but demand needs to be stepped up a notch or 10, and this is where the enlightened buyers can make a big impact.
Their demand for high percentages of recycled content, for example, coupled with economies of scale for resource recovery, would mean that the circular economy can kick into gear, creating jobs, reducing waste, improving brand value and reputation and helping to stop the flow of material that reaches our waters, which today is a high percentage of plastic.
The supply is there, but demand needs to be stepped up a notch or 10, and this is where the enlightened buyers can make a big impact for themselves, the communities they serve and in the nations they source from. If this can happen, we have a much greater chance of always having more fish in the ocean than plastic.
On this topic, the fifth annual Plasticity Forum will be April 27-28 in Shanghai, focusing on the future of plastic and where the leaders are going with design, innovation, materials, recycling and solutions for a world without the waste footprint.
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The plastic recycling facilities are not the best----imagine that.
Indeed, the process of manufacturing plastic was already toxic to both environment and workers-----to recycle plastic one has to repeat that process----it will end just as when we saw RUBBER used in our children's playground---rubber as athletic fields ----all known to expose citizens to PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS.
We already see the major recycling factories in the same developing nation FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES and we would not expect anything other than FAILURE TO USE ENVIRONMENTALLY/WORKER SAFE PRODUCTION.
'Plastic recycling can be hazardous to communities and workers. We like to think we are helping the environment when we toss our plastic bottles and containers into the recycle bin. But did you know that most of our plastic recycling is shipped overseas to China and other Asian countries? And sadly, environmental conditions in these recycling facilities are not always the best'.
How did that rubberized tire recycled into playground platforms in school playgrounds? Global corporate universities like JOHNS HOPKINS created data saying it was not harmful or toxic only to have a few decades later more data saying people were harmed by these uses of PLASTIC/RUBBER.
Global Wall Street and national media will sell ENLIGHTENED CONSUMERS to recycled plastic products while super-sizing the kinds of plastic products that are manufactured--------while REAL left social progressives have been shouting these few decades how these INNOVATIVE USES OF RUBBER AND PLASTICS are NOT GREEN AND NOT SAFE TO PUBLIC HEALTH.
This is what our Baltimore Public Health Department would be SHOUTING if the commissioners were not working for global plastic corporations.
Hmmmmmm, am I 'enlightened' if I am plastic-free? YOU BETCHA!.....................
'Check out my guide to going plastic-free for changes that you can make right now'.
What’s Plastic Got To Do With Clean Air?
This was written by Beth Terry:
Our love of plastic creates several health and environmental problems. Toxic additives can leach from plastic food and beverage containers. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade. Animals can ingest it, with sometimes fatal consequences. And there is a toxic soup of plastic swirling around in the ocean.
But did you know that the life cycle of plastic contributes to air pollution, both indoor and out? And that reducing our plastic consumption will help to protect the air we breathe? Here’s how.
Most plastic is made from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas, which release toxic emissions when extracted from the earth. According to Earthworks, an organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the impacts of irresponsible mineral and energy development, oil and gas drilling releases a slew of toxic air contaminants, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds. Not to mention the methane gas that can leak and cause greater greenhouse effects than carbon dioxide. Sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde are among the chemicals pumped into the air from natural gas drilling sites.
Many people believe that plastic bags are made from petroleum, but in the United States, the majority of them are made from natural gas, which the plastics industry touts as green and clean. Not so clean when you consider the emissions from extraction.
Petrochemical plants pollute communities and harms workers. In addition to the emissions from the extraction process, refining fossil fuels and processing them into plastics can create even more toxic emissions. For example, during production, PVC plants can release dioxins, known carcinogens that bioaccumulate in humans and wildlife and are associated with reproductive and immune system disorders. And even production of supposedly “safe” plastics like PET, the kind used to create clear plastic water bottles, requires the use of chemicals like paraxylene, a derivative of the highly carcinogenic chemical benzene, which is derived from crude oil through a refining process at oil and petrochemical refineries. Residents of Gulf communities where these chemicals are produced are regularly exposed to disproportionate levels of benzene and other carcinogenic chemicals above safe standards.
Plastics contain additives that can offgas and contaminate the air in our homes and other personal spaces. Phthalates are chemicals added to some plastics to make them soft and flexible. They are also endocrine disruptors associated with a whole host of health problems, including lower testosterone levels, decreased sperm counts and poor sperm quality in males, as well as obesity, reduced female fertility, preterm birth and low birth weight, a worsening of allergy and asthma symptoms, and behavior changes. Unfortunately, they are not chemically bound to products, which makes them easy to migrate and offgas into the air we breathe. That “new car” or “new shower curtain” smell is the smell of phthalates offgasing.
Plastics release hazardous emissions when burned. Because of the ubiquity of plastics in our lives, when fires do occur in our homes or in other buildings, the emissions from fires are becoming increasingly hazardous to those exposed to them. Plastic furniture in homes is causing fires to burn more quickly, making fires more dangerous to firefighters, who have traditionally broken windows to release heat and gases before entering. According to the New York Times:
“Plastic fillings in sofas and mattresses burn much faster than older fillings like cotton, helping to transform the behavior of house fires in the last few decades, firefighters and engineers say.
“With more plastic in homes, residential fires are now likely to use up all the oxygen in a room before they consume all flammable materials. The resulting smoky, oxygen-deprived fires appear to be going out. But they are actually waiting for an inrush of fresh air, which can come as firefighters cut through roofs and break windows.”
Further, fires in plastics manufacturing plants and plastics recycling plants are not uncommon and are hazardous for the communities in which they occur. Plastics are particularly dangerous in recycling plant fires because plastics burn at a high temperature and adding water can make some plastic fires flare higher.
Plastic recycling can be hazardous to communities and workers. We like to think we are helping the environment when we toss our plastic bottles and containers into the recycle bin. But did you know that most of our plastic recycling is shipped overseas to China and other Asian countries? And sadly, environmental conditions in these recycling facilities are not always the best. In 2007, Britain’s Sky News aired an expose on the conditions in Lian Jiao, a Chinese town that had become a toxic waste dump for the West’s plastic recycling. Workers melted down plastics without wearing any kind of protective gear, and the air was thick with toxic emissions. Just as manufacturing virgin plastic can create air pollution, so can the processes used to recycle the material. What’s better than recycling? Not using the plastic in the first place.
We are the solution. We need a two-step approach. We need to support groups like the Moms Clean Air Force that are pressuring our elected officials to step up and defend the provisions of the Clean Air Act from energy and chemical industry groups that seek to weaken its protections. And we as individuals can take responsibility for our own choices. We can vote with our dollars and reduce our personal consumption of plastic products and packaging.
Check out my guide to going plastic-free for changes that you can make right now.
___________________________________
When we shout----WE ARE SURROUNDED IN PLASTIC-----we mean LITERALLY. Here in Baltimore the new road construction is coming with THERMOPLASTIC PAINT-----AND/OR regular road paint we are made to think we need in order to see bus lanes/bike lanes et al. So crosswalks are painted one color----biking paths painted another---bus lanes painted another----when all this used to be ONLY CONCRETE AND ASPHALT. It looks bright and people may think this is a good civil engineering tool.
Let's think to where all that paint goes as it erodes. It flakes onto streets and gutters then wash down drainpipes to our PORT OF BALTIMORE watershed. We already fight the gas and oil that washes off streets or are poured down street drains-----the amount of THERMOPLASTIC PAINT ----that is being used in downtown Baltimore is HUGE.
As well, all new roads have new crosswalk and street lining of which are now -----thermoplastic. We are told this use is because it LASTS LONGER not needing to be redone for a decade or so----how often did we see street lining/cross walk lining done BEFORE? A few decades AND MORE.
The progression with highway painting went from paint grades that did not last----to requiring HIGH BUILD PAINT. HIGH BUILD PAINT did last longer and was less toxic to environment then plastic. When being INNOVATIVE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING around marking our highways and streets----we would NOT move from paint to plastic.
'and others are starting to require what is called "high build" paint'.
'Hot applied "melter" method: Hot applied thermoplastic paint requires a specialized piece of equipment that "melts" the material in a big hopper. Typically there are three types of material that you can purchase, one comes in a powder form, one comes in a pellet form and the other comes in a solid block form. Thermoplastic melters are generally very expensive to purchase'.
PLEASE THINK ABOUT WHERE ALL THESE STREET MARKING END RATHER THAN ONLY THINKING THEY ARE PRETTY AS COLORED.
Downtown, Lifeline
More Bus-Only Lanes Coming to Downtown Baltimore0 Written by: Ethan McLeod | Wednesday, May 10, 2017 2:20pm
Photo via MTA
Nine new bus lanes are coming to downtown Baltimore and surrounding neighborhoods this summer as part of the state’s planned overhaul of the city’s bus system.
In addition to bring new color-coded routes and traffic-signal prediction technology to the city’s bus system, Gov. Larry Hogan’s frequently touted BaltimoreLink project will add even more dedicated bus lanes downtown to try to reduce traffic congestion.
Some of these are already in place. If you’ve driven through the Inner Harbor in the last year or so, you’ve seen the red-painted lane heading down W. Pratt Street up to the intersection with Light Street – and if you’ve been unlucky enough, you’ve been stopped by the police and fined for lingering in it.
The Maryland Transit Administration announced today that more of those lanes will soon arrive on other streets, starting next Monday and running through September. All painting will happen overnight between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. Here’s a schedule of the work planned for each location, courtesy of the MTA:
Rather than being painted red, those two sections will have signage and markings indicating the new rules.
The first enforced bus-only lanes went in last summer. Officials gave drivers a two-month warning period before city and transit police began issuing fines.
Asked about feedback from drivers so far, Shepard said some had called saying they appreciated the dedicated lanes because traffic was moving more smoothly. He said the agency hasn’t conducted any formal studies on the lanes.
Frank Murphy, Baltimore City’s acting transportation director, said in a statement that officials chose the streets listed above by evaluating overall traffic volumes, the number of buses operating on each street and the proportion of people using buses versus their own vehicles.
“By separating transit vehicles from mixed traffic, we’ve committed to making transit a more viable transportation option in Baltimore,” he said.
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We KNOW dies are bad for humans no matter how they are used----we have food dies---red, yellow, blue-----and a health warning comes with each of these. This same principle applies to paint-----we paint our houses different colors----we paint our cars different colors----but it is different then the OUTDOORS WEAR-AND -TEAR of our streets and highways. Especially our downtown city streets the wear will be constant-----and GREEN, RED DIES are the worst for PUBLIC HEALTH.This article was written by a TRAFFIC CIVIL ENGINEER thinking the use of all these bright colored thermoplastic paints on our streets is any different then pouring oil or paint down our gutter drains.
Global Wall Street 5% players are using THERMOPLASTIC in urban streets to SELL A PRODUCT----this is a new product and our public sector will lead in bringing profits to this PRODUCT.
White paint is the best environmentally of any street marking -----yet we are moving away from white paint because we are told thermoplastics are cheaper----they last longer when THEY DO NOT.
We have known the toxicity of paint dies for thousands of years----again as with LEAD using multi-colored paint dies------makes toxicity soar.....and this is heading for our PORT OF BALTIMORE and ground water
'Toxicity of paint pigments
Some older paint pigments were made with materials now known to be toxic. Many of these are still available for sale, though some, such as Scheele's Green, are now all but impossible to obtain. There are less toxic substitutes for most of the paints listed below. Listed below are the common name of the pigment, other names it is known by, the Color Index name and number if available, and the reason they are so toxic. The first group is highly toxic paints that should be avoided at all costs; many of these pigments are no longer produced commercially. The second group is pigments that may be toxic, either through prolonged contact, or if swallowed (actually easier than it sounds, especially if you chew on your brush handles or fingernails, or use watercolors.) or inhaled. The third group is pigments that have the potential to be toxic through contamination or which may irritate the skin.
NOTE: Paints with the word "hue" at the end of their name are actually substitutes for the original, and are usually non-toxic. For instance, Cadmium Yellow Hue contains no actual Cadmium Yellow, but is usually a blend of the non-toxic Arylide Yellow G and Arylide Yellow 10G.
Highly toxic pigments (avoid at all costs)
Lead Red (Red 105) Contains lead
Molybdate Orange (Red 104) Contains lead and chromates
Chrome Orange (Orange 21) Contains lead and chromates
Mercadmium Orange (Orange 23) Contains cadmium, mercury and sulfides
Barium Yellow (Lemon Yellow, Barium Chromate, Yellow 31) Contains barium and chromates
Chrome Yellow (Chrome Lemon, Primrose Yellow, Lead Chromate, Yellow 34) Contains lead and chromates
Zinc Yellow (Zinc Chromate, Yellow 36) Contains chromates
Naples Yellow (Lead Antimonite, Antimony Yellow, Yellow 41) Contains lead and antimony
King's Yellow (Yellow 39) Contains arsenic
Strontium Yellow (Yellow 32) Contains strontium and chromates
Zinc Yellow (Yellow 36) Contains chromate
Chrome Green (Milori Green, Prussian Green, Green 15) Contains chromates
Emerald Green (Paris Green, Vienna Green, Green 21) Contains arsenite
Scheele's Green (Schloss Green, Green 22) Contains arsenite
Cobalt Violet (Violet 14) Contains cobalt and arsenite
Flake White (Cremnitz White, Lead White, White 1) Contains lead
Lithopone (White 5) Contains zinc sulfide
Zinc Sulfide White (White 7) Contains zinc sulfide
Witherite (White 10) Contains barium
Antimony White (White 11) Contains antimony
Antimony Black Contains antimony sulfide
Possibly toxic pigments (avoid unless necessary)
Vermilion (Cinnabar, Red 106) Contains mercury compounds
Cadmium Red (Red 108) Contains cadmium
Cadmium Orange (Orange 20) Contains cadmium
Cadmium Yellow (Yellow 37) Contains cadmium
Cobalt Yellow (Aureolin, Yellow 40) Contains cobalt
Cobalt Green (Green 19) Contains cobalt
Chromium Oxide Green (Olive Green, Permanent Green, Green 17) Contains chromic oxide
Viridian (Emeraude Green, Green 18) Contains chromic oxide
Prussian Blue (Iron Blue, Milori Blue, Bronze Blue, Blue 27) Contains cyanide compounds
Antwerp Blue (Blue 27) Contains cyanide compounds
Cobalt Blue (Kings Blue, Blue 28) Contains cobalt
Manganese Blue (Blue 33) Contains manganese
Manganese Violet (Permanent Mauve, Violet 16) Contains manganese and barium
Potentially toxic pigments (use caution)
Lithol Red (Red Lake R, Red 49) Sometimes contaminated with soluble barium
Nickel Azo Yellow (Green Gold, Green 10) Contains nickel
Barium White (Blanc Fixe, White 21) Sometimes contaminate with soluble barium
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It is the toxicity of paints----the toxicity of dies in paint that kept public sector civil engineering from using too much---or anything but WHITE. Today we have CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA BUILD TO FAIL not caring at all how toxic our surrounding are pushing multi-colored street lining while pretending they are SAVING THE CHESAPEAKE BAY.
Our civil engineers KNOW CHEMISTRY----they should know this is BAD PUBLIC POLICY. On top of the COLOR DIE we have THERMOPLASTICS.
This is NOT END TIMES----this is deliberate, willful, and with malice public policy killing public health,.
'Thermoplastic marking paint is most commonly produced in yellow and white. The white marking paint mainly contains titanium white, zinc oxide, lithopone, while the yellow paint is mainly heat-yellowing lead.[clarification needed'
5 Innovative Ways Cities Are Painting Their Streets
Mark Wagner
July 19, 2017
Some cities are looking outside traditional yellow and white pavement markings. They're experimenting with an unconventional color palette to guide people safely.
Most of us are familiar with the solid and dotted-white or yellow lines on highways and roads everywhere. But what about green, red, orange or even purple markings? By using unconventional colors, cities are creating new, innovative ways to help manage traffic.
Let’s take a look at ways cities are using these unconventional colors on roadways.
Disclaimer: The applications in this article are either experimental or have interim FHWA approval. If you are interested in potentially using any of these applications, check with us at SEH or your state Department of Transportation for guidance and direction first.
Green for bikes
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Green pavement markers designate bike facilities.
What’s going on: Green pavement markings within a bicycle lane or through an intersection help to define the space for bicyclists while increasing awareness of the bike facility and conflict areas between modes. Green markings have been used either as a corridor treatment along the length of a bike lane or protected bikeway, or as a spot treatment (such as a bike box or two-stage turn box), in a conflict area or in conjunction with intersection crossing markings.
Who benefits: Cyclists are the primary beneficiary of these markings, which provide an extra visual cue alerting drivers and pedestrians to both the presence of a bike facility and to possible conflict areas at intersections.
What it means: Green was chosen for bike markings to avoid confusion with other standard pavement marking colors. The primary purpose of these markings is to alert all other roadway users to the presence of a bicycle facility and a potential conflict and emphasize vehicle priority.
Where it’s being used: The use of green pavement marking for bicycle facilities has been granted interim approval from the FHWA in more than 100 jurisdications nationwide, including 29 state departments of transportation.
Red for buses
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Red lane markings identify bus-only routes.
What’s going on: Red bus lanes tell drivers to obey the rules of the bus lane. They are intended to reduce illegal bus lane usage, especially parking.
Who benefits:
Transit operators and users both benefit from more reliable and consistent service.
What it means: Unless you’re a bus driver, it means Keep Out!
Where it is used:
Baltimore, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle have installed these lanes.
Purple for toll-lane markings
Purple lane markings are often used to call out toll lanes. Image credit: (Left) FWHA. (Right) John J. Sullivan IV for FWHA.
What’s going on:
Purple is the color of choice for toll lane signing. The FHWA allows purple pavement markings to be used in addition to the standard white and yellows found in toll lanes.
Who benefits:
The markings benefit confused drivers and those without electronic toll collection (i.e., transponder) technology.
What it means:
Purple lines may supplement the white and yellow edgelines of electronic toll collection (ETC) only lanes to help guide drivers to the correct lane(s).
Where is it used:
These markings are not common, but the Virginia DOT has experimented with them in the suburban Washington DC area.
Orange for work zones
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Orange lines outline temporary lanes or changes through a construction zone.
What’s going on: Orange striping and pavement messages are placed over existing roadway striping during construction on freeways and other multi-lane high speed roadways.
Who benefits:
Drivers in work zones, especially in low lighting or winter conditions benefit the most. The orange markings help to remove some of the ambiguity regarding what the correct position of temporary lanes is.
What it means:
Just like orange work zone signs, orange pavement markings are intended to alert drivers that they are approaching, or are in, a work zone and that roadway conditions may have changed.
Where is it used:
The Wisconsin DOT has experimented with orange markings as part of the Zoo Interchange reconstruction. This project is in a high traffic area in Milwaukee. The markings helped drivers better navigate and contributed to work zone safety. Orange markings are commonly used in Ontario, Canada, and Switzerland, and have been used occasionally in Germany and New Zealand.
Colorful shields for routes
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Route markings on roadways substitute for signage and let drivers know what lane to be in. Image credit: (First image) Vic Saunders for UDOT.
What’s going on:
Large multi-color route symbols are placed on the pavement. These can be painted markings or thermoplastic decals applied to the roadway.
Who benefits: The traveling public benefits from this marking, which, according to research, can help improve overall freeway operations and motorist understanding.
What it means:
It’s pretty straight-forward. A route shield is placed in the lane to keep drivers on their route. For example, if, on a five-lane freeway, the three leftmost lanes continue to I-94 and the two rightmost lanes exit to US 61, then I-94 route shields would be placed in each of the three left lanes, and US 61 route shields would be placed in the two right lanes.
Where is it used: Colorado, Florida, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Utah are all states that have installed these markings.
Pavement markings: more than just white and yellow lines
They guide us through corridors and across city streets, but the ubiquitous yellow and white lines are only just the beginning. Cities are experimenting with new, innovative ways to manage traffic. Purple, green and red paint markings are beginning to show up in cities across the U.S. These new color techniques offer drivers and pedestrians unmistakable references as to where they should, or shouldn’t be.
There is a second reason for going all plastic-----99% of WE THE PEOPLE cannot manufacture plastic unless we have the capital to purchase both industrial equipment and or the refined oil to plastic chemicals. Think how for thousands of years humans created tools and building materials----then think about all those natural resources we simply picked up from the ground ----NO LONGER THERE. No doubt we will always have STONE ---we can return to STONE AGE---
The amount of pollution created from plastics ----THROW AWAY PRODUCTS----rather than the glass and clay containers we use over and over and over again. Now this is coming to our industrial tooling and parts.
THIS IS 'INNOVATIVE' TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING BEING CALLED 'GREEN'---ENVIRONMENTAL.
'IBanPlastic added a new video: River Flowing with Plastic Pollution.
September 20 at 10:37pm ·
This needs to go Viral! Literally, a River Flowing with Plastic Pollution.
Sign it! - www.iBanPlastic.com'
Resin Casting: Going from CAD to Engineering-Grade Plastic Parts
Synthetic polymers play a role in almost every single commercially manufactured item on the planet. Plastics are not just ubiquitous, but extremely versatile: some of them are incredibly stretchy, while some are hard as nails; some are crystal clear, and others come in all colors of the rainbow; some can survive extreme temperatures, and yet others can stop a bullet mid-flight.
When you think about all this, it’s hard to believe that even for hobbyists well-accustomed to 3D manufacturing, engineering-grade plastics are still taboo. Sure, we may own 3D printers, but the output from affordable PLA and ABS extruders doesn’t even come close to the strength or variety of cheap injection-molded parts. The owners of CNC mills also have no reason to be smug: most of them shy away from plastics altogether, or resort to inexpensive but poorly-performing materials such as acrylic or HDPE.
Oddly enough, there is no reason why things need to be that way. There is a pretty safe, low-cost, and hassle-free technique that lets you make incredibly tough and precise parts in your workshop, in a matter of hours. The only problem is that almost all the available tutorials about this process – known as resin casting – are written by artists, with other artists in mind. Applying their approaches in engineering projects is usually not a good plan.
Fabricating patterns for single-part molds
If you follow the usual advice for replicating hand-made parts, you will be instructed to coat or submerge the original item in a flexible material, such as alginate or silicone rubber. Once this is done – and the shell is fully cured – you will be asked to cut this rubbery blob open and retrieve the original model. At that point, you will also fill the hollow void with another thermosetting compound that takes the shape of the initial part – and clamp the entire thing shut.
This process works, but has a number of drawbacks, especially if you want to get predictable results – and want to get them fast. For example, it can be taxing to build an appropriate box for a mold and then properly attach and orient the original model inside of it. It can be just as tricky to remove the original part without ruining the model, the shell, or both. Heck, even putting the mold back together without compromising the dimensional accuracy of the resulting part is quite a challenge on its own.
Luckily, all these problems can be avoided when dealing with computer-designed parts: all you need to do is to attach the desired geometry to a CAD-sketched mold cavity, forming a positive mold known as a pattern – and then manufacture them together in a single step. We will talk about more complex examples later on, but for now, let’s take a part with a flat bottom and limited undercuts. In such a scenario, the pattern can be as trivial as this:
Designing a simple pattern for a single-part rubber mold.
Adding a box around the part has a fairly modest impact on 3D printing, but makes a huge, positive difference for CNC milling work. That’s because you can quickly machine a pattern on top of an oversized piece of stock material, leaving most of it intact for future use. This saves you money, time, and eliminates the worry about fixturing the part so that it doesn’t fly away from underneath the tool.
CNC mill finishing a complex mold for a planetary gearbox on top of a random block of stock material. Machining these gears directly would be a lot more challenging and wasteful.
Patterns can be made out of any material that processes easily and produces predictable results. With 3D extruders, this usually means PLA. For CNC mills, machinable wax and HDPE should work acceptably well, although I always recommend a more predictable and cheaper alternative: medium-density prototyping boards. My favorite variety is RenShape 460 — a lightweight and fairly durable substance that machines like butter, but delivers amazingly fine detail:
Close-up of a CNC-machined pattern in RenShape 460. This material costs a few cents per cubic inch and is actually less expensive than machinable wax.
Producing negative molds
With a pattern cavity ready to go, we need to find a suitable material that will form a flexible, negative mold. In artistic applications, such molds are commonly made out of latex, alginate, polysulfide rubbers, or tin-cure silicones. All these options have significant downsides — ranging from poor strength to marked toxicity — and contribute to the perception that moldmaking is a messy affair.
In precision work, the only worthwhile choice is two-component, platinum-cure silicones. These materials are non-toxic and odor-free; on top of this, their mode of polymerization ensures incredibly high dimensional accuracy. The resulting rubber is remarkably tough, exhibits excellent rebound characteristics, is resistant to chemicals, and comes with an inherently non-stick surface that easily detaches from the pattern and from the final parts. In short, platinum silicones are one of the coolest polymers you get to play with at home.
Pouring silicone into a machined pattern.
Over the years, I have tried about a dozen different moldmaking rubbers, many of them from popular, hobbyist-oriented manufacturers – and to put it kindly, it is very easy to end up with a variety that is far too viscous, far too fragile, or far too soft for small parts. I have put together a detailed guide for selecting just the right formulation; if you don’t have time for that, I think that two products really leave the competition in the dust: the easily pourable, low-viscosity Quantum Silicones QM 262 and the nearly indestructible, translucent Silicones Inc XP-592. Both of these products cost around $15 per pound, and usually come in 10-12lbs kits.
With the moldmaking composition selected, the whole casting process is almost embarrassingly simple: the resin is mixed for several minutes, poured into the mold, and covered with a flat sheet of plastic for a couple of hours. That’s really about it.
Cured silicone mold. Note the flawless pick-up of sub-millimeter detail, including tiny protrusions and thin walls.
Well, to be fair, there is one more step worth taking in between: to ensure excellent reproduction of intricate detail without biting your nails, it’s wise to get a vacuum degassing rig. The term may be scary, but the device isn’t: a small and relatively quiet vacuum pump costs around $100, and a shatterproof polycarbonate vacuum jar sells for less than $60. Two or three minutes under vacuum ensure that there is no air trapped in between the mold and the still-liquid resin – and you are done.
Vacuum degassing helps avoid air entrapment in a fast, easy, and reliable way.
You can also use several other hacks, such as applying the rubber with a brush or a syringe – but frankly, except for very simple geometries, it’s just not worth your time.
Casting final parts
As soon as the negative mold is ready to go, you can start making final parts. The workflow is very similar to the steps discussed above: a two-component resin (optionally pigmented with commonly available, super-low-cost dyes) is thoroughly mixed, poured into the flexible mold, briefly degassed under vacuum, and finally covered with a flat sheet of non-stick plastic – polypropylene or HDPE will do. That’s it: the polymerization reaction kicks in, and in a couple of hours, the finished parts can be removed from the mold.
Final parts on their way; today’s color is blue. Molds are covered with a sheet of polypropylene and weighed down to ensure flatness and avoid flash. Since the mold is made from a fairly rigid rubber, it maintains excellent dimensional accuracy even under heavy load.
The casting process itself is simple, but selecting the right plastic can be a challenge: many of the popular resins sold under hobby brands are smelly, harmful, exhibit significant shrinkage, cure too quickly or too slowly, or simply produce flimsy parts. It may not matter if you are making a decorative paperweight – but for a functional mechanical assembly, it probably will. To avoid unpleasant surprises, you should stay clear of epoxies and polyesters; polyurethanes are a much better choice. This family of remarkably versatile polymers can faithfully approximate almost every other type of plastic or rubber – and offers excellent resistance and dimensional accuracy, too.
Alas, most of the polyurethane compositions marketed to artists and other DIYers are almost guaranteed to disappoint in one way or another. To avoid common pitfalls, you can have another look at this in-depth guide; but in short, I strongly recommend sticking to Innovative Polymers, a little-known manufacturer from Michigan. They do not seem to target hobbyist audiences, but they carry a remarkable range of top-notch, workshop-safe plastics for demanding applications (and for taxidermy – your guess is as good as mine!). In particular, their IE-3075 resin has no match: it is exceptionally strong and rigid, outperforming injection-molded Nylon or ABS in almost every way. Just as importantly, it’s very easy to work with and dirt cheap, selling for less than $8 per pound.
Micro-scale parts made out of Innovative Polymers IE-3075 (dyed orange) and OC-7086 (water clear). The accuracy – CAD model to finished part – is better than 5 µm.
Innovative Polymers also carries a selection of comparably tough, UV-resistant crystal-clear resins (e.g., TD 283-18), a range of indestructible, stretchy rubbers with superb abrasion and cut resistance (HP-21xx series), and a lot more. Really, if you are in North America and want to get going with resin casting, it’s a crime not to give them a try.
A word of caution is in order: although the resins mentioned in this article are safer than most of the formulations employed in artistic work, they are still based on fairly reactive chemicals, and need to be treated with respect. Before starting any casting projects, familiarize yourself with product safety datasheets and review common-sense workshop safety tips.
But what about more complex parts?Good question! We glanced over this topic earlier on, but it’s time to catch up. For geometries that can’t be easily cast in single-part molds – for example, because they do not have a flat bottom, or because they have pronounced undercuts – you need to build a mold that consists of two or more interlocking bits. The idea may sound intimidating, and involves a bit 3D problem-solving – but in most cases, the task isn’t as hard as it seems. One of the many possible approaches is shown below:
Creating patterns for a two-part negative mold. A very thin sprue is also added near the parting line to allow the resin to be poured in with a syringe.
In fact, multi-part molds may simplify your life. Directly manufacturing the part shown above would be difficult, because low-cost 3D printers tend to struggle with overhangs, while entry-level three-axis CNC mills can’t cope with undercuts (unless you manually rotate the workpiece in the middle of a cutting job). The split-pattern approach makes this problem go away: all the individual molds have simple shapes, and are combined to cast a monolithic part with a more tricky geometry later on.
Final words
Resin casting is not a silver bullet – but it offers compelling benefits even for one-off parts, and is not getting the recognition it deserves in the DIY 3D community. Once you get a hang of the process, the overhead involved can be surprisingly low – and in many cases, the approach may actually simplify your projects, working around the inherent limitations of 3D Printers and CNC Mills.
In exchange for taking the slightly longer route, resin casting gives you the ability to quickly crank out parts with almost any mechanical properties, from true rubbers to exotic composites. In fact, even if you limit yourself to a single type of a polyurethane resin, you still get a surprising degree of flexibility: fillers such as milled glass fibers or glass microspheres can be used to make rock-hard composites or ultralight syntactic foams by just throwing a spoonful of commodity powder into the mix.
Best of all, once you have a negative mold or two, you can replicate your parts in large quantities, at almost no cost, and much faster than you could ever print or machine them. To change their appearance, you just need a drop of dye and a good stir. No other approach even comes close to that.
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NOW the marketing term for plastic is ENLIGHTENED BUYERS-------global 99% are being SMART if they allow everything in their lives to be made of PLASTIC.
IT IS RECYCLABLE YOU KNOW! THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY.
Global banking is moving to all that is plastic not because it is INNOVATIVE----we simply no longer have the natural resources to build with metal ore----with WOOD----with even SAND CONCRETE----so global 1% must tell WE THE PEOPLE THE 99% we need to be ENLIGHTENED TO PLASTIC CIRCULAR ECONOMY.
If we can imagine what China did to their environment with toxic metal manufacturing-----we KNOW what China will do with PLASTIC MANUFACTURING and plastic is as toxic as metal. The idea that the recycling process of plastics is NOT TOXIC---is somehow GREEN ----
IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS.
'Enter enlightened buyersEnlightened buyers can make an enormous impact in the world today, because they can cater to the demands, regulations and desires of their home markets. They can do this while greatly benefiting their sourcing countries if they start asking for materials and products that fit within the circular economy'.
So, now we will have corporate CIVIL ENGINEERS telling us plastic sidewalks, plastic walls in homes and buildings is PUBLIC INTEREST. When our local government CIVIL ENGINEERS are public employees hired from our local communities ---when our public universities work in PUBLIC INTEREST making sure to hold corporations and politicians accountable in PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH----then we have civil engineers working for WE THE PEOPLE THE 99% telling corporate engineers BUILDING TO FAIL ----that they are SOCIOPATHS.
Is cleaning the oceans of massive floating islands of plastic a good thing? No doubt----but EXPANDING THE USE OF PLASTIC to every kind of product defeats this----we will have more and more kinds of floating plastic products needing to be cleaned from our rivers, soil, and nothing more toxic in air---then melted plastic.
THIS IS PROPAGANDA ADVERTISING
'recycling and solutions for a world without the waste footprint'.
Plastic, China and how to drive your brand into the circular economy
Doug Woodring
Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - 1:35am
Photocollage
As our seafood gets overfished, and with a growing global population that consumes many more products and plastic, we are facing a growing waste challenge which may lead us to having an ocean that has more plastic than fish by 2050. Part of me believes this tragic result will come much earlier, due to the vast underestimation of the amount of illegal fishing that is going on in the world today and the lack of global capacity for recycling and waste management.
The other part of me believes that we will never reach this outcome, because we are moving into an era of greater corporate and community enlightenment which will propel technological solutions into existence in a way that we have not seen in the past. This complements the fact that we are finally starting to understand the vast importance of the ocean and need for proper fisheries management.
You also may have read reports in the past year about which countries are adding the most plastic pollution to the ocean, many of which are in Asia. We all have a waste issue, and simply because a country has a lot of land and buries it, or because they have ways to incinerate it, does not mean that it is efficient in "removing" those resource assets from the community.In countries that don’t have the full capacity to handle humanity’s consumption, it is estimated that over 40 percent of the world’s trash in the world today is burned, most of which is in open-pit scenarios, where toxins then get into the air and back into our environment.
Challenging times
So let’s fast-forward to a slowing economy in China, but one that is rapidly modernizing its methods of production, building new sectors that are leading on innovation, and even becoming robotic. Its resources are stretched, but oil prices are low and are likely to stay that way for some time due to the decentralized oil pricing that fracking has brought to the equation, as well as the economies of scale that are unfolding in the space of renewables, batteries, electric cars and the movement of smart money away from carbon-focused entities.
This also poses a challenge for the recovery and re-use of plastic, versus cheaper virgin material which follows low oil prices, and for those hoping to reduce the waste impact.
Some of China’s provinces and companies are now moving into business operations that foster the growth of the circular economy.
Some of China’s provinces and companies, however, are moving into business operations that foster the growth of the circular economy, which means designing products that can be taken apart, re-blended or recycled so that waste is not an end result. This is complemented by the fact that the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) recently signed on to the World Plastics Council, which also has a goal of reducing plastic waste in the environment. The issue is that many companies do not yet know how to obtain good quality recycled content for their supply chains, nor do the municipalities necessarily have the systems in place to provide it.
Now enter Western buyers into this equation — the brands from afar that have moved much of their sourcing to China and Asia, and which also are often trying to sell to these growing populations. These new countries and markets, however, have not had the capacity to recycle or handle the waste that is created along the way. Even Hong Kong, one of the wealthiest cities in the world, has not figured out how to efficiently recover its resources.
A win-win situation can be created, however, as Western brands begin to face greater challenges and demands of sustainability in their own markets, and are wanting to move up the value chain of brand reputation while giving back to the communities and populations they serve.
Enter enlightened buyers
Enlightened buyers can make an enormous impact in the world today, because they can cater to the demands, regulations and desires of their home markets. They can do this while greatly benefiting their sourcing countries if they start asking for materials and products that fit within the circular economy.
An increasing number of suppliers in Asia and elsewhere want to be at the cutting edge of technology, recycled content and material management, but the enlightened buyers from abroad really can expedite the tipping point for the circular economy.
The supply of recycled plastic is there, but demand needs to be stepped up a notch or 10, and this is where the enlightened buyers can make a big impact.
Their demand for high percentages of recycled content, for example, coupled with economies of scale for resource recovery, would mean that the circular economy can kick into gear, creating jobs, reducing waste, improving brand value and reputation and helping to stop the flow of material that reaches our waters, which today is a high percentage of plastic.
The supply is there, but demand needs to be stepped up a notch or 10, and this is where the enlightened buyers can make a big impact for themselves, the communities they serve and in the nations they source from. If this can happen, we have a much greater chance of always having more fish in the ocean than plastic.
On this topic, the fifth annual Plasticity Forum will be April 27-28 in Shanghai, focusing on the future of plastic and where the leaders are going with design, innovation, materials, recycling and solutions for a world without the waste footprint.
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The plastic recycling facilities are not the best----imagine that.
Indeed, the process of manufacturing plastic was already toxic to both environment and workers-----to recycle plastic one has to repeat that process----it will end just as when we saw RUBBER used in our children's playground---rubber as athletic fields ----all known to expose citizens to PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS.
We already see the major recycling factories in the same developing nation FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES and we would not expect anything other than FAILURE TO USE ENVIRONMENTALLY/WORKER SAFE PRODUCTION.
'Plastic recycling can be hazardous to communities and workers. We like to think we are helping the environment when we toss our plastic bottles and containers into the recycle bin. But did you know that most of our plastic recycling is shipped overseas to China and other Asian countries? And sadly, environmental conditions in these recycling facilities are not always the best'.
How did that rubberized tire recycled into playground platforms in school playgrounds? Global corporate universities like JOHNS HOPKINS created data saying it was not harmful or toxic only to have a few decades later more data saying people were harmed by these uses of PLASTIC/RUBBER.
Global Wall Street and national media will sell ENLIGHTENED CONSUMERS to recycled plastic products while super-sizing the kinds of plastic products that are manufactured--------while REAL left social progressives have been shouting these few decades how these INNOVATIVE USES OF RUBBER AND PLASTICS are NOT GREEN AND NOT SAFE TO PUBLIC HEALTH.
This is what our Baltimore Public Health Department would be SHOUTING if the commissioners were not working for global plastic corporations.
Hmmmmmm, am I 'enlightened' if I am plastic-free? YOU BETCHA!.....................
'Check out my guide to going plastic-free for changes that you can make right now'.
What’s Plastic Got To Do With Clean Air?
This was written by Beth Terry:
Our love of plastic creates several health and environmental problems. Toxic additives can leach from plastic food and beverage containers. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade. Animals can ingest it, with sometimes fatal consequences. And there is a toxic soup of plastic swirling around in the ocean.
But did you know that the life cycle of plastic contributes to air pollution, both indoor and out? And that reducing our plastic consumption will help to protect the air we breathe? Here’s how.
Most plastic is made from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas, which release toxic emissions when extracted from the earth. According to Earthworks, an organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the impacts of irresponsible mineral and energy development, oil and gas drilling releases a slew of toxic air contaminants, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds. Not to mention the methane gas that can leak and cause greater greenhouse effects than carbon dioxide. Sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde are among the chemicals pumped into the air from natural gas drilling sites.
Many people believe that plastic bags are made from petroleum, but in the United States, the majority of them are made from natural gas, which the plastics industry touts as green and clean. Not so clean when you consider the emissions from extraction.
Petrochemical plants pollute communities and harms workers. In addition to the emissions from the extraction process, refining fossil fuels and processing them into plastics can create even more toxic emissions. For example, during production, PVC plants can release dioxins, known carcinogens that bioaccumulate in humans and wildlife and are associated with reproductive and immune system disorders. And even production of supposedly “safe” plastics like PET, the kind used to create clear plastic water bottles, requires the use of chemicals like paraxylene, a derivative of the highly carcinogenic chemical benzene, which is derived from crude oil through a refining process at oil and petrochemical refineries. Residents of Gulf communities where these chemicals are produced are regularly exposed to disproportionate levels of benzene and other carcinogenic chemicals above safe standards.
Plastics contain additives that can offgas and contaminate the air in our homes and other personal spaces. Phthalates are chemicals added to some plastics to make them soft and flexible. They are also endocrine disruptors associated with a whole host of health problems, including lower testosterone levels, decreased sperm counts and poor sperm quality in males, as well as obesity, reduced female fertility, preterm birth and low birth weight, a worsening of allergy and asthma symptoms, and behavior changes. Unfortunately, they are not chemically bound to products, which makes them easy to migrate and offgas into the air we breathe. That “new car” or “new shower curtain” smell is the smell of phthalates offgasing.
Plastics release hazardous emissions when burned. Because of the ubiquity of plastics in our lives, when fires do occur in our homes or in other buildings, the emissions from fires are becoming increasingly hazardous to those exposed to them. Plastic furniture in homes is causing fires to burn more quickly, making fires more dangerous to firefighters, who have traditionally broken windows to release heat and gases before entering. According to the New York Times:
“Plastic fillings in sofas and mattresses burn much faster than older fillings like cotton, helping to transform the behavior of house fires in the last few decades, firefighters and engineers say.
“With more plastic in homes, residential fires are now likely to use up all the oxygen in a room before they consume all flammable materials. The resulting smoky, oxygen-deprived fires appear to be going out. But they are actually waiting for an inrush of fresh air, which can come as firefighters cut through roofs and break windows.”
Further, fires in plastics manufacturing plants and plastics recycling plants are not uncommon and are hazardous for the communities in which they occur. Plastics are particularly dangerous in recycling plant fires because plastics burn at a high temperature and adding water can make some plastic fires flare higher.
Plastic recycling can be hazardous to communities and workers. We like to think we are helping the environment when we toss our plastic bottles and containers into the recycle bin. But did you know that most of our plastic recycling is shipped overseas to China and other Asian countries? And sadly, environmental conditions in these recycling facilities are not always the best. In 2007, Britain’s Sky News aired an expose on the conditions in Lian Jiao, a Chinese town that had become a toxic waste dump for the West’s plastic recycling. Workers melted down plastics without wearing any kind of protective gear, and the air was thick with toxic emissions. Just as manufacturing virgin plastic can create air pollution, so can the processes used to recycle the material. What’s better than recycling? Not using the plastic in the first place.
We are the solution. We need a two-step approach. We need to support groups like the Moms Clean Air Force that are pressuring our elected officials to step up and defend the provisions of the Clean Air Act from energy and chemical industry groups that seek to weaken its protections. And we as individuals can take responsibility for our own choices. We can vote with our dollars and reduce our personal consumption of plastic products and packaging.
Check out my guide to going plastic-free for changes that you can make right now.
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When we shout----WE ARE SURROUNDED IN PLASTIC-----we mean LITERALLY. Here in Baltimore the new road construction is coming with THERMOPLASTIC PAINT-----AND/OR regular road paint we are made to think we need in order to see bus lanes/bike lanes et al. So crosswalks are painted one color----biking paths painted another---bus lanes painted another----when all this used to be ONLY CONCRETE AND ASPHALT. It looks bright and people may think this is a good civil engineering tool.
Let's think to where all that paint goes as it erodes. It flakes onto streets and gutters then wash down drainpipes to our PORT OF BALTIMORE watershed. We already fight the gas and oil that washes off streets or are poured down street drains-----the amount of THERMOPLASTIC PAINT ----that is being used in downtown Baltimore is HUGE.
As well, all new roads have new crosswalk and street lining of which are now -----thermoplastic. We are told this use is because it LASTS LONGER not needing to be redone for a decade or so----how often did we see street lining/cross walk lining done BEFORE? A few decades AND MORE.
The progression with highway painting went from paint grades that did not last----to requiring HIGH BUILD PAINT. HIGH BUILD PAINT did last longer and was less toxic to environment then plastic. When being INNOVATIVE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING around marking our highways and streets----we would NOT move from paint to plastic.
'and others are starting to require what is called "high build" paint'.
'Hot applied "melter" method: Hot applied thermoplastic paint requires a specialized piece of equipment that "melts" the material in a big hopper. Typically there are three types of material that you can purchase, one comes in a powder form, one comes in a pellet form and the other comes in a solid block form. Thermoplastic melters are generally very expensive to purchase'.
PLEASE THINK ABOUT WHERE ALL THESE STREET MARKING END RATHER THAN ONLY THINKING THEY ARE PRETTY AS COLORED.
Downtown, Lifeline
More Bus-Only Lanes Coming to Downtown Baltimore0 Written by: Ethan McLeod | Wednesday, May 10, 2017 2:20pm
Photo via MTA
Nine new bus lanes are coming to downtown Baltimore and surrounding neighborhoods this summer as part of the state’s planned overhaul of the city’s bus system.
In addition to bring new color-coded routes and traffic-signal prediction technology to the city’s bus system, Gov. Larry Hogan’s frequently touted BaltimoreLink project will add even more dedicated bus lanes downtown to try to reduce traffic congestion.
Some of these are already in place. If you’ve driven through the Inner Harbor in the last year or so, you’ve seen the red-painted lane heading down W. Pratt Street up to the intersection with Light Street – and if you’ve been unlucky enough, you’ve been stopped by the police and fined for lingering in it.
The Maryland Transit Administration announced today that more of those lanes will soon arrive on other streets, starting next Monday and running through September. All painting will happen overnight between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. Here’s a schedule of the work planned for each location, courtesy of the MTA:
- Week of May 15: Baltimore Street, from Arch to Gay streets;
- June 5: Fayette Street, from President to Arch streets;
- June 28: Gay Street, from Baltimore to Forrest streets;
- July 17: Guilford Avenue, from Pleasant to Fayette streets;
- July 17: Hillen Street, from Forrest to Front streets;
- July 31: Lombard Street, from Howard to Penn streets and President Street to Market Place;
- Aug. 14: Pratt Street, from Greene to Howard streets;
- Aug. 21: Charles Street, from Madison to Oliver streets; and
- Sept. 25: St. Paul/Light Street, from Monument to Redwood streets.
Rather than being painted red, those two sections will have signage and markings indicating the new rules.
The first enforced bus-only lanes went in last summer. Officials gave drivers a two-month warning period before city and transit police began issuing fines.
Asked about feedback from drivers so far, Shepard said some had called saying they appreciated the dedicated lanes because traffic was moving more smoothly. He said the agency hasn’t conducted any formal studies on the lanes.
Frank Murphy, Baltimore City’s acting transportation director, said in a statement that officials chose the streets listed above by evaluating overall traffic volumes, the number of buses operating on each street and the proportion of people using buses versus their own vehicles.
“By separating transit vehicles from mixed traffic, we’ve committed to making transit a more viable transportation option in Baltimore,” he said.
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We KNOW dies are bad for humans no matter how they are used----we have food dies---red, yellow, blue-----and a health warning comes with each of these. This same principle applies to paint-----we paint our houses different colors----we paint our cars different colors----but it is different then the OUTDOORS WEAR-AND -TEAR of our streets and highways. Especially our downtown city streets the wear will be constant-----and GREEN, RED DIES are the worst for PUBLIC HEALTH.This article was written by a TRAFFIC CIVIL ENGINEER thinking the use of all these bright colored thermoplastic paints on our streets is any different then pouring oil or paint down our gutter drains.
Global Wall Street 5% players are using THERMOPLASTIC in urban streets to SELL A PRODUCT----this is a new product and our public sector will lead in bringing profits to this PRODUCT.
White paint is the best environmentally of any street marking -----yet we are moving away from white paint because we are told thermoplastics are cheaper----they last longer when THEY DO NOT.
We have known the toxicity of paint dies for thousands of years----again as with LEAD using multi-colored paint dies------makes toxicity soar.....and this is heading for our PORT OF BALTIMORE and ground water
'Toxicity of paint pigments
Some older paint pigments were made with materials now known to be toxic. Many of these are still available for sale, though some, such as Scheele's Green, are now all but impossible to obtain. There are less toxic substitutes for most of the paints listed below. Listed below are the common name of the pigment, other names it is known by, the Color Index name and number if available, and the reason they are so toxic. The first group is highly toxic paints that should be avoided at all costs; many of these pigments are no longer produced commercially. The second group is pigments that may be toxic, either through prolonged contact, or if swallowed (actually easier than it sounds, especially if you chew on your brush handles or fingernails, or use watercolors.) or inhaled. The third group is pigments that have the potential to be toxic through contamination or which may irritate the skin.
NOTE: Paints with the word "hue" at the end of their name are actually substitutes for the original, and are usually non-toxic. For instance, Cadmium Yellow Hue contains no actual Cadmium Yellow, but is usually a blend of the non-toxic Arylide Yellow G and Arylide Yellow 10G.
Highly toxic pigments (avoid at all costs)
Lead Red (Red 105) Contains lead
Molybdate Orange (Red 104) Contains lead and chromates
Chrome Orange (Orange 21) Contains lead and chromates
Mercadmium Orange (Orange 23) Contains cadmium, mercury and sulfides
Barium Yellow (Lemon Yellow, Barium Chromate, Yellow 31) Contains barium and chromates
Chrome Yellow (Chrome Lemon, Primrose Yellow, Lead Chromate, Yellow 34) Contains lead and chromates
Zinc Yellow (Zinc Chromate, Yellow 36) Contains chromates
Naples Yellow (Lead Antimonite, Antimony Yellow, Yellow 41) Contains lead and antimony
King's Yellow (Yellow 39) Contains arsenic
Strontium Yellow (Yellow 32) Contains strontium and chromates
Zinc Yellow (Yellow 36) Contains chromate
Chrome Green (Milori Green, Prussian Green, Green 15) Contains chromates
Emerald Green (Paris Green, Vienna Green, Green 21) Contains arsenite
Scheele's Green (Schloss Green, Green 22) Contains arsenite
Cobalt Violet (Violet 14) Contains cobalt and arsenite
Flake White (Cremnitz White, Lead White, White 1) Contains lead
Lithopone (White 5) Contains zinc sulfide
Zinc Sulfide White (White 7) Contains zinc sulfide
Witherite (White 10) Contains barium
Antimony White (White 11) Contains antimony
Antimony Black Contains antimony sulfide
Possibly toxic pigments (avoid unless necessary)
Vermilion (Cinnabar, Red 106) Contains mercury compounds
Cadmium Red (Red 108) Contains cadmium
Cadmium Orange (Orange 20) Contains cadmium
Cadmium Yellow (Yellow 37) Contains cadmium
Cobalt Yellow (Aureolin, Yellow 40) Contains cobalt
Cobalt Green (Green 19) Contains cobalt
Chromium Oxide Green (Olive Green, Permanent Green, Green 17) Contains chromic oxide
Viridian (Emeraude Green, Green 18) Contains chromic oxide
Prussian Blue (Iron Blue, Milori Blue, Bronze Blue, Blue 27) Contains cyanide compounds
Antwerp Blue (Blue 27) Contains cyanide compounds
Cobalt Blue (Kings Blue, Blue 28) Contains cobalt
Manganese Blue (Blue 33) Contains manganese
Manganese Violet (Permanent Mauve, Violet 16) Contains manganese and barium
Potentially toxic pigments (use caution)
Lithol Red (Red Lake R, Red 49) Sometimes contaminated with soluble barium
Nickel Azo Yellow (Green Gold, Green 10) Contains nickel
Barium White (Blanc Fixe, White 21) Sometimes contaminate with soluble barium
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It is the toxicity of paints----the toxicity of dies in paint that kept public sector civil engineering from using too much---or anything but WHITE. Today we have CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA BUILD TO FAIL not caring at all how toxic our surrounding are pushing multi-colored street lining while pretending they are SAVING THE CHESAPEAKE BAY.
Our civil engineers KNOW CHEMISTRY----they should know this is BAD PUBLIC POLICY. On top of the COLOR DIE we have THERMOPLASTICS.
This is NOT END TIMES----this is deliberate, willful, and with malice public policy killing public health,.
'Thermoplastic marking paint is most commonly produced in yellow and white. The white marking paint mainly contains titanium white, zinc oxide, lithopone, while the yellow paint is mainly heat-yellowing lead.[clarification needed'
5 Innovative Ways Cities Are Painting Their Streets
Mark Wagner
July 19, 2017
Some cities are looking outside traditional yellow and white pavement markings. They're experimenting with an unconventional color palette to guide people safely.
Most of us are familiar with the solid and dotted-white or yellow lines on highways and roads everywhere. But what about green, red, orange or even purple markings? By using unconventional colors, cities are creating new, innovative ways to help manage traffic.
Let’s take a look at ways cities are using these unconventional colors on roadways.
Disclaimer: The applications in this article are either experimental or have interim FHWA approval. If you are interested in potentially using any of these applications, check with us at SEH or your state Department of Transportation for guidance and direction first.
Green for bikes
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Green pavement markers designate bike facilities.
What’s going on: Green pavement markings within a bicycle lane or through an intersection help to define the space for bicyclists while increasing awareness of the bike facility and conflict areas between modes. Green markings have been used either as a corridor treatment along the length of a bike lane or protected bikeway, or as a spot treatment (such as a bike box or two-stage turn box), in a conflict area or in conjunction with intersection crossing markings.
Who benefits: Cyclists are the primary beneficiary of these markings, which provide an extra visual cue alerting drivers and pedestrians to both the presence of a bike facility and to possible conflict areas at intersections.
What it means: Green was chosen for bike markings to avoid confusion with other standard pavement marking colors. The primary purpose of these markings is to alert all other roadway users to the presence of a bicycle facility and a potential conflict and emphasize vehicle priority.
Where it’s being used: The use of green pavement marking for bicycle facilities has been granted interim approval from the FHWA in more than 100 jurisdications nationwide, including 29 state departments of transportation.
Red for buses
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Red lane markings identify bus-only routes.
What’s going on: Red bus lanes tell drivers to obey the rules of the bus lane. They are intended to reduce illegal bus lane usage, especially parking.
Who benefits:
Transit operators and users both benefit from more reliable and consistent service.
What it means: Unless you’re a bus driver, it means Keep Out!
Where it is used:
Baltimore, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle have installed these lanes.
Purple for toll-lane markings
Purple lane markings are often used to call out toll lanes. Image credit: (Left) FWHA. (Right) John J. Sullivan IV for FWHA.
What’s going on:
Purple is the color of choice for toll lane signing. The FHWA allows purple pavement markings to be used in addition to the standard white and yellows found in toll lanes.
Who benefits:
The markings benefit confused drivers and those without electronic toll collection (i.e., transponder) technology.
What it means:
Purple lines may supplement the white and yellow edgelines of electronic toll collection (ETC) only lanes to help guide drivers to the correct lane(s).
Where is it used:
These markings are not common, but the Virginia DOT has experimented with them in the suburban Washington DC area.
Orange for work zones
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Orange lines outline temporary lanes or changes through a construction zone.
What’s going on: Orange striping and pavement messages are placed over existing roadway striping during construction on freeways and other multi-lane high speed roadways.
Who benefits:
Drivers in work zones, especially in low lighting or winter conditions benefit the most. The orange markings help to remove some of the ambiguity regarding what the correct position of temporary lanes is.
What it means:
Just like orange work zone signs, orange pavement markings are intended to alert drivers that they are approaching, or are in, a work zone and that roadway conditions may have changed.
Where is it used:
The Wisconsin DOT has experimented with orange markings as part of the Zoo Interchange reconstruction. This project is in a high traffic area in Milwaukee. The markings helped drivers better navigate and contributed to work zone safety. Orange markings are commonly used in Ontario, Canada, and Switzerland, and have been used occasionally in Germany and New Zealand.
Colorful shields for routes
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Route markings on roadways substitute for signage and let drivers know what lane to be in. Image credit: (First image) Vic Saunders for UDOT.
What’s going on:
Large multi-color route symbols are placed on the pavement. These can be painted markings or thermoplastic decals applied to the roadway.
Who benefits: The traveling public benefits from this marking, which, according to research, can help improve overall freeway operations and motorist understanding.
What it means:
It’s pretty straight-forward. A route shield is placed in the lane to keep drivers on their route. For example, if, on a five-lane freeway, the three leftmost lanes continue to I-94 and the two rightmost lanes exit to US 61, then I-94 route shields would be placed in each of the three left lanes, and US 61 route shields would be placed in the two right lanes.
Where is it used: Colorado, Florida, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Utah are all states that have installed these markings.
Pavement markings: more than just white and yellow lines
They guide us through corridors and across city streets, but the ubiquitous yellow and white lines are only just the beginning. Cities are experimenting with new, innovative ways to manage traffic. Purple, green and red paint markings are beginning to show up in cities across the U.S. These new color techniques offer drivers and pedestrians unmistakable references as to where they should, or shouldn’t be.
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