The Green Movement in a single picture

[FrancSevin]

Originally posted by Doc in another thread, Toons for the Times.

I am currently working with a company on a project to produce and wrap a paper spoon. It must be 100% compostable and contain absolutely no plastic. After three years of work, the company's manager finally got European approval. However, the wrapping material must also be 100% "compostable."

We can source the paper but there is no heat set adhesive available that meets this requirement. So, we are engineering a mechanical method to form the seals at high speed.

The company has tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention engineering time, invested so far. At this point it comes down to a tiny fraction of "plastic" involved. Some 1 or 2 parts per billon. But that insignificant contamination is a killer if we cannot eliminate it. And that is currently a burden that is on me.

.........yes, it keeps me up some nights.

 

[bczoom]

I thought you got out of the business? Probably best for your sanity.

 

[waybomb]

This brings up a thought. In the early 90s, Mercedes decided to develop a biodegradable wiring harness. Only problem was, it started biodegrading just a few short years. Finally fixed their ways in the 1996 model year.
On that note, pretty sad that Mercedes started thinking about planned obsolescence of their line.
What was once a great company and product...

 

[FrancSevin]

And an EV is powered 60% by coal/oil/gas and 18.6% by Nuclear, the rest 21% is "renewable". EVs are not "electric" and they are not "emissions free". If we'd gone 100% nuclear for electricity by now, they WOULD be emissions free.... but that didn't happen, did it?

 

[FrancSevin]

Update.
A few weeks ago we achieved success with mechanical interlocking of the paper fibers. There is an added "twist" that will remain a trade secret for now. However, we produced prototypes that have so far met approval by the customer. I ordered more tooling so that we can produce at 200 Packages Per Minute.

Awaiting orders that should be in the millions of units. If successful we have another machine capable of 400 PPM in the wings waiting for development when the market volumes exceed current capacity.

This is for the European market so it most likely will not be sold here in the States. But, with these crazy green initiatives, you never know.