Sorry but why a polymer?
We have lots of natural hard fibers in the form of ground up pips and pits from fruits.
We don’t need to fix plastic, we need to replace plastic.
Baby oil already removes eyeliner, without being problematic for most users, and many things remove permanent marker, so what does this add?
Starch is a polymer. Cellulose is a polymer. Chitosan is a polymer, as is chitin. They’re just materials made of long chain, repeating units. One of the ways we can “fix plastic” is by making materials that have similar properties out of naturally-derived stuff that has nothing to do with fossil sources, like plants, arthropod shells, and fungi. We leave a LOT of possibilities just lying around in food production waste streams. This is exactly the same as “replacing plastic,” and the only real difference is which version writers like to use in their articles.
I mean that’s great and stuff but why are we manufacturing something to replace what we can just make from waste streams? I just don’t really get it because I’ve been using scrubs and soaps with natural pit as the exfoliant for like most of my life and microbeads were just a way to use waste plastic, so I don’t get the whole… any of this. We already have things that are fine. Why do we need to manufacture replacements when a pit grinder will do?
Let them find plastic replacements even if you think there’s enough peach pits for your face scrub. The important part is finding a way to replace plastic.
Im not so sure if these is feasible. I can’t find it with a search but I have this memory of a news bit from the early nineties that talked about at that time that if mcdonalds used real maple syrup it would use up the yearly supply in like 3 or 4 months or something. I think it applies to a lot of things an much of the worlds population does not even have access to these luxuries.
Maple syrup is a highly processed thing that takes a lot of work to collect and refine.
That’s not at all the same as using waste pips and pits for things. There are dozens of fruits with pits and pips that can be used as natural exfoliant. Or for dozens of similar uses.
Commercial organizations try to figure out how to feed it to cattle rather than just using it directly.
Yeah I just brought it up because im not sure if like everyone removed makeup with baby oil would it put strain somewhere and I know most food stuff thats not meat or grain is sorta a drop in the bucket compared to grain so thought maybe it would not really be enough. I mean one reason plastics got going was to use the waste elements from oil when making gasoline and such which is why its so cheap and of course we likely still want to recycle the plastics we have already made unless we can figure out a way to otherwise safely take it out of the system.
Nah I think we are on the same page friend, this stuff is all complicated, but baby oil is something that’s been in use for decades. My mom used it and I’m almost 40. I don’t think we are going to run out. More likely it also causes cancer.
But yeah, if we can use renewables instead of plastic for things like exfoliants or growth mediums or fabrics or whatever… everyone wins.
We don’t need to fix plastic, we need to replace plastic.
Agreed!
