Donation: Nylon Scraps

A sure bet for keeping nylon scraps out of a landfill is to donate it to a local design school. It is guaranteed to get additional use. In fact, if it truly is art, it might never make it to a land fill at all. 

Zoë Bikini has been gracious enough to donate nylon scraps to our Grad Design department at the California College of the Arts. If our department finds it has no need for the material, it can be passed on to the next discipline, for example the fashion department. 

Thanks Zoë!

http://www.zoebikini.com/

Recycling Nylon?

I've contacted the Sierra Club and Earth911 for information regarding the recycling of knit nylon, neither one had any suggestions. When I contacted DuPont about their product Sorona, they claimed that knit nylon had to be separated from the lycra in order to place each plastic in their proper stream for recycling. If recycled as is, the plastics would contaminate each other and decrease the value of each other. It seems that the best thing to do is shred them and use them for filler in furniture or as insulation in walls.

Another suggestion was given, that knit nylon could be donated to SCRAP (Scroungers' Center for Reusable Art Parts. They do take printed cottons, upholstery, corduroy, muslin, canvas, denim, and fleece pieces larger than 12" x 12", but other knit fabrics must be no smaller than one yard. So, no help there either.

Still, SCRAP is a great source for materials. 

www.scrap-sf.org

Scrap House

Scrap House: Built for the 2005 World Environment Day
http://www.scraphouse.org/home

Bacteria: Polystyrene Foam

Another species of bacterium, Pseudomonas putida, naturally found in soil, has been modified in a bioreactor to consume styrene. Actually, they remove the pollutants and converts the styrene into the plastic polymer PHA (polyhydroyalkanoates). PHA can be used as a biodegradable plastic in the use of eating utensils, and have a wide range of industrial and commercial uses such as medical implants or scaffolds for tissue engineering. The process starts by heating up styrene foam and converting it into styrene oil and then feed to the bacteria. PHA is heat, grease, and oil resistant and biodegrades in soil and water. But, if it is sent to a landfill, it will most-likely fossilize under the compressed layers of garbage and dirt.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradable_plastics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioplastics