Our group had ideas about what we wanted to make for our sculpture so we went into the beach cleanup with an idea of the various objects we could make use of. Initially I went in expecting to find countless Nurdles, plastic bottles, bottle caps, plastic bags, food wrappers and cigarette buds as these are…
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Ali AlDhanhani: Bio-based plastic
This reading was particularly interesting to me because I’ve read about bioenergy as an alternative to nonrenewable energy, and have always wondered if the same could be done to oil’s byproducts. The article introduces Bio-based plastics, which are plastics made from biomass sources. I believe that they should go as far as labeling it to…
Hamad, Bio-based Plastics Reading Response
From the get-go, this reading caught my eye in the introduction when the author stated that the creation of bio-based plastics requires less energy than petroleum-based plastics. That got me thinking, why do we still almost fully depend on petroleum-based plastics? Personally what impressed me the most is the idea that everything that is…
The shift from durability to disposability
I found the text “Plastic A Toxic Love Story” to be enlightening as it showcases the shift in the purpose of plastic, from the perspective of marketing. In the text it’s mentioned, “when plastic first began to penetrate the packaging market, it was promoted for its durability, not its disposability”, and it only took a…
Hilina Bayew: Accumulation: The Material Politics of Plastic (Made to be wasted: PET and topologies of disposability) reading response
This chapter ‘Made to be Wasted‘ sheds some much needed insight on just how drastically society has shifted to feeding into consumerism. Previously, I had never stopped to think about what my grandparents or great-grandparents made use of in the absence of plastic. I simply lived my day to day life, making use of countless…
Lab Report: Potato Starch & Gelatin (Ali, Hamad, Hilina, Hassan)
Lab report – Bio-materials Name: Ali Al Dhanhani, Hamad Bin Fahad, Hilina Bayew, Hassan AbuHaliga e-mail: aha377@nyu.edu, hbf245@nyu.edu, hb1741@nyu.edu Material: Potato Starch Introduction or Purpose: This lab aims to create a cheaper, more available plastic alternative. We incorporated Potato starch and Gelatin respectively as the main ingredient of the new plastic. This experiment deals…
Lab by Ari, Kevin, and Hannah
Lab report – bio-materials name: Ari Almansoori, Kevin Fernando Quiros Canales, Hannah Camille Greene e-mail: aa7400@nyu.edu,kqc206@nyu.edu, hcg256@nyu.edu Material : The material made in the lab was bioplastic. Bioplastics are materials made of renewable biomass, such as vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, straw, woodchips, sawdust, and recovered food waste. Bioplastic can be produced using…
Written response to the readings of Plastic: A Love Story: “They are not lies, but rather incomplete truths, which is worse.”
Perhaps the reading that has intriged me the most so far was Chapter 6: Battle of the Bag from Plastic: A Love Story. In a way, I had always wondered how did we as a society became so attached to plastic bags, specifically single-use disposable plastic bags. In realty, however, I never bothered to stop…
Lab by Fanisi, Max, and Ward
Lab report – bio-materials name: Fanisi, Max, Ward e-mail: fm1581@nyu.edu , mab1312@nyu.edu , whm263@nyu.edu Material: We made biodegradable plastic with recipes that use potato starch and agar-agar powder. The outputs were materials that mimicked some of the properties of plastic. Introduction or Purpose: The purpose of this lab was to create plastic out of…
Fanisi- Battle of the Bag Reflections
I found the chapter ‘Battle of the Bag‘ to be an insightful read on the history of plastic’s emergence into American popular culture. What shocked me was that the plastic corporations had to invest thousands of dollars (over multiple years) into educating people on the uses and benefits of plastic. These companies additionally had to…
Pangna Sun – “Battle of the Bag”: A Troublesome Relationship
“It’s not always easy to see when a relationship is in trouble. […] But we’ve been together so long it’s difficult to imagine a different world, one in which people determined the fate of plastic, rather than the other way around” (Freinke 141). I was hooked by this opening of the chapter “Battle of the…
No Escape
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is found in a number of hard, transparent plastics, including water bottles and baby bottles, as well as the lining of food cans. Phthalates are utilized in the manufacturing of soft, flexible plastics such as PVC (“vinyl”) products and food packaging. Additionally, they are utilized to create scents…