I imagine all plastics will be out of the question. I’m wondering about what ways food packaging might become regulated to upcycling in the domestic or even commercial space. Assuming energy remains a $ scarce $ commodity I don’t imagine recycling glass will be super practical as a replacement. Do we move to more unpackaged goods and bring our own containers to fill at markets? Do we start running two way logistics chains where a more durable glass container is bought and returned to market? How do we achieve a lower energy state of normal in packaging goods?
Go to a grocery store, bring your metal containers to the grocery, get them autoclaved while shopping, and get em filled up with your rice/cereals/juice/etc.
Edit: The below is a bad idea unless new materials are found, see comment thread.
Also, SLA Printing for ceramics is already possible, just expensive for now. Once we figure out how to do that sustainability and in a foodsafe manner, we could just print our single-use cups and dishes from a slurry.
Yeah, finding the gunk from a bone dry ceramic cup left in random places outside would suck, but nature would be able to reclaim it as easy as any random dirt clod. (Well, not as quick in the short term, but when it comes to materials)
One could potentially even just rinse out the clay, stick it in some water, and with some elbow grease and effort, process it into actual, useable ceramics. Depending on the formulation required for the SLA process, of course.
I wonder what happens to ceramic when it degrades over time. Does it become microscopic pieces?
Ceramics can be eroded, for example hundred year old ceramics found on a beach will be slightly smoothed
If it’s burried or otherwise protected from wind and water it will last very, very long times. Archaeologists find ancient ceramics from thousands of years ago, you can see ancient ceramics in museums
Ceramic is made out of clay. So yes, microscopic dirt pieces
@[email protected] True but I just want to add the super pedantic point that they have started adding polymers to them! And for cooking materials, too! It’s very yikesy to me
Presumably something made to be biodegradable would not include polymers
Well, in this hypothetical I’m proposing, there is no superheating involved- just printing, and being set to dry.
Ceramics get completely rigid, but relatively fragile in this state, which would be sufficient for a single use material, but if they’re soaked for long enough, would dissolve.
The term is “Bone Dry” and specifically how to reclaim bone dry clay- that’d probably give you an idea on how it breaks down/dissolves.
there would be no straightforward way to get it back into print media unless there were recycling centers, but if one cleaned the food matter off well, in theory it could be standard clay people could use.
Imagine collecting food cup clay and making it into bricks for public projects.
As a former ceramic artist I would be very wary of this solution. Bone dry clay is way too fragile to survive transportation unless very carefully packed. Potentially an air dry paper clay could work but even then it isn’t very durable.
As you mentioned in your comment, the minute bone dry clay touches liquid it starts to slake down. So you would end up with clay mush in your food and the structure would start to fall apart.
Additionally, silica dust from bone dry clay is really bad for you. Probably not very likely to effect the occasional consumer but people interacting with it often would be at an elevated risk for lung issues.
Interesting, I was under the impression that clay was inert when ingested.
The transportation and dust would be lessened from the printing process if it were done by the individual, but if what you say is true, then the whole idea is worthless unless there’s an alternative material available.
Most clay is likely safe to ingest. However the willingness of customers to ingest clay may vary and the quantity of clay may impart a flavor on the product.
I’m also not sold on the printing process. Ceramic is strongest when the clay platelets are aligned and in a 3d printing process there are many layers. Each of the layers introduces a weak point that is likely to crack in drying or use. Ceramics already have quite efficient methods for production primarily slipcasting and extrusion. In these methods pieces are formed without “joins”.
I’m also not convinced printing it at home would be feasible for mass production/adoption.
That being said it is an interesting idea. I think you could probably make single use, unglazed, low-fire ware like Indian Bhar. Which could get recycled into aggregate. Firing adds emissions back into the process though and I’m not sure where that ranks compared to something with an existing supply chain like paper alternatives.
I am talking about though is SLA printing though- resin printing, but without the resin, basically.
Which is why I think its more feasible than just extrusion printing on principle. The layers are incredibly thin, with no extrusion involved, and no exposure to air until well after the layers are formed.
Hmm, that’s interesting. I’d be curious in how that would be cured and how the layers would stick together. Plaster might be interesting too since it has a faster setting period than clay.