World of Plastics
Plastified Living From pens to building of houses, plastics are unmatched in versatility, cost-effectiveness and designerfriendly edge, says Angelica Buan in this report.
Who’s afraid of plastics? Greenhouse gas emissions, flooding, and marine litter – these are just a few of the issues that are making fossil fuel-based plastics infamous. The US leads in completely phasing out microbeads in personal care products by 2017. Lightweight plastic bags are seeing the inevitable with phase out policies being enforced in many countries worldwide. Europe, where disposal of single-use plastic bags is estimated at up to 200 bags/person/year, has initiated an EU-wide legislation that aims to reduce the use of conventional single-use carrier bags via the amended Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD). The law directs EU member states to introduce measures that cut down lightweight plastic bag use to 90 bags/person by end of 2019; and 40 bags/person/year by 2025. Plastics everywhere Plastics, owing to their versatility, are essential to transportation, safety, security, health, shelter, communication, entertainment and the innovations of various industries, the US-based Plastics Industry Trade Association (SPI) states in its website. The benefits of using plastics are oft-said and almost countless. But to cite a few, plastics contribute to energy efficiency and possess properties that promote durability, longevity and performance of products. Plastics, amid the bad critique they are getting, remain a ubiquitous material in our daily lives and are far from being retrenched. According to a 2014 Sales and Captive Use by Major Market report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE, PP, PS, EPS and PVC resins are not just utilised for packaging, although this application merits the larger use for plastics (34%).
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Knack for concept designs Other markets continue to account for the use and sales of plastics, with consumer & institutional, and building & construction markets at the top range with 20% and 16% shares, respectively; and the industrial machinery markets clinching 1% share. Meanwhile, distribution percentage for the furnishing & furniture, as well as electrical and electronics segments is at 2%. And the more our lifestyles advance, the more we will see plastics being integrated into the objects and products we use on a regular basis. Now, plastics are being used in concept buildings, objects and furniture, not only for the durability and lightweight characteristics plastics can render, but also for their versatility for different shapes and designs: • Luxury Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille introduced a carbon fibre-based RMS05, a mechanical pen that uses watchmaking technology to deploy the nib. The carbon-based material for the pen, the North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT), was introduced by Richard Mille for his timepieces in 2013. The composite material is light yet rigid. The barrel and cap of the pen is made of NTPT, has “remarkable surface that displays extremely regular undulations”. This is because NTPT carbon is composed of thousand layers (having a maximum thickness of 30 microns) of parallel laments obtained by dividing carbon fibres. The layers are impregnated with resin then woven on a special machine that modifies the direction of the weft by 45 degrees between layers, creating this distinctive visual effect. Heated to 120°C at a pressure of six bars, the material is proccessed on a CNC machine.
Richard Mille's RMS05 pen is made of carbon-based material
• Battery-less phony phone – It’s called NoPhone, a non-electronic, non-functioning and featureless hand-held piece of plastic that imitates a smart