Did'nt know about this, saw a reader's letter in the weekend argus and did a google on it.... for those of you that are interested, it appears that the US Federal government are stockpiling 500 000 plastic coffins.....
link: http://www.infowars.com/a-half-a-million-plastic-coffins/
Huh Plastic coffins ?? maybe I may have missed a point on the blog vis bio warfare etc ,, but most environment unfriendly .. we meant to do the dust to dust thing .. go back to nature and contribute thing ,, Ok cremated ,, an energy input but when done one looks like bone meal ,, and can be scattered or buried and give a bit back to mother nature ... if buried in a wooden coffin we rot and the coffin rots ... and yes we sort of go back to mother nature ... my preference .. wrapped in a shroud and put in a hole and a nice tree seedling planted above , a nice non dom service held preferably in a forest somewhere so that I can anonomously biodegrade and give life and nutruition to a new tree ... my spirit will live on in peoples hearts and the ether that I'm sure of ..
In a plastic coffin the body will just putrefy and become toxic sludge .. and the plastic coffin buried so deep in the ground will never yield to the forces of mother nature ... trust me in I'n in the plastics industry .. there are so called bioplastics ( they use food crops for source so in my mind also a nono like biofuel ) and yes there are so called additives that are supposed to precipitate breakdown but they also raise red flags in my current mindset .. Plastic are wonderful . they seal and preserve food preventing wastage etc etc .. makes goods look wonderful on the shelves etc etc .. but I am a firm believer in recycling or energy recovery of this carbon resource .. not burying it in the ground ... I personally have many conscience calls ie : we are a major supplier to the Diaper industry .. Huggies etc .. and how many toxic mixed packages of baby poo and plastic sit in landfill ?? To my mind the graphics wasteful of so many resources ... but then again thats the world we live in ... and yes my career ... South africa ranks in the world amonst the higher recycling rate ( discount the littering throw out of car / taxi window mentality of a good part of the populace ) we have a good rate of recycling .. which brings me to a point that yes I have rambled towards ,, dont bury plastic .. I have a good example of use of post consumer ie: rubbish tip and other source plastic waste ... Plastic timber .. after years of tending the meranti deck I installed in the 80's ( now think of all the resources used in maintaining ?? varnish energy etc ) when i got tired let it rot and before i could be sued for personal liability for one of my guests falling and breaking a bone .. took the leap ... plastic timber ... its constiuents all slightly non compatible plastics ,, ie : shopping bags ,, milk bottles ,, motor oil bottles , coke bottles ... take out trays .. any other mixed lastic waste etc .. all mushed together after sorting to give a reasonable run to run and colour consistency .... some compatibilising additives and extra pigments added .. they make up toto about 10 - 15 % of the cocktail ... a unique process forced throug a cold forming die .. and vioa you ahve a wood like product with semblance of grain and due to its mixed nature colour variation one would find in any wood ... me timber plastic deck .. It will outlive me .. and require no maintenance ... the surface slowly powdering away and reverting to carbon oxyen etc ... all that is required every so now and again is a good scrub to remove dirt .. see attached ...