Experiment #1: Recycling Plastic

So one of the things that's been boiling in my mind is trying to recycle plastic from Clear Splash Water bottles. Why? Because i drink a lot of them.



Last summer I observed that if you gently heat up the plastic it becomes like a hard glass-like material. I used a hand held gas candle torch (the kind you'd find in a christmas tree shop). I wanted to scale this and possibly make an awesome material from this to be used as a replacement for plastic.

I tried today, and I'm glad I tried when my mom wasn't home and I'm glad I tried with a pyrex mixing cup my mom found at the town dump for me to use at the suite because I broke it. The bottom completely broke off.

I guess I forgot that I GENTLY heated it. I skipped the gently part and put the oven on High and I guess the mixing cup was cold from being in the garage and I know that glass heated immediately after being cold breaks...

I thought it would be alright Gently heating the plastic in a 2 inch thick pyrex mixing cup.

Then when I was wrapping the mixing cup up in bags to avoid being cut, I cut myself on the glass. And got a nasty gushing cut in which I got blood everywhere. =/ Its okay. I should be fine.

So I don't know if I'm gonna try and glue the mixing cup back together or just throw it out the next time I'm back at school.

I think I'm going back to the dump to look for a stainless steel pot to use instead of glass. Glass is so risky.