Petition - recycling of GW plastics

[Arkhanist]

1 hour ago, Azekai said:

I would be concerned about toxicity from the rendered down plastic; whatever can break those chemical bonds is probably going to be nasty stuff.

You use liquid polystyrene cement, which is primarily Butyl Acetate and Acetone. While these solvents aren't totally safe (they're flammable for a start, and obviously don't drink it!) they're not *that* nasty on the grand scale, as long as you're using it in a well-ventilated area - acetone is the primary ingredient in many nail polish removers for example, and even some glass cleaners. With poly cement, they don't break down the plastic chemically into something else, I believe it just partially dissolves it i.e. makes it soft. Once the solvent evaporates, the polystyrene rehardens - ideally with the two edges 'melted' together. (it's not technically melting as we're not using heat)

The usual method to make sprue goo is take a bottle of tamiya extra thin cement (other poly cement should also work) and mix in small pieces of chopped up polystyrene sprue (e.g. GW sprues) and wait a while for it to dissolve into the cement - you can speed this up a bit by mixing. Depending upon how much you add will determine the viscosity of the sprue goo - from slightly goopy to pretty thick indeed. Usual consistency you want is so it just about drips off the brush, so you can either add more sprue to make it thicker or more cement if you've gone too far. When applied via the included brush or a cocktail stick to a big joint gap, the solvent will evaporate as it normally does with poly cement, and the left behind plastic will harden and fill the gap - the cement also softens the joint edges, so it all blends together and gives you a solid sealed joint without any shrinkage like you can get from greenstuff. Obviously it may need a light sanding to get it completely smooth once it's hard if it's in the middle of a flat plate or the like.

Sprue goo is pretty handy, but you don't need a LOT of sprue to make it, and a little goes a long way, so it's not going to be a way to dispose of most of your sprues.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Arkhanist

[sairence]

1 hour ago, Azekai said:

I would be concerned about toxicity from the rendered down plastic; whatever can break those chemical bonds is probably going to be nasty stuff.

I think commonly just put it in some plastic glue and let it dissolve. And we all use that already.

[No Foes Remain]

I've seen some people take what's left of the sprue and glue them together then attach it to some plasti-card to make sprue-buildings. Seems like a cheap and easy way to build up your board if you're hurting for terrain.

[Evil Eye]

The issue with recycling is that currently, a lot of the actual recycling plants are overseas. So already there's the carbon footprint of sending the stuff to be recycled. But to make matters worse, a lot of these recycling plants are less than honest about what they do. A lot (and I mean a LOT) of the stuff sent to them is dumped straight into the sea, arguably causing a FAR bigger environmental problem than if the stuff had been consigned to the rubbish dump domestically.

(There's also the issue of how the pollution output of the UK- and indeed most of the rest of the world- is a drop in the bucket compared to China alone, and how we could either go full eco-warrior and become totally carbon neutral or have a second industrial revolution and turn the British Isles into one huge steel mill, and still have next to no impact on the planet's health either way because holy gak China's pollution problem is that bad but that's outside the scope of this thread.)

Aside from obviously using sprues for personal projects (I've seen some very cool "basalt pillar" effects done with them) the best solution I can see is if GW- who make the things and know the exact composition of the plastic- were to offer a "give us your sprues and we'll reward you somehow" (free miniatures?) programme. Then they could do SOMETHING useful with the sprues- if anyone would know how best to make use of them it'd be GW after all!

In any event I don't think a petition will do much. Aside from anything else, GW will either already be trying to (or have already tried to) do something about it, or they'll be open to suggestions. I don't think a petition is necessary to get them aware of the issue.

[Canadian_F_H]

I thought spru-goo was just made with acetone.  Hmm.  Apparently mostly plastic cement is 50/50 Acetone and Butyl Acetate.  Not having much luck finding out the reason for that.  Apparently Butyl Acetate is a common solvent in things like nail polish etc.  

Anyways.  Never got around to making any grey goo.  Probably should. But how useful is it to recycle plastic by dissolving it in a solvent that comes in its own packaging. (To be fair acetone comes in big steel jugs and metals are basically the most recyclable thing on the planet, you know this is true because people will buy scrap metal as opposed to charging you to take away in a bin like plastics)

[Slave to Darkness]

I did find a youtuber ages ago who puts his sprues into tubs of acetone and then rolls it out into flat sheets for making scenery, Ork stuff etc. May actually give that a try for some Munda scenery.

[lansalt]

As others have said, using sprues for grey goo/scenery is the best way to not waste them. The characteristics of plastics that make them so useful are also what make them almost impossible to industrially recycle them in an effective way.

[Subtleknife]

Not something I'm remotely interested in. But as long as it doesn't affect prices for me I honestly don't care. If it starts altering priced though I would be dead set against it.

[Slave to Darkness]

Ill just chuck mine out like I usually do... 

[Sothalor]

Does this really belong in the News & Rumors forum? Seems like Amicus Aedes would be a better fit.

[Lord Raven 19]

I've wondered in the past, but not had the chance or finances to try, if sprues could be repurposed into 3D lrinter filament. Technology already exists, although it's expensive, to reuse filament cutoffs and printed parts and to turn them into new filament again (info here, if interested: https://all3dp.com/2/the-3d-printer-filament-recycler-s-guide). I believe sprues do melt, so I doubt it's impossible, and could potentially be investigated by 3rd party stores, maybe by making terrain from the recycled filament, and giving out coupons for said terrain when sprues are traded in?

 

[Captain Idaho]

5 hours ago, Subtleknife said:

Not something I'm remotely interested in. But as long as it doesn't affect prices for me I honestly don't care. If it starts altering priced though I would be dead set against it.

This is an important point to consider... pricing is important and if the price of things increases due to GW taking on recycling, that would potentially be quite damaging to the company. And consumers.

[Captain Idaho]

Well this is where it gets political, because the potential response is going to be about whether the severity of climate change is agreed etc. It's a quagmire since the agreed path out is not agreed by many because of this. That's why it was closed in the first place so good to avoid that discussion 

So instead of discussing that, how about we focus on whether the impact of recycling the sprues is even possible in a positive manner?

Since many people have pointed out here the carbon footprint increases with many of the ideas, including centralised recycling of sprues etc, maybe the benefits are negligible or even negative?

I for one love my turtles and hate the idea of dumping plastics into the sea, which is a common manner of waste disposal. I also care about my hobby and am not a wealthy man. On these basis that's why I asked what solutions people could come up with on a personal capacity to alleviate the issues, considering what folk have said about the carbon footprint proposition to not even being reducing in nature.

I like the idea of creating terrain out of it. I'd also be interested if it's possible to melt it down and use it in molds to create miniatures.

Another aspect that might be pertinent is reduction of sprues, using modern technology. But then GW would likely have to individually print molds that might be impractical? I dunno exactly how that process is done.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Captain Idaho

[Canadian_F_H]

Not sure if this type of plastic melts thermally... I know it definitely burns.  I know it becomes a little flexible when warmed (basically you can do the same trick you hear about with resin with your plastics too).

Injection molded plastics are forced into the molds with pressure.

That said.  Perhaps spru-goo can be used for some casting process.  I suspect only open castings because the solvent has to be able to evaporate.

Edit-adendum

After a bit of looking around, Polystyrene does melt.  Saw a tutorial where someone was making sheets of plastic using sprues and a sandwich press.  So that's a thing.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Canadian_F_H

[Bung]

12 hours ago, Ammonius said:

I always cut up emptied sprues into 1 or 2 inch segments and put them in a blender that I set aside specifically for the purpose. I'd also add chunks of cork, dried greenstuff, debris from doing conversions, bits of dried glue, and the like. Pulse the blender a few times and then put the result through a sieve. The chunky bits are excellent basing material, with random corners and sharp edges that can be painted as stone, masonry, or metal. The fine stuff that separates out gets mixed with flock to make a grittier texture.

Obviously this method is involved and takes time, but the results worked well for me.

May i ask what sort of Blender you use?

[Slave to Darkness]

I wouldnt give GW my sprues anyway, Im not giving them free materials to sell back to me at an inflated price. 

[Joe]

20 hours ago, Slave to Darkness said:

I did find a youtuber ages ago who puts his sprues into tubs of acetone and then rolls it out into flat sheets for making scenery, Ork stuff etc. May actually give that a try for some Munda scenery.

@Slave to Darkness I'd be curious to see this - worth tracking down the link?

[Slave to Darkness]

57 minutes ago, Joe said:

@Slave to Darkness I'd be curious to see this - worth tracking down the link?

Ill have a looksie later for you, I think I subbed to his channel but I have subbed to so much it will take me a while to find it. I may do a sub cull actually, half these channels I dont follow any more. 

 

++EDIT++

 

Heres a couple, hes done other vids but he uses the word 'recast' in the title so Ill not post them here as he recasts scenery. 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Slave to Darkness
found links

[phandaal]

14 hours ago, Trysanna said:

I'd like to think that reducing pollution and our carbon footprint, you know, for the good of the planet and our future, would be more important than the price of our silly plastic toys going up a bit. 

"Be the change," as they say. If it is such a silly hobby, certainly there are better ways to spend your time.

Then again, I am the one guy who still cuts up plastic soda rings because of those pictures of birds and turtles getting stuck. So we all have our quirks.

[Urauloth]

Currently the proven best way to reduce plastic waste and pollution from model kit sprues is to find ways to re-use them yourself. I hack mine up for rubble, spacers, cobblestones, magnet mounts, horns, spikes, extra Ork vehicle extrusions, temporary mounts for sub-assemblies, and whatever else bits of miniature-type plastic can be used for. The smallest bits go in a pot of grot with loose sand, stones, mould line scrapings, unsalvageable conversion offcuts and other desk garbage; I just dump this on my rubble bases as part of the first layer when I'm building the height I want.

I don't know if you've seen what 52Miniatures does with his sprues, but the bases and terrain he cooks up with them are wild. Here is a good example. I'm doing this for one of my Warcry warbands, and it's getting rid of a lot of sprue and netting me some nice looking bases.

[MegaVolt87]

News to me GW sprues can't be recycled. I always put mine in the recycling bin. 

[Sothalor]

I've been able to put sprues to use around the house for odd purposes here and there - repairing a broken washing machine button, filing sprues down to use as shims to level or stabilize things, etc.

I find the GW plastic isn't bad for things like that; it's decently hard without being brittle, but fairly easy to whittle and cut, and you can reshape it a bit with judicious use of plastic glue.

Think outside the box and there might be some extra uses lurking around!