Dissolving Styrofoam with acetone?

[Andrew Cottrell]

So I bought three large items recently and now I'm stuck with three large boxes worth of styrofoam packing blocks.  Too much to fit in my City of Austin trash bin.  I've seen videos of folks dissolving styrofoam in acetone and now the idea is in my head to:

1. Break up the blocks a bit

2. Toss them in a large garbage bag with the top wide open

3. Fill a spray bottle with acetone

4. Mist the blocks with acetone until they dissolve down to a disposable size

That all assumes the acetone doesn't destroy the spray bottle or the garbage bag immediately.

How good/awful an idea is this?  I've seen plenty of comments in the theme of "you just made crappy napalm" and "acetone gives you cancer".  Not too concerned about the first since I'm not planning to light it on fire and I'll give the acetone plenty of time to evaporate and disperse.  Not too concerned about the second because I'd do this outside and not breathe the stuff.  But if you have factual info that I *should* be concerned, well, I'm all ears.

(And before someone feels the need to be pedantic:  Yes, I'm aware it is actually polystyrene foam and that Styrofoam is just a brand name.  Don't care.  I also Google things and buy Kleenex.)

  -Andrew

[Joseph Wheeler]

Just ask your neighbors if you can put some in their cans, or just spread it out over a month.....🤗 

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[casey brotherton]

http://www.austintexas.gov/blog/how-recycle-styrofoam

It is actually recyclable.  There is a kind soul in my neighborhood who collects it for our neighborhood and drives it in periodically.

On Tue, May 15, 2018 at 7:08 PM, Joseph Wheeler <josephl...@gmail.com> wrote:

Just ask your neighbors if you can put some in their cans, or just spread it out over a month.....🤗 

On Tue, May 15, 2018, 7:04 PM Andrew Cottrell <andrew....@gmail.com> wrote:

So I bought three large items recently and now I'm stuck with three large boxes worth of styrofoam packing blocks.  Too much to fit in my City of Austin trash bin.  I've seen videos of folks dissolving styrofoam in acetone and now the idea is in my head to:

1. Break up the blocks a bit

2. Toss them in a large garbage bag with the top wide open

3. Fill a spray bottle with acetone

4. Mist the blocks with acetone until they dissolve down to a disposable size

That all assumes the acetone doesn't destroy the spray bottle or the garbage bag immediately.

How good/awful an idea is this?  I've seen plenty of comments in the theme of "you just made crappy napalm" and "acetone gives you cancer".  Not too concerned about the first since I'm not planning to light it on fire and I'll give the acetone plenty of time to evaporate and disperse.  Not too concerned about the second because I'd do this outside and not breathe the stuff.  But if you have factual info that I *should* be concerned, well, I'm all ears.

(And before someone feels the need to be pedantic:  Yes, I'm aware it is actually polystyrene foam and that Styrofoam is just a brand name.  Don't care.  I also Google things and buy Kleenex.)

  -Andrew

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[Andrew Cottrell]

That's a good neighbor!  But no way am I driving all the way south to Ben White to recycle this.  Especially since last time I drove there to recycle paint (trying to be a good citizen and all) they were closed with no explanation on a day their public page indicated they should be open.  Still a bit ticked about that.

[Josh Cross]

Could Hackerspace become a collection site for items such as this, old batteries, motor oil, etc? Has anything like that ever been discussed?

[Matts GMAIL]

Why?

The space does not currently deal with the hazardous it has here waste already.

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[Josh Cross]

Well, maybe it should and in doing so could handle that of members of the community.

If it's a matter of hauling waste somewhere once or twice a month then coordinating volunteers for that shouldn't be too daunting. If there's permits and inspections and such then maybe it's not worth it. Mostly, I wanted to know if it's been discussed before. If it has why didn't we. If it hasn't does anyone know what sort of logistics it would require.

[Matts GMAIL]

Several issues should  be addressed before taking on more projects that would require even more tasks.    There is already limited space for everything that is currently in the building.  The space is not currently maintained as it is.  There are multiple areas that are cluttered,  areas that are safety issues,  and areas that are basically piles of junk or broken equipment that are just taking up space.  Just to name a few.  These current lapses in maintenance should be handled first before any new projects are considered.   

As example of lack of maintenance, which also should not  be too daunting   (But obviously currently is)

This is the fire exit on one side of the building.  The blue thing is a non operational eye wash station, (anyone know where you are to go if you get something in your eyes in an emergency?)

And , Yes I know there is one here. Do other members know?  

This is one of the storage areas in the space,  yep thats a tree branch.

This is the tool storage area that for equipment used by people every day.

What percentage of this space is taken up by things that are not tools or tools that have been broken for months?

This is more stuff not being handled

Not saying that we can’t do more in the future,  but the space needs to get to the point of handling its current (obvious) issues before considering new initiatives.  If we can not fix the current broken parts of the space we should not be adding more fuel (or paint thinner) to the fire. 

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[Antonio Garcia]

Storing unknown possibly hazardous chemicals in limited space. What could possibly go wrong.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 11:25 AM, Matts GMAIL

<mblack...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Bob Ritchey]

I saw a video of a kid who is dissolving Styrofoam and gets activated charcoal as a byproduct.

[Kye Flannery]

The tree branch is mine, pending project -- please let me know if it's in your way? Happy to move it if so, currently no great place to put it but I could work it out.
Thanks,

Kye

On Thu, May 17, 2018 at 4:37 PM, Bob Ritchey <ritch...@gmail.com> wrote:

I saw a video of a kid who is dissolving Styrofoam and gets activated charcoal as a byproduct.

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Kye Flannery

"Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything." -Thomas Merton

[Martin Bogomolni]

Kye & Members,

Extra storage at ATXHS is available for a fee ( $10/mo for one of those shelves upstairs, and we have other storage options ) and needs to be approved by Danny / Director of Facilities.  If you need short-term storage of an odds-n-end item, we have the parking tickets downstairs.  If we are out of parking tickets, I can print more.  

Sincerely,

Martin

On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 11:07 PM Kye Flannery <kye.fl...@gmail.com> wrote:

The tree branch is mine, pending project -- please let me know if it's in your way? Happy to move it if so, currently no great place to put it but I could work it out.
Thanks,

Kye

On Thu, May 17, 2018 at 4:37 PM, Bob Ritchey <ritch...@gmail.com> wrote:

I saw a video of a kid who is dissolving Styrofoam and gets activated charcoal as a byproduct.

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Kye Flannery

"Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything." -Thomas Merton

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[Howie]

we have pink and yellow but no green parking tickets

[Martin Bogomolni]

okay -- here's the template ( as a PDF ) which we can print on some paper until I can get more run on green cardstock.

-Martin