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#1
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the
sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? -- Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA) Web Page: speckledwithStars.net |
#2
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
In article ,
"W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? |
#3
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
"Smitty Two" wrote in message news In article , "W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? ROFLMAO |
#4
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
Unfortunately, my question was posted near the start of a long trip. Now I have an opportunity to respond. Do you something a little more positive to say? Pardon me, I forgot to mention the particles are about 1 mm in diameter. My guess is there's a simple chemical that will do the job, that is, dissolve them. Smitty Two wrote: In article , "W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? -- Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA) Web Page: speckledwithStars.net |
#5
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
"W. Watson" writes:
Smitty Two wrote: In article , "W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? Unfortunately, my question was posted near the start of a long trip. Now I have an opportunity to respond. Do you something a little more positive to say? Pardon me, I forgot to mention the particles are about 1 mm in diameter. My guess is there's a simple chemical that will do the job, that is, dissolve them. A chemical that dissolves plastic is bound to be toxic. Bad idea. Use those opposing thumbs. A blower may help separate the plastic from the gravel but sooner or later to you need to pick it up and dispose of it. |
#6
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
Dan Espen wrote:
"W. Watson" writes: Smitty Two wrote: In article , "W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? Unfortunately, my question was posted near the start of a long trip. Now I have an opportunity to respond. Do you something a little more positive to say? Pardon me, I forgot to mention the particles are about 1 mm in diameter. My guess is there's a simple chemical that will do the job, that is, dissolve them. A chemical that dissolves plastic is bound to be toxic. Bad idea. Use those opposing thumbs. A blower may help separate the plastic from the gravel but sooner or later to you need to pick it up and dispose of it. Ignore it and it will go away. Really. The process is already well underway- another few months, and the UV will break down and/or bleach those particles into invisibility. The past 3 years, visiting my other house down is Katrina/Rita country, I've been observing the blue roofs, and the half-life of those tarps seems to be about 18 months in the Louisiana sun. Like the other guy said, a leaf blower may help, if you can finnese the speed and distance and angle of attack to avoid getting the gravel airborne. -- aem sends... |
#7
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
aemeijers wrote in
: Dan Espen wrote: "W. Watson" writes: Smitty Two wrote: In article , "W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? Unfortunately, my question was posted near the start of a long trip. Now I have an opportunity to respond. Do you something a little more positive to say? Pardon me, I forgot to mention the particles are about 1 mm in diameter. My guess is there's a simple chemical that will do the job, that is, dissolve them. A chemical that dissolves plastic is bound to be toxic. Bad idea. Use those opposing thumbs. A blower may help separate the plastic from the gravel but sooner or later to you need to pick it up and dispose of it. Ignore it and it will go away. Really. The process is already well underway- another few months, and the UV will break down and/or bleach those particles into invisibility. The past 3 years, visiting my other house down is Katrina/Rita country, I've been observing the blue roofs, and the half-life of those tarps seems to be about 18 months in the Louisiana sun. Like the other guy said, a leaf blower may help, if you can finnese the speed and distance and angle of attack to avoid getting the gravel airborne. -- aem sends... Birds will haul a lot of it away. Blue tarps are popular where I am. I've found many old birds nest around containing the blue strings. I guess it makes a kick-ass nest like the brick house of the 3 pigs story. |
#8
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
aemeijers wrote:
Dan Espen wrote: "W. Watson" writes: Smitty Two wrote: In article , "W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? Unfortunately, my question was posted near the start of a long trip. Now I have an opportunity to respond. Do you something a little more positive to say? Pardon me, I forgot to mention the particles are about 1 mm in diameter. My guess is there's a simple chemical that will do the job, that is, dissolve them. A chemical that dissolves plastic is bound to be toxic. Bad idea. Use those opposing thumbs. A blower may help separate the plastic from the gravel but sooner or later to you need to pick it up and dispose of it. Ignore it and it will go away. Really. The process is already well underway- another few months, and the UV will break down and/or bleach those particles into invisibility. The past 3 years, visiting my other house down is Katrina/Rita country, I've been observing the blue roofs, and the half-life of those tarps seems to be about 18 months in the Louisiana sun. Like the other guy said, a leaf blower may help, if you can finnese the speed and distance and angle of attack to avoid getting the gravel airborne. -- aem sends... In view of the non-answers above, this is, of course, the easiest solution and one I'm depending upon. I'd nevertheless be willing to be there's some simple household chemical that'll do the trick. Maybe diluted Clorox. |
#9
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
Dan Espen wrote:
"W. Watson" writes: Smitty Two wrote: In article , "W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? Unfortunately, my question was posted near the start of a long trip. Now I have an opportunity to respond. Do you something a little more positive to say? Pardon me, I forgot to mention the particles are about 1 mm in diameter. My guess is there's a simple chemical that will do the job, that is, dissolve them. A chemical that dissolves plastic is bound to be toxic. Bad idea. Use those opposing thumbs. A blower may help separate the plastic from the gravel but sooner or later to you need to pick it up and dispose of it. Perhaps I can train an opossum? Toxic to what? |
#10
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
Unfortunately, my question was posted near the start of a long trip. Now I have an opportunity to respond. Do you something a little more positive to say? Pardon me, I forgot to mention the particles are about 1 mm in diameter. My guess is there's a simple chemical that will do the job, that is, dissolve them. Smitty Two wrote: In article , "W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? -- Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA) Web Page: speckledwithStars.net |
#11
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
In article ,
"W. Watson" wrote: Unfortunately, my question was posted near the start of a long trip. Welcome home. Now I have an opportunity to respond. Do you something a little more positive to say? No. But I did crack up one of our roomies, which was my primary intention. Pardon me, I forgot to mention the particles are about 1 mm in diameter. My guess is there's a simple chemical that will do the job, that is, dissolve them. Well, it's a bad guess. Try wikipedia's article on polyethylene: "Most LDPE, MDPE and HDPE grades have excellent chemical resistance and do not dissolve at room temperature because of their crystallinity. Polyethylene (other than cross-linked polyethylene) usually can be dissolved at elevated temperatures in aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene or xylene, or in chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethane or trichlorobenzene." Now, if you have time to run off on trips, you've got time to pick the **** up, or pay some kid to do it. Let's say there's 10,000 pieces, and you can pick up one piece every two seconds. Round that down to 25 pieces per minute. Figuring actively working 50 minutes per hour, that's 1250 pieces per hour. That's exactly one 8 hour day of the simplest manual labor. I hope you're not bemoaning your terrible plight. Smitty Two wrote: In article , "W. Watson" wrote: Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? Do you have opposing thumbs? |
#12
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Shredded Plastic Tarp--Removing the Pieces
on 4/25/2008 12:18 AM W. Watson said the following:
Well, I had a meltdown with one my blue plastic tarps by leaving it in the sun and outdoors too long. Little blue strands are now in the gravel and some plant areas. How to get rid of them? Maybe there's something non-toxic that will dissolve them? Other ideas? A mower with a bagger will suck up most of it.. -- Bill In Hamptonburgh, NY To email, remove the double zeroes after @ |
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