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Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by solarkraft on Sunday October 04, 2020 @12:39PM (#24680287)
Wood is biodegradable. If mixed with plastic however (which this seems to be), it's not.

While it's relatively easy to recycle pure plastics for composite materials it's notoriously difficult.

Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by ajot on Sunday October 04, 2020 @01:37PM (#24680740)
This plastic, PVA, is the one used in white glue, the one that kids use in school or carpenters use to glue things together. Wikipedia [0] says it biodegrades slowly. I believe (keyword: believe and am not sure) it could be redissolved in warm water, or might even be replaced by a renewable glue like gelatin.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_alcohol

Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by watchdogtimer on Sunday October 04, 2020 @01:58PM (#24680902)
Not sure you'd want a window that easily dissolves in water...
Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by xpe on Sunday October 04, 2020 @12:54PM (#24680438)
To help others parse the last paragraph, I would add a comma because clauses:

While it's relatively easy to recycle pure plastics, for composite materials it's notoriously difficult.

Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by xpe on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @06:58AM (#24696446)
*between clauses I meant to say
Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by eloff on Sunday October 04, 2020 @12:42PM (#24680322)
Neither is glass, which I'd hazard lasts longer in the environment as well - although glass at least doesn't float so it can't "wander off".
Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by ClumsyPilot on Sunday October 04, 2020 @03:07PM (#24681478)
Firstly, it is a natural material - its basically sand. It does as much damage to the envirobment as any random rock.

Secondly it has been recycled for decades and is actually a relatively simple material that can be molten, purigied abd re-cast, much like metals can be.

Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by Faaak on Sunday October 04, 2020 @01:11PM (#24680561)
However glass is inert, whereas plastic is not
Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by melolife on Sunday October 04, 2020 @02:27PM (#24681136)
Apparently if you dump glass into the ocean, within 10 years it looks like those decorative pebbles so it's actually a pretty good way of dealing with it.
Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by jiofih on Sunday October 04, 2020 @02:45PM (#24681301)
Now imagine dumping a million tons of it at a time, in a few select spots of the ocean. That’s what we did with plastics.
Re:A clear, strong, and thermally insulated wood for energy ... by eeZah7Ux on Sunday October 04, 2020 @03:29PM (#24681636)
No.