Recovered plastics and premium recycled plastic pellets.
A Guide to Graded Plastics
Velcro® and the Development of Silly Putty
A plastic that has struck the fancy of many youngsters over the years is plastic putty -- better known as silly putty. James Wright, a GE engineer, came upon the material by mixing silicone oil with boric acid. The compound possessed some rather unique qualities. It acted very much like rubber in its ability to rebound almost 25 percent higher than a normal rubber ball.
This "Nutty Putty" was also impervious to rot and unable to maintain a shape for more than a short period of time. It could be stretched many times its length without tearing. This material also would copy the image of any printed material that it was pressed upon. In 1949, the material was sold under the name of Silly Putty, selling faster -- at that time -- than any other toy in history with over $6 million in sales for the year.
The birth of Velcro®, yet another unique plastic product which has impacted nearly all of our lives occurred in 1957. A Swiss engineer named George de Maestral was impressed with the way that cockleburs -- a type of vegetation -- would use thousands of tiny hooks to cling to anything with which they came into contact. He devised a product, using nylon that replicated this natural phenomenon. The result, Velcro®, could be spun in any required thickness, would not rot, mould or naturally degrade -- and it was relatively inexpensive.
