Interesting show on PBS's Nova last night

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Nova show - S48 E03 · Beyond the Elements: Indestructible

They covered a few things. But a couple were vehicle related. One was on tires. They went to Bridgestone/Firestone research center and discussed the science of tires. Also the host took a ride in a specially modified indy car for 2 laps around the Indy raceway with legend driver Mario Andretti (man is he short. No more then 5’4)…but one hell of a driver.

Another part that was vehicle related was they visited Line-X (used in truck bed liners).

Two other parts were on glass and plastics. Also very interesting.

Great show for anyone interested in the science behind these things. And it was fun to watch. The science was brought down to an understanding for us mere mortals.

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Online for free through WGBH as well. Give a couple guys a lift and a bunch of objects to destroy (or not)

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I thought about watching, it the synopsis led me to believe it would be more about our inability to dispose of these materials than anything else. I wasn’t in the mood for that.

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They do bring that up about 47min in, with some potential solutions, providing the cost can come down. Where I work we’ve implemented more plastic recycling through the warehouse for containers and packaging but not everything can be recycled.

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It was kinda interesting that a tire is made up of just one molecule. Not a single type of molecule, but a tire is one giant molecule.

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We recycle at work, or at least we would if we were there. There are a lot of things that aren’t allowed anymore. About the only food containers recycled there are glass bottles or jars and metal cans. Paper is allowed, of course. At home, we aren’t allowed to recycle aluminum foil pans, or any aluminum foil at all. I guess the good news is I don’t have to wash the aluminum foil pans anymore before recycling them. Yes, I did wash them to make sure there was no food on them. Apparently too few people did that, treating recycling as just another garbage can.

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We’re trying to get the company to offer more recycling options but at least for plastic’s that would have been tossed into the trash compacter get sent back with the delivery truck. We once had recycling collection bins at the back of the parking lot for all recyclables but that was back in 2008 before they had to relocate due to our store’s remodel. The county has a great drop off site for recycling that takes more than the city’s contractor at a couple locations.

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There was that when they talked about plastics. But at least they talked about possible solutions.

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