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My wife spent years as a classroom volunteer in our
local elementary school. Her nickname was "Laura the Laminator" as that
seemed to be her main function. So hopefully those fumes didn't do any
damage (though who knows -- it might explain why, after 25 years of being
married to yours truly, she's nearly as loopy as I am, after starting out
so much saner).
I just did a quick google search and ran across this
description of cold lamination -- no endorsement implied or otherwise, though it
seems like one way around the issue. I'd hesitate to call it a "better"
idea unless a lifecycle analysis pointed in that direction, or unless there were
some good evidence for a health impact from breathing these fumes. But it
is worth exploration.
According to the same site, the hot melt films (http://www.graphicproducts.com/laminators/hot-film.html)
are polyester resin, with an adhesive inner liner.
there
are also lamination films that still require heat, but bond at much lower temps,
resulting in fewer fumes.
and of
course, teachers could use less laminated materials -- but that would be
like telling a fish to avoid water pollution by staying dry. It just ain't
gonna happen.
Training the volunteers who do the lamination to do it
efficiently -- batch-wise, minimizing wasted laminating materials, probably
wouldn't be a bad idea, either. My wife is a quilter and hence has a great
instinct for how to maximize the utilization of sheet goods (in her case,
fabric) but not everyone is cursed....er, trained in that
way.
SB
From: owner-p2tech@great-lakes.net [mailto:owner-p2tech@great-lakes.net] On Behalf Of michelle gaither Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 11:24 AM To: p2tech Subject: Laminators I am looking into this on behalf of 2 schools in
Seattle.
Staff at schools LOVE to laminate.
When i go into the copy room, the laminator is
always on. It reeks of heated plastic in the room.
Aside from the excess waste of plastic (the
laminator I have seen uses a 30" wide roll of plastic no matter how big the
paper is that you are laminating), I am trying to find out what chemicals might
be released - phthalates? other plasticizers (e.g., lead is a common
plasticizer in PVC- but i don't know if this is PVC plastic). and, how
much energy is consumed by these clunkers.
If there are any P2 guidance documents (other than,
DON'T USE) for laminators, that would be helpful too.
Many thanks.
Michelle Gaither
Technical Research Lead Pollution Prevention Resource Center www.pprc.org mgaither@pprc.org or gaithermj@quidnunc.net |