Recycling plastic bags into plastic blocks?

Energy & Sustainability Science
Recycling plastic bags into plastic blocks?
diy_plastic_recycling.jpg

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Michael Colombo has been experimenting with recycling plastic bags, and forming them into children’s blocks. The process, as documented in this Instructable, is to to melt the plastic in an oil bath at low heat, which causes the bags to disintegrate into goo. Anyone know more about the process? Is it safe?

I learned about the method of “stewing” plastic bags from this instructable a while back, and decided to try it for myself. In short, it’s done by placing the bags in canola oil, in which they acquire a gummy consistency, suitable for molding into rigid pieces. I decided to make some childrens’ blocks out of it. As far as I know the plastic is all #2 HDPE which I assume is safe for children. Can anyone shed some light on this? (don’t worry I wouldn’t give this to kids until I’m absolutely sure).

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