Operation: Insulation Recycling (Part 9)

[liamhjmcdermott]

The dump I visit has a recycling centre exactly for that purpose. It's awesome. I've gotten tons of great stuff there.

[jlongmanmtl]

@JMEMantzel no worries, I'm not being critical, just using the video as an opportunity to educate comment readers who are interested. Hey, you're doing great!

[jlongmanmtl]

There's a reason it is in this order:

reduce: make less crap for the next step, energy never consumed is bonus

reuse: make the crap you made last longer, amortize your energy used for better benefit

recycle: use energy to take old crap and turn it into more crap.

recycling is the least efficient.

[JMEMantzel]

@jlongmanmtl oh gawd. Ok, technically, I'm REDUCING by not getting foam from the store. ...and instead REUSING what is on its way to a landfill, and taking it from a single time use to years of usefulness.

I'm using recyclng in a very generic way.

[TimmmmCam]

I agree we throw too much stuff away, but realistically most people don't have the space to store tons of styrofoam boxes...

They should totally use reusable containers for seafood though.

[fillethefish]

Totaly agree... its sad, there is no reason we shouldnt be able to take stuff from the junkyards! what do they need the stuff for anyway? burn it i guess...

[evasevalla]

Dude, I like the way you think!

[JMEMantzel]

me too. :-)

I love taking crappy garbage and converting it into awesomeness.

[mattegeniet]

if all people thought like you do, we probably wouldn't have global warming =) I'm the same, use stuff you have use for. Supposedly ebay brings up new oporitunities (probably I misspellt that...) for this! Keep going. You're a big inspiration to me, because of your way of never giving up!

Now lets see if it's possible to make maple syrap out of swedish maples too...

[JMEMantzel]

I bet you can totally do it. Maybe not as much sugar in it as sugar maples, but..... you can tap just about any maple tree thats over here, and it'll work if you boil it enough.

...and thanks!

[anyusmoon1]

You're probably gonna roll your eyes at this one Jaimie but... those boxes are foam but not Styrofoam (which is extruded polystyrene and BLUE in color).

[JMEMantzel]

You are correct! I did roll me eyes. ha ha. You're funny. Oh, that reminds me. I have to go pick up some more styrofoam boxes. :-)

[RecumbentReCycler]

When I was working on a cabin on an island that was hours from any town, we used styrofoam to insulate it by stuffing it between the outer and inner walls. I try to reuse stuff whenever possible.  I remember one junk yard in Lousisiana that had areas where you would segregate wood and metal, and people would get used construction materials that other people threw away. One guy built a house with the stuff he got from the junk yard. Keep up the good work!

[JMEMantzel]

Oh, nice! I love that there are places like that in this country. It should be an axample to all the stupid junk yards! :-P

[shooner323]

ya jamo, pwn dem noobz

[JMEMantzel]

heh heh... ya. poonin noooobs

[gkentnc]

Nice work Jamie. Dumpster Diver Deluxe! Go man, GO!  Better get the good stuff while you can. You may have a lot more competition in the near future :-)

[JMEMantzel]

ha ha. You mean when the world falls apart, or when people start recycling for real?

[gkentnc]

Are those notions mutually exclusive? I don't think so. Ever seen Mad Max?

[JMEMantzel]

Ha ha. Not mutually exclusive at all. :-)

[hinkospade]

I have a feeling that the current and coming economic difficulties will change a lot of the wasteful mentality that leads to people throwing away useful stuff. This "crisis" may turn out to be a Good Thing in the long run, but probably not:(

Currently I ride a pretty nice bike that I fished out of the ocean where someone dumped it. It rolls on high quality studded snow/ice tires that I found in a trash pile. It is astounding what people throw away.

[JMEMantzel]

I think the crisis is an awesome opportunity ot change! ....of course.... Obama thinks its more important to spend hundreds of billions of dollars keeping it the same.

I "hope" he does some good in there too.

[DannysCam]

i had a cop stop me from dumpster diving i waited for him to leave then i went right back

[JMEMantzel]

excellent. heh heh

[DannysCam]

i wuv trash picking

[damonish]

Inspirational as always! Thanks for posting these, I get super excited whenever I see you update.

[JMEMantzel]

Sweet! Thanks. I should get more soon... now that its warming up.... my camera won't keep freezing and turning itself off!

[VTwanderer]

So your at the laundry mat on the internet this late at night? Thats super rugged! Dude crayfish are the shit man, the white river has been infected by a type called the Rusty crayfish, it is originally native to like Louisiana or something, they were introduced by fishermen that used them as bait, but they taste just like lobster. So you gonna try that Sumac tap idea? It works soo well. How do you boil your sap by the way? What kinda maples are on your property?

[VTwanderer]

Oh darn that sucks, cause yea i go to school so i can only be in S.royalton on weekends. Lookin forward to mud season? You must have some badass tires on your Toyota. Yea.. Hey dude you know the white river is packed full of crayfish, this summer we should go crayfishin, they are invasive and they need to be eaten. Yea they are awesome. Great source of food, and alot of fun to catch. Its so cool how your within walking distance, its crazy.

[JMEMantzel]

OH! YA! I totally want to do that! I've never eaten a crayfish!

Most weekends I have off. This is the first week in months that I havent' had a day off. :-P Oh, and I tapped some trees today. :-)

[edjorg]

Sweet! I tapped one of mine and I can't keep up with all the sap!!!

I can see a crayfish summer a'comin'... what do you use to catch them? Traps? Nets? Fingers?

[JMEMantzel]

Oh, nice! Mine are flowing mighty slow. umm.... just stick your toes in the water until one hurts. Then pull it out with a crayfish attached.

[scancool]

Dude you should start your own recycling club, kinda like fight club but instead of fighting just collecting stuff, it will be cool. and just reseling everything, like Mr Burn did in the Simpsons, thats was awsome.

[JMEMantzel]

I did start a recycling club. I'm in it... Dashaina, Ellen, Aaron... ok ok, its not an official club. Maybe I should make t-shirts.

[seanmulhall]

Im with you Jamie. I'm always bringing things home that other people have thrown out. My wife jokes now that "That'll come in handy even if you never use it". But when people want stuff they come to me first. Keep on recycling.

Sean

[JMEMantzel]

Nice. Ya, don't let her discourage you! ha ha. excellent work.

[ANDRWjory]

You should have your own web show - that'd be cool - it would kinda be like recycling yourself....

[JMEMantzel]

I thought I did have my own web show. :-P Oh... wait. ...you mean one where the videos are actually edited, and stuff... ha ha

[likmahchoda]

Recycling-yourself video... hmm. Watch "two girls, one cup". lol.

[anyusmoon1]

lol you're a sick puppy, huh!? lol that is a funny video- the one by Montagraph anyway. I don't know about any others.

[JMEMantzel]

urgh....  can we strike that from the record? ha ha

[daretotelldatruth]

Great Idea man, keep them coming!

[JMEMantzel]

OK! Keep buying fish. :-)

[daretotelldatruth]

But I don't buy fish... I only eat what i can kill. You don't know where that meat/fish is comin from... I know where it's from it i catch it. :p

[JMEMantzel]

Nice. You're doin' it the right way. :-)

[Everfalling]

after you line the walls with the boxes you might wanna cover them with another layer of something. i can just see an idle spark fly from your welder into the wall and it all coming down in a flaming gooey mass of death.

also, do you bug construction sites much? they throw away tons of stuff. i wonder if they recycle the scrap metal they put in those dumpsters or not. i would think they wouldn't have any use for the scrap wood though.

[JMEMantzel]

OH!OH! I know... I can line the styrofoam with gasoline! Ya! I think thats a great idea. Thanks.

I do bug construction sites when I see them. There isn't a lot of construction goin on around here at the moment. darn.

[Everfalling]

oh god that's the OPPOSITE of what i was suggesting...

[JMEMantzel]

I know. I was being sarcastic. I get that way sometimes.... because a LOT of people tell me how I should be doing things. ha ha. Sorry 'bout that. :-P

[everanonymous]

yeah i knew you were kidding but the reason i event suggested it in the first place is cause you said you were gonna try to use the boxes as shelves which would leave the Styrofoam exposed to sparks and stuff.

[VTwanderer]

So Jaimie would you be cool with me just randomly walking up to your dome to come help with some stuff? I sent you an email like 2 weeks ago but u didnt reply. I was really tempted to just hike up there, but that might be a little rude. I'm the person who sent you a email back in like november, i was sorta shy to just go up and meet you, but i got over that. So this weekend if i just randomly stop by would that be cool? I'm Trevor by the way.

[JMEMantzel]

Oh, ya. Sorry. I'm way behind on me e-mail. I have a pile of messages I haven't answered, and I'm afraid to open my inbox now. haa haa

Oh wait.... i'm working friday saturday and sunday. I'm not sure who'll be around. I get home around 5 or so in the pm.

next week i'll be home everyday 'till at about 2pm....

[madmodders]

I totally agree with you JME. If people throw stuff away that they don't want, why can't I have it? I can of course ask them "hey man, can I have your garbage?" before they throw it away. Ofcourse they give me the shit right away, but as soon as it hits the junkyard ground, it's hands off. Stupid. THEY THREW IT AWAY for crying out loud. Anyway, I keep all bubble plastic and styrofoam pellets from boxes sent to me, and reuse it when I send stuff to others. I reuse quite a bit of electronics too.

[JMEMantzel]

cool. Thats great. I always get really disgusted when I visit friends who live in the city, or who are just wasteful.

[JMEMantzel]

Oh, excellent.

[buerm009]

You would LOVE driving around during our curbside cleanup program that my city has every spring!

(FYI: April in Bloomington, MN and Farmington MN)

[edjorg]

Ha Ha! ROAD TRIP!

[JMEMantzel]

OH OH! SWEET! ohh... sooo far away....

[likmahchoda]

I wonder... if you were to bury the banana building in dirt, with reinforcement poles on the interior, would that thermally insulate it? A previous commenter mentioned how flammable styrofoam is, which is concerning. Is there any way to make it fire-retardant, even fire-proof?

[JMEMantzel]

I'm planning on burying it. ....yep, that'll help.... and I was just not going to set it on fire. :-)

[likmahchoda]

No fire? Where's the fun in that? :)

[HDLCinCDragon]

Hmmm interestingly enough your pile happens to be right where were supposed to be grading the floor this Spring!! Is operation: Smooth-the-floor-out-so-its-mo­re-usabler on hold? And im right with you on the waste thing. Grocery stores and manufacturing facilities(like the one I work at... grrr) are some of the biggest offenders!

[edjorg]

It's all still frozen solid for awhile. Probly take awhile to thaw since it's shaded now.

[JMEMantzel]

Does youe work throw out anything good!??? ....well.... smoothing the floor out will have to wait until the ground thawes anyway, so..... I'm not worried about it. :-P

[edjorg]

Brian does not know it yet but I'm starting to collect boxes from the fish dept at the local mkt and stash them in the garage for you. Hopefully I'll be able to get them to you before it gets warm enough for them to smell and he gets wind of what I'm doing :D

[JMEMantzel]

haa haa. THats awesome! Can I play the mission impossible music now???

[edjorg]

Uh... considering the smell, the theme from "Flipper" would be more appropriate :P

[JMEMantzel]

do do dodo do do dodo do do dodo do do dodo.... doodledoo.... doodledoo.... doodledoo.... dodo...

[Noyjeetut]

Good job man. That is quite a pile. Name names man, I want to know who to boycott. I'm with you on the waste, it gets real annoying. Know that you are not alone.

[JMEMantzel]

I did name names! ha ha. I kinda made a point of it. :-P It seems that it depends on the specific store. The Shaws on the south side of I-89 around white river junction is awesome. That dude is into it. :-)

[ShawnCFarm]

Hmmm just wondering how much gas you are burning to run all over the place to get them, unless you are going that way already. To bad you couldn't use your robot with solar power. I'd love to convert my big one ton truck to run on electric power, but it would never have the power or rang to pull my horse trailer(30ft)

[ShawnCFarm]

Well then theres the money part to get the parts.

[nastybun]

How about getting a diesel truck next time and running it off old deep fryer oil? Works remarkably well, apparently.

[ShawnCFarm]

Deep fryer oil works good but don't work too well when it gets too cold out. Was thinking about using it to heat my house instead of wood heat. Not to sure how it would work in an oil fernce.

[nastybun]

I know they thin it out with a little bit of white spirits or something in England, I wonder if there's some other thing to mix it with to make it better in the cold.. hmm. Time for some science!

[ShawnCFarm]

A cummings diesel would work nice in my truck or a cat. But it always seems that if you try and do something good for the earth that they make it hard for you to do, like cost you more to do it. They seems to keep the prices on stuff up there so not alot of people are willing to put alot of money out all at once. Like solor/ wind power(Living off the grid)

[JMEMantzel]

Just don't waste... its up to the individual.

[JMEMantzel]

nastybun????? whats kinda name is that? haa haa. funny.

[JMEMantzel]

Us it in a wood stove. :-) I would :-P

[JMEMantzel]

I plan the trips to coincide when I'm going there anyway. :-)

I'm not stupid!

[ShawnCFarm]

Sorry bro, I didn't mean to imply that you are stupid.

[JMEMantzel]

ha ha, no prob. I didn't really think you were. I was playin' around. :-P

[Codad]

So I imagine it smells like fish in there XD

[JMEMantzel]

actually, not really. I thought it would stink worse, but I haven't even rinsed them out yet, and not much smelliness

[hobbexp]

hope its working out, 5/5 you are the man

[JMEMantzel]

Seems to be going very well. I got 2 more full car loads in the last 2 days. :-) It must look funny with me carrying a huge bundle of styrofoam up the mountain every night.

[VTwanderer]

Did you find this quonset hut in Sharon? I remember a big quonset hut next to an ice cream shop near that big bridge.. yea.

[JMEMantzel]

I've seen that thing. Every time I drive by it, I say, Hey! There's the banana's brother. :-P

[RardSFX]

Great idea. I totally agree about how wasteful people are. My course involves a lot of model making so we use styrene sheet, various foams and all sorts. At the end of most days i will go around the studio and collect all the stuff people have just thrown away, its ridiculous! I have made entire projects without spending a penny on materials. I also end up taking loads of plastic bottles and putting them into the recycling which is no more than 20 metres away. People are so LAZY!

[JMEMantzel]

Ya... its amazing how lazy a human can be. We need more anarchy! C'mon, timmy! RUN! ...or that dinosayr will eat you!

[hippiejesusfreak]

what happened to Dashina's quilted cushions? i was so excited to see how they came out!

[JMEMantzel]

ohh... she's been "busy".  argh. :-P I'll let her know that you're chomping at the bit. ha ha

[robotwo]

REAL recycling is great.

and yeah , I've been to a lot of junkyards and found totally recycleable electronics , but I can't get to them because people actually think people take them and throw them in a ditch or something 8|

[JMEMantzel]

argh. annoying, isn't it??? What a screwed up culture we've built. Well... at least a few of us are pushing back a bit.

[xforkboy]

Wow man, what your doing is amazing. I actually just today came across all your videos and things, watched them all, and I'm in total awe. I hope the Styrofoam insulation works out for ya :D

[JMEMantzel]

I think it'll work great! ..and thanks.  :-) I do my best.

[JMEMantzel]

shhh.... about the fire thing. ha ha.

[soundslave]

looks like an explosion in an igloo factory.

[JMEMantzel]

ha ha. ya. totally.

[thehilitereel]

People ruin the salvaging from places because of suing and stealing, its really sad for the rest of us.

[JMEMantzel]

Ya, it sucks. ....if the laws were different, and required people to be responsible for themselves.... it would be different. :-)

[Agitpropist]

Do the containers retain the smell of seafood?

[JMEMantzel]

uhh.... yes. Thats an affirmative.

[TheGreatSteve]

I'm over halfway into flooring my loft with reclaimed chipboard I got for free.

[JMEMantzel]

nice! Thats great.

[Asdayasman]

<3

Nothing more, just <3

[JMEMantzel]

Thanks.  :-) <3

[marioasturcta]

where is your robot?

[JMEMantzel]

Its in the Dome.... There are lots of new materials in the banana building, though.... I've been collecting them.... with some help from others.

[Mike88T]

if you crumble them up you could probably blow them onto the inside walls. Leaf blower to shoot the foam, paint sprayer to shoot the glue.

[Asdayasman]

That would be so much fun.

[JMEMantzel]

ya... that would be fun

[JMEMantzel]

Ithink I want to keep the boxes whole, and use them like bricks. ...then I can take lids off and use 'em for storage shelves too.  :-)

[DudeParallel]

Also, speaking of the scrap and junkyards, i find it quite bad that they never let you in, even after saying you'd sign any forms.

This kind of mindset needs to be changed, badly.

Polystyrene waste is a stupid thing, so much of it is thrown away each year... while admittedly it is all thrown away in specific places, this is still not good enough.

Solar-melt the material back into usable liquids, this will lessen the use of Petroleum for said companies, which is always good. (especially now)

[JMEMantzel]

uhh... yes. exactly. Can we somehow smoosh that message into more people's brains!

[DudeParallel]

Completely agree with you on that one, it saddens me to see how wasteful people can be.

"oh those clothes are a little ripped, bin them and get a new pair"

One popular example of society today..

Another thing i find really saddening is "averaging".

This can lead to massive amounts of waste.

One example i can only think of it take-aways that provide sauce, usually they have loads of it, i don't even use over half of the sauce usually...

Oh well, store, reheat and use again the next day ;)

[bots4life]

what if you gridded them up, mixed with a type of glue and spray it on the walls

[the5destroyer]

That is totally kickass! I can't wait to see the end result!

[DeoMachina]

So there is going to be another wall after the insulation? Made from what?

[jammer520]

Awesome cell phone for a woodsman!

We care!

We also know that you know that we know we care, but sometimes it helps for us to say that we do care about real recycling.

Go Jaimie you free spirit you.

[roboman79]

I do the same things with lawn mowers people want to take to the junk yard i'm like no don't junk it i'll take it and make something out of it. :P Another great video! :)