Research Summary

Research Summary

The automobile is a very important part of our society, without it we could not possibly function. There are millions of cars all over the earth and once damaged they’re usually repaired in an auto body shop. Automobiles were originally fixed by hand or turned into old scrap metal. But then, in approximately 1955, Auto Body Plastic Filler (ABPF) was introduced. ABPF made car repair a much quicker and easier process.

Auto body plastic filler (ABPF) is a chemical substance made up of plastic filler (talc and two plastic rosins) and cream hardener (a deluded cream peroxide). It is used in auto body shops to help them repair cars or by woodworkers who use it to make fillets for their patterns. It is a toxic plastic, and is used on 35% of Canada’s cars. In the auto shop it will repair dents, restore doors and create bumpers, it is a very strong material, and although it is highly toxic, it is at an inert state once hardened.

Landfills are large depressions in the ground, with many liners beneath all of our garbage to help contain any hazardous chemicals with in them. The initial goal is to keep the waste from coming in contact with the ground water under the landfill. These layers of protection are found in the bottom liner, composed of clay, plastic and composite liners. The clay liners, however, crack and fracture very easily. Some chemicals like benzene can even degrade clay. The plastic liner is made of a tough plastic called high density polyethylene (HDPE). Many household chemicals can cause the plastic to soften or develop stress cracks. The composite liners are made of two parts, a plastic liner and compacted soil. However, the plastic portion of the composite liner (also called Flexible Membrane Liner or FML) will have some leaks. “Studies show that a 10-acre landfill will have a leak rate somewhere between 0.2 and 10 gallons per day.” Caps and covers are also used to keeps chemicals from escaping into the air, however, this of course was not entirely effective because they can’t give the landfills a cover until it has been retired, and is no longer in use.

Quote from The Environment Research Found www.ejnet.org/landfills/ March 2003.

Interview With Mr. William Butt of ‘Patterns’:

Mr. William Butt owns the company ‘Patterns’, and has been working in the field of pattern making and woodwork since 1947. He remembers a time when ABPF did not exist and its valuable services were all accomplished by hand. Back before ABPF’s time they used wax and leather fillets, which were not as accurate and took more time and hard work to use. The first form of ABPF was made of lead and tin, a solution called ‘wipe solder’, making ABPF a very dangerous substance to work with. The ABPF recipe was then changed to a safer, but still potentially dangerous, mixture of two plastic rosins, talc and peroxide. This combination however, had to be mixed together by hand, and peroxide is highly flammable and toxic. This procedure was improved once again, when they started making ABPF already mixed into a plastic filler; the two plastic rosins and talc, and a cream hardener; the peroxide (processed as a safer, deluded cream).

ABPF can be ground into a powder or burned, where it bubbles and turns into a deadly black smoke, that when inhaled is fatal. The only way to remove it from a substance once applied is to sand it off with an electric sander or to burn it off. ABPF is made up of deadly chemicals that are sealed into it once it has hardened, only to be released when burned and in its gas form (toxic black smoke). However, the only way to burn up ABPF is to heat it to a temperature of above 375 ° F. ABPF’s most common use is repairing cars, so if a car is loaded in ABPF and then gets into an accident where it could catch on fire then you would have more of a problem then you thought you would ever have. This is because the ABPF would not only release its chemicals through a billowing cloud of toxic black smoke, but it would also create a massive chemical fire.

ABPF is not recyclable and it will always eventually end up in the landfill, whether it gets there on an old car, still in solid from left over from an auto workshop or in an old dried up tube or tin. When ABPF is applied to wood or an absorbent material it will dissolve into it over time and will preserve the material.

Mr. Butt has also said that in about 200 years all of the ABPF in the landfills will leach into the soil and eventually (about 500- 1000 years) if there is enough ABPF in one place it may leach all way into the ground water under the landfills, and will eventually make into our water system. This may have an effect on our ‘people of the future’ whom may be unknowing of this danger. However many people now are already not where of the ABPF on their cars because when cars are sold the owner does not have to say that the car has ABPF on it.

Already 35% of Canada’s cars have ABPF on them, some wouldn’t be able to stay it one piece without it. Mr. Butt believes that this number will only increase in the future, because there are so many accidents now that people need it to fix their cars, since spare auto parts are quite expansive. However he also thinks that one day we may not need ABPF because factories are starting to make new plastic auto shells, that may replace metal ones making car repair easier. Mr. Butt realizes that ABPF is very dangerous and hazardous to the environment but he says, “There is no other product that can do what it does, it was a great improvement.”

A Visit to Acklands Grainger, Woodridge and Navajo Metals:

Driven by my Grandfather, I visited three places where ABPF comes to the test of ability and strength. I was also able to see the life and adventures of ABPF as it seeks to fulfill its purpose.

During my time at these places I found out some very interesting facts about ABPF and the disposal of other auto repair projects. I was shown many examples of what ABPF is used for such as car dents, door repair and restoring bumpers. I have discovered that there are also many stages to the use and despioal of ABPF in the landfills. So come with me on an adventure through the life of ABPF.

One of the first places the public may encounter ABPF is on store shelves, where they can purchase it. Acklands is one of these stores, they sell ABPF and many other vehicle repair and maintenance items and products. At Acklands you can but and mix your own ABPF. Here Acklands staff sell ABPF and give people advice as to what types of ABPF they made need for their home repair job on their vehicle. However some vehicle problems cannot be fixed at home, we now come to our next stop on our trip to the landfill.

Woodridge is an auto body shop where you can go to get their vehicles fixed. At Woodridge they use ABPF to restore and repair vehicles brought to them by automobile owners, like you and I. They need ABPF to help them make new parts for the vehicles and to patch up holes and dents the vehicle might obtain. The ABPF in this auto body shop like all the rest will still eventually end up in the landfill. They do however help with the quantity of toxic chemicals that the landfills receive, by extracting the chemicals from their old auto body paint cans, and by only throwing away the watery pigment left in the can. They can then use the paint’s chemicals for washing solutions. However these places only use ABPF, it is then passed on to the next stop on the way to the landfill.

This stop is at Navajo Metals, where your old cars go once you’ve finished with them. Here vehicles are crushed into scrap metal, seats and all. These things you can see in the pile of scraps, however the ABPF that the vehicles may have contained is something you can’t see. ABPF is crushed up with the car and is never seen again. The very toxic ABPF powder is then lost in the pile of shredded vehicle parts, where it is then sent to the landfill. Places like Navajo Metals are places we need. Without these places our landfills would fill up even quicker, because the vehicles, once shredded take up much less room.

The ABPF is now in our landfills, you have completed the journey of your life as ABPF, and you have fulfilled your purpose. Is this pollutant really worth it? That is for you to decide.