The Framers Forum

I am becoming increasingly concerned about plastic usage and where possible we try to buy things without plastic.

However I feel I am contributing to the problem by wrapping Handiwrap round frames that I send out to protect them and keep the corner protectors in place.

I am looking for an alternative. What do others do?

Give up on framing pictures. You think a bit of handiwrap is a problem, what about the manufacture of an entire picture frame? The moulding was cut down from a forest, shipped to the factory, coated in all sorts of nasties, came wrapped in plastic, the bits went into landfill. It was all shipped piecemeal to your workshop, the customer has driven miles to drop the picture off, collect it from you etc. etc. etc.

Jamesnkr wrote:Give up on framing pictures. You think a bit of handiwrap is a problem, what about the manufacture of an entire picture frame? The moulding was cut down from a forest, shipped to the factory, coated in all sorts of nasties, came wrapped in plastic, the bits went into landfill. It was all shipped piecemeal to your workshop, the customer has driven miles to drop the picture off, collect it from you etc. etc. etc.

I accept that which could be applied to life in general.

I also hate the fact that moulding and mountbaord comes in plastic bags but I was just thinking about what I could do to stop making the problem worse

Really just trying to start a conversation around the subject

PS - already drive an electric car

Recycle more of what you throw out. I have 2 bins at the curb for city pickup. One is for garbage and the other is for mixed recycling. If this is not available in your area; then it is time for a grassroots campaign aimed at your local council to add this to your area.

http://www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/info ... ontainer/4

I use bubble wrap, which is still a form of plastic but at least it has the potential to be used over and over again whereas Handiwrap can obviously only be used once. Also some councils can recycle bubble wrap.

JFeig wrote:Recycle more of what you throw out. I have 2 bins at the curb for city pickup. One is for garbage and the other is for mixed recycling. If this is not available in your area; then it is time for a grassroots campaign aimed at your local council to add this to your area.

http://www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/info ... ontainer/4

I do recycle - it's what my customers do that worries me

JFeig wrote:Recycle more of what you throw out. I have 2 bins at the curb for city pickup. One is for garbage and the other is for mixed recycling. If this is not available in your area; then it is time for a grassroots campaign aimed at your local council to add this to your area.

http://www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/info ... ontainer/4

From the Reigate/Banstead recycling link

That is one council's list. All are not the same. Think about your own recycling, not micromanaging the entire communities.

JFeig wrote:That is one council's list. All are not the same. Think about your own recycling, not micromanaging the entire communities.

That is ridiculous. If my local supermarket reduced their reliance on plastic packaging for everything I would not have to recycle it. My solution is to go to a different supermarket that does not insist on packaging everything in plastic.

What I am trying to do is to reduce the amount of plastic cr@p that I am sending out in case my customers think the same way,

It's better not to use than to recycle.

So to come back to my question what are the alternatives?

I try to use everything twice.

Not handy wrap....

But plastic sleeves get saved to use again. The interleaving sheets in AR glass are great for covering things on the bench
and allow you to see what's under. Mountboard sleeves are handy for putting things in.
Bubblewrap scraps also come in handy, although you do need space to save them.
Little boxes. Very useful. Sometimes I think I only buy things to get the boxes.
Anything that is bio-degradable gets composted. Corrugated wrapping and suchlike. OK, it takes a while and you do have to
pick the tape out of the compost but no big prob. I've even composted broken pallets.

Some things do eventually go to landfill, but I try my best.

** One thing about black bin-bags. They are getting thinner and thinner, to the point where you pick a full one up and a chunk
tears off in your hand. So what do you do? You use two, or even three. Something wrong here.

The trouble with Handiwrap is that it's so 'Handy'

prospero wrote: I've even composted broken pallets.

Could make rustic frames from them

prospero wrote:Anything that is bio-degradable gets composted.

Even mountboard scraps? Problem is there's a limit to the amount of cardboard a compost can take - unless you are creating huge quantities of lawn mowings.

Researching more environmentally packaging materials is something that's been on my mind for a while. I'm also concerned how much un recyclable plastic we use.

You can now get biodegradable pallet wrap https://www.lindumpackaging.com/biodegr ... et-wrap-2/
Hopefully this will be available in the smaller size although I haven't yet checked.

Degradable handywrap would be OK in one way but I use it for bundling moulding in store. It might be in store
for years. I don't fancy it all splurging lose on a regular basis.

** I used to save all the plastic shopping bags in a kitchen drawer. One day I noticed the ones at the back were all in
shreds. I thought I had got mice. Didn't realise they were supposed to do that. I spent hours blocking up gaps in the
back of the cabinet before it dawned on me.

Does anyone use a shredder for breaking down scrap mount board?


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I don't see what the problem is with mountboard. It is fully biodegradable so disposal is not a big deal. However plastics, or polymers contain all manner of environmentally unfriendly chemicals, which are a most more relevent issue.

May I suggest that before handy wrap was available, people used various alternatives including brown packing paper, which is available in various widths on large rolls. Tear off roll dispensers are available, the price per roll is quite economical and the paper is completely boidegradable. Problem solved!

If you care about the environment, do you use polymer mouldings? I'm not sure if there are facilities for recycling small quantities of stuff like this.

I was wondering about shredding mount board to break it down easier in to Papier-mâché (had to look that spelling up[emoji3]) as was talking to a artist I know and she was interested, don’t know if it would be any good or not!


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Mountboard does take a while to break down. I put a lot of old chevrons on the heap one day and the following year I could have
put them back in the shop. It's a matter of time. Anything will decompose eventually. But I'm in no hurry.
Corrugated wrapping disintegrates very quickly, especially if you leave it out in the rain before adding to the heap.
A layer of grass clippings/nettles/autumn leaves/hedge clippings helps. With a bag of lime for good measure.

Mountboard is alkaline buffered which slows down the degradation process.