Stand Back! I, gonzo, am a Certified Plastics Engineer, and I shall assuage your fears!
Melamine, or melamine-formaldehyde, or urea-formaldehyde - lotsa names here, because, well, it's real name has been sorta fudged over many year - is a thermoset plastic. That means you heat a pot of chemicals up, shape it like you want it, keep heating it until it's hard, and then cool it and use it. If you made a cup out of it, you got a cup! Have some coffee!
It is not toxic (remember the coffee?), but it does kinda stink when it's cut with a power saw. It's a speed/abrasion thing that breaks down the polymer chains, liberating some gas, like formaldehyde and others.
BTW, cups, saucers, bowls, and plates are made from the stuff. They called it 'Melmac'(Melmac-melamine: get it?), and it was once very popular as durable, non-rusting, outdoor, tableware. Some other uses are floor tiles, countertop covering (Formica-formaldehyde: pretty neat, huh?), and lots of other really handy stuff. Cheap Inexpensive, too (I HATE the word 'cheap' when it comes to plastics).
"How is it made, you ask?" Well, they take a bunch of chemicals, mostly liquids, put them in a big tank, and ... ah ... they just cook it, OK?
"Where do they get the chemicals, you ask?" Now, it gets interesting!
A dairy cow produces milk. It's a living machine that we feed grass and stuff to, and it makes gallons of milk! It also makes fecal matter which we use to describe dimocRATS, and in fact, they're the same thing! Then we call it fertilizer.
The cow also makes gallons of urine just standing there, while we're using the milk and poop. That 'urine' is a veritable cornucopia of hydrocarbon chemical compounds just waiting to be processed into something else.
Yes, that's right, boys and girls - Melamine, Melmac, Formica, etc., are all potentially made out of cow-piss! They can be made out of other things, but there's a lot of cow pee available out there, and if you really believe in recycling, this shouldn't bother you at all.
Now have a nice day ................... FRegards
PS: I have been waiting to tell that story for 30 years ...
Ping # 35 ................ FRegards
Ping # 35 ................ FRegards
You telling me that some of my dishes are made out of cow piss? Uuhg!
TANKS for the info...
I prefer the taste of coffee without the piss-pour (piss-rich?) taste of the plastic.
Styrofoam, cardboard, ceramic all work for me.
Thanks for the excellent scientific explanation!
I will never eat on a yellow counter again. ;)
I always thought that Melmac was the planet where Alf once lived.
PS: I have been waiting to tell that story for 30 years ...
I'm glad you finally got the opportunity to tell it. Reading your story got me to thinking about a few things.
Thanks for that little bit of "dinner table talk". I'll use it when the conversation lags at a friends dinner table plates are suspect....