by ciaran
HDPE Bottles. Do I need to paint them?
11:24 pm in Seeking Advice by ciaran
Hi everyone from down under.
Here in Oz we we have square-ish hdpe bottles for our milk.
I have been looking at the product specks for this material and it has “hazing” properties.
I asume this is stop the milk oxidising from sunlight.
So does anyone think that sunlight will be “hazed” enough to negate the need to paint the bottles?
.
You would still need to paint them if light can pass through to the inside. The reason its painted is to make the bottle opaque to prevent algae growth. That stuff can grow anywhere it almost any light condition.
Hey Ciaran -
I just tried out a column from 2L Square Milk bottles, and the spray paint didn’t stick to the plastic, it keeps faking off once it’s dry. Did you have any luck with yours? (perhaps gaffa tape might be the go)
I also found the bottoms of clear soft drink bottles quite hard to cut through – was that the reason you were trying milk bottles? Have you been able to find a clear bottle in Oz which you can cut a hole in the base of with a stanley knife? I’ve found it quite difficult and I’ve begun just cutting the bottoms right off, fingers crossed!
It’d be great to hear how your windowfarm is going,
Joss
Thank you Hardware Junkie for getting back to me. Looks like I will have to not be so lazy and just paint them.
Megan, yep i had the same problem with the paint just flaking off grrrrr!
I really wanted to avoid the gaffer tape, I’m not to keen on the aesthetics of that one.
Perhaps the interior of the bottle could be lined with something?
I have heard its easier to fill the bottles with water and freeze them so you can get neat and easier cuts in them. The reason for the milk bottles is because we go through loads of them at my work.
I will do a post soon as i’m building this weekend!