rough draft

Britney Fuqua

6 September 2012

English 122-003

Professor Latici

Annotated Bibliography/ Orbeez, the popular children’s toy.

Nnadi, Fidelia. “Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) and Irrigation Water Conservation”. Department of civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering. 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 6 Sept. 2012.

            This article I found looks at Orbeez before they were Orbeez. This substance was called absorbent polymers. It was originally used for diapers and then was explored through irrigation. This article describes the usefulness of polymers and also describes that the substance must be poisonous before they can make it non-toxic. Also the article describes the compounds that break the substance down. I think the audience is educated readers, possibly engineers. The author works at the department of Civil, Environmental and construction engineering and seems to be a reliable source. This article is useful to me because it gives a non-bias background on what we now call Orbeez.

Molino, Daryl, Joseph Moritz,Erin Pytlik. “Superabsorbent Polymers”. N.p. N.d. web. 6 Sept. 2012.

            This article I found was about absorbent polymers the same compound as Orbeez and what products there mainly used in such as disposable hygienic products. Also, how these product effect landfills and the harmful effect that polymers have on the earth. The audience is assumedly educated people looking for information on the harmful effects of polymers. The author does not seem to be anyone of certain importance, just a person who has interest in the topic. This article is useful to me because it shows the effects of polymers in landfills and this is the same ingredient that Orbeez uses and they claim the product is safe and disposable.

            Orbeez are a popular trendy toy that came out in recent years and was made for children. This toy quickly became a trend and quickly rose to the top of the charts around Christmas. This toy seems to be made for children, boys and girls. This toy is nothing special, similar to a lego. There are no gadgets, beams, noises; it is simply a small BB gun size pellet that you put in water and it grows to the size of an aqueous marble. Orbeez can come in various colors and now there are various things you can use with Orbeez. I was trying to discover that Orbeez were dangerous, possibly poisonous, deaths from it being a choking hazard but what I have found through my research is that Orbeez are actually the complete opposite.

           

            Next, the magic behind Orbeez is that the product ignites creativity. The toy is a hydrophilic orb that traps water in betweens its molecules and retains the moisture. They are extremely bouncy, wet, squishy, colorful balls. Orbeez has a huge product line for their marble orbs. The prices are fairly cheap ranging from around six dollars to thirty. Products they offer are, “Orbeez magic maker, Orbeez Stack ems, Butterfly, Peace sign, flow in show, and Orbeez color pack”. The product line has necklaces you can put your Orbeez in, Orbeez lamps, and a super soaker type gun that shoots Orbeez, and recently I saw a commercial about a vacuum ladybug that rolls around on carpet specifically to pick up the product. Orbeez has claimed that their toy is completely non-toxic and even safe to swallow up to a certain extent. The body cannot break down this product so it simply passes through the body. Orbeez can be kept for a few months and then they may begin to mold or mildew. Once the product molds then the company of Orbeez says that you can simply grind them up and dispose of them in a garden.

            In addition, Orbeez claims that plants love their product, when they are disposed of in soil the chopped up orbs still continue to trap moisture. The company that manufactures Orbeez says that this product was once used for irrigation and that’s where the idea came from. Farmers would use absorbent polymers to hold the moisture in the soil through a rough season or drought.

Clearly, all the articles I found stemmed from the Orbeez manufactures website and were nearly impossible to find any credible information on the actually compound itself. It seems that no incidents have occurred with this popular toy. So, I took another look at this product through a different name, “Super absorbent polymers” and found that this product is used for hygienic, disposable products and irrigation. And that this product may not be as safe as the companies are making it seem.

First, Orbeez or “super absorbent polymers” were used for diapers or woman hygienic products. The polymers were put in diapers because it could absorb urine without getting on the Childs skin. The polymers were ground up and layered a certain way in the diaper so when urine came in contact with it, it tuned into an aqueous gel that absorbed the liquid and it would not leak out of the diaper. Some diapers can hold up to thirty times their weight in urine (Pytlik 2). The polymers in the diaper turn into a “swollen gel, the liquid turns into a rubbery state” said pytlik. Polymers like Orbeez are used in a variety of products we use today such as; diapers, pull up’s for toddlers, adult incontinence articles, and feminine hygiene products (pytlik 2). It seems that we can find Orbeez or these polymers in almost every absorbent product.

Secondly, information regarding absorbent polymers is extremely hard to obtain and the manufactures that produce products with polymers are secretive on how it is made.  Pytlik investigated that one of the ways to make polymers is by “processing super absorbent polymers to employ a solution polymerization, in which the monomer acrylic acid is dissolved in a solvent with free radical initiators.” But, is this process safe? In the article “Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) and Irrigation Water Conservation” Fidelia N. Nnadi says that, “Though toxic intermediates are sometimes used in manufacturing of these polymers, cross-linked SAP’s used for soil amendments are non-toxic.” So at some point in the process of polymers they are toxic, what makes them safe enough for children to play with or even swallow?

In transition, most of our absorbent polymers such as Orbeez or that are used in diapers end up in landfills. Most of the landfills cannot take that much product so our diapers, female napkins need to be incinerated. Diapers with the polymers in them do not decompose or do not decompose quick enough “in one infant’s lifetime, approximately 8000-10000 disposable diapers will be used where each one of those diapers takes approximately 500 years to degrade in a landfill.”  The polymers need to be exposed to certain elements to decompose such as oxygen and the sun (pytlik 8). Even though we have found an amazing absorbent toy and amenity for diapers, we need to find another resource because we are polluting our plant with a product that is having trouble breaking down.

In conclusion, it seems that the toy Orbeez did not just stem from irrigation and farming but long before came from hygienic products. It is interesting to find that the company Maya Group only lets certain information out for consumers to find. It seems that yes the toy Orbeez is actually safe to play with and is non-toxic, that absorbent polymers are good for farming and irrigation to retain water, but, might actually be a problem in diapers and other hygienic products. Our absorbent polymers are getting sent to landfills that cannot degrade by themselves. Super absorbent polymers have pros and cons but seem to be a useful product.