Waste - What about it?

I'm reading The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard.

It's a refreshingly complete look at consumer production; its costs and disposal issues.

The author also has a website which gives a quick overview of the subject.

I've been meaning to read that for a while. I watched the videos that go with it and they are great.

I learned a lot from the book. Probably the most important is the toxicity of PVC. I just completed a delivery system from my gutters to my new cistern, and guess what material I used? Trying to think of a material for 3 inch diameter pipe that isn't ghastly expensive.

Oh, oh.

China will no longer be taking our recyclables.

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/09/568797388/recycling-chaos-in-u-s-as-china-bans-fo...

Now what?

Aiming for zero waste in the upscale food industry

I'd like to hear and see more about that composter in the middle of the dining room.

Okay, it's not in the dining room, but around the corner.

Taste Without Waste

The article mentions many efforts going on around the globe.

I love the ending quote:
“Waste is a failure of the imagination.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42704291T

MacDonalds is moving towards less waste and more recycling. Article lists other chains in UK also commiting to those goals. Seems customer expectations are important.

Plastic pollution: Families turn to traditional shopping methods to dramatically cut down on waste

A (British?) survey found that 93 per cent of families said they were trying to use fewer plastic items but only 17 per cent said they were able to afford pricier alternatives.
...
Dubbed "granny shopping", three in five modern families (60 per cent) said they bought loose fruit and veg, not pre-packed, while 44 per cent were once again choosing washing powder in cardboard box instead of pre-wrapped capsules in a plastic tub.

One in five had given up liquid soap in a plastic container for old-fashioned bars of soap and seven per cent had turned back to traditional ‘cloth’ nappies.

Global campaign challenges Starbucks to keep its promise to curb plastic pollution, create 100% recyclable cup

In 2008, Starbucks pledged to make a 100% recyclable paper cup and sell 25% of drinks in reusable cups by 2015. To date, Starbucks has failed to produce a 100% recyclable paper cup, and currently serves only 1.4% of drinks in reusable cups.
The campaign is calling on Starbucks to address its plastic pollution in 5 specific ways:

•Create a 100% recyclable paper cup without a plastic lining.

•Reduce plastic pollution by eliminating single-use plastics like straws.

•Promote reusable cups and encourage customers to change their habits.

•Recycle cups and food packaging in all stores worldwide.

•Report publicly on the type and amount of plastics used in packaging.

A sperm whale that washed up on a beach in Spain had 64 pounds of plastic and waste in its stomach

Cause of death - peritonitis.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sperm-whale-die-swallowing-64-pounds-plastic-d...

Aldi cracks down on plastic waste

Aldi has become the latest leading supermarket to unveil wide-ranging new plans to crack down on plastic waste, pledging to ensure all the packaging for its own-brand products is recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022.

As part of its commitment, Aldi said that in addition to switching to alternative packaging materials, it would end the distribution of 7-cent single-use plastic carrier bags. Instead, customers will be offered 12-cent reusable bags made from plastic waste collected from its own back-of-store operations.

The company also signaled that it would support "in principle" government plans for a deposit return scheme (DRS) for plastic bottles.

In India

This Meghalaya Village Uses Plastic Waste to Construct Road

“According to a World Economic Forum report, plastic can make roads more durable against changing weather – floods, extreme heat and cold. It has less water-carrying capacity than normal roads meaning no cracks, potholes or craters. They are not only greener but are also stronger and maintenance-free and last about three times as long as a conventional road. It also reduces the quantity of bitumen used,”

Plastic-eating enzyme holds promise in fighting pollution

The enzyme is able to digest polyethylene terephthalate, or PET - a form of plastic patented in the 1940s and now used in millions of tonnes of plastic bottles. PET plastics can persist for hundreds of years in the environment and currently pollute large areas of land and sea worldwide.
...
The team, whose finding was published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, is now working on improving the enzyme further to see if they can make it capable of breaking down PET plastics on an industrial scale.

Bans on Plastic Straws Are Growing. How about the travel industry?

For luxury travelers, another question lingers: Why do high-end resorts have single-use plastic in their rooms in the first place? “Travelers spending over $400 a night on a hotel room shouldn’t be drinking from a cheap plastic bottle,” Mr. Mitchell said. “Plastic is not luxury.”

The European Union is rumored to follow Britain’s lead, while Australia also has a plastic ban in the works. In January, Taiwan announced the strictest regulation yet: a blanket ban forbidding all single-use plastic bags, straws and cups. In the United States, both Hawaii and California have pending straw ban legislation, while Seattle — the birthplace of the Starbucks disposable, to-go coffee culture — passed a measure banning plastic straws and utensils that goes into effect in July.

ETA: I watched two videos of rescue teams pulling a plastic straw and a plastic fork out of the nostrils of sea turtles.

https://resource-recycling.com/plastics/2018/05/09/acc-wants-to-hit-100-percent-...

According to an ACC press release, plastics producers will focus on multiple strategies to meet their goals. They’ll focus on designing new products for greater efficiency, recycling and reuse; developing new technologies and systems for collecting, sorting, recycling and recovering materials; making it easier for more consumers to participate in recycling and recovery programs; expanding the types of plastics collected and repurposed; aligning products with key end markets; and expanding awareness that used plastics are valuable resources awaiting their next use.

Your Recycling Gets Recycled, Right? Maybe, or Maybe Not

A coffee shop in Montreal, Canada goes 100% zero-waste: https://www.mtlblog.com/best-of-mtl/montreal-has-a-cafe-that-is-100-zero-waste

Great Britain struggles with standardizing plastics recycling:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45496884

Element Scarcity – EuChemS Periodic Table
https://www.euchems.eu/euchems-periodic-table/
________________________________________

Chemical elements which make up mobile phones (and TVs) placed on ‘endangered list’
Tuesday 22 January 2019

Scientists from the University of St Andrews have developed a unique periodic table which highlights the scarcity of elements used in everyday devices such as smart phones and TVs.

Chemical elements which make up mobile phones are included on an ‘endangered list’ in the landmark version of the periodic table to mark its 150th anniversary. Around ten million smartphones are discarded or replaced every month in the European Union alone. The European Chemical Society (EuChemS), which represents more than 160,000 chemists, has developed the unique periodic table to highlight both the remaining availability of all 90 elements and their vulnerability.

...Professor David Cole-Hamilton said: “It is astonishing that everything in the world is made from just 90 building blocks, the 90 naturally occurring chemical elements.

“There is a finite amount of each and we are using some so fast that they will be dissipated around the world in less than 100 years.

“Many of these elements are endangered, so should you really change your phone every two years?”

...Catherine Stihler, Labour MEP for Scotland and former Rector of the University of St Andrews, said: “...it’s...deeply worrying to see how many elements are on the endangered list, including those which make up mobile phones. It is a lesson to us all to care for the world around us, as these naturally-occurring elements won’t last forever unless we increase global recycling rates and governments introduce a genuine circular economy.”...

https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/chemical-elements-which-make-up-mobile-pho...

>19 margd:

Isn't it also true that the world's stocks of helium are actually quite limited? Meanwhile it is being wasted on birthday balloons and people trying to alter their voices for a joke.

Yep--I had to look but upper right corner of periodic table shows He at risk in 100 years.

Interesting story that your observation led me to:

...The reason for the price increase in recent years is that there used to be a huge storage of it.

In the early parts of last century, the U.S. Military decided that helium was important for defense. They thought that airships were going to be big for military uses, so they paid people extracting natural gas to separate the helium and sell it to them. They then stored this - partially in tanks, mostly in an empty natural gas well. This went on for decades.

Then they saw that airships were never going to be important war machines, so stopped buying more helium and started selling the stored helium. This made helium really cheap. This meant that no one bothered to capture and store helium from the natural gas, and everyone got used to really cheap helium.

That reserve of helium is getting low, so the price of helium is rising. Helium is not common - only certain natural gas wells contain helium, and those not in high amounts, and we use much more helium than the wells are likely to produce. When that reserve runs out, helium will become very expensive.

https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2a6dt5/how_is_helium_collected/

Might increase recycling in large, rich cities by decreasing bin footprint?

Underground bins keep trash out of sight (1:11)
Published on Feb 19, 2017

A Swiss company is changing the way cities deal with trash by using a system of underground waste disposal.

Trash containers are stored below ground level. This not only increases capacity, but also gets rid of the smell and keeps the trash out of sight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AApHNrYjOHM

I'm thinking of starting a thread just for addressing the Plastics Crisis, as much of the discussion doesn't bear directly on ocean pollution.

But for now, this is a really cool alternative being tried in Thailand and Vietnam ~

Supermarkets in Thailand and Vietnam Swap Plastic Packaging for Banana Leaves

>23 2wonderY:

When I lived in Uganda back in the 1970s almost everything came wrapped in banana leaves. Then there was "modernisation" and western-style affluence and everything was replaced by plastic. Good to hear that in some parts of the world there is a return to something more sensible.

>23 2wonderY: Funny, I needed one banana leaf to charr for a taco meat recipe, but they come in huge bundles, and cost ~$4.50. I may try charring something else instead! ( https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/slow-cooker-lamb-barbacoa/ , only I plan to use venison. ) If not, maybe use extra banana leaves for food storage?

I was initially thrilled, then dubious, to hear that researchers in Kingston, Ontario are working on biodegradable fishing line. Ghost nets (monafilament) are big killers, and we've all found tangles of fishing line, sometimes with a dead fish. Curious to see, though, whether they can produce something that won't degrade in wet storage, like my garage or a commercial tote, but will in the wild!

Walk through a house built with 600,000 plastic bottles. Technique borrowed from boat-building. Cost $400K Cdn (including furnishings):

This house was built using 600,000 recycled plastic bottles
Brett Ruskin | Jun 25, 2019

Bottles are shredded, melted, formed into slabs and made into walls for the house...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/plastic-bottle-home-nova-scotia-1.518...

>25 margd: but they come in huge bundles, and cost ~$4.50

We used to just go outside and pick them, free. There are banana trees everywhere in that part of Uganda.

A "post-apocalyptic" style metals scrounger is featured in the NYT Magazine:

The Big Business of Scavenging in Postindustrial America

Historically, there has been distrust between scrappers and the yards where they sell their goods. Scrappers worry that the scales are rigged or the prices are unfair; yards, meanwhile, worry that they are being given stolen material or padded goods, like copper pipes filled with sand. Buechel reasoned that greater openness would help build trust. After Rockaway started posting prices, its business improved, and this, in turn, inspired Buechel to create an app where scrappers from around the country could report what they were being paid. He began receiving hundreds of updates each week. In 2016, this helped him create national averages for scrap prices.

This enables a guy like Paisley to be not just a scavenger but also a small-time commodities trader, following the trends and making bets on the market. As he told me: “Every day when I get up, before I leave the house, I’m getting coffee, smoking a cigarette and checking the prices — every day.”
…
Paisley typically takes scrap from his piles and moves it inside his garage, where he processes it. This is where Paisley makes his money, by extracting the most valuable nuggets. The air-conditioner that he found, for example, was promising because it contained copper tubing, copper wiring and an ACR (an aluminum-copper radiator). The scrapyard might pay him only $4 to $6 for the air-conditioner in its current form, but if he processed it and removed the copper, he might earn three times as much. For this reason, Paisley spends much of his day surgically removing the most valuable metals. He even removes each screw and sells them together in bulk. Scrapyards are willing to pay a premium for scrap like this because it saves them the trouble of having to process it themselves.
…
I had spent almost a year following Paisley’s copper and searching for an “endpoint.” But it didn’t exist.
(me: That's because it continues to go round, from scrap to product and back again!)

>28 2wonderY:

I believe in the UK they passed a law a few years ago that all scrap metal dealings must be via bank transfers, credit cards or other means where the money can be tracked. Cash transactions were the mainstay of the stolen metal trade.

Each US state is required to maintain a list of certified analytical laboratories. I strongly recommend that you get a cistern water sample analyzed *before* using it for growing crops or for direct human consumption. Those state-certified labs will indicate whether they are set up to test liquid samples; some are, some are not. The PVC alone can leave traces of plastic contamination in water, and if you are downwind of anyone's water distillation activities, even more airborne contamination can come your way. Then there's the more common airborne contaminants, all of which find their way into rainwater. The bottom line is, get a water analysis from a qualified lab before you use that water. The cost is a deductible expense for many people. When we got our local spring water tested that way, the only problem found was E. coli contamination ... we live in a forest, where there is always some creature walking by.

Our well water this summer "may be unsafe for human consumption". Total coliform, not E coli, thank goodness. Never had a problem before, but health dept thinks it's due to surface contamination from record-breaking flood on L Ontario and St Lawrence R. Almost okay now as floodwaters recede. We also shocked the well with chlorine. I'll be so happy to be free of "boil-water" regimen! (Be sure to check sample number against results--one mix-up gave us worst reading of the summer!)

A different perespective on waste - waste heat.

Underground line to heat up London homes during winter (Guardian)

The sweltering temperatures on the tube’s Northern line will soon begin keeping homes in Islington, north London, cosy through the colder months, under a scheme to harness the heat from the underground.

By the end of the year the project will pipe heat from the underground into hundreds of homes and businesses that are part of a heating scheme in the borough.

The project is one of a growing number of schemes across the UK designed to warm homes using “waste heat” from factories, power plants, rivers and disused mine shafts...

Westminster and Sheffield trial upcycled electric bin lorries (Guardian)

Electric bin lorries powered by energy from the household rubbish they collect are being piloted in Sheffield and Westminster, London, in what the councils are calling a world first for a local authority.

The scheme recycles diesel lorries destined for the scrapyard, fitting them with electric engines and transforming them into 26-tonne bin wagons powered by the waste they collect. The idea is that any surplus energy can be fed back into the system to power people’s homes.

The repowered refuse vehicles... have zero carbon emissions...

New word for today: Bagasse -- which is the fiber left when sugar juice is pressed out of sugar case -- is biodegradable and starting to be recycled into disposable coffee cups:

https://www.greenwayworld.com/eco-friendly-cup

https://blog.marinedebris.noaa.gov/creative-ways-reduce-waste-holiday-season

My family gave up using wrapping paper for anything about a decade ago. We just use paper bags and recycle them. Once considered using furoshiki wrappers, but I am still not certain if the receivers will recycle them so I haven’t tried yet. (I am using furoshiki on a daily basis though.)

>35 Yamanekotei: Thanks for that info. In my family, we give gifts mostly only to children in the family. Our gift wrap paper is mostly the (colorful) comics section from the Sunday LATimes newspaper. For awhile, we also used the colorful fabric "wrapsacks" that came in different sizes, but that company recently went out of business. A few companies have started using recycled paper in their gift wrapping products, but I don't remember the company names.

Yamanekotei, I never replied to your question about green refrigerators because I already shared in this group everything I know on the subject, so your question stumped me. In 2020, however, some non-profit groups are starting to provide more information on that subject. Time will tell.

I have decorated gift boxes that we’ve used over and over for many years. Some bought, others homemade. SIL was embarrassed when he forgot the protocol once and started tearing the paper instead of lifting the lid.

They did it! This is huge.
In a unanimous 5-0 vote, the FTC just adopted a landmark policy supporting Right to Repair.
- Kyle Wiens kwiens | 2:03 PM · Jul 21, 2021
-----------------------------------------------

Policy Statement of the Federal Trade Commission
on Repair Restrictions Imposed by Manufacturers and Sellers

...First, the Commission urges the public to submit complaints and provide other information to aid
in greater enforcement of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and its implementing regulations.
While current law does not provide for civil penalties or redress, the Commission will consider
filing suit against violators of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act to seek appropriate injunctive
relief. The Commission will also closely monitor private litigation to determine whether the
Commission may wish to investigate a pattern of unfair or deceptive acts or practices or file an
amicus brief. Further, the Commission will explore rulemaking, as appropriate.

Second, the Commission will scrutinize repair restrictions for violations of the antitrust laws. For
example, certain repair restrictions may constitute tying arrangements or monopolistic
practices—such as refusals to deal, exclusive dealing, or exclusionary design—that violate the
Sherman Act.8 Violations of the Sherman Act also violate the prohibition on unfair methods of
competition codified in Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Third, the Commission will assess whether repair restrictions constitute unfair acts or practices,
which are also prohibited by Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. In addition, the
Commission will analyze any material claims made to purchasers and users to ascertain whether
there are any prohibited deceptive acts or practices, in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade
Commission Act.

Finally, the Commission will bring an interdisciplinary approach to this issue, using resources
and expertise from throughout the agency to combat unlawful repair restrictions. The FTC will
also closely coordinate with state law enforcement and policymakers to ensure compliance and
to update existing law and regulation to advance the goal of open repair markets...

https://ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/1592330/p194400repairre...

Give Fred a day off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0FZSKWWct0&mc_cid=f73d6762ac&mc_eid=6dd...

Darn! I took an upholstery class and have attempted a few pieces, but now have a project that's beyond my capabilities--and apparently, "The furniture supply chain is in tatters, and it is the best and worst of times for the nation’s upholsterers, who are so busy fixing up used chairs and sofas that they can barely tell foam from horsehair."

One Business That’s Loving the Supply Chain Crisis
Henry Grabar | Oct 15, 2021

(Upholstery!)

https://slate.com/business/2021/10/furniture-shortage-supply-chain-used-upholste...

A young relative worked briefly in recycling--actually sorting out unacceptable items from plastics stream, a hard, dirty, dangerous job. He learned firsthand why China doesn't want our recyclables anymore. Astonishing the items people throw into plastics recycling bin--from disgusting to inappropriate/dangerous to interesting, many of which risks breaking machinery, sending entire shipments to the dump... People mean well (most of them) but it's apparent they need education--and discipline of some kind... I told the young man he has makings of a magazine article with stories of the waste stream and the men and women who sort.

California is about to witness its biggest change to trash since the ’80s. Hint: It’s all about composting
Chase DiFeliciantonio | Jan. 1, 2022

...the roughly 1,500 tons of compostable material the 120-acre facility takes in every day from San Francisco and parts of the East Bay and South Bay. It comes here to be reborn as natural fertilizer used on vineyards and farms, and in varietals that are crafted specifically for different types of soil.

After those plastic bags and nonorganic materials are plucked out by men, women and gargantuan machines with names like The Titan, what remains will be placed into heaping piles that eventually break down into dark compost some farmers call “black gold.” Those heaps that stand higher than a person are spritzed with water and heated and cooled for two months to help trillions of microorganisms turn the solid waste into rich food for hungry crops.

The size of the undertaking feels gargantuan, but more and expanded operations like this will have to be built at great expense to meet California’s ambitious goals to divert three-quarters of organic waste out of landfills by 2025 and use it as compost, required by a 2016 state law called SB 1383...

https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/california-compost-law-climate-change-...

>35 Yamanekotei: "furoshiki"

NEAT! More versatile and longer lasting than the gift bags I try to reuse!

The Japanese art of wrapping (6:00)
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=589187202969119

Spogomi competition in Tokyo:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsWQ670IK3D/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Small scale as well as upscale, but it’s an interesting approach to fabric disposal - Fab-Brick

https://www.fab-brick.com/fabbrick-english

80% shredded fabric and 20% “plant-based eco-glue.

Their Instagram profile shows lots of interesting uses:
https://instagram.com/fab.brick?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

I swam down Ghana’s Volta River for 40 days to show the true cost of cheap clothes (Guardian)

Secondhand clothing waste from Europe is choking the waterways of the west African country. It must not go on... I journeyed with a crew from the northern regions of Ghana down to the south, swimming 450km {280 miles} along the Volta River. Our mission was to expand research about the impact of textile microfibre pollution on our waterways and to draw attention to the huge volumes of secondhand clothing entering Ghana. This research builds on work that the Or Foundation (a charity working for more environmental justice in fashion) has been conducting in Accra, Ghana’s capital, where textile pollution has reached alarming levels. The Agbetsi expedition helps build the case to stop waste colonialism and to empower the people of Kantamanto in Accra, the largest secondhand clothing market in Ghana, to deal with clothing waste when it enters the country and before it spreads throughout our water systems. About 15m garments a week are imported into Accra’s Kantamanto market from the global north. According to a long-running study by the Or Foundation, tailors and retailers repair, upcycle and sell millions of these items, but roughly 40% of the clothing leaves the market as waste. This waste spills into informal landfills and pollutes our water, leaving the land and the people to carry the burden of the global north’s rubbish – products of overproduction and overconsumption...