Plastic Oceans

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Plastic Oceans

12wonderY
Feb 26, 2013, 12:09 pm

I'm reading Plastic Ocean by Capt. Charles Moore. I got to the data about animal deaths by ingestion of plastics, and I feel so sick! Oh my! We are killing the entire biosphere.
Captain Moore begins with sea animals, and continues the litany to camels in the middle east (one documented corpse holding more than 100 pounds of plastics in the gut!) and cattle in India. I haven't even finished this chapter.
One of the facts he has helped to establish is that tiny plastic bits outweigh and out-number the food plankton in large parts of the Pacific. Another fact is that plastics are not inert, and collect and concentrate toxins. I'm actually listening to the audio version, but I've got the print book on order to go back and review the information.

Here are some related websites:
http://www.plasticoceanthebook.com/
http://www.plasticoceans.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwTDvqaqPlM

2MaureenRoy
Feb 26, 2013, 8:30 pm

The book Our Stolen Future, by Theo Colborn, PhD, senior scientist at the World Wildlife Fund, gives extensive documentation of endocrine-disrupting chemicals present in plastic and the harm that is doing to the biosphere. Her group also updates the companion website:

http://www.ourstolenfuture.org

32wonderY
Editado: Feb 27, 2013, 7:41 am

I've added that title to my TBR soon pile.

I ordered the book Plastic-Free yesterday, and began an inventory of plastics in my household last evening.
I am now an activist on this issue, and I'm beginning to outline in my head where and how I can begin passing the urgent word on to others. Classroom presentations, library events, talking to various groups...

42wonderY
Mar 21, 2013, 12:45 pm

I just finished reading Our Stolen Future. My intention was to skim read it, but it was so well put together, I ended up doing a serious read of the entire book.
The main body of the work (published in 1996) covers pesticides and PCBs, with a passing mention of plastics' role in dispersal of homone disrupters, as that material is more recent.

Some of these scientists, while looking for control populations of less man-made-chemically laden humans, have discovered that people such as the Inuit, living simple lifestyles at the back of nowhere, are some of the most burdened, because of their position at the top of the aquatic foodchain; consuming high fat animal diets.

What an experiment we are performing on the world!
Their Wingspread Consensus Statement can be found here:
http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/Consensus/wingspreadimmune.htm

It appears to be a milder, more recent version of the 1991 statement in the appendix of the book.

5margd
Mar 21, 2013, 12:55 pm

The Great Lakes, collectively the world's largest body of fresh water, have not been spared: http://greatlakesecho.org/2012/10/29/the-great-lakes-have-some-of-the-worlds-gre....

62wonderY
Mar 21, 2013, 1:18 pm

Yes. In fact Colborn's original job was to study all of the data coming from the Great Lakes and try to observe the patterns.

72wonderY
Ago 19, 2013, 11:01 am

I've been eliminating plastics from my personal environment, particularly in food storages and preparation. I just read an article recommending to not use plastic coffee makers, and I'm slapping my forehead. Duh!! Hadn't even registered that my tea water is passing through all that heated plastic, though the quality of tea is demonstably poorer than that made from tea-kettle boiled water. I don't have good alternatives at work and at my cabin for heating water.

8margd
Ago 19, 2013, 1:50 pm

Apparently, facial and body scrubs with "micro beads" of plastic are thought to be a large part of Great Lakes' plastic problem. I recall using an almond scrub years ago, but I think the pieces (of the shell?) were too sharp to use on face.

92wonderY
Ago 19, 2013, 2:31 pm

Yeah. I see. Plastic is made to last. So let's pour it down our drains and into the world.

Speaking of cosmetics, DEHP (This compound is the most common of the class of phthalate plasticizers) is a culprit now coming to light associated with pre-diabetes insulin resistance and inhibiting male hormomal development. It's been banned in many countries, but not in the US.
It's in a lot of topical products and in much disposable medical equipment such as IV bags and tubing. Exposure is especially contra-indicated in newborns, male fetuses, diabetics.

10MaureenRoy
Editado: Ago 30, 2013, 8:50 am

Macrobiotics (a natural lifestyle and diet approach) recommends using alternatives to plastics such as:

Earthenware kettles for boiling water. (Some herbalist catalogs sell these.) They are quite fragile and look a little weird but they do work and the boiled water tastes great.

Non-plastic thermoses...these are slowly coming onto the market.

Some folks have begun to blog about the plastic-free life, and share lots of tips:

http://www.lifewithoutplasticblog.com/new-products/

112wonderY
Abr 15, 2014, 12:07 pm

I finally got my rocket stove constructed for cooking purposes and fired it up this past weekend. Brewed tea and made breakfast. Lighting and fuel feeding will take a bit of practice, but it's straightforward. Very much like the tin can stoves we used at Girl Scout camp.

122wonderY
Nov 5, 2014, 7:30 am

I replaced the Mr. Coffee style brewer at work with a metal electric kettle. It brews a much tastier pot of tea, and faster too. Well, the electric part is faster. The steeping takes the same amount of time, but starts with boiling water rather than water run over a heating coil.

132wonderY
Editado: Ene 26, 2016, 1:48 pm

The Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 requires manufacturers to eliminate microbeads from their products by 2017 and stop selling them by July 2018.

http://www.newsweek.com/united-states-just-banned-microbeads-those-tiny-plastic-...

I'm encouraged. Bipartisan, non-political decision making to eliminate a very dangerous pollutant.

142wonderY
Sep 1, 2016, 10:51 am

Britain is considering a microbead ban after a Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee report on them:

http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/wellbeing/what-you-need-to-know-about-microbeads-in...

15LibraryCin
Oct 30, 2016, 9:34 pm

I'm new to the group, but wanted to chime in here.

I am also trying to eliminate plastic if/where possible. It is so difficult! I have to admit that I do like still my Tupperware, though. I won't likely be buying more, however.

I have a pretty (blue) metal stove-top kettle that I picked up a few months back. I donated the plastic-outlined one.

I used to bring home and wash any plastic utensils I picked up (I hated throwing them all out!), but I kept picking up and bringing home more and more! I finally put a few of each utensil in a Ziplock bag (ugh! more plastic! But now, I mostly wash and reuse those, too) and carry them around with me so I'm at least not picking up more. I do use and reuse and reuse again and again until they break.

I had heard that microbeads were supposed to be phased out. That is a good thing!

162wonderY
Oct 31, 2016, 7:24 am

>15 LibraryCin: Welcome to the group!

There is a tactile insufficiency using plastic utensils. My first move at carrying my own stuff began when I went to meetings and hot beverages were offered in Styrofoam. Yuck! I can taste the Styrofoam as it melts into the tea. I started with a china mug and then a spoon to stir, rather than those dorky plastic stirrers that don't really do the job.

And I drink a lot of water; thankfully my tap water is still good. I have a glass bottle to keep in the refrigerator. Water bottled in plastic doesn't taste as good.

I finally discovered a local group of environmentalists and was pleased to see that some of these mannerisms/quirks are more widespread than just outlier me. Our nametags are made of cardboard and twine and are meant to be worn over and over again.

17LibraryCin
Oct 31, 2016, 7:11 pm

>16 2wonderY: I finally discovered a local group of environmentalists and was pleased to see that some of these mannerisms/quirks are more widespread than just outlier me.

Haha! I do sometimes feel that way, as well!

182wonderY
Ene 9, 2017, 2:11 pm

A brief Trash Tracker questionnaire:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/brand-connect/subaru/trash-tracker/

A talking point for those who argue for oil exploitation so that we can be energy independent

"It takes 17 million barrels of oil annually to produce all the water bottles used globally."

19John5918
Abr 28, 2017, 2:31 am

Kenya is due to ban plastic bags in September. Pressure for this came not only from within but also from some neighbouring countries who felt that Kenya was not just polluting itself but polluting them as well.

Mind you, there is also adverse pressure from within. Small shopkeepers and market stall holders (who form a much greater part of the retail trade than supermarkets) feel this will hit their business badly. Plastic bag manufacturers and casual sellers also fear loss of revenue. Also there are politicians behind most businesses here, and they will resist anything that threatens their vested interests. We saw this very clearly a few years ago when an enlightened Minister of Transport introduced new rules to make public transport safer. He was quickly removed and the minibus transport sector went back to lethal business as usual.

202wonderY
Editado: Jul 31, 2017, 9:54 am

Bioplastic bags endanger life at ocean floor

Major American aquaria stand together to reduce the plastic soup

Nineteen of the largest aquaria in the United States have launched the In Our Hands campaign. This coalition of aquaria is tackling the plastic pollution of the ocean and has announced that each member will stop its use of single-use plastic items. (me: It's about dang time!)

The aquaria have also announced that they are stopping handing out plastic bags forthwith. Further, they are starting to phase out plastic straws, and all plastic bottles will be banned from all their cafeterias by 2020. They will work with their suppliers to dramatically reduce the quantity of plastic packaging in their souvenir shops.

These companies’ mission is marine conservation and education, and as such they strive to set an example to their visitors in their waste management. In our hands aims to change the consumer behaviour of the more than 20 million visitors to the aquaria every year while raising awareness about the plastic soup. Special exhibits which explain plastic pollution to visitors and show alternatives to plastic and ways to reduce plastic consumption should also help.

One of the initiators of In Our Hands is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aquarium’s spokesperson, Ken Peterson, said to the Mercury News that the coalition will encourage zoos, sports teams, airports and other companies to join the movement.

Maria Westerbos, director of the Plastic Soup Foundation, said “Companies that exhibit the underwater world that they wish to protect are perfectly placed to set a good example and to motivate other organisations to dramatically reduce their plastic footprint.”


In Our Hands (pass it on!)

21John5918
Editado: Sep 2, 2017, 1:53 am

Kenya banned plastic bags as of last Monday. The first week seemed to go well. Plastic bags disappeared from the shops and even from many of the informal markets. People used cloth bags and woven baskets, fruit and veg were sold in net bags, meat in grease-proof paper, things were wrapped in old newspapers... reminds me a bit of my childhood in UK! The national environmental agency has teams of inspectors out checking, and there are huge fines (tens of thousands of US dollars) for supermarkets and other instititutions if they breach the ban.

22margd
Sep 2, 2017, 5:36 am

>21 John5918: Wow--not just white plastic shopping bags!

As child, we mostly came home for lunch, but I remember sandwiches wrapped in wax paper. The wax can't have been much better than a plastic baggie? How does parchment paper stack up to wax paper, I wonder? (My kids weren't ever keen on bread--perhaps because of early Asian diet--so their lunches were often soups and hot leftovers in small stainless thermoses. Talk about sustainable--I passed those thermoses on as Craigslist freebies to live again in other kids' lunchboxes! Even the dented one was still functional and gratefully received!)

232wonderY
Sep 2, 2017, 5:50 am

Here's hoping plastic bags become so rare that they become collectibles.

24margd
Editado: Oct 15, 2017, 2:12 am

In elementary school, our shoes had leather soles, but that changed and quickly. Most artificial soles wear quickly and can't be fixed. Just read an article (apparently well-sourced) that suggests we didn't do our health any good by the switch. (Could that be true??)

Studies Show What Happens To The Human Body When We Walk Barefoot On Earth
Arjun Walia | August 24, 2017

Grounding, or ‘earthing,’ as some people call it, involves placing your feet directly on the ground without shoes or socks as a barrier. The logic behind this practice relates to the intense negative charge carried by the Earth. This charge is electron-rich, theoretically serving as a good supply of antioxidants and free-radical destroying electrons.

...blood urea concentrations are lower in subjects who are earthed (connected to the earth potential with the use of copper wire) during physical exercise and that earthing during exercise resulted in improved exercise recovery...

...How You Can Get Grounded

We all spend most of our time walking on the earth wearing shoes with rubber or plastic soles. These materials are insulators, used to insulate electrical wires. They also disconnect you from the Earth’s electron flow, which we are supposed to (naturally) be connected to. If you wear leather-soled shoes (or vegan leather!) or walk barefoot on sand, grass, soil, concrete, or ceramic tile, you will be grounded. If you walk on asphalt, wood, rubber, plastic, vinyl, tar, or tarmac you will not be grounded.

So the next time you are outside, take off your shoes! You can also use conductive systems while sleeping, working, or spending time indoors for a more convenient and lifestyle-friendly approach....

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/08/24/studies-show-what-happens-to-the-...

ETA______________________________________________________________

Video: German man in full Medieval costume explaining how people used to walk in the Middle Ages, before the advent of fixed-sole shoes.
https://pictorial.jezebel.com/this-video-of-how-medieval-people-walked-is-oddly-...

25margd
Sep 6, 2017, 7:18 am

Plastic fibres found in tap water around the world, study reveals
Exclusive: Tests show billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic particles, with 83% of samples found to be polluted
Damian Carrington | 6 September 20

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-fibres-found-tap-wat...

___________________________________________________________

Invisibles: the plastic inside us
Chris Tyree & Dan Morrison

https://orbmedia.org/stories/Invisibles_plastics

26MaureenRoy
Sep 7, 2017, 7:30 pm

There are many profound issues with drinking water. Plastic is in some ways the least of it.

27LibraryCin
Sep 7, 2017, 10:39 pm

Sadly, I can envision the sellers of bottled water hyping this up, though. :-(

28margd
Sep 12, 2017, 2:40 am

...New studies find microplastics in salt from the US, Europe and China, adding to evidence that plastic pollution is pervasive in the environment
Jessica Glenza | Sept 8, 2017

...Sherri Mason, a professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, who led the latest research into plastic contamination in salt. Plastics are “ubiquitous, in the air, water, the seafood we eat, the beer we drink, the salt we use – plastics are just everywhere”.

...Her research looked at 12 different kinds of salt (including 10 sea salts) bought from US grocery stores around the world...

Mason found Americans could be ingesting upwards of 660 particles of plastic each year, if they follow health officials’ advice to eat 2.3 grammes of salt per day. However, most Americans could be ingesting far more, as health officials believe 90% of Americans eat too much salt.

The health impact of ingesting plastic is not known. Scientists have struggled to research the impact of plastic on the human body, because they cannot find a control group of humans who have not been exposed.

“Everybody is being exposed to some degree at any given time, from gestation through death,” researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Arizona State University wrote in 2013. “Detectable levels of the plastic bisphenol A have been found in the urine of 95% of the adult population of the United States.” ...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/08/sea-salt-around-world-contam...

29John5918
Editado: Sep 22, 2017, 1:07 am

Less than a month after Kenya banned plastic bags there are already media reports that the visible plastic waste in Lake Nakuru has reduced.

There is also talk now of banning disposable plastic bottles. A couple of conservation areas have already banned visitors from bringing them in to the park areas, and there is talk in the media that the government is planning to introduce a nationwide ban in due course.

30LibraryCin
Sep 22, 2017, 7:12 pm

>29 John5918: That is good news!

31margd
Sep 26, 2017, 7:31 am

Guess What's Showing Up In Our Shellfish? One Word: Plastics
Ken Christensen | September 19, 2017

...In 2016, (Dudas, shellfish biologist) at Vancouver Island University planted thousands of clams and oysters across coastal British Columbia and let them soak in the sand and saltwater of the Strait of Georgia. Three months later, they dissolved hundreds of them with chemicals, filtered out the biodegradable matter and looked at the remaining material under a microscope. Inside this Pacific Northwest culinary staple, they found a rainbow of little plastic particles.

...In 2013, (Ross, director of the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Pollution Research Program) began sampling the coast of British Columbia for microplastics. The researchers found up to 9,200 particles of microplastic per cubic meter of seawater — about the equivalent of emptying a salt shaker into a large moving box.

...the majority of microplastics in Ross's samples resembled those showing up in Dudas' shellfish. They're showing up by the thousands along Puget Sound's shorelines, too. They're microfibers.

...many of the fibers ending up in the ocean are starting their journey much closer to home — probably in your home laundry machine.

Outdoor gear manufacturer Patagonia found that the average synthetic jacket releases 1.7 grams of microfibers per load of laundry. Each load may generate hundreds of thousands of fibers, which can slip through filters on washing machines and wastewater treatment plants and eventually make their way into ocean waters.

...Improved filters may be one way to stop ocean-bound microfibers, Crook (chief product officer at Mountain Equipment Co-op, one of Canada's biggest outdoor retailers) says, but he's looking to Ross' data for other information, like whether some types of fibers are ending up in the ocean more than others. The data could help start a conversation about creating industry-wide standards around fiber shedding...

...The clams and oysters in Dudas' study contained an average of eight microplastic particles each (after three months exposure)...

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/09/19/551261222/guess-whats-showing-up-...

32MaureenRoy
Sep 27, 2017, 1:45 pm

In this sustainability group in all our future postings, I look forward to seeing mostly postings of the "problem AND solution" variety. Each year here in this Sustainability group, stop yourself every once in awhile to see if you are falling into into the trap of posting only about problems. If so, deal with that.

33margd
Sep 29, 2017, 10:38 am

For those who don't recognize importance of plastics issue, below is a potentially huge impact from plastic pollution--rafting by nonindigenous species as revealed by tsunami debris. (Deal with that.)

James T. Carlton et al. 2017 Tsunami-driven rafting: Transoceanic species dispersal and implications for marine biogeography. Science 29 Sep 2017: Vol. 357, Issue 6358, pp. 1402-1406. DOI: 10.1126/science.aao1498. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6358/1402

Abstract. The 2011 East Japan earthquake generated a massive tsunami that launched an extraordinary transoceanic biological rafting event with no known historical precedent. We document 289 living Japanese coastal marine species from 16 phyla transported over 6 years on objects that traveled thousands of kilometers across the Pacific Ocean to the shores of North America and Hawai‘i. Most of this dispersal occurred on nonbiodegradable objects, resulting in the longest documented transoceanic survival and dispersal of coastal species by rafting. Expanding shoreline infrastructure has increased global sources of plastic materials available for biotic colonization and also interacts with climate change–induced storms of increasing severity to eject debris into the oceans. In turn, increased ocean rafting may intensify species invasions.

_____________________________________________________

Almost 300 marine species hitched a ride on tsunami debris from Japan to the US
They traveled more than 4,300 miles across the ocean
Alessandra Potenza | Sep 28, 2017

https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/28/16374092/tsunami-debris-migration-invasive-ma...

342wonderY
Dic 2, 2017, 9:42 pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42190678

Zero tolerance of plastics pollution in oceans proposed.

352wonderY
Dic 4, 2017, 8:22 am


Nestle
Unilever
PT Torabika Mayora
Procter & Gamble
Monde Nissin
Colgate Palmolive

Six international brands are responsible for nearly 54 percent of plastic waste found in Freedom Island.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/our-beaches-are-branded-with-plastic-pollut...

International Coastal Cleanup Day
Break Free From Plastic, the global movement working to stop plastic pollution for good is taking coastal cleanups a step further – by naming the brands most responsible for plastic pollution found on our beaches and coastlines.

362wonderY
Dic 4, 2017, 10:17 am

Some very sad photos and statistics:
http://plastic-pollution.org/

The Marine Conservancy has published that the estimated decomposition rates of most plastic debris found on coasts are:
Foamed plastic cups: 50 years
Plastic beverage holder: 400 years
Disposable diapers: 450 year
Plastic bottle: 450
Fishing line: 600 years.

372wonderY
Dic 4, 2017, 10:38 am



Machalilla National Park, Ecuador

382wonderY
Dic 7, 2017, 7:42 am

UN resolution calling for targets to tackle ocean plastic waste rejected by US, China and India

It is thought our seas now contain about 51 trillion microplastic particles – 500 times more than the number of stars in our galaxy.

This pollution is harming more than 600 species worldwide amid what many are now regarding as the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth.

Countries did agree that the world needs to stop plastics from entering the sea, but the final resolution published on Wednesday has no timetable and is not legally binding.

39margd
Dic 7, 2017, 2:57 pm

I often attach a (plastic...) bag to my dog treat dispenser when walking country roads and Great Lakes beaches to pick up debris, mostly plastic. (Easily stabbed with my walking poles! :-) It makes a difference I can see, and I enjoy subsequent walks until the stuff builds up again.

I was shocked a year ago, though, to see all the plastic on the beach when I wandered a bit away from my wedding party on Mexico's Mayan Riviera. I stooped as usual to pick up a few pieces, but thousands of small pieces were incorporated into the substrate at least several inches deep. I can imagine other turtles and sea-life in similar predicaments as photo above...

402wonderY
Dic 7, 2017, 3:51 pm

I learned from my dad and the Girl Scouts to always leave the outdoors better when you leave it, so we've always gathered up debris as well. I've helped on the Ohio River clean sweep a couple of years. I even fashioned a kinda snowshoe so as to be able to cross the mudflats. Styrofoam and bottles seem to be the primary plastics there.

I actually rescued a kitten in a ditch by the side of the road. He had found one of those Icee containers with the large domed plastic top; stuck his head in and couldn't pull it out. Grrrr.

412wonderY
Editado: Dic 7, 2017, 5:06 pm

422wonderY
Dic 10, 2017, 7:42 am

To Burst The Bottle Bubble, Fountains In Paris Now Flow With Sparkling Water

That's right: a public fountain that serves up sparkling water. France might be known for its bottled water — take Evian from the Alps, or a bottle of bubbly Perrier. But in Paris, the mayor is pushing people to give up the bottles in favor of tap water from the city supply. One way the city is trying to do so is to make its water more appealing.

432wonderY
Editado: Dic 26, 2017, 10:43 am

$180bn investment in plastic factories feeds global packaging binge

The new facilities – being built by corporations like Exxon Mobile Chemical and Shell Chemical – will help fuel a 40% rise in plastic production in the next decade, according to experts, exacerbating the plastic pollution crisis that scientist warn already risks “near permanent pollution of the earth.”

44margd
Feb 14, 2018, 4:03 am

IMPORTANT: plastic bottle bombs (Drano, foil, water) are a real hazard, so inspect capped bottles carefully before handling--
https://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/bottlebomb.asp .

'Plogging' is a Swedish fitness trend that combines running with picking up litter
Feb 13, 2018

...pick up litter while out running...

It's called 'plogging'—a portmanteau of jogging and the Swedish plocka upp, meaning 'pick up.'

...Plogging combines going for a run with intermittent squatting or lunging (to collect rubbish), which actually sounds like a pretty satisfying workout. According to (Swedish fitness app) Lifesum, a typical user will burn 288 calories in 30 minutes of plogging, which is more or less the same as what's burned off while jogging.

As with all fitness trends, there are plenty of #plogging pics on Instagram, offering a glimpse of what this trend looks like IRL. Ploggers take plastic bags along with them so they can store the collected litter they find along their route.

...Lifesum has also teamed up with the non-profit Keep America Beautiful to provide an online resource for ploggers who want to log the rubbish they've collected...

https://mashable.com/2018/02/13/plogging-fitness-trend

margd: WE 'plalk' our dog almost every day: my walking sticks are great for spearing/lifting litter I'd rather not touch directly! ;-)

45MaureenRoy
Editado: Feb 16, 2018, 2:28 pm

Yeah, I pick up trash when I do my 3-mile state park mountain walk. Our local rattlesnakes woke up from hibernation last week. February? Kind of early ... the new normal.

Now, speaking of avoiding plastic, here's an idea with potentially huge legs:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/world/europe/lent-plastic-church-of-england.h...

46margd
Feb 20, 2018, 8:33 am

5 ways the United Kingdom is leading the fight against plastic pollution
19 Feb 2018

1. Queen Elizabeth bans disposable plastic at royal estates

2. Restaurants ditch plastic straws

3. Scotland announces nationwide bans on plastic straws and plastic cotton buds (whatever they are :-)

4. The UK says no to microbeads

5. Supermarkets go plastic free...chain Iceland... plans to eliminate plastic packaging for all Iceland branded products...Other companies such as Tesco and Aldi UK have announced similar plans...

Beat Plastic Pollution is the theme of World Environment Day 2018...(June 5)

https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/5-ways-united-kingdom-leadi...

472wonderY
Feb 20, 2018, 8:54 am

Re: cotton buds
We call them cotton swabs and they used to have wood or cardboard stems; now replaced with plastic straws. I just checked and mine are cardboard.

48LibraryCin
Feb 20, 2018, 7:13 pm

>46 margd: Wow, impressive!

>47 2wonderY: Oh, like Q-Tips! Thanks for that. I don't know if I still have any or not, but I bet whatever I have (if so, it was bought 20-ish years ago, maybe more!) is plastic. :-(

49John5918
Feb 21, 2018, 12:32 am

An interesting potential by-product of a plastics ban:

Plastic bans worldwide will dent oil demand growth, says BP (Guardian)

50margd
Mar 13, 2018, 5:27 am

8 steps to solve the ocean’s plastic problem
Nina Jensen | March 2, 2018

...It was a sad but important day when a Cuvier's beaked whale was beached on Sotra in Norway with 30 plastic bags in its stomach.

...Every year, an estimated 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean. A product that was once lauded as a stroke of genius has become one of the fastest growing environmental problems in the world. It can be hard to imagine how much 8 million tons actually is. To put it in perspective, it’s roughly equal to the weight of the entire population of Spain and the United Kingdom. The figure is estimated to rise to 60 tons per minute by 2050 if today's plastic use and lack of adequate waste management continues...

Eight essential steps we can take

1. We must reduce our plastic dependency...

2. Increased producer responsibility...

3. Increase fees and taxes on polluting plastics...

4. Increased waste management where the problem is greatest...

5. Implementation of the zero vision for ocean plastic...

6. Increased mapping, surveillance and research...

7. Stop the flow of plastic waste into the sea...

8. Increased funds for clean-up...

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/03/8-steps-to-solve-the-oceans-plastic-probl...

51John5918
Mar 15, 2018, 12:33 am

Interesting perspective from the BBC

War on plastic may do more harm than good, warns think tank

It reminds me a little of biofuels. At first they were welcomed because they could potentially reduce the usage of fossil fuels. Then concerns began to be raised about the amount of arable land, particularly in the poorer parts of the world, which was being turned over to producing biofuel instead of food, and the forests which were being cut down (again mainly in poorer areas where there is little meaningful government regulation).

522wonderY
Editado: Mar 21, 2018, 1:28 pm

53Yamanekotei
Mar 20, 2018, 1:46 am

>52 2wonderY:

New topic?!

54MaureenRoy
Mar 21, 2018, 12:58 pm

In chapter 16 of Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird, here's a description of the materials people used in the American South of the 1930s to package their lunches:

https://lightnovelgate.com/chapter/to_kill_a_mockingbird/chapter_71

The author says that "bits of newspaper, cellophane, and wrapping paper" were used. Nowadays, people could use waxed paper, for example.

Biodegradable waxed paper is sold by a number of manufacturers. Here is one: https://buy.ifyoucare.com/Products

Some of their products are both recycled and recyclable. Some of their products are biodegradable in commercial composting facilities, and some are biodegradable in a home compost setup.

55MaureenRoy
Editado: Mar 23, 2018, 2:00 pm

Here is the current BBC report on plastic microparticles found in bottled water:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43389031

2wonderY and everyone, your above link is not working. At this BBC news page, the link to the full scientific findings on bottled water is near the bottom of the page.

The science team at Orb Media developed this initial data set. A major source of the microplastic appears to be a combination of the bottle cap plastic liners and possibly the bottling buildings themselves.

Previous tests on tap water, however, reveal many plastic microplarticles in many tap water sources. I look forward to hearing what the UN-certified Berkey water filter manufacturer has to say about the performance of their water filtration products in filtering out microplastics from drinking water.

56margd
Mar 22, 2018, 6:36 am

On vacation trip recently, experienced the neatest paper cup for coffee--sort of corrugated with liner, all thin cardboard, I think? It lasted two weeks in secondary use in bathroom, though was getting a little soft--probably not up for hot liquids--by end! White (bleached), though.

Interesting that two 11YO Canadian girls petitioned Starbucks to act (below): https://www.change.org/p/starbucks-we-know-you-can-breakfreefromplastic-and-make.... Canadian coffee shop, Tim Horton's uses paper cup, I think, with insulating sleeve--might/not be entirely paper, but enough that it has contest in which one unrolls rim to reveal prize (or not). Recyclable, at least onsite: http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/about/faq/can-the-tim-hortons-cup-be-recycled.ph...

Starbucks commits $10 million to recyclable, compostable cups
Stephen Cohen, Seattle | March 21, 2018

...commit $10 million to a partnership with environmentally focused investment firm Closed Loop Partners and its Center for the Circular Economy. That partnership will launch the "NextGen Cup Challenge" providing grants to entrepreneurs for research into fully recyclable and compostable cups.

...we are declaring a moon shot for sustainability to work together as an industry to bring a fully recyclable and compostable cup to the market, with a three-year ambition."

...making straws greener, in the future

...it would work with the National League of Cities in advocating for legislation and best practices to widen access to recycling programs across the U.S.

The announcement came after an online petition started by two Canadian girls, calling on Starbucks to make a more environmentally friendly cup, raised over 310,000 signatures...

https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/Starbucks-commits-to-recyclable-co...

572wonderY
Mar 22, 2018, 8:00 am

>56 margd:
"making straws greener"

That's right! I remember paper straws.

However, I think the saner route is to move away from single use materials altogether.

58margd
Mar 22, 2018, 8:45 am

You're right that saner route is to move away from single use materials altogether, but there will always be a need?

My son keeps buying reusable coffee cups etc, but rarely seems to have them with him when he buys a second time... My cupboards (and Sally Ann's, no doubt, where I often take extras) are full to bursting! :(

I have stainless steel straws that I clean with teeny brush and bleach water or dishwasher, but not quite confident that they're clean enough to offer a guest. Not that we use more than an occasional straw--that 200-count box DH bought eons ago is still with us...

592wonderY
Mar 22, 2018, 9:35 am

Bali's battle against plastic pollution

The BBC story was prompted by British diver, Rich Horner's video which showed him swimming in Manta Point, a famous diving site about 20km from the popular tourist island.

602wonderY
Mar 22, 2018, 12:49 pm

Krill can digest ocean plastics: 'That is certainly not good news at all'

The headline is misleading. The krill do not digest by changing the chemical components; it's a mechanical breakdown, creating even smaller plastic particles.

61margd
Editado: Mar 22, 2018, 1:32 pm

Good intentions on my part, but only a C on execution.... :(
Helps me to remember that my moment of convenience could live on for decades and centuries.

62LibraryCin
Mar 22, 2018, 11:04 pm

>58 margd: I have stainless steel straws that I clean with teeny brush and bleach water or dishwasher, but not quite confident that they're clean enough to offer a guest. Not that we use more than an occasional straw--that 200-count box DH bought eons ago is still with us...

I actually have a package of about 200 plastic ones that I bought about 25 (or more!) years ago. I use them rarely. But, the past few years, I also wash and reuse, until they get a hole.

63margd
Mar 23, 2018, 6:12 am

Plastic pollution within the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is increasing exponentially and at a faster rate than in surrounding waters.
I was surprised how much plastic debris came from fishing: eel trap cones, oyster spacers, ropes, and fishing nets. Floats.
Also, wooden pallets, etc., though these will decompose relatively quickly, and are 'natural' as a tree would be, though no doubt we generate more than Nature does!

L. Lebreton et al. 2018. Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic. Nature. Scientific Reports volume 8, Article number: 4666 (2018) doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22939-w https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-22939-w

Abstract

Ocean plastic can persist in sea surface waters, eventually accumulating in remote areas of the world’s oceans. Here we characterise and quantify a major ocean plastic accumulation zone formed in subtropical waters between California and Hawaii: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). Our model, calibrated with data from multi-vessel and aircraft surveys, predicted at least 79 (45–129) thousand tonnes of ocean plastic are floating inside an area of 1.6 million km2; a figure four to sixteen times higher than previously reported. We explain this difference through the use of more robust methods to quantify larger debris. Over three-quarters of the GPGP mass was carried by debris larger than 5 cm and at least 46% was comprised of fishing nets. Microplastics accounted for 8% of the total mass but 94% of the estimated 1.8 (1.1–3.6) trillion pieces floating in the area. Plastic collected during our study has specific characteristics such as small surface-to-volume ratio, indicating that only certain types of debris have the capacity to persist and accumulate at the surface of the GPGP. Finally, our results suggest that ocean plastic pollution within the GPGP is increasing exponentially and at a faster rate than in surrounding waters.

64margd
Abr 7, 2018, 9:14 am

Boxed water.... Milk cartons are recyclable, right?
(Milk used to come in reusable glass bottles...)

Cartons look like heavier weight than plastic to ship to (China?) to recycle.

Plastics-in-bottled-water might propel more consumers to "boxed water"?
(Except fragments were same type plastic as the caps, and all but one water-box (looks like like juice box) had caps.)

Can boxed water compete against bottled water?
Water companies are turning to environmentally-friendly packaging - and sales have doubled in the last two years.
Posted January 2, 2018 (~2-min video)
https://www.marketwatch.com/video/sectorwatch/can-boxed-water-compete-against-bo...

(I'll save you the effort, 2wonderY: AARGH! ;-)

662wonderY
Abr 7, 2018, 9:35 am

I’ve had a four year experiment going, with a regular plastic to-go cup and a biodegradable cup side by side. Both holding soil and water and sitting in the sun and exposed to weather. Until recently, no visible changes. Last week I noted that the second set is breaking down. The cup has split vertically in four places. The cap though, is breaking into many small particles.

672wonderY
Abr 12, 2018, 12:20 pm

I finished reading Junk Raft, or rather listening to the audio. The travel part of the story has some amazing scenes - a mid-ocean meet-up with Roz Savage to exchange food and water supplies, in particular.

But the bulk of the book is educational. Most I'm educated about, but there was some new material in the last chapter. So I'll have to order the physical book.

Here's an interesting product meant to collect floating trash at shoreline locations such as marinas - the Seabin.

But the creators see it as mostly an educational tool, not a solution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuPi4D8s-TI

682wonderY
Abr 17, 2018, 5:30 pm

National Geographic posts more of an advertisement than a news or science story:

Evian has launched its circular economy initiative.

"This January, evian made an announcement that changes the conversation, turning talk into action with a commitment to make all of its plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic by 2025.
...
Of course, for this to work evian needs a reliable supply of recycled plastic, so it is collaborating with governments and the waste processing industry to reinvigorate the collection of plastic.
...
Evian’s approach could completely transform the way we think about plastics: they have imagined a world without plastic bottle waste, and with it the prospect of a truly guilt-free healthy beverage."

No mention of the health issues connected to plastic's endocrine-disrupting properties and pesticide affinities.

69margd
Editado: mayo 2, 2018, 3:59 am

ETA: A related radio report on BBC is fascinating if you can find it online, e.g., soft plastic bags are used for soft loaves of bread, and crinkly plastic for chips, etc. The kind of plastic measurably affects whether we think chips are fresh or stale!

Interesting story below on the history and future of plastics:

A brief history of plastics, natural and synthetic
Laurence Knight | 17 May 2014
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27442625

70margd
mayo 12, 2018, 8:49 am

Plastic Bag Found at the Bottom of World's Deepest Ocean Trench
Even one of the most remote places on Earth couldn't hide from the scourge of plastic trash.
Sarah Gibbens | May 11, 2018

...A recent study revealed that a plastic bag, like the kind given away at grocery stores, is now the deepest known piece of plastic trash, found at a depth of 36,000 feet inside the Mariana Trench.

...Last February, a separate study showed that the Mariana Trench has higher levels of overall pollution in certain regions than some of the most polluted rivers in China. The study's authors theorized that the chemical pollutants in the trench may have come in part from the breakdown of plastic in the water column....

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/plastic-bag-mariana-trench-pollution...

71margd
mayo 14, 2018, 5:25 pm

Canada proposes international plastics reform
Marc Montgomery | 11 May, 2018

Canada will host the upcoming G7 meeting in Quebec City this June. One of the things expected to be proposed by Canada during the gathering is a “plastics charter”

...Critics say Canada’s plans would carry more weight however, if this country were itself doing more...

http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2018/05/11/canada-proposes-international-plastics-reform...

722wonderY
Jul 8, 2018, 12:04 pm

The BBC has an article today about the hidden costs of not using plastics, particularly in the food industry. I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but there are pieces that need to be challenged.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180705-whats-the-real-price-of-getting-rid-of...

Posting it here for later reference and other inputs.

73margd
Ago 16, 2018, 6:29 am

On Lake Erie, we painted our white styrofoam floats. Otherwise,seagulls would peck them to bits. We think they mistook white styrofoam for bellies of dead fish:

Marine Worms Are Eating Plastic Now
Michael Allen | August 13, 2018

In the burgeoning plastisphere, these worms are plastivores.

...Tamara Galloway, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom...the finding is bad news for the worms and for the wider marine ecosystem. “Our own research has shown that sediments contaminated with plastic particles take longer to pass through the gut of polychaete worms than normal food, leading to a reduction in growth.”

She adds that since marine worms are an important food source for many fish and wading birds, this could have consequences across the food chain.

These polychaetes, which usually live in muddy sediment in shallow water, were using their strong teeth to crush and burrow into the plastic buoys. White styrofoam particles were scattered throughout their burrows and were clearly visible in their digestive tracts through their transparent bodies...

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/marine-worms-are-eating-plastic-now/

74margd
Sep 9, 2018, 5:10 am

We won’t save the Earth with a better kind of disposable coffee cup
George Monbiot | 6 Sep 2018

...The ideology of consumption is so prevalent that it has become invisible: it is the plastic soup in which we swim...

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/06/save-earth-disposable-coff...

752wonderY
Sep 9, 2018, 6:19 am

>74 margd:. That’s an excellent piece.

762wonderY
Sep 9, 2018, 11:03 pm

Going after the Pacific Garbage Patch

Giant plastic catcher heads for Pacific Ocean clean-up http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45438736

Hoping to eliminate it by 2040.

77MaureenRoy
Editado: Sep 21, 2018, 1:15 pm

On the question of parchment paper versus waxed paper, parchment paper is more expensive because it has to stand up to the high heat of ovens ... it's designed for baking. Otherwise, both are moderately reusable.

An experiment to examine the effects of plastic microparticles on mosquitos, starting with their larvae:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mosquitoes-could-carry-plastic-partic...

78MaureenRoy
Sep 25, 2018, 3:55 pm

The problem is plastic oceans. The solution may be the plastic-eating machine invented by the organization Ocean Cleanup. Their current prototype should have already been deployed to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. If it works, then roughly every seven weeks, the trash will be taken out by boat and recycled. Link:

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/

80Yamanekotei
Feb 6, 2019, 8:16 am

Mexican company converts avocado pits into completely biodegradable plastic
https://www.nowscience.co.uk/single-post/2019/02/03/Mexican-company-converts-avo...

81margd
Feb 8, 2019, 1:48 am

Crayola ColorCycle

Crayola and schools across North America are banding together to help kids understand the importance of their role in protecting the environment. That’s why we launched Crayola ColorCycle. Through this initiative, students in K-12 schools across the continental United States and parts of Canada can collect and repurpose used Crayola markers.

ColorCycle is also a great opportunity for teachers and their students to explore eco-friendly practices. Specially developed standards-based lesson plans are available to enrich instruction and promote lively class discussions...

https://www.crayola.com/colorcycle.aspx

822wonderY
Feb 12, 2019, 12:40 pm

>64 margd: I found milk in glass bottles. Homestead Creameries, in Virginia, deliver to my local Kroger store. They are often sold out of the plain milk; but have a variety of (expensive) flavor variations. The bottle deposit is $2, and I've fished them out of the local community recycling bin for the refund. The milk is advertised as artificial hormone free and is not homogenized. It is delicious!

There is this caution: https://www.foodbeast.com/news/milk-glass-bottles-nutrition/

"By using glass bottles, milk manufacturers open their product up to light oxidation. This reaction between light and nutrients in the milk is much more likely to occur in glass packaging than in traditional plastic or cardboard cartons and causes essential amino acids like tryptophan and tyrosine to break down. These amino acids, which our body cannot produce on its own, are lost as a result.
Other health components of milk degraded by light include vitamin A and riboflavin."

Still worth it.

I'm curious to know the carbon cost of glass versus plastic containers, from manufacturing to transportation costs to number of re-uses.

>58 margd: Metal straws - We've always used a set of aluminum straws colored similarly to the aluminum tumblers that used to be popular. Recently, I bought a stainless steel straw and a straw scrubber brush that was designed specifically to clean this straw. Not that I use it, but I can offer it to guests and children.

832wonderY
Editado: Feb 16, 2019, 10:02 am

a BBC story

BP: Plastic ban 'could have unintended consequences'

me: Yes, there are definitely market costs in switching back to other materials. But practices and marketing (bottled water as convenience, not health/safety) need to be examined as well. Further, BP has nothing to say about the long-term environmental costs of plastics let loose.
This is such an irresponsible public statement.

84margd
Mar 10, 2019, 2:56 pm

Some more ideas:

A relatively painless guide to cutting plastic out of your life
You already carry a reusable grocery bag, straw, and water bottle. Are you ready to take your fight against plastic to the next level?
Elizabeth Segran

https://www.fastcompany.com/90312169/a-totally-achievable-relatively-painless-gu...

852wonderY
Mar 10, 2019, 3:24 pm

>84 margd:. Ew! The solution is not to buy more stuff!

86LibraryCin
Mar 10, 2019, 9:30 pm

This is something that's been bugging me for a while. I no longer buy cow's milk, but either coconut, soy, or oat milk.

ALL of the alternative milks come in those waxy cardboard jugs, but they all have little plastic caps where you are to pour from! And, in addition to the plastic cap, there is a plastic sealer that seals it until you are ready to open it and start pouring.

Whatever happened to just opening the "side" of the top of the container and pouring it out that way? Why the "need" for those plastic caps! It's been driving me nuts for a while now. :-(

87margd
Mar 12, 2019, 4:34 am

The best responses to the #Trashtag challenge
Cheryl Santa Maria | March 11th 2019

The #Trashtag challenge is encouraging people to clean-up public spaces.

...The concept is simple: Share your before and after photos of litter clean-ups of parks, beaches and other public spaces...

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/the-trashtag-meme-is-making-th...

88margd
Mar 25, 2019, 3:00 pm

Cigarette Butts Are Everywhere. Is Banning Filters a Viable Solution?
Robin Kazmier |March 07, 2019

Many experts think a ban is the only way to end this pervasive form of litter. The environmental argument is becoming clearer, but there’s also a strong public health case.

...Cigarette filters are typically made of about 12,000 strands of cellulose acetate, the same plastic used in sunglasses. The material breaks apart when exposed to ultraviolet rays, but it can take a long time to biodegrade—if it does at all. Used filters also carry hundreds of chemicals, including heavy metals like lead and cadmium, which can leach into runoff water that’s discharged from sewers, even if the butts themselves are captured.

...Studies have shown leachate can be deadly to a prey species of crustacean known as a water flea, as well as to three species of tidepool snails. Depending on its concentration, the leachate can stunt development of frog embryos and mosquito larvae, or kill them outright. Yet another study showed that the leachate of just one cigarette butt in a liter of water could kill half the fish swimming in it.

...Direct contact with the butts can pose threats to birds, though. Indiscriminate eaters may consume butts and even choke on them. In cities, birds are also known to weave cigarette butts into their nests.

...a public health argument can also be made (for a ban): While cigarette filters block larger tar particles, they might also make smoking more dangerous to smokers.

The Surgeon General’s 2014 report on smoking concluded that the risk of adenocarcinoma, a type of lung cancer, increased after the use of filters jumped in the 1950s. Studies show that filters allow smokers to inhale more deeply from cigarettes, drawing carcinogens deeper into the lung tissue.

...Another challenge to a filter ban... is “enormous opposition” from the tobacco industry...

https://www.audubon.org/news/cigarette-butts-are-everywhere-banning-filters-viab...

89margd
Abr 6, 2019, 7:22 am

Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. 2018. Life Cycle Assessment of grocery carrier bags. Environmental Project no. 1985. February 2018. 144 p. https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf
_______________________________________________________________________

Your cotton tote is pretty much the worst replacement for a plastic bag
Zoë SchlangerApril 1, 2019

...In a 2018 life-cycle assessment, Denmark’s ministry of environment and food agreed with previous similar studies, finding that classic plastic shopping bags have the least environmental impact. This assessment does not take marine litter into account—so as far as that gigantic problem is concerned, plastics are almost certainly the worst, since they don’t break down on a timescale meaningful to human or animal life.

But when taking into account other factors, like the impact of manufacturing on climate change, ozone depletion, water use, air pollution, and human toxicity, those classic, plastic shopping bags are actually the most benign of the current common options.

...assuming that the LDPE bags are reused once as a trash bin liner before being incinerated (incineration is the best possible disposal for these bags, according to the report).

...The report also assumed the cotton could not be recycled, since very little infrastructure exists for textile recycling.

...regardless of the bag you choose, what is likely of vastly greater importance is what you choose to put in it and how you carry it around: Eating less meat, cycling or walking to the store, and buying locally-made grocery products are all likely to make a bigger difference in lowering your personal contribution to environmental problems.

The simplest advice for individuals seems to be this: Whatever you have in your house now—be it a pile of cotton totes, or a jumble of plastic bags—don’t throw them out. Keep using them until they fall apart. Whatever the material, use it as a garbage bag once you can’t use it for other purposes any more. And whatever you do, try not to buy new ones.

Plus, knowing how many resources it takes to make a piece of cotton, treat fabric items in your home like infinitely reusable resources worth their carbon-mitigating weight in gold. Find new uses for old clothes, use textiles until they wear out, and when you want something new, buy vintage.

https://qz.com/1585027/when-it-comes-to-climate-change-cotton-totes-might-be-wor...

90rastaphrog
Abr 7, 2019, 9:08 am

Labels about being made from "ocean plastic" have started showing up on bottles of Windex.

https://www.packworld.com/article/sustainability/recycled-content/windex-glass-c...

91John5918
Abr 15, 2019, 1:08 am

Diageo to remove plastic from Guinness multipacks (Guardian)

Drinks firm will replace holders with 100% recyclable and biodegradable cardboard packs

922wonderY
Abr 16, 2019, 12:49 pm

Blown by the wind, 'microplastic' pollution discovered in pristine mountain peaks

What it doesn't mention is air quality away from this remote sample location. So we must assume it is collecting in our lungs as well.

94jjwilson61
Abr 29, 2019, 8:58 am

>93 John5918: Why is the focus on bottled water and not bottled soft drinks or juice or tea? The article even suggests that sugar taxes might be bad because they are shifting people away from bottled sodas to bottled water?? I don't get it.

95margd
Abr 29, 2019, 10:24 am

Or milk?

Milkmen are returning to London as millennials order glass milk bottles in a bid to slash plastic waste (1:33)
Ella Wills | 25 February 2018

The catalyst for the surge in millennials using glass bottles is David Attenborough's Blue Planet II, according to one milkman...

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/milkmen-are-returning-to-london-as-millen...

96John5918
Abr 29, 2019, 10:35 am

>94 jjwilson61:, >95 margd:

I particularly object to buying water in plastic bottles or indeed in any bottles when it should be available free from the tap, or from a drinking fountain, as it was when I were a lad. Where I live now we don't have mains water but we don't buy bottled water either - we collect rainwater and we boil and filter it.

An anecdote - about ten year ago I was evaluating a project in a remote part of Sudan, and they had chartered a small aircraft with a very limited payload capability to take me in. They had to send some food for me, and as I watched them loading I realised they were also putting a whole carton of bottled water on board as well, 40 one-litre bottles weighing 1 kg each. "Don't you have a water filter at your camp?" I asked. "Yes", they said, "but consultants always refuse to drink filtered water and demand bottled water." I replied, "Give me one bottle to drink on the flight, take off the rest, and put 39 kg of something useful on board!"

As for milkmen and glass milk bottles, again this is what we had when I was growing up, with the milk being delivered in electric vehicles. It's good that it's coming back again, but strange that it is now a new millennial fad.

97margd
Editado: Abr 29, 2019, 10:57 am

Milk is sold in plastic bags in Canada, which I assume has less plastic than jugs? (Bags are inserted and served from a reusable pitcher.)
Wonder what the tradeoffs are in terms of C emissions for glass v plastic?

(We had glass bottles delivered when I was very young--it was not homogenized and certainly not deposited in a tiny cooler as in #95. Cream rose to the top--and froze some days, popping off the top. Sometimes it tasted "off"--Mum would taste it and pronounce that the cows got into the weeds again. (Yeah, right.) Then there was the powdered (skim) milk, which, being cheaper my mum used to mix into the 'real stuff'... Blech.)

Why Do Canadians Drink Bagged Milk?
Lisa Jackson June 20, 2018

...Until the late 1960s, milk was packaged in heavy, breakable glass bottles, racking up big bills for the dairy industry to transport. Soon, alternatives started arriving on the market, such as cardboard cartons, plastic jugs and eventually, plastic bags.

As the story goes, DuPont, a Canadian food and packaging company, unveiled thin, plastic bags that could be used to store and sell milk in 1967. Gradually, the dairy industry began ditching glass bottles and adopted this newfangled plastic pouch, which was far more practical and cost-efficient. Plus, Canada’s conversion to the metric system in the 1970s made the switch a no-brainer: while plastic jugs and cardboard cartons had to be redesigned and manufactured to be sold in metric units, plastic bags could easily be re-sized.

Today, it’s estimated that 75 to 80 percent of the milk sold in Ontario is bagged, and across Canada, about 50 percent of milk drinkers buy the bagged variety. Nonetheless, our American neighbours find this practice a tad strange, and south of the border, most buy milk packaged in jugs and cartons.

But we’re not the only ones in the world who are rocking the plastic udder. Milk bags can be found in many other countries, such as South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Hungary and China. In Israel, there’s a Kankomat: soft, plastic milk bags with a knife built into a plastic container. So when it comes to milk, Canadians may march to the beat of their own drum, but there are many other nations playing alongside in the band...

https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/great-canadian-cookbook/blog/why-do-canadians-d...

98John5918
Abr 29, 2019, 11:34 am

>97 margd: Milk bags can be found in many other countries

And Kenya.

992wonderY
Editado: Abr 29, 2019, 11:42 am

I recently found unhomogenized milk at Krogers. Returnable glass containers was a definite bonus. The taste is well worth the additional cost. I too was raised on powdered milk - Double yech!

It is true that certain weeds change the taste of the milk - especially alliums.

Nothing tastes as good in plastic. I keep a glass jug in the fridge for cold water, and I usually carry my own beverages. This weekend, I was caught without and (because I was coughing) needed water at a small food vendor. I was offered a Styrofoam cup. Dang!

100Cynfelyn
Abr 29, 2019, 12:58 pm

>97 margd: "Canada’s conversion to the metric system in the 1970s made the switch a no-brainer"

Completely off-topic, but did everything, but everything, go metric?

The Wikipedia article on the metrification of the UK is about four foot long, and we're a still long way off. Most things are now metric, but some of the most basic things in life are still in imperial: babies are born in pounds and ounces, road distances and speeds are in miles and mph, and beer and milk can be in either imperial or metric. Although I've yet to see a metric glass milk bottle (okay, it's a fair cop, I have now because I just googled them, but I've yet to see one in the wild).
Ireland (km/h): https://www.joe.ie/news/green-card-ireland-659968
Northern Ireland (mph): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42180074

101margd
Abr 29, 2019, 2:56 pm

>100 Cynfelyn: I think everything's metric in Canada except perhaps grocers will also measure meat in pounds? Imperial measurements might be used for some exports to the US?

As student in Canada, I may have had the last physics class that used foot-pounds. :( I left a job with Ontario government to come to the US just as Cdn metric conversion was well underway. I remember almost sobbing when we were advised to commence converting to metric TIME (a joke, but not funny to long-suffering Canucks at that point).

Friends and relatives over there always smile a bit when I expose myself as American by using degrees Fahrenheit or miles. They've all learned to think metric. My American kids have a better grasp of the metric system than I do. I think they were taught both in school?

>99 2wonderY: We're on well water, so filters are required. I mostly make ice tea in my refrigerated glass pitcher: hibiscus now, but fresh mint and lemonbalm from the garden--soon, I hope! Youngest son is on city water: he filters chlorine, which he's never gotten used to!

102LibraryCin
Editado: Abr 29, 2019, 9:46 pm

>97 margd: Milk is sold in plastic bags in Canada, which I assume has less plastic than jugs? (Bags are inserted and served from a reusable pitcher.)

I grew up in Southern Saskatchewan in the 70s and 80s and never saw this until - I don't recall how old I was - at my aunt's place in Calgary, Alberta. But, by the time I moved to Calgary in 1990, I don't think I've ever seen it here.

So, it's been probably 30+ years since I've seen this and even that long ago, I never saw it when I was growing up in a rural area.

103LibraryCin
Abr 29, 2019, 9:46 pm

Oh, and measurements in Canada....

For Imperial, height and weight (feet/inches and pounds) are mostly used (though on official things like driver's licenses, it's metric, but I have no idea the conversion. I use Imperial for those). Also, baking: teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups.

104wifilibrarian
Abr 30, 2019, 7:02 pm

>86 LibraryCin: I guess it's the ability to reseal the container, if you had to cut them open the containers contents won't last as long as if you can reseal them with the plastic top. But tetra paks aren't good. They are made of so many types of material it takes a lot energy to turn them into something else that's reusable, and they don't get turned back into tetra paks. Unlike something like glass which can mostly be made back into glass. Even some plastic can be made back into plastic rather than a downgraded material. Big problem for milk alternatives as they all seem to come in this type of packaging. It is possible to make nut milk at home I've heard.
https://treadingmyownpath.com/2014/09/11/why-tetra-paks-arent-green-even-though-...

105LibraryCin
Editado: Abr 30, 2019, 10:13 pm

>104 wifilibrarian: If you think about 2L waxy/cardboard containers of cow's milk, they used to come in (maybe still do - at least in Western Canada - the same type of containers that the alternate milks come in, but you just "fold open" the "corner" of the container. (I don't even know how to describe it!) Did that not last as long? I'm not sure, but I just don't see a need to add the plastic cap.

Here's a photo of what I'm thinking of:



So, you can see it's open in the photo, but you just fold it back closed again. Not a perfect seal, but I don't remember there being a problem with that type of opening.

ETA: Is that waxy cardboard what you meant by tetra pack? Maybe it is. I just looked at the link. Sigh...

106wifilibrarian
Abr 30, 2019, 10:54 pm

>104 wifilibrarian: yes those seals seemed to work well enough, I remember them for normal cows milk here in NZ but now you'd only get some yoghurt in those containers. Maybe food manufacturers wanted a tighter seal on their containers that could be sitting in fridges for days, just guessing.

I think the glossy paper for these cartons won't be recyclable as it's got a layer of plastic to make it food safe. When there's any mixing of materials, like those pesky lids you mention, it makes it a harder to recycle.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-to-recycling-milk-cartons-2017-2?r=US&amp...

Tetra paks have three layers, the one touching the liquid being foil. Soy and nut milks are often in tetra paks.

Tetra paks aren't recyclable in our whole country, but we do recycle them by growing native seedlings that we're using to replant a forest where I live.

In NZ anything that's difficult to recycle is no longer being recycled so I imagine this is happening the world over with China no longer importing the rest of the world's recycling.

107Jarandel
mayo 1, 2019, 1:10 am

>106 wifilibrarian: Instructions for sorting items for recycling haven't changed here (France) on account of the Chinese ban as far as I know, in the two places where I've had motive for checking them out since. Though local instructions do vary regarding some item types.

I do not know if China was an outlet or to what extent. If it was I suspect the bulk of what was formerly offloaded there (less easily recyclable plastics ? cardboard ? a fair amount of paper was already headed for the local paper-making industry afaik since the law mandates the use of a proportion of recycled fibers in a number of paper types) might be silently redirected toward incineration for energy & sometime heating of suitable buildings local to the plants.

Probably not what most people have in mind when they sort their recyclables but better than landfills or burning for the sake of burning I guess. And unavoidable to some extent as long as some keep mingling an amount of 'aspirational recycling' with what really should be in there according to the abilities of their local recycling processes.

1082wonderY
mayo 1, 2019, 11:14 am

Back into the seas

How a 90-Year-Old Quest for Plankton Uncovered Early Plastic Pollution

In 1925, on a fruitless whale-watching expedition somewhere in the Southern Ocean, Sir Alister Hardy had a bright idea. The British zoologist had been tasked with investigating whale populations while aboard the RSS Discovery but he was having trouble spotting any cetaceans. Hardy soon realized something: The smartest way to find something as big as a whale was to find something as small as plankton.

Hardy needed to find a way to track and evaluate changes in the abundance and distribution of plankton in order to understand anything about what preyed on them. Hardy’s solution, called the Continuous Plankton Recorder, would exceed his expectations over the rest of the 20th century, not just in tracking populations of plankton, but also in archiving the abrupt rise of plastic pollution across the world’s oceans.

Now operated by the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, England, the CPR survey is one of the longest running marine biological monitoring programs in the world, according to a 2003 history of the survey. Since 1948, volunteer barges and merchant ships have carried CPRs in their wake in pursuit of an international chronicling of the earth’s most microscopic species. But in recent years, this project has moonlighted as an archivist of something more sinister and considerably less decomposable, according to a study published April 16, 2019, in Nature Communications. In 1957, a CPR recorded the first known example of plastic pollution in the ocean: a plastic piece of trawl twine. In 1965, a plastic bag.

The survey nearly faced obsoletion in the 1980s, when scientists considered such monitoring to be as weak a science as stamp collecting (a real zinger by British standards), according to the survey’s history. Thanks to government cuts, the survey was officially closed in 1989, four years after Sir Alister Hardy’s death. For several years, it had been operated by a skeletal staff working outside the bounds of an official laboratory. But it reopened soon, thanks to a rescue package from the U.K. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food.

Since then, the survey has gained appreciation from the scientific community for its tireless decades of work, monitoring the world’s plankton populations even when no one quite asked it to. Since the first CPR tow in 1931, the humble device has traveled over four million miles and collected close to 190,000 samples, according to the survey’s history. “It’s such a simple design and doesn’t really have anything flashy or new, so people still suggest we should move on,” Ostle says. “But having a consistent dataset is hugely important if you want to look at big shifts.”

109John5918
mayo 9, 2019, 12:34 am

Scotland launches 20p deposit scheme for drinks cans and bottles (Guardian)

Refundable charge to be added to glass and plastic bottles and drinks cans sold in any shop

1102wonderY
mayo 9, 2019, 8:22 am

Plastic pollution in worlds' oceans could have $2.5 trillion impact, study says

The study, published in Science Direct, notes the negative impact on "almost all marine ecosystem services," including areas such as fisheries, recreation and heritage. A decline of one to five percent in marine ecosystem service delivery "equates to an annual loss of $500–$2500 billion in the value of benefits derived from marine ecosystem services," the researchers wrote in the study.

The research also estimates the economic cost at between $3,300 and $33,000 per ton of marine plastic per year, negatively impacting environmental value.

“Our calculations are a first stab at ‘putting a price on plastic’" the study's lead author, Dr. Nicola Beaumont, an environmental economist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, said in an interview with The Guardian. "We know we have to do more research to refine, but we are convinced that already they are an underestimate of the real costs to global human society.”

The estimate did not take into account the impact on sectors of the global economy such as tourism, transport, fisheries and human health, the researchers wrote.

“Recycling a ton of plastic costs us hundreds against the costs of thousands if we let it into the marine environment,” Beaumont said in her interview with The Guardian, adding that she hopes reducing plastic use can be done using techniques that are similar to the way countries and corporations trade carbon credits.

111John5918
mayo 12, 2019, 1:10 am

Nearly all countries agree to stem flow of plastic waste into poor nations (Guardian)

US reportedly opposed deal, which follows concerns that villages in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia had ‘turned into dumpsites’

112John5918
mayo 22, 2019, 12:20 am

UK government to bring in new controls on plastic items (Guardian)

The measures cover plastic straws, plastic drinks stirrers and plastic cotton buds...

113margd
Jun 4, 2019, 6:17 am

Great idea--this is one bit of plastic I always pick up--and snip open before discarding/recycling.

Florida brewery unveils six-pack rings that feed sea turtles rather than kill them
Tristan Baurick | Apr 23, 2019

You've probably seen the heart-wrenching photos of the damage plastic six-pack rings can do to marine life. They tangle the wings of sea birds, choke seals and warp the shells of growing sea turtles.

A Florida brewery has a solution: six-pack rings that can either biodegrade or serve as a snack for wildlife. After years of research and development, the rings - made of wheat and barley - are now popping up in south Florida stores...

https://www.nola.com/environment/2018/05/six-pack_rings_that_feed_sea_t.html

114margd
Jun 4, 2019, 6:25 am

What is an ecobrick?
20 March 2019

...An ecobrick is a building block made entirely from unrecyclable plastic. It’s created by filling a plastic bottle with clean, dry plastic until it’s packed tightly and can be used as a building block.

Ecobricks can be used in all sorts of sustainable building projects, which makes them a great way to dispose of plastic waste that would otherwise end up in landfill, and potentially, the ocean.

...The plastic in an ecobrick is very durable and will never break down, making it an ideal building material. They’re used in developing countries to construct furniture and even buildings, and they’re also used in the UK to build children’s playgrounds.

In South Africa there are many sustainable construction projects underway, including outdoor classrooms, community gardens and a composting toilet, and in Guatemala there are a number of schools built from the plastic bottle bricks...

https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/news/news-archive/2019/what-is-an-ecobrick

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.ecobricks.org/dropoff/

115margd
Jun 28, 2019, 7:12 am

A new material that's part plastic and part rock is forming on this Portuguese island
Christian Cotroneo | June 25, 2019

...In a new study, published in Science of The Total Environment, Gestoso and his colleagues describe "plasticrust" as a synthetic moss covering huge swathes of the island's stony shoreline — and even sporting bright, new and terrible colors.*

In fact, the researchers estimate plasticrust taints nearly 10 percent of rocky surfaces on the Madeira shoreline. At this rate, plasticrust is poised to become a part of our geological record... (margd: the other candidate marking Anthropocene in sedimentary record is nuclear fallout.)

https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/plasticrust-madei...
_________________________________________________________

* IgnacioGestoso et al. 2019. Plasticrusts: A new potential threat in the Anthropocene's rocky shores. Science of The Total Environment. Volume 687, 15 October 2019, Pages 413-415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.123 .
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969719326919

Highlights

• New plastic pollution encrusting the intertidal rocky shores
• Novel pathway for entrance of plastics into marine food web
• Potential new marine debris category in monitoring programs

Abstract

Plastic debris is one of the most extensive pollution problems our planet is facing today and a particular concern for marine environment conservation. The dimension of the problem is so large that it is possible our current era will generate an anthropogenic marker horizon of plastic in earth's sedimentary record. Here we present a new type of plastic pollution, the ‘plasticrusts’, plastic debris encrusting the rocky surface, recently discovered in the intertidal rocky shores of a volcanic Atlantic island. The potential impact that these new ‘plasticrusts’ may have needs to be further explored, as e.g. potential ingestion by intertidal organisms could suppose a new pathway for entrance of plastics into marine food webs. Consequently, its inclusion as a potential new marine debris category in management and monitoring actions should be pondered.

...

116MaureenRoy
Jun 29, 2019, 4:09 pm

Interesting ideas here, about ecobricks, etc., but I need to see some data-based opinions from the relevant sciences before I would ever recommend such items. There are *many* greenwashing "solutions" afoot.

117margd
Jun 29, 2019, 4:20 pm

Eco-building materials have track record, e.g., Trex. Our deck is wearing well going on 15 years. 25 year warranty, I think.

I'm curious how those plastic roads in India are doing.

118John5918
Editado: Jul 4, 2019, 2:30 am

An Australian railway has launched a trial of railway sleepers (known as "ties" in the USA) made from recycled plastic and agricutural waste.

Victorian Government launches trial of plastic rail sleepers in Melbourne (Rail Express)

Each kilometre of track that uses the sleepers translates to roughly 64 tonnes of plastic saved from landfills...

119jjwilson61
Jul 4, 2019, 12:44 pm

Will that keep tiny bits of plastic from getting into the oceans though? Given that the alternative is a landfill. I suppose it saves whatever material was being used for the sleepers before, I've seen both wood and cement but this thread is about plastic in the oceans.

120John5918
Jul 4, 2019, 3:16 pm

>119 jjwilson61:

Well, I think it's a way of saying that a large amount of plastic which would have been floating around the environment, some of which would almost certainly have ended up in the oceans, is now locked up at least for 50 years (the expected life expectancy of the sleepers). I think any form of recycling prevents some plastic from reaching the oceans. It doesn't negate the need to simply use less plastic in the first place, but given the amount which is already in circulation, better to recycle it than to dispose of it as waste.

121jjwilson61
Jul 4, 2019, 6:58 pm

Pieces will still get chipped off over time and enter the environment that way. It may be that burying it in a landfill is a better way to keep it in place.

122John5918
Editado: Jul 5, 2019, 1:28 am

>121 jjwilson61:

I immediatey think of the landfill on the causeway at Mombasa which is leaking plastic into the ocean every day! And eaten by seagulls.

123margd
Jul 5, 2019, 1:28 pm

Wherever you are in the world, you won't have to pay for a drink of water when you are thirsty.

blueW.org is a unique community-based program dedicated to promoting municipal tap water as a healthy, easily accessible alternative to purchasing bottled drinks. Our efforts help you to avoid sugary and caffeinated drinks, reduce single-use plastic waste, and publicly appreciate the hard work of municipal water providers. We provide mapped details on where to find clean, free, public and commercial sources to fill your reusable bottle without compelling you to make additional purchases - just look for the blueW.org decal in participating shop and restaurant windows.

Search the map below to find more than 27,000 water bottle refill locations - and we're growing!

http://www.bluew.org/

124AdamSimons
Jul 6, 2019, 3:48 pm

Este usuario ha sido eliminado por spam.

125MaureenRoy
Editado: Jul 8, 2019, 5:35 pm

Adam, thank you so much for all your volunteer time at an ocean conservancy. I agree that whether or not plastic is created or "recycled," it starts disintegrating and going everywhere. On one of our threads earlier, I posted information from the phys.org website which shows a way that has been developed to transform plastic into non-polluting breakdown products.

Found it. I had posted the following link earlier on the "Green Kitchens" thread in our Sustainability group. So here it is again, a potential solution to plastic pollution in the oceans:

https://phys.org/news/2018-04-plastic-eating-enzyme.html

126margd
Jul 19, 2019, 9:08 am

At least they only get ten plastic straws for their $15...

Trump's campaign takes a swipe at 'liberal paper straws' and sells Trump straws for $15
David Choi | 7/19/2019

https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-straws-sold-campaign-plastic-laser-paper-...

127LibraryCin
Editado: Jul 19, 2019, 12:39 pm

>126 margd: omg! Even if someone is in denial about climate change, why is it so hard to see that pollution (plastic in the water, or any other type) is a bad thing and it's a good idea to do what we can to clean it up!?

ETA: I should add that I've commented here before reading the article, but I will.

128Yamanekotei
Jul 19, 2019, 2:28 pm

>126 margd: They suck! (Sorry, I shouldn't be fooling around, but needed a chuckle.)

129margd
Editado: Jul 20, 2019, 7:09 am

>128 Yamanekotei: If we didn't laugh, we'd cry... Thank goodness for Randy Rainbow! And places like Bali. :)

Bali rolls out ban on single-use plastics to chop ocean waste (1:12)
AFP news agency | Jul 19, 2019

Bali is rolling out a ban on plastic straws and bags to rid the holiday island of waste as Indonesia scales up efforts to tackle its trash problem. Millions of tourists are drawn to Bali every year, but the tourist hub has recently become a poster child for plastic pollution in the country. In a first for Indonesia, Bali announced a comprehensive ban on single-use plastics last year, but full implementation was in doubt until last week, when the Bali government prevailed in a supreme court challenge from the Indonesian Plastic Recycling Association (ADUPI).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m38lNUHoiO0

130margd
Editado: Jul 20, 2019, 7:22 am

The crummiest summer job I ever endured was in a non-union factory--an extremely illustrative experience for a middle class girl, you bet.
Once I was assigned to a compression molding machine making plastic butter dishes. (The regular worker was off, having lost a finger in the thing!)
Anyway, ours was a very similar process, except that the plastic beads were new, not recycled shreds.

6 Roof and Pavement Tiles from Plastic Waste (10:08)
Earth Titan | Jan 23, 2019

Plastic waste is becoming a scourge of the earth. Lack of recycling has led to massive islands being created in the ocean made of plastic. New eco friendly plastic & sand tiled houses are starting to be a common sight in Africa. Containers, bags, soda holders and all other types of plastic get wrapped around sea life or ingested leading to their demise. A few individuals though have taking it upon themselves to create machines and processes to create something useful from waste plastic. On this episode we'll how to to recycle waste plastic into paving tiles from 6 different sources. Pavement tiles made from plastic waste only benefit everyone and have no downside to them. Whether it's roof tiles or pavements made from plastic waste these processes will remove plastic from the environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckWqR1JD158

1312wonderY
Jul 20, 2019, 5:03 pm

It doesn't remove the plastics from the environment. It shifts them into more stable and lasting useful forms. But the plastic still exists and will ultimately break down again into tiny polluting pieces that screw up the environment and the biosphere.

132margd
Jul 24, 2019, 2:46 pm

Though one project in Canada, sounds like Europe and especially India lead the way in using recycled plastic in constructing roads. A replacement for bitumen, which will become more expensive as ships switch to cleaner fuels:

Canada’s ‘dinosaur’ roadbuilders giving short-shift to plastics
Jean Sorensen June 15, 2018

The use of plastics in roadbuilding is growing internationally and has shown it can enhance asphalt mixes, adding both strength and longevity

...Green-way or green-wash?

More challenging are the complex plastics that are found in a range of products ranging from water bottles to carpet. In 2012, the City of Vancouver showed off a pilot project on the Kingsway that used recycled blue-box plastics mixed into the asphalt.

The event, covered by a stream of media, had project engineer Peter Judd (now retired) in a CBC clip claiming one per cent of recycled plastic was used in the mix and the lower melting point resulted in a warm asphalt mix (WAM) thereby reducing energy needs by 20 per cent and emissions by 30 per cent. Approximately 400 kilograms of waste plastic recycled into pellets were shipped to B.C. by producer GreenMantra Technologies from Ontario.

...The application was along sections of the Kingsway, an arterial road that is high traffic and a busy bus route. An attractive feature was the converted pellet wax material could be used in a WAM rather than a hot asphalt mix.

The pilot was considered the first in Canada. But, following the project’s conclusion, virtually nothing has been written on how well the project has held up.

...the paving looked to be standing up well...

A 2016 report by UBC student Sydnie Koch entitled Improving Sustainability Practices by Repurposing City Construction Waste points out the city’s Kent asphalt plant and production facility is unable to utilize 100,000 tonnes of road waste annually and is limited to a 25 per cent RAP (recycled asphalt pavement) content because of plant emission limitations and feeder equipment that limits production. The report makes no mention of recycled plastics.

...GreenMantra (is known for taking many of the discarded plastic items ranging from plastic bags through to carpeting and turning them into a wax pellet that can be used as a binder in materials including asphalt.

“Things such as milk jugs, grocery bags, containers and carpet are all feed stock,” he said. “These are everyday items that would otherwise go to landfill.”

The process is not as easy as it sounds as each plastic product is made using a different formula. The grades are marked on the bottom of the items (usually with a number) which designates the formula used to make the item and helps organizations like GreenMantra break down the item into a wax-like pellet.

“We handle No. 2, No. 4. and No. 5 items and will be doing No.6,” he said.

Di Mondo said after the Vancouver project, the company’s product went mainly into roofing asphalt which grew at a faster rate than the paving side.

He said now that the company had developed the roofing side of the business, there was the intent to again further pursue the paving business.

Europe racing ahead

While Canada is just edging into the use of more complex plastics, Europe and other parts of the world are racing ahead.

...Emergent Scottish company MacRebur has developed technology that reduces waste plastic into a form that can be mixed with asphalt. The three additives are: MR6, MR8 and MR10. MR6 is designed to increase strength and retain asphalt shape in slow lanes or at bus stops and is effective in hot climates, while MR10 increases flexibility and resistance in colder climates. MR8 was designed as a bitumen replacement as concerns rise about bitumen.

The MacRebur product has been used in the U.K. with councils in Enfield, Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway and Northumbria. MacRebur, in press coverage, claimed it had upcoming trials in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and Canada.

The bitumen replacement is a concern as countries see future shortages and rising costs. On Jan. 1, 2020, the International Maritime Organization will have new rules in effect which limits fuel sulphur to half a per cent, forcing companies to upgrade their technologies leading to lighter crude oil feedstock that does not lend itself to bitumen production.

India is the acknowledged leader; it put down its first waste plastic road in 2002 mainly through the work of two brothers K. Ahmed and Rasool Khan who set up KK Plastic Waste Management in Bangalore. India has also published a code for the hot and cold mixing of plastic waste at plants. Since its first road, according to World Highways Magazine, KK Plastic’s product has been used on 3,000 kilometres of Bangalore road with its KK Poly Blend mixed at a rate of eight per cent to bitumen.

Other authorities in India are now following suit and using plastic waste additives.

Plastic road sections

A Netherland company has gone completely plastic; KWS, part of the VolkerWessels group, has devised PlasticRoad, which consists of staple-shaped arch sections that are prefabricated and placed onsite. The sections have hollow interiors which allow for easy access to infrastructure. A trial project, a bicycle lane, is planned in 2018 with the company claiming they last three times longer than asphalt roads and are low maintenance.

https://canada.constructconnect.com/joc/news/infrastructure/2018/06/canadas-dino...

133LibraryCin
Jul 25, 2019, 12:59 am

>132 margd: I'm curious how the plastic in the roads will hold up to Canadian winters.

134margd
Jul 25, 2019, 8:19 am

Sounds like something they're doing converts the plastic to a wax-like substance and even then they diddle with it for hot and warm climes, e.g. Scottish company adds "MR10 (which) increases flexibility and resistance in colder climates." Still, places testing roads with recycled roads don't have the coldest winters in the world? (UK, Vancouver BC, Netherlands, India, Middle East).

Using recycled plastics as a (partial?) substitute for bitumen in roads reminds me that they both have oil as a progenitor, so not really so outlandish a use as it sounds initially.

135LibraryCin
Jul 25, 2019, 12:10 pm

>134 margd: Using recycled plastics as a (partial?) substitute for bitumen in roads reminds me that they both have oil as a progenitor, so not really so outlandish a use as it sounds initially.

Good point. I had also noticed that most of the places testing may not be as cold.

136MaureenRoy
Jul 30, 2019, 8:59 pm

Prize awarded for a new method that removes microplastics from water:

https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-student-science-award-microplastics-4745270-Jul2...

137margd
Ago 9, 2019, 8:09 am

Seabirds that eat plastic—and live—have major health problems
Stephen Leahy | August 2, 2019

Seabirds that ingest any amount of plastic have significant health troubles, a new study has found. Most research on the impacts of plastic on marine life has been focused on mortality; this is one of the first on the non-lethal impacts of plastic on living creatures.

The young birds in the study had impaired kidney function and raised cholesterol levels, plus reduced body mass, wing length, head and bill length....

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/seabirds-eat-plastic-majo...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jennifer L. Lavers et al. 2019. Clinical Pathology of Plastic Ingestion in Marine Birds and Relationships with Blood Chemistry. Environ. Sci. Technol. Volume 53, Issue 15. July 15, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b02098 . https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.9b02098

Abstract
Pollution of the environment with plastic debris is a significant and rapidly expanding threat to biodiversity due to its abundance, durability, and persistence. Current knowledge of the negative effects of debris on wildlife is largely based on consequences that are readily observed, such as entanglement or starvation. Many interactions with debris, however, result in less visible and poorly documented sublethal effects, and as a consequence, the true impact of plastic is underestimated. We investigated the sublethal effects of ingested plastic in Flesh-footed Shearwaters (Ardenna carneipes) using blood chemistry parameters as a measure of bird health. The presence of plastic had a significant negative effect on bird morphometrics and blood calcium levels and a positive relationship with the concentration of uric acid, cholesterol, and amylase. That we found blood chemistry parameters being related to plastic pollution is one of the few examples to date of the sublethal effects of marine debris and highlights that superficially healthy individuals may still experience the negative consequences of ingesting plastic debris. Moving beyond crude measures, such as reduced body mass, to physiological parameters will provide much needed insight into the nuanced and less visible effects of plastic.

138margd
Ago 17, 2019, 9:11 am

Arctic sea ice loaded with microplastics
Marlowe Hood | August 16, 2019

...a large quantity of microplastic fragments and fibres are transported by winds into the Arctic region, and then hitch a ride Earthward in snowflakes.

At the same time, several million tonnes of plastics find their way each year directly into oceans, where waves and the Sun break them down into microscopic bits over time.

...the low salinity and thickness of the ice left no doubt that it was more than a year old, and had originated in the northern Arctic Ocean.

The concentration of plastic bits in the ice was far higher than in surrounding water.

"As water freezes it forms crystals," explained Jacob Strock, another member of the team from the University of Rhode Island.

"Water passes through these crystals as they form," he told AFP. "The ice acts like a sieve, filtering out particles in the water."

Tiny plants and animals, called plankton, also get trapped in the ice. Some plankton ingest the plastic bits, which then work their way up the ocean food chain.

...In the last two decades, the world has produced as much plastic as during the rest of history, and the industry is set to grow by four percent a year until 2025, according to a recent report by Grand View Research...

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-arctic-sea-ice-microplastics.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Melanie Bergmann et al. White and wonderful? Microplastics prevail in snow from the Alps to the Arctic, Science Advances (2019). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax1157 Full article at https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/8/eaax1157

Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous, and considerable quantities prevail even in the Arctic; however, there are large knowledge gaps regarding pathways to the North. To assess whether atmospheric transport plays a role, we analyzed snow samples from ice floes in Fram Strait. For comparison, we investigated snow samples from remote (Swiss Alps) and populated (Bremen, Bavaria) European sites. MPs were identified by Fourier transform infrared imaging in 20 of 21 samples. The MP concentration of Arctic snow was significantly lower (0 to 14.4 × 103 N liter−1) than European snow (0.19 × 103 to 154 × 103 N liter−1) but still substantial. Polymer composition varied strongly, but varnish, rubber, polyethylene, and polyamide dominated overall. Most particles were in the smallest size range indicating large numbers of particles below the detection limit of 11 μm. Our data highlight that atmospheric transport and deposition can be notable pathways for MPs meriting more research.

1392wonderY
Ago 20, 2019, 12:34 pm

1402wonderY
Ago 20, 2019, 4:29 pm

A new category of plastic debris - pyroplastics

New plastic pollution formed by fire looks like rocks

About a year ago, Turner decided to study the phenomenon more systematically. While he received samples from Scotland to British Columbia after putting a call out on social media, his analysis ultimately focused on a collection of litter gathered along Whitsand Bay, a large, protected embayment that contains some of Cornwall’s best beaches. After taking some size and density measurements, his team examined the plastics’ chemical makeup using X-ray and infrared spectroscopy.

The “stones,” they learned, were made of polyethylene and polyproplyene, two of the most common forms of plastic. They also contained a smorgasbord of chemical additives, but the one that jumped out at the researchers most was lead, which often appeared alongside chromium.

Regardless, pyroplastics are out in the world now, and Turner wonders what sorts of environmental hazards they could pose. Several of his samples contained worm tubes that appeared to be enriched in lead, suggesting animals can ingest the plastic and may be introducing heavy metals into the food chain.

Turner has shared some samples with a colleague in the United States who is conducting additional analyses to see whether they contain harmful organic compounds as well.

141margd
Dic 10, 2019, 11:44 am

Filtering Microplastics from Your Machines: Ontario town to test potential solution for keeping microplastics out of the Great Lakes
Sharon Oosthoek | June 13, 2019

Editor’s note: A lot of commenters have asked how to get a filter. The one used in the specific study is from Filtrol (a MN company). There’s also a Canadian company, Environmental Enhancements, that makes similar filters...

...Next month, 100 households in Parry Sound, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay, will install special filters on their washing machines. The filters – roughly twice the size of a standard water bottle – are designed to remove plastic microfibers from the machines’ waste water.

It’s part of a joint research project by the University of Toronto and local environmental group Georgian Bay Forever to reduce the number of tiny plastic threads released into the bay.

By one estimate, each cycle of a washing machine releases more than 700,000 microscopic plastic fibres into the environment. These fibers come from synthetic fabrics such as nylon and fleece clothing. Waste water treatment plants aren’t designed to filter them, and so the fibers make their way directly into local waterways, including the Great Lakes – a source of drinking water for more than 30 million people.

“Although washing our clothes in washing machines is just one source of microfibers to the environment, we know that it’s a significant source,” said Chelsea Rochman, a microplastics researcher at the University of Toronto. “In the city of Toronto, we estimate as many as 23 to 36 trillion microfibers may be emitted to Lake Ontario watersheds each year.”

...A study released this month found that the average American consumes and inhales more than 74,000 particles of microplastics per year. People who drink only bottled water could consume an additional 90,000 microplastics annually compared to an additional 4,000 for those who drink only tap water.

Real world filter test
The washing machine filters, which retail for about $150, are made by a company in Minnesota and remove roughly 90 per cent of microfibers, said Lisa Erdle, a researcher in Rochman’s lab who is leading the Parry Sound project...

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2019/06/filtering-microplastics-from-your-machines...

1422wonderY
Dic 10, 2019, 12:13 pm

So, after filtering (some of) the fibers, you landfill them. They aren't actually removed from the environment, just temporarily encapsulated and deposited elsewhere.

143margd
Dic 11, 2019, 4:03 pm

More litter means fewer tourists
Indri Maulidar | 12/11

...plastic pollution and balloon debris have a great impact on Great Lakes tourism. In Lake Erie, the doubling of litter would discourage more than a third of visitors to visit the beach again, the study said*.

...The researchers also looked at the economic effect of litter on the Gulf Coast beaches in Alabama, the Atlantic Ocean beaches in Delaware and Maryland and the Pacific Ocean beaches in Orange County, California. They examined the effects of marine debris on beach recreation and the local economy.

...“Ohio beaches have the highest levels of debris, while Alabama and Delaware/Maryland have comparatively low levels of debris,” the study said.

...Tourists in Lake Erie spent around $1.9 billion in 2015 alone, according to Lake Erie Shores & Island, a marketing organization for the region. The number increase to $2.12 billion in 2017. The organization said that almost 14.000 people in the region are employed in tourism-related jobs.

But, if the amount of litter doubled, the Lake Erie region would lose $218 million in tourism revenue, according to the NOAA study. It would also cost the local economy 3,700 jobs.

http://greatlakesecho.org/2019/12/11/more-litter-means-fewer-tourists/

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Eric English, Carolyn Wagner, Jamie Holmes. 2019. The Effects of Marine Debris on Beach Recreation and Regional Economies in Four Coastal Communities: A Regional Pilot Study (Final Report). Submitted to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Division, Silver Spring, MD. 130 p. https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2019.07.Econ_.Impacts.Marine.D...

Executive Summary
...Survey Results. The results of the mail survey indicate a potentially strong relationship between marine debris and beach recreation. The estimated effect of a reduction in debris to almost none is an increase in recreation days of between 2.2% and 9.5% for the three ocean coasts, and in increase of 35.4% in Ohio.1 The increase in the number of beach visits ranged from 369,000 visitor days per year in Alabama to 2.9 million visitor days per year in Ohio (Figure ES-2). A doubling of debris would result in an estimated decrease in recreation days of between 16.3% and 26.5% for the three ocean coasts, and a decrease of 35..6% in Ohio. The decrease in the number of beach visits ranged from 1.2 million visitor days per year in Alabama to 5.7 million visitor days per year in Orange County...

1442wonderY
Editado: Dic 17, 2019, 12:51 pm

145margd
Editado: Feb 3, 2020, 11:42 am

Oceana's 01:06 video at https://twitter.com/Oceana_Andy/status/1224360646231281664

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Baby fish are eating plastic within their first few weeks of life
Imari Scarbrough | February 3, 2020
https://oceana.org/blog/baby-fish-are-eating-plastic-within-their-first-few-week...

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Jamison M. Gove et al. 2019. Prey-size plastics are invading larval fish nurseries. PNAS November 26, 2019 116 (48) 24143-24149; first published November 11, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1907496116 https://www.pnas.org/content/116/48/24143

Significance
Many of the world’s marine fish spend the first days to weeks feeding and developing at the ocean surface. However, very little is known about the ocean processes that govern larval fish survivorship and hence adult fish populations that supply essential nutrients and protein to human societies. We demonstrate that surface slicks, meandering lines of convergence on the ocean surface, are important larval fish nurseries that disproportionately accumulate nonnutritious, toxin-laden prey-size plastics. Plastic pieces were found in numerous larval fish taxa at a time when nutrition is critical for survival. Surface slicks are a ubiquitous coastal ocean feature, suggesting that plastic accumulation in these larval fish nurseries could have far reaching ecological and socioeconomic impacts.

Abstract
Life for many of the world’s marine fish begins at the ocean surface. Ocean conditions dictate food availability and govern survivorship, yet little is known about the habitat preferences of larval fish during this highly vulnerable life-history stage. Here we show that surface slicks, a ubiquitous coastal ocean convergence feature, are important nurseries for larval fish from many ocean habitats at ecosystem scales. Slicks had higher densities of marine phytoplankton (1.7-fold), zooplankton (larval fish prey; 3.7-fold), and larval fish (8.1-fold) than nearby ambient waters across our study region in Hawai‘i. Slicks contained larger, more well-developed individuals with competent swimming abilities compared to ambient waters, suggesting a physiological benefit to increased prey resources. Slicks also disproportionately accumulated prey-size plastics, resulting in a 60-fold higher ratio of plastics to larval fish prey than nearby waters. Dissections of hundreds of larval fish found that 8.6% of individuals in slicks had ingested plastics, a 2.3-fold higher occurrence than larval fish from ambient waters. Plastics were found in 7 of 8 families dissected, including swordfish (Xiphiidae), a commercially targeted species, and flying fish (Exocoetidae), a principal prey item for tuna and seabirds. Scaling up across an ∼1,000 km2 coastal ecosystem in Hawai‘i revealed slicks occupied only 8.3% of ocean surface habitat but contained 42.3% of all neustonic larval fish and 91.8% of all floating plastics. The ingestion of plastics by larval fish could reduce survivorship, compounding threats to fisheries productivity posed by overfishing, climate change, and habitat loss.

146John5918
mayo 27, 2020, 12:24 am

Improve water supply in poorer nations to cut plastic use, say experts (Guadian

Report calls for urgent action to tackle developing countries’ reliance on bottled water...

147Cynfelyn
mayo 27, 2020, 3:55 am

We may have missed half the microplastics in the ocean (New Scientist, 2020-05-15):

We have underestimated the amount of microplastic in the ocean, by a factor of 2.5 at least. Many of the smallest pieces are thin fibres, not hard chunks. Millions of tonnes of plastic waste enter the ocean every year, mostly as tiny fragments, known as microplastic, which are invisible to the naked eye. “When we started looking for microplastic in the sea, people used traditional plankton nets,” says Penelope Lindeque at Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK. These have holes about 333

Basically, nets with a smaller mesh than the traditional plankton nets caught 2.5 times or more fragments of microplastic.

148John5918
Jun 1, 2020, 3:18 am

Single-use-plastics: Kenya to enforce ban in protected areas (CGTN)

The ban on single-use plastics in Kenya's biodiversity hotspots including wildlife sanctuaries, wetlands, forests and beaches will be enforced on June 5 in line with a presidential directive, the ministry of tourism and wildlife said on Saturday. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the ban on single-use plastics in protected natural habitats during the 2019 World Environment Day...

There is some discussion on whether it is pratical during the COVD-19 pandemic, as hand sanitiser is sold in plastic bottles.

Dilemma on plastic bottles ban (Daily Nation)

Kenya faces a dilemma as the June 5 deadline for the government ban on single-use plastic bottles within wildlife sanctuaries inches closer. Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic is raging, necessitating the need for hand sanitisers, which are mostly in single-use plastic bottles, raising queries on implementation of the ban...

However I'm not sure that it's strictly correct to describe the hand sanitiser bottles as "single use". We have some of the small bottles to carry in our pockets and cars, but we continue to top them up from large bottles, so they are not single use.

1492wonderY
Jun 13, 2020, 6:32 am

Okay, now the micro-particles are in the winds. Of course. And then our lungs.

Forget acid rain. Plastic rain is now falling across the U.S.

150margd
Ago 26, 2023, 3:18 pm

Badiozaman Sulaiman et al. 2023. Riverine microplastics and their interaction with freshwater fish (Review). Water Biology and Security, Available online 20 June 2023. In Press, Corrected Proof. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watbs.2023.100192 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772735123000720

...8. Summary
The spatiotemporal dynamics of riverine microplastics and their risk to freshwater fishes are complex and influenced by multiple and often interdependent factors. Distribution and assemblages of microplastics are determined by the fluvial process, geomorphological characteristics of the rivers and the physical and chemical characteristics of the microplastics. The risks of interaction between microplastics and fishes are dependent on their vertical and horizontal distributions within the river, the bioavailability of the microplastic as well as the foraging behaviour of the fish and the possibility of trophic transfer. The impact of microplastics on fish is dependent on the retention time, level of accumulation, penetration into remote organs and tissues as well as the physical and chemical nature of the microplastics and their role as a carrier for xenobiotic pollution and pathogens. Finally, our current understanding of the toxicological effects of microplastics is still predominantly based on studies across cellular to organismal levels and in animals with a relatively short life cycle. How microplastic pollution impacts riverine fish populations and ecosystems at larger scales (for example across river catchments) remains to be examined.

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