Clearing plastic from the Pacific Garbage Patch

Look to help people start thinking about the global plastic pollution problem

You have almost certainly seen this recording of the diver Rich Horner swimming through a sea of plastic waste off the Bali coastline. Each minute, the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic ends up in the ocean, where it’s eaten by fish, birds and other marine animals

The Ocean Cleanup has developed “advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. A full-scale deployment of our systems is estimated to clean up 50 % of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years.” To understand the technology, scheduled to launch in early September 2018, watch the video.

That will take time, as the Pacific Garbage Patch is merely the largest of five huge plastic collections in our oceans. Meanwhile, the rest of us need to put an end to the plastic pollution of our waters. My daughter refuses single-use plastic straws, and she’s insisted that we purchase reusable ones.

Plastic straws are one of the top five ocean pollutants. Companies such as Starbucks are being pressured to adapt. In fact, the coffee chain is rolling out paper straws at some of its stores starting this month, in South Korea. “Plastic straws will disappear from all Starbucks stores globally by 2020.”

In 2017, I signed onto a Kickstarter for LOLIWARE, which is putting out “the world’s first edible, hypercompostable, marine-degradable straw”; there was a simultaneous IndieGoGo campaign, the product of which is due soon.

Even environmentalist admit our plastic problem doesn’t end with straws. “We look at straws as one of the gateway issues to help people start thinking about the global plastic pollution problem,” Plastic Pollution Coalition CEO Dianna Cohen told Business Insider.

Arthur@AmeriNZ is doing his part by changing the shopping bags that he uses, and repairing what might otherwise be thrown away.

Ironically, Cultural Treasures Are Made of Plastic. Now They’re Falling Apart. The neoprene in Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit has hardened and become brittle with age.

In The Graduate, Mr. McGuire tells Benjamin, “There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?” We need to think about those polymers and our own future.

R is for Recycling

It cost the city tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade the system, but for alleviating my guilt at throwing away a yogurt cup, it was worth every penny.

When we were away this past summer, we had our mail held. And I swear that my favorite item that I saw once we retrieved it was a flier from the city of Albany about its new recycling policy. No longer did the city only take plastic items with the #1 or #2 in the triangle; it’s now taking #1-7!

This was hugely important for us, as we are very active recyclers. So those yogurt and cottage cheese containers, which tend to be #5 or #6, we just hated to throw out.

My wife would sometimes put leftovers in them, but unless they were well-labeled, I’d mistake them for their original packaging info until it was too late. Some were saved for school arts and crafts, but there are just so many craft projects one can do. It cost the city tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade the system, according to the newspaper story at the time, but for alleviating my guilt at throwing away a yogurt cup, it was worth every penny.

I hate going to the returnable center at the local supermarket. A lot of recyclable, but not returnable, items that people bring end up in the trash. I’ve noticed over the years that a lot of people around here just don’t spend the few minutes to separate out the recyclables and it makes me…peevish.

One element of the new city regulations that I ignore is the “Single Stream Curbside Recycling Collection”. I still segregate my paper products from the bottles and cans because of the bottle entrepreneurs who rifle through the recycling bins. I figure when they open up the green bin and see that’s it’s all paper and cardboard, they’ll leave it alone, and only go through the blue bin that has the recyclable – but not returnable – bottles and cans.


ABC Wednesday – Round 9

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