Toroid
Founding Member
The waste should at least be sorted and reused. Putting a netting material over the storm drains would help.
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Toroid
Founding Member
I haven't used a paper straw, but according to the complaints in the video they ruin the drink.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwxTGUC9UII
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwxTGUC9UII
nivek
As Above So Below
I think we have already crossed a line we cannot return to, plastic pollution is in every part of the earth, there is no soil that does not contain micro plastics or plastic particles of some sort...The oceans are full of plastic to an alarming degree and little to nothing is being done about it...These plastics will not dissolve or disintegrate anytime soon, the plastic pollution will remain for decades to hundreds of years and it chokes out life and ecosystems as it continues to remain from microlife to larger forms of life...We all have plastic in our bodies, consumed from foods and water, even if we stopped producing plastic containers and packaging so many people are wearing plastic in the form of polyester, spandex, nylons, etc and all these fibers go into the soil every time they are washed and worn...I think what will be our undoing is pollution, plastic pollution, we have crossed the tipping point I think and hate to say, it will take a monumental endeavour worldwide and immediate action to reverse course but I do not see that happening...People do not care in general, their usage and habits are not changing and people are more concerned about fighting each other than saving themselves and their planet from certain doom...
PLASTIC NOW POLLUTES EVERY CORNER OF EARTH
The unprecedented plastic waste tide plaguing our oceans and shores, can become as limited as our chosen relationship with plastics, which involves a dramatic behavioral change on our part…”
Excerpts;
Humans have made enough plastic since the second world war to coat the Earth entirely in clingfilm, an international study has revealed. This ability to plaster the planet in plastic is alarming, say scientists – for it confirms that human activities are now having a pernicious impact on our world…
Read Full Article, Guardian UK
Here’s How Much Plastic Ends Up In the World’s Oceans,The Time (02-13-2015)
Every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans, it’s equivalent to five grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline…
More plastic than fish in the sea by 2050, Guardian UK (01-19-2016)
One refuse truck’s-worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute, and the situation is getting worse.
The Ocean Is Contaminated by Trillions More Pieces of Plastic Than Thought, IOP Science (12-08-2015)
Biodegradable Plastics Are Not the Answer to Reducing Marine Litter, UN News Center (11-23-2015)
To clean up ocean plastics, increase focus on coasts, Science Daily (01-19-2016)
Plastic Pollution, Coastal Care
.
PLASTIC NOW POLLUTES EVERY CORNER OF EARTH
The unprecedented plastic waste tide plaguing our oceans and shores, can become as limited as our chosen relationship with plastics, which involves a dramatic behavioral change on our part…”
Excerpts;
Humans have made enough plastic since the second world war to coat the Earth entirely in clingfilm, an international study has revealed. This ability to plaster the planet in plastic is alarming, say scientists – for it confirms that human activities are now having a pernicious impact on our world…
Read Full Article, Guardian UK
Here’s How Much Plastic Ends Up In the World’s Oceans,The Time (02-13-2015)
Every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans, it’s equivalent to five grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline…
More plastic than fish in the sea by 2050, Guardian UK (01-19-2016)
One refuse truck’s-worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute, and the situation is getting worse.
The Ocean Is Contaminated by Trillions More Pieces of Plastic Than Thought, IOP Science (12-08-2015)
Biodegradable Plastics Are Not the Answer to Reducing Marine Litter, UN News Center (11-23-2015)
To clean up ocean plastics, increase focus on coasts, Science Daily (01-19-2016)
Plastic Pollution, Coastal Care
.
nivek
As Above So Below
The plastic you discard today will likely end up in the stomach of an ocean animal...
Pregnant whale found dead in Italy with 49 pounds of plastic in stomach
A dead pregnant sperm whale that washed up on the coast in Sardinia, Italy, last week contained 49 pounds of plastic in its stomach, according to the country’s environmental minister.
The 26-foot-long beached mammal was carrying a dead fetus as well as "garbage bags ... fishing nets, lines, tubes, the bag of a washing machine liquid still identifiable, with brand and barcode ... and other objects no longer identifiable," Luca Bittau, president of the SeaMe group, told CNN International.
Pregnant whale found dead in Italy with 49 pounds of plastic in stomach
A dead pregnant sperm whale that washed up on the coast in Sardinia, Italy, last week contained 49 pounds of plastic in its stomach, according to the country’s environmental minister.
The 26-foot-long beached mammal was carrying a dead fetus as well as "garbage bags ... fishing nets, lines, tubes, the bag of a washing machine liquid still identifiable, with brand and barcode ... and other objects no longer identifiable," Luca Bittau, president of the SeaMe group, told CNN International.
nivek
As Above So Below
This is a start...
Biofase, a company in Mexico, makes plastic cutlery and straws from avocado seeds that completely biodegrade in 240 days.
Avocado Pits Are The Material of the Moment for Sustainable Single-Use Cutlery and Straws
When it comes to using utensils or straws, the most eco-friendly option is typically a reusable one. But for situations when a single-use version is needed, luckily, there are plenty of fairly sustainable options on the market these days. One brand making waves in the eco-friendly disposables sphere (a bit of an oxymoron, I know) is Biofase. The Mexico-based company constructs its single-use cutlery and straws out of bioplastics made from discarded avocado pits, making Biofase's manufacturing process fairly closed-loop.
Biofase is getting a lot of attention at the moment, even though entrepreneur Scott Munguia actually founded the brand back in 2013. As he told Forbes in 2015, he came up with the idea for Biofase when he was a chemical engineering student in 2012. After seeing a photo of the corn molecule that companies were using to create bioplastic, he realized that avocado seed molecules might be another great alternative for the bioplastic industry.
Biofase claims that its forks, knives, spoons, and straws have a lower carbon footprint than any other comparable material — even paper. "The carbon footprint is much less than other plastics and bioplastics, including paper," Biofase's website reads. "This is largely due to a phenomenon called bonus of biogenic carbon, which explains that the Avocado tree, when growing, absorbs CO2 of the atmosphere to form its tissues. This phenomenon does not occur in the production of any plastic derived of the oil."
(more on the link above)
.
Biofase, a company in Mexico, makes plastic cutlery and straws from avocado seeds that completely biodegrade in 240 days.
Avocado Pits Are The Material of the Moment for Sustainable Single-Use Cutlery and Straws
When it comes to using utensils or straws, the most eco-friendly option is typically a reusable one. But for situations when a single-use version is needed, luckily, there are plenty of fairly sustainable options on the market these days. One brand making waves in the eco-friendly disposables sphere (a bit of an oxymoron, I know) is Biofase. The Mexico-based company constructs its single-use cutlery and straws out of bioplastics made from discarded avocado pits, making Biofase's manufacturing process fairly closed-loop.
Biofase is getting a lot of attention at the moment, even though entrepreneur Scott Munguia actually founded the brand back in 2013. As he told Forbes in 2015, he came up with the idea for Biofase when he was a chemical engineering student in 2012. After seeing a photo of the corn molecule that companies were using to create bioplastic, he realized that avocado seed molecules might be another great alternative for the bioplastic industry.
Biofase claims that its forks, knives, spoons, and straws have a lower carbon footprint than any other comparable material — even paper. "The carbon footprint is much less than other plastics and bioplastics, including paper," Biofase's website reads. "This is largely due to a phenomenon called bonus of biogenic carbon, which explains that the Avocado tree, when growing, absorbs CO2 of the atmosphere to form its tissues. This phenomenon does not occur in the production of any plastic derived of the oil."
(more on the link above)
.
CasualBystander
Celestial
90% comes from 10 rivers in Africa and Asia.
The US (hard to believe) does little to contribute to the problem and the war on plastic is just virtue signalling.
nivek
As Above So Below
Plastic: It's in the sea, in the sky, and on the land
It's thought that more than eight million tonnes of plastic enters the world's oceans each year and most of that escapes from land.
It can be blown into the sea from ships and beaches, or carried there by river. Some also gets flushed down the toilet.
But thankfully old-fashioned devices called plankton recorders are going some way to help scientists trying to find a way to tackle this problem.
The old-fashioned metal boxes that have been dragged around the ocean since 1931, have accidentally created a record of the history of ocean plastic.
One of the first items to be recorded was a plastic bag off the coast of Ireland in 1965 - which researchers say, could be the first marine plastic litter found.
These records also show how much more plastic has been found in the ocean in recent decades.
It means that scientists now have more information about the source of the plastics and are hoping using this data can help make plans to tackle the problem.
Marine animals can become entangled in larger plastics - particularly cord, nets and ropes.
Much smaller microplastics - pieces of plastic waste that include plastic fragments and fibre, often the product of larger items breaking down - have been found in the stomachs of birds and animals, as well as in fish.
Plastic in the air
Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and EcoLab in France have found microplastics in a remote area of the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.
There aren't many people in this region, which suggests the particles were transported by wind, through the air, from more populated areas at least 59 miles away (95 kilometres).
Some of the fibres found were so small that they could be breathed in by people or animals.
Plastic on the land
More than two million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK every day, and around 350 million drinks cans are picked up from the ground every year.
Unsurprisingly, this has an impact on the plants and animals.
In a recent study, Keep Britain Tidy estimated that 2.9 million small mammals - like shrews, hedgehogs and voles - are dying each year after getting stuck in bottles and cans thrown onto grassland and parks.
.
It's thought that more than eight million tonnes of plastic enters the world's oceans each year and most of that escapes from land.
It can be blown into the sea from ships and beaches, or carried there by river. Some also gets flushed down the toilet.
But thankfully old-fashioned devices called plankton recorders are going some way to help scientists trying to find a way to tackle this problem.
The old-fashioned metal boxes that have been dragged around the ocean since 1931, have accidentally created a record of the history of ocean plastic.
One of the first items to be recorded was a plastic bag off the coast of Ireland in 1965 - which researchers say, could be the first marine plastic litter found.
These records also show how much more plastic has been found in the ocean in recent decades.
It means that scientists now have more information about the source of the plastics and are hoping using this data can help make plans to tackle the problem.
Marine animals can become entangled in larger plastics - particularly cord, nets and ropes.
Much smaller microplastics - pieces of plastic waste that include plastic fragments and fibre, often the product of larger items breaking down - have been found in the stomachs of birds and animals, as well as in fish.
Plastic in the air
Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and EcoLab in France have found microplastics in a remote area of the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.
There aren't many people in this region, which suggests the particles were transported by wind, through the air, from more populated areas at least 59 miles away (95 kilometres).
Some of the fibres found were so small that they could be breathed in by people or animals.
Plastic on the land
More than two million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK every day, and around 350 million drinks cans are picked up from the ground every year.
Unsurprisingly, this has an impact on the plants and animals.
In a recent study, Keep Britain Tidy estimated that 2.9 million small mammals - like shrews, hedgehogs and voles - are dying each year after getting stuck in bottles and cans thrown onto grassland and parks.
.
CasualBystander
Celestial
Asia, Africa Cause 90% of Plastic Pollution in World's Oceans
Asia, Africa Cause 90% Of Plastic Pollution In World's Oceans
Don't care. Americans aren't the problem. Banning straws and other virtue signaling are dumb.
nivek
As Above So Below
Banning straws is token action at best for the US but you are correct, most plastic waste in the oceans are from Asian sources, not western although we are using our fair share of plastic, single use plastic of all sorts, not just straws...
What about Hemp plastic?...Can we sustain the world's consumption of plastic by growing enough Hemp?...Can we grow that much Hemp to cover 80 or 90 percent of current plastic use?...No matter the source, plastic pollution is a serious problem...
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
WOW!
Plastic + Global Warming. We are really doing a great job making a planet a better place to live.
Plastic + Global Warming. We are really doing a great job making a planet a better place to live.
CasualBystander
Celestial
The Bible says to subdue the earth and man has gotten so good at it he is basically beating a dead horse.
nivek
As Above So Below
Where does your plastic go? Global investigation reveals America's dirty secret
What happens to your plastic after you drop it in a recycling bin?
According to promotional materials from America’s plastics industry, it is whisked off to a factory where it is seamlessly transformed into something new.
This is not the experience of Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, a 60-year-old Vietnamese mother of seven, living amid piles of grimy American plastic on the outskirts of Hanoi. Outside her home, the sun beats down on a Cheetos bag; aisle markers from a Walmart store; and a plastic bag from ShopRite, a chain of supermarkets in New Jersey, bearing a message urging people to recycle it.
Tham is paid the equivalent of $6.50 a day to strip off the non-recyclable elements and sort what remains: translucent plastic in one pile, opaque in another.
A Guardian investigation has found that hundreds of thousands of tons of US plastic are being shipped every year to poorly regulated developing countries around the globe for the dirty, labor-intensive process of recycling. The consequences for public health and the environment are grim.
A team of Guardian reporters in 11 countries has found:
Reflecting grave concerns around plastic waste, last month, 187 countries signed a treaty giving nations the power to block the import of contaminated or hard-to-recycle plastic trash. A few countries did not sign. One was the US.
A new Guardian series, United States of Plastic, will scrutinize the plastic crisis engulfing America and the world, publishing several more stories this week and continuing for the rest of 2019.
“People don’t know what’s happening to their trash,” said Andrew Spicer, who teaches corporate social responsibility at the University of South Carolina and sits on his state’s recycling advisory board. “They think they’re saving the world. But the international recycling business sees it as a way of making money. There have been no global regulations – just a long, dirty market that allows some companies to take advantage of a world without rules.”
Since the China ban, America’s plastic waste has become a global hot potato, ping-ponging from country to country. The Guardian’s analysis of shipping records and US Census Bureau export data has found that America is still shipping more than 1m tons a year of its plastic waste overseas, much of it to places that are already virtually drowning in it.
A red flag to researchers is that many of these countries ranked very poorly on metrics of how well they handle their own plastic waste. A study led by the University of Georgia researcher Jenna Jambeck found that Malaysia, the biggest recipient of US plastic recycling since the China ban, mismanaged 55% of its own plastic waste, meaning it was dumped or inadequately disposed of at sites such as open landfills. Indonesia and Vietnam improperly managed 81% and 86%, respectively.
“We are trying so desperately to get rid of this stuff that we are looking for new frontiers,” said Jan Dell, an independent engineer, whose organization The Last Beach Cleanup works with investors and environmental groups to reduce plastic pollution. “The path of least resistance is to put it on a ship and send it somewhere else – and the ships are going further and further to find some place to put it,” she said.
Take Vietnam. Minh Khai, a village on a river delta near Hanoi, is the center of a waste management cottage industry. Rubbish from across the world, inscribed in languages from Arabic to French, lines almost every street in this community of about 1,000 households. Workers in makeshift workshops churn out recycled pellets amid toxic fumes and foul stench from the truckloads of scrap that are transported there every day. Even Minh Khai’s welcome arch, adorned with bright red flags, is flanked by plastic waste on both sides.
In 2018, the US sent 83,000 tons of plastic recycling to Vietnam. On the ground, America’s footprint is clear: a bag of York Peppermint Patties from Hershey, with US labeling, and an empty bag from a chemical coatings manufacturer in Ohio.
“We’re really scared of the plastic fumes, and we don’t dare to drink the water from underground here,” said Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, the plastic sorter, wearing thick gloves, a face mask and a traditional Vietnamese conical hat to protect herself from the sun. “We don’t have money so we don’t have any choice but to work here.”
While the exact health effects of workers’ exposure to plastic recycling operations have not been well studied, the toxic fumes resulting from the burning of plastics or plastic processing can cause respiratory illness. Regular exposure can subject workers and nearby residents to hundreds of toxic substances, including hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, dioxins and heavy metals, the effects of which can include developmental disorders, endocrine disruption, and cancer.
Once the plastic is sorted by workers like Tham, others feed the scrap into grinders before putting it through densifiers that melt and condense the scrap so it can be molded into pellets.
(much more on the link)
.
What happens to your plastic after you drop it in a recycling bin?
According to promotional materials from America’s plastics industry, it is whisked off to a factory where it is seamlessly transformed into something new.
This is not the experience of Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, a 60-year-old Vietnamese mother of seven, living amid piles of grimy American plastic on the outskirts of Hanoi. Outside her home, the sun beats down on a Cheetos bag; aisle markers from a Walmart store; and a plastic bag from ShopRite, a chain of supermarkets in New Jersey, bearing a message urging people to recycle it.
Tham is paid the equivalent of $6.50 a day to strip off the non-recyclable elements and sort what remains: translucent plastic in one pile, opaque in another.
A Guardian investigation has found that hundreds of thousands of tons of US plastic are being shipped every year to poorly regulated developing countries around the globe for the dirty, labor-intensive process of recycling. The consequences for public health and the environment are grim.
A team of Guardian reporters in 11 countries has found:
- Last year, the equivalent of 68,000 shipping containers of American plastic recycling were exported from the US to developing countries that mismanage more than 70% of their own plastic waste.
- The newest hotspots for handling US plastic recycling are some of the world’s poorest countries, including Bangladesh, Laos, Ethiopia and Senegal, offering cheap labor and limited environmental regulation.
- In some places, like Turkey, a surge in foreign waste shipments is disrupting efforts to handle locally generated plastics.
- With these nations overwhelmed, thousands of tons of waste plastic are stranded at home in the US, as we reveal in our story later this week.
Reflecting grave concerns around plastic waste, last month, 187 countries signed a treaty giving nations the power to block the import of contaminated or hard-to-recycle plastic trash. A few countries did not sign. One was the US.
A new Guardian series, United States of Plastic, will scrutinize the plastic crisis engulfing America and the world, publishing several more stories this week and continuing for the rest of 2019.
“People don’t know what’s happening to their trash,” said Andrew Spicer, who teaches corporate social responsibility at the University of South Carolina and sits on his state’s recycling advisory board. “They think they’re saving the world. But the international recycling business sees it as a way of making money. There have been no global regulations – just a long, dirty market that allows some companies to take advantage of a world without rules.”
Since the China ban, America’s plastic waste has become a global hot potato, ping-ponging from country to country. The Guardian’s analysis of shipping records and US Census Bureau export data has found that America is still shipping more than 1m tons a year of its plastic waste overseas, much of it to places that are already virtually drowning in it.
A red flag to researchers is that many of these countries ranked very poorly on metrics of how well they handle their own plastic waste. A study led by the University of Georgia researcher Jenna Jambeck found that Malaysia, the biggest recipient of US plastic recycling since the China ban, mismanaged 55% of its own plastic waste, meaning it was dumped or inadequately disposed of at sites such as open landfills. Indonesia and Vietnam improperly managed 81% and 86%, respectively.
“We are trying so desperately to get rid of this stuff that we are looking for new frontiers,” said Jan Dell, an independent engineer, whose organization The Last Beach Cleanup works with investors and environmental groups to reduce plastic pollution. “The path of least resistance is to put it on a ship and send it somewhere else – and the ships are going further and further to find some place to put it,” she said.
Take Vietnam. Minh Khai, a village on a river delta near Hanoi, is the center of a waste management cottage industry. Rubbish from across the world, inscribed in languages from Arabic to French, lines almost every street in this community of about 1,000 households. Workers in makeshift workshops churn out recycled pellets amid toxic fumes and foul stench from the truckloads of scrap that are transported there every day. Even Minh Khai’s welcome arch, adorned with bright red flags, is flanked by plastic waste on both sides.
In 2018, the US sent 83,000 tons of plastic recycling to Vietnam. On the ground, America’s footprint is clear: a bag of York Peppermint Patties from Hershey, with US labeling, and an empty bag from a chemical coatings manufacturer in Ohio.
“We’re really scared of the plastic fumes, and we don’t dare to drink the water from underground here,” said Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, the plastic sorter, wearing thick gloves, a face mask and a traditional Vietnamese conical hat to protect herself from the sun. “We don’t have money so we don’t have any choice but to work here.”
While the exact health effects of workers’ exposure to plastic recycling operations have not been well studied, the toxic fumes resulting from the burning of plastics or plastic processing can cause respiratory illness. Regular exposure can subject workers and nearby residents to hundreds of toxic substances, including hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, dioxins and heavy metals, the effects of which can include developmental disorders, endocrine disruption, and cancer.
Once the plastic is sorted by workers like Tham, others feed the scrap into grinders before putting it through densifiers that melt and condense the scrap so it can be molded into pellets.
(much more on the link)
.
CasualBystander
Celestial
Where does your plastic go? Global investigation reveals America's dirty secret
What happens to your plastic after you drop it in a recycling bin?
According to promotional materials from America’s plastics industry, it is whisked off to a factory where it is seamlessly transformed into something new.
This is not the experience of Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, a 60-year-old Vietnamese mother of seven, living amid piles of grimy American plastic on the outskirts of Hanoi. Outside her home, the sun beats down on a Cheetos bag; aisle markers from a Walmart store; and a plastic bag from ShopRite, a chain of supermarkets in New Jersey, bearing a message urging people to recycle it.
Tham is paid the equivalent of $6.50 a day to strip off the non-recyclable elements and sort what remains: translucent plastic in one pile, opaque in another.
A Guardian investigation has found that hundreds of thousands of tons of US plastic are being shipped every year to poorly regulated developing countries around the globe for the dirty, labor-intensive process of recycling. The consequences for public health and the environment are grim.
A team of Guardian reporters in 11 countries has found:
These failures in the recycling system are adding to a growing sense of crisis around plastic, a wonder material that has enabled everything from toothbrushes to space helmets but is now found in enormous quantities in the oceans and has even been detected in the human digestive system.
- Last year, the equivalent of 68,000 shipping containers of American plastic recycling were exported from the US to developing countries that mismanage more than 70% of their own plastic waste.
- The newest hotspots for handling US plastic recycling are some of the world’s poorest countries, including Bangladesh, Laos, Ethiopia and Senegal, offering cheap labor and limited environmental regulation.
- In some places, like Turkey, a surge in foreign waste shipments is disrupting efforts to handle locally generated plastics.
- With these nations overwhelmed, thousands of tons of waste plastic are stranded at home in the US, as we reveal in our story later this week.
Reflecting grave concerns around plastic waste, last month, 187 countries signed a treaty giving nations the power to block the import of contaminated or hard-to-recycle plastic trash. A few countries did not sign. One was the US.
A new Guardian series, United States of Plastic, will scrutinize the plastic crisis engulfing America and the world, publishing several more stories this week and continuing for the rest of 2019.
“People don’t know what’s happening to their trash,” said Andrew Spicer, who teaches corporate social responsibility at the University of South Carolina and sits on his state’s recycling advisory board. “They think they’re saving the world. But the international recycling business sees it as a way of making money. There have been no global regulations – just a long, dirty market that allows some companies to take advantage of a world without rules.”
Since the China ban, America’s plastic waste has become a global hot potato, ping-ponging from country to country. The Guardian’s analysis of shipping records and US Census Bureau export data has found that America is still shipping more than 1m tons a year of its plastic waste overseas, much of it to places that are already virtually drowning in it.
A red flag to researchers is that many of these countries ranked very poorly on metrics of how well they handle their own plastic waste. A study led by the University of Georgia researcher Jenna Jambeck found that Malaysia, the biggest recipient of US plastic recycling since the China ban, mismanaged 55% of its own plastic waste, meaning it was dumped or inadequately disposed of at sites such as open landfills. Indonesia and Vietnam improperly managed 81% and 86%, respectively.
“We are trying so desperately to get rid of this stuff that we are looking for new frontiers,” said Jan Dell, an independent engineer, whose organization The Last Beach Cleanup works with investors and environmental groups to reduce plastic pollution. “The path of least resistance is to put it on a ship and send it somewhere else – and the ships are going further and further to find some place to put it,” she said.
Take Vietnam. Minh Khai, a village on a river delta near Hanoi, is the center of a waste management cottage industry. Rubbish from across the world, inscribed in languages from Arabic to French, lines almost every street in this community of about 1,000 households. Workers in makeshift workshops churn out recycled pellets amid toxic fumes and foul stench from the truckloads of scrap that are transported there every day. Even Minh Khai’s welcome arch, adorned with bright red flags, is flanked by plastic waste on both sides.
In 2018, the US sent 83,000 tons of plastic recycling to Vietnam. On the ground, America’s footprint is clear: a bag of York Peppermint Patties from Hershey, with US labeling, and an empty bag from a chemical coatings manufacturer in Ohio.
“We’re really scared of the plastic fumes, and we don’t dare to drink the water from underground here,” said Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, the plastic sorter, wearing thick gloves, a face mask and a traditional Vietnamese conical hat to protect herself from the sun. “We don’t have money so we don’t have any choice but to work here.”
While the exact health effects of workers’ exposure to plastic recycling operations have not been well studied, the toxic fumes resulting from the burning of plastics or plastic processing can cause respiratory illness. Regular exposure can subject workers and nearby residents to hundreds of toxic substances, including hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, dioxins and heavy metals, the effects of which can include developmental disorders, endocrine disruption, and cancer.
Once the plastic is sorted by workers like Tham, others feed the scrap into grinders before putting it through densifiers that melt and condense the scrap so it can be molded into pellets.
(much more on the link)
.
Anybody who has looked at recycling knows it is a damned lie.
It is just a bunch of progressive virtue signalling.
The metals can be separated. But sorting the plastic either takes advanced AI and robotics - or someone in a third world country.
The real solution for the US is high temperature incineration of non-metallic garbage.
It can be used to generate power as part of a cogeneration facility.
CasualBystander
Celestial
There is no point to Mardi Gras without plastic beads.
The dumbass that wrote this article probably doesn't even know what the beads are used for.
