Plastic every where?

Plastic is in our tap water, our bottled water, and it would seem, our compost:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/microplastics-may-enter-freshwater-and-soil-compost


Worse,it seems no place is immune,no matter how remote.

"But current evidence suggests that plastic pollution is as prevalent in land and freshwater ecosystems as it is in the oceans, where it’s found “from the equator to the poles,” says Rochman, author of a separate commentary on the state of plastic pollution research published in the April 6 Science. Plastic “is seen in the high Arctic, where we suspect it comes down in rain. We know it’s in drinking water, in our seafood and spread on our agricultural fields,” she says."



“is seen in the high Arctic, where we suspect it comes down in rain."

Maybe Carlin was right?


 


[Hopefully this Link works: Carlin was a mad genius!]

The plastic situation makes me sad.

I make a conscious effort not to buy anything with plastic - vote with my dollar kind of thing.  

I spend a lot of my votes at life without plastic.  Except the stuff lasts so much longer than plastic ever did, I don't get to vote as often.

I noticed that Amazon is using less plastic in their shipping and for packaging their Amazonbasics line.  Still, a lot of plastic in the actual products but they are moving in the right direction.  

R, I do my best to shop in a similar way. Thanks for sharing life without plastic, I wasn't familiar with them. If you like them, may I also suggest The Tickle Trunk.

One of my favorite plastic related things is the open source systems created by Precious Plastic.  If you've got some extra plastic laying about, or you know where you can get some, then you may be interested in building some of these tools to help turn old junk plastic into new and practical items to be used again.  Heck, you might even be able to open your own small business with the right idea and motivation.

Here's a link to get you started: https://permies.com/t/58244/ungarbage/Precious-Plastic

William Bronson wrote:

Maybe Carlin was right?


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=%23&ved=0ahUKEwitlayTnLjaAhWNyIMKHe0ACf4Q8TUIJjAA&usg=AOvVaw0VTJzWxrN8ZFOD4xbU2nov

The google link doesn't work for me.

How I view and buy plastic.

Was this thing designed to and will last me at least 10 years? Buy
If not, don't buy.
Is there an alternative that would work just as well? If so, don't buy.

I like plastic. It was a wonderful invention. The extreme advancements we have had in our lives because of it is amazing. Just think of the medical industry.
It is very unfortunate that we use it in short term products.

A solution that should be in place for all recycling is to upgrade our dump systems. Every dump should have a sorting and recycling plan in place. This way, it doesn't matter who throws what away in the trash, the dump gets the trash and it is all automatically sorted with the plastics sorted out and recycled. This would be much better run by private companies than public dumps IMO because public programs don't care as much about recycling because they don't make money from it and don't suffer if they are not efficient.

Plastic everywhere makes me think of all the annoying stickers on our fruits. I buy the little oranges for my family to eat, and they (1) come in a plastic mesh, and (2) Still have stickers on most of the oranges. There's no need for stickers if the things are in a bag! If I try to buy produce by the pound, they have stickers on all the produce, too. Why are there stickers on the potatoes? I try to grow more of our food, and get more from farmers markets, but we still buy fresh fruit at the grocery store when the farmers markets aren't open. Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid those annoying plastic slickers?

Things I do to reduce plastic use:

bring my own bags, or--if we forgot them--ask for paper or carry them out by hand. If my husband comes home with plastic bags from his shopping trips, I save them all to be recycled at the grocery store, rather than letting him just throw them away. We also use the non-holey ones as trashbags, so they at least get an extra use out of them. (Does anyone have better options for trashbags?)

Avoid plastic toys. Not only do they have chemicals I don't want being absorbed into my children's skin, I don't want to spend money on plastic things. The only plastic toys we have are ones given to us,
or that were our own toys when we were kids. By continuing to play with them, we keep them out of the dump.

Using glass containers and mason jars to store food, rather than plastic bags. I purposefully don't by plastic baggies so that we either (A) use a glass container or bowl/plate combo to store our food, or (B) re use one of the baggies that came with some food or item we ordered

using metal straws, as well as metal silverware and Correll plants/bowls

cloth diapers! the diaper covers I use are a petroleum product, but considering 10 of them is enough until my kids are potty trained, I don't feel too bad. My little guy still wets the bed at night, but instead of disposable pull ups, I invested in some cloth pull up covers (I got three last year from Antsy Pants and they're still working great. I just fold up a flat, cotton diaper inside, rather than using an insert.)

Only using wool, cotton and silk in my kitting.

Sticking to cotton and wool clothing. The only synthetics I use are polyester for my kids' outerwear--and that's usually purchased at thrift stores or is hand-me-downs. My duaghter wears her brother's old coats and pants for playing outside. She likes the clothes, and there's no one to frown at me for having her in "boy" clothes, and I get to reuse the clothes!

saving and reusing plastic pots that come with our plants.

Avoiding painting decorative, unnessesary things. Painted rocks are all the rage--but that paint just flecks off after a while, leaving little bits of plasticly paint everywhere. I also used to paint my terra cotta pots. Big mistake! All the paint is flaking off and is a PAIN to clean up!

This is a slight variation on this topic - https://globalnews.ca/news/4149344/mutant-enzyme-eats-plastic-bottles/
I just read this news report on "plastic recycling". It bothered me for three reasons.
1. They don't actually say what form the "back into their original building blocks so that they can be sustainably recycled" actually is. We don't have a good way to store CO2 so if that's an "original building block" this is still scary.
2. What if this enzyme escapes into the wild. I realize it's specific for PET, and I'm no expert on critical places PET is used as apposed to close relatives, but one way plastic is used effectively is opposite metal in moving parts (apparently metal on one side, "plastic" on the other is critical for efficient joint replacements just as an example).
3. Some people seem to think that if it can be "recycled" then there's no reason not to use it for a single use task. This enzyme will still be the last step in an energy intensive process of turning oil into plastic, shipping the plastic to a store, sending the plastic back to the recycle plant, and all the little steps in between. Getting people to reliably take their re-usable coffee mug instead of a disposable one would save much more energy (and eliminate much of the road-side trash that I see regularly!)

More on topic, I admit if I had to give up all plastic I'd be very sad. We get most of our plastic buckets from a food preparation company, so they've been used already, and we use them until the bucket part breaks. I replace the handles if that's the only problem. We try *really hard" to buy for longevity. I've been promised (but do I believe it?) that most warm-wear (artificial fleecy coats) is made from recycled pop bottles, but either way, the combination of our wet climate and the fact that most of the ones I have were from the Thrift shop is a justification I'm living with. Trying to find things that aren't plastic or don't have at least some plastic parts can be a challenge, but what bothers me more is that much of that plastic has been thinned/cheapened to the point that objects I bought 10 years ago will outlive a similar product if I bought it today. Buying quality, buying second hand, re-purposing stuff to meet the need we have, re-using glass jars for food in the fridge/cupboard, using re-use plastic containers in the freezer instead of plastic bags and using things until they're worn out (and who cares about the current "style"), repairing broken things despite the time that takes, are all daily approaches we use to keep plastic manageable.

Nicole - I sooooo... agree with you about those annoying stickers. Two years later I find them in the compost. Five years later I find them in the garden. Some days I swear they are secretly reproducing themselves.  Maybe when the enzyme above escapes into the wild those stickers will add a little nutrient to our soils.

Ever since I took my PDC, I have drastically reduced my plastic buying habits in all sorts of ways. Last month, I watched the documentary A Plastic Ocean. This film has inspired me to consume even less. What's great is that, before purchasing a product, I think really long & hard about where the plastic from it will end up. In the end, most times I decide not to buy it at all. Over the years, by just by buying less plastic, I have seen a dramatic increase in my financial savings, and I feel better about not having contributed to the plastic problem. I have noticed that this "good feeling" from not participating in creating more plastic waste endures indefinitely, unlike the extremely short-term so-called "joy" felt from owning something new & shiny. It's a paradigm-shifting shopping experience to constantly think of all the reasons that I do not need a product. Whenever I have decided to set something back on the shelf at the store & walk away from it, I now always do with a huge smile on my face & no regrets.

@Craig! This Precious Plastic project is nice! Thanks for the heads up. The 3D printer filament he makes reminds me of the open source RepRap Recyclebot 3D printer:
Link to the RepRap Recyclebot on Appropedia.org,
Link to the Open Source design files of the RepRap Recyclebot,
Link to the RepRap Recyclebot on the RepRap.org wiki,
Link to a short general overview video of the RepRap Project.
The idea of a 3D printer that prints most of its own parts, & can print more "evolved" versions of itself feels so sci-fi to me. It's mind-bending to live in the 21st century sometimes.

Probably 30 years ago I read "Mutant 59 the Plastic Eater",which explored the idea of a plastic eating microbe escaped into the wild...

To quote Josie B. From over at Good Reads :
"I read this when I was about twelve. The writing was wooden and the characters forgettable, but the premise has haunted me for years. I thought about it today when a friend posted "9 ways to use less plastic." I give it a four because I can still imagine something like this happening."

More good news:
Great Pacific Garbage Patch (cbc.ca)
"The study suggests the total amount of microplastics in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch totals more 1.8 trillion pieces, a number that far exceeds earlier estimates."

Apparently, that patch is only the tip of the iceberg as most pieces sink.

and some more:
An Update on Microfiber Pollution (patagonia.com)

The problems of synthetic textiles were new to me. My first thought was ok NOW were f*cked.

Some years ago I built myself a Rostock printer (http://reprap.org/wiki/Rostock) and learned a lot about plastics in the process. There are other plastic extruders on the market besides the one from https://preciousplastic.com. (ex: https://www.filastruder.com, https://www.filabot.com)

The problem with these from a 3D printing perspective is that you need  a large percentage of fresh pellets mixed with the recycled plastic to get viable filament.

I use PLA for my prints because it is said to be biodegradable. This is a typical claim:
"The huge benefit of PLA as a bioplastic is its versatility and the fact that it naturally degrades when exposed to the environment. For example, a PLA bottle left in the ocean would typically degrade in six to 24 months. Compared to conventional plastics (which in the same environment can take several hundred to a thousand years to degrade) this is truly phenomenal."
https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/learn-about-polylactic-acid-pla-prototypes

But what about the dyes/pigments used? And what about other additives? It turns out that PLA is often not recycled because it causes too much problems.

"To biodegrade, PLA requires a laundry list of conditions to effectively break down. Specifically - oxygen, a temperature of 140+ degrees, and a 2/3 cocktail of organic substrate. Collectively, these are absent in any scenario outside of industrial composting facilities."
https://www.filabot.com/blogs/news/57233604-the-misleading-biodegradability-of-pla

Biodegradable and compostable are not exactly equivalent terms
.
Another problem is how PLA is produced, they say it comes from renewable resources but I bet those ressources are not produced "renewably".

"Poly(lactic acid) or polylactic acid or polylactide (PLA) is a biodegradable and bioactive thermoplastic aliphatic polyester derived from renewable resources, such as corn starch (in the United States and Canada), cassava roots, chips or starch (mostly in Asia), or sugarcane (in the rest of the world)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polylactic_acid

The industry is looking into producing textiles from PLA. If PLA is only compostable in industrial settings then the microfiber problem is still a problem.

"PLA fiber is derived from annually renewable crops, it is 100% compostable and its  life cycle potentially reduces the Earth’s carbon dioxide level. The recognition by the FTC in the USA and the EU commission that PLA fibers are a completely new generic class of synthetic fibers further reinforces the validity of this new approach to producing performance melt-spinnable fibers."
http://jimluntllc.com/pdfs/polylactic_fibers.pdf

In short, it sucks.

I don't think I'm a pessimist but I don't see how humans will survive themselves.

The plastic problem is shitty and epically large, but far from causing fear, my hopes are buoyed by discoveries like the plastic-eating enzyme.

Let us keep in mind that the article mentioned an enzyme several times, and the addition of amino acids to accelerate its functioning. Nowhere is the mutant microbe source of the enzyme mentioned. Just as PLA will only biodegrade in industrial composting conditions, there is nothing to suggest that the microbe that produces the enzyme mentioned could survive outside of a bioreactor keyed to its particular needs.

Nor is it suggested that the amino acids were produced by the same organism producing the enzyme, meaning that they would have to be added to increase the functioning to the accelerated rate.

I would like to know more about the source of the enzyme. Is it bacterial or fungal? Does it exist in any natural ecosystem (that we could use as a model to optimise functioning of our plastic-digesting system), but not exhibiting the plastic-digesting enzymatic behaviour? Is it eaten by anything?

I like to see things like the wax beetle larvae that were discovered to be able to eat plastic bags (although I would want to have them and their feces tested for evidence of persistent plastics), or strains of oyster mushroom bred to do the same.

I think we need to gird ourselves with knowledge capable of undoing and remedying the damage of which we are also capable. This isn't deus ex machina, but rather a salvation by our understanding and application of biology.

-CK

It's not only plastic that sucks, that's the thing lol
I've been studying battery technology for my electronic projects and it's no better, probably worse considering the quantity of phones produced every year.
My projects are data loggers that don't need constant power so I thought I could go the super capacitor route.
Some of these use activated charcoal made from coconut shells but others use carbon nano tubes which can be quite bad. Kind of like diatomaceous earth but for humans and probably a lot of other organisms.

Thank you all for the great information. I did some mostly unscientific experiments on a supposedly biodegradable spoon we were given somewhere (we carry collapsible chopsticks in an effort to avoid that situation, but sometimes it doesn't work). Now it's my drawer being used when I need cutlery I don't care about because my efforts were quite unsuccessful!
However, it points out that what we are told is often less important than what we are *not* told. The locals are raging about single use plastic bags, but there are those who point out that replacing them with cotton bags would be even more harmful for the environment. The reality is that they're mostly being replaced by multi-use artificial materials. The question I'm left with is whether those artificial material bags use more or less energy on a per use basis than what they're replacing. Where we are, many plastic bags are recyclable (but what does that *really* mean???). What will happen to the multi-use replacement when it is no longer usable? People donate their damaged bags to me because I actually mend things, but eventually even I had to give up on some of them.

Personally our first line of defense is to work on the first 'R' - reduce, and encourage many of our friends to do so also. Technology can both help and hinder fixing the planet's problems but refusing to buy any single-use product/package one possibly can is an immediate fix that many people can accomplish even if it does require a little effort and advance planning.

My oldest reusable cotton bag is 20 years old.  It is also our most used (about 5 times a week) and holds twice what a disposable plastic bag does.  That's replacing 10 disposable plastic bags a week, over 20 years... I'm pretty happy with that.

That said, I did have to do some repair this month but I expect not to have to repair it again for another 2 to 5 years so I'm happy.  I expect with due care and attention, it should last about 40 years - replacing 10 bags a week... that's a lot of math.  I suspect that makes up for it not being organic cotton.  

Now, if it had been made of linen it would have been lighter, stronger, and taken far less energy (and no chemicals) to produce.  

Francis Mallet wrote:But what about the dyes/pigments used?

@Francis,
Thanks for your experienced post. Are the companies out there that offer non-dyed PLA?
Also, is it practical to grow your own PLA stock with home-grown plants & make your own PLA at a home-scale?

"reduce... reuse, recycle, repair, refuse, re-think, re-assess, refrain, reject & reconsider." -Ross Mars

Jay Angler wrote:. The locals are raging about single use plastic bags, but there are those who point out that replacing them with cotton bags would be even more harmful for the environment. The reality is that they're mostly being replaced by multi-use artificial materials. The question I'm left with is whether those artificial material bags use more or less energy on a per use basis than what they're replacing. Where we are, many plastic bags are recyclable (but what does that *really* mean???). What will happen to the multi-use replacement when it is no longer usable? People donate their damaged bags to me because I actually mend things, but eventually even I had to give up on some of them.

My husband and I have used the big Trader Joes insulated bags (the blue ones) for about 8 years. I wish they were cotton, and I wish I'd known to get cotton ones at the time, but we bought them because they were convenient and thermal. And, those things have held up! Some have a few rips, but they still work great. When we take them shopping, we can often get everything we purchase into those bags. When we forget to take them, or do a spur-of-the-moment shopping trip without them, we come home with 20+ plastic bags. It's horrible! And, my husband likes to just chuck the ones with holes, rather than taking the time to drop them off to get recycled. I think a LOT of people do that, too. It's a hassle to remember to recycle those things, and you want them gone, so into the trash they go. Our big, petroleum-based bags do not go in the landfill. They get used time and time again. Like R said, they've saved probably thousands of trashbags from the dump. I will continue to use them, because I have them--no use in buying or making something when I already have something that works. Our other grocery bags that we use are ones that were given to us. Once again, there's no reason to toss them to get cotton ones--just use them until we can't anymore, and save them from a landfill.

A link for Albatross, the film, came to me from one of my enviro email lists, and before sharing it with anyone, I wanted to preview it (because we all get too much stuff, and I don't want to waste anyone's time.)

well, I DID preview it this (snowy) morning - and found it to be beautiful, but be warned, horrifically so.  I have long been an anti-plastic advocate (I've started bringing a picnic basket full of real plates and silverware as my 'dish to pass' to group gatherings) but THIS film gave me pause.   I, WE all, need to do MORE.    Once the organizational paperwork is done for 'my' new non-profit organization, i expect we will host some viewings.  But it should be watched FIRST because it  needs to be presented to your selected audience in a sensitive way.   It's not for 'everyone'.   But i think we permies may know folks who can 'face the dark realities' and have the 'courage to NOT turn away'

a video trailer is linked here: https://www.albatrossthefilm.com/

if you haven't heard about this film already and need one more nudge to look closer before following links, this is part of their "our story":

   ... And the experience of Midway had come to me as a life-changing gift that I felt should be passed along in the purest form possible. I also believe that now is the time for radically creative action by all of us on behalf of life, in whatever big or small ways we each have the power to do. One thing I can do is to give my eight-year labor of love as a gift to the world, as a gesture of trust in doing the right thing for its own sake.

   With these principles in mind, ALBATROSS is offered as a free public artwork. Starting on Earth Day 2018 (Apr 22), ALBATROSS will be made available for individuals everywhere to host a free screening for their families, friends, communities, organizations, churches, etc. Thousands of people are already signing up to join in this collective-consciousness raising experience. Our “hosted screenings” campaign will culminate on World Oceans Day 2018 (June 8), when ALBATROSS will be screened at the United Nations, as part of the official World Oceans Day Program hosted by Parley for the Oceans. On that day, ALBATROSS will be made available for free permanently.

Because I requested to host the film, I got further instructions, including:

"A primary intention of ALBATROSS is to delve into feelings of a kind that we might usually tend to avoid. This film looks deeply into sadness, grief, beauty, and love, in ways that can feel uncomfortable. But as director Chris Jordan likes to say, that is the whole intention: when we allow ourselves to feel our sadness for what is being lost in our world, then we connect with the part of ourselves that loves our world. In this way, coming to know the true nature of grief can be a liberating experience. When grief is no longer seen as a “bad” feeling, then it can be embraced as a portal to deeper connection with life."

I found this true, and the film too moving to wait until our fledgling organization will be ready to host screenings later.  Perhaps some of you have time and an audience to share this with sooner...

Loxley Clovis wrote:
@Francis,
Thanks for your experienced post. Are the companies out there that offer non-dyed PLA?
Also, is it practical to grow your own PLA stock with home-grown plants & make your own PLA at a home-scale?

I do have a "natural" sample spool of PLA unfortunately the filament is too big for my printer.  There are some resellers that offer natural PLA but it might just refer to the color and no dyes doesn't necessarily means no additives.
Mine has a starchy texture compared with the glassy texture of colored filament. This is something I will investigate if I ever decide to buy more filament. I really cut back on the printing. Makes me sad a bit as I've been dreaming about this since 1994.

PLA is manufactured using fermentation and it might be possible for someone to do at home. I sure don't feel up to it. Making a printer from scratch (and maintaining it) was hard enough.
https://polymerinnovationblog.com/from-corn-to-poly-lactic-acid-pla-fermentation-in-action/

As for that Ross Mars quote, here is another snippet from http://donellameadows.org

PLACES TO INTERVENE IN A SYSTEM
(in increasing order of effectiveness)

9. Constants, parameters, numbers (subsidies, taxes, standards).
8. Regulating negative feedback loops.
7. Driving positive feedback loops.
6. Material flows and nodes of material intersection.
5. Information flows.
4. The rules of the system (incentives, punishments, constraints).
3. The distribution of power over the rules of the system.
2. The goals of the system.
1. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, power structure, rules, its culture — arises.
(http://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/)

The reduce/reuse thing feels like a #9
If manufacturers would design stuff that can be repaired and that is intended to be usable forever (like r ranson's bags) then that feels like a #4 or maybe even a #2.
I feel it would probably change things much faster than trying to wake up the herd (#8?).

By the way, r ranson, if you ever make linen grocery bags then I'll buy one from you.

Got this in my inbox today:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/plastics-facts-infographics-ocean-pollution/

40 percent of plastic produced is packaging, used just once and then discarded.

161 million tons go for packaging
65  million tons for textiles

From what I understand these two uses are the most problematic.

Here is another article with stunning photos:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/

more inspiration to say no to plastic

I'm always a little suspicious about popular news reports not giving the whole picture, but this article does show the scale of the immediate problem:
https://globalnews.ca/news/4259225/china-plastic-waste-ban-canada-crisis-g7/?utm_source=ShawConnect&utm_medium=MostPopular&utm_campaign=2014

We used to have a local company that took plastic waste and turned it into plastic wood. It wasn't a perfect solution but it was better than nothing. The provincial government changed the way the curbside recycling program worked, and the company gave up and sold their equipment to China.  

I've been talking to some people at the university and recycling centre for a project I'm working on.  It looks like China still accepts some plastic waste from BC, but not other provinces because the plastic in BC is so well sorted by the citizens.  

Because British Columbians are so good at sorting, they've chosen us for an experimental project to recycle plastic http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/flexible-plastic-packaging-recycling-bc-1.4687868

I'm both excited about this because it now means that almost every plastic item in my home can be recycled.

But I'm also immensely sad about it because it gives us an excuse to keep on using and making plastic - especially single-use plastic.  

Just because we can recycle it, doesn't mean people do.  Recycling also has huge energy and environmental costs.  Note also, the sponsors for this recycling project... just saying you can learn a lot about the intent of the project when you follow the money.  

r ranson wrote:

I'm both excited about this because it now means that almost every plastic item in my home can be recycled.

But I'm also immensely sad about it because it gives us an excuse to keep on using and making plastic - especially single-use plastic.  

I totally agree with you. The article you linked to does not actually say what, where, or how the company is using the plastic - just that they're collecting it. Plastic really is a wonderful material and has many wonderful uses, but it's too cheap and convenient, and it contributes to the "throw away" society that we just can't keep on with.

Plastic also gets brittle with age. We have many things which are 20 to 30 years old. Invariably, it is some plastic bit that breaks first and if we can't repair/replace it, the whole object may land in the landfill and be replaced with something whose design lifespan is half as long. Ultimately, forcing companies to take a "cradle to grave" approach may be the only way to slow things down.

Odd, some of the links have gone.

When the story first came out I could follow the links to a very spiffy site talking about how great the new programme is.  It focused on the circular economy and how these big companies thought it so wonderful they were funding it because they are so green.  I can't remember which companies now, but one was a major soda pop name, another a major grocery name.  

Earth First   Warning. This video drops the F bomb very early on but then it's family friendly. It's more about sustainable housing than plastic but a few opening shots give an idea of the scale of the problem.

Plastic is one of my pet peeves. It has some very good uses, such as medical, but overall it's just pure evil. Those are some disturbing pix. But wait ... there's more. Now that my plastic phone is not stuck in video mode I'll snap a few ugly pix early next week. They can't compare with NatGeo quality but the point will be made. Appalling. Stay tuned.

anti plastic t-shirts & items

This is a plastic recycling center. Well, more accurately, a large warehouse where plastic is collected for shipment to China. The warehouse was full so they started filling the surrounding area. Then it rained & the boxes fell apart & collapsed. Roughly 300 meters from a major river. Small pieces float away every time it rains. As one of the permies stewards (I forget which) says ... THERE IS NO AWAY. You might not see it anymore but it lingers for a very long time.

Bottled water anyone? Really? There are mountains of those floating in the oceans. Large enough to be navigation hazards.