July 2015 - Plastic Waste Solutions
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Bag makers brace for the start of Chicago’s bag ban
Posted on July 31, 2015 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsBag makers brace for the start of Chicago's bag ban | Plastics News#utm_medium=email&utm_source=pn-sustain&utm_campaign=pn-sustain-20150723&email_sustain#utm_medium=email&utm_source=pn-sustain&utm_campaign=pn-sustain-20150723&email_sustain. The measure, which goes into effect Aug. 1, requires stores to provide shoppers with reusable or recyclable bags of any material or commercially compostable plastic bags. At...
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Plastic water bottles bad for environment but beverage makers want us to buy more | News.com.au
Posted on July 22, 2015 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsPlastic water bottles bad for environment but beverage makers want us to buy more | News.com.au. This is so sad that a industry that is making a product that no one needs and is very bad for the environment can...
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Microplastics in the ocean are moving up the food chain
Posted on July 12, 2015 by DrRossH in Plastic & WildlifeStudy: Microplastics in the ocean are moving up the food chain -- Earth Changes -- Sott.net. Plastic fibres and particles in West Coast waters are being consumed and passed up the food chain by tiny marine creatures that apparently...
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Re-fuse Efficiency In a Circular Economy -Europe
Posted on July 11, 2015 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsRe-fuse Efficiency In a Circular Economy - Waste Management World. Jonas Byström, senior sector specialist, water & waste management division, European Investment Bank (EIB) explains that in order to progress to a circular economy we need to stop calling waste...
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95 MW Palm Beach waste to energy plant opened in Florida
Posted on July 11, 2015 by DrRossH in Landfills and Disposal95 MW Palm Beach waste to energy plant opened in Florida - Waste Management World. Palm Beach County’s advanced waste to energy facility - the Palm Beach Renewable Energy Facility 2 (PBREF2) – has been officially opened to process more...
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Single use plastic water bottles banned in Selfridges, London
Posted on July 11, 2015 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsSingle use plastic water bottles banned in Selfridges, London - Waste Management World. Flagship London department store Selfridges has banned plastic water bottles as part of a campaign to cut down on marine litter. Joining forces with the Zoological Society of...
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How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter?