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? Microplastics found in human stools for the first time
Posted on October 24, 2018 by DrRossH in General, Plastic Waste NewsStudy suggests the tiny particles may be widespread in the human food chain
Source: Microplastics found in human stools for the first time
Plastic use is so pervasive in modern life that removing it entirely from the food chain would be extremely difficult. A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number is expected to jump another 20% by 2021.
Up to nine different plastics were found out of 10 varieties tested for, in particles of sizes ranging from 50 to 500 micrometres. Polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate were the plastics most commonly found.
On average, 20 particles of microplastic were found in each 10g of excreta. Microplastics are defined as particles of less than 5mm, with some created for use in products such as cosmetics but also by the breaking down of larger pieces of plastic, often in the sea.
Based on this study, the authors estimated that “more than 50% of the world population might have microplastics in their stools”.
It was only a matter of time before this was proven. Plastics exist in so many wildlife species now it is no surprise it is entering our food chain too. We have to reduce consumption of plastic. We have to hold plastic products manufacturers, esp. those of disposable or single use plastic item used for human food consumption partially responsible for their products. A plastics tax is the simple and obvious one. It will drive manufacturers to consider alternate materials. They won’t like it initially but once they get over the hump they will be happy again, just going down a different path.
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