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? AD firm claims it will settle degradable bag debate – UK
Posted on September 23, 2014 by DrRossH in GeneralAD firm claims it will settle degradable bag debate | News | Materials Recycling World.
There is an ongoing and heated debate over whether plastic that degrades when exposed to air (oxo-biodegradable) leaves residual fragments. By contrast, hydro-biodegradable plastic is classified as compostable and can be used in AD processes.
A previous “large desk” study conducted by OWS for the Plastics Europe association failed to either confirm or deny the validity of claims over the biodegradability of oxo-degradable plastics.
Yes there is certainly a question as to whether these plastic will biodegrade. The claims are made on theory of the carbon chain being small enough to be eaten by microbes. But we must ask will there be microbes in the places that these plastics do fragment. they do not fragment in landfill as there is little oxygen there. They will only fragment up top of the ground or in the ocean with oxygen and sunlight present. Are there microbes up on top of the ground sufficient to eat these plastics? We would suspect not.
The other factor and one the oxo guys are far to scared to discuses the effect of fragmentation on plastics and marine live. When a plastic breaks down into a little bite size bits, birds and fish like to eat it. 100% of birds on Lord Howe Island now have plastic in their stomachs. The chicks are dying in their 1000’s, a horrible death. Oxo would exacerbate this and kill more animals. The island of Midway are similar.
Not saying any plastic in the ocean is good as they all break down in sunlight to little pieces. But to put an accelerant in it seems to be the wrong thing to do.
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