Plastic Waste News Archives - Page 85 of 88 - Plastic Waste Solutions
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The 4Rs for Controlling Plastic Waste
Posted on December 30, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsThe 4Rs are incorporated in to the Logo of Plastic Waste Solutions. We all know the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle as a proposed plan to control the use of plastics and other waste. There is a large element missing in...
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Supply Side vs Disposal Side Issues for Plastic
Posted on December 30, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsWhat we need to understand is there are two sides to plastic. The supply side and the disposal side. Manufacturers are very keen to address the supply side as that is where they can lessen their costs and provide a...
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Foodservice sector defends coffee chains over cup recycling
Posted on December 30, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsThere are some fair comments in the reply to the Which? report in the link below. Consumers do have a large responsibility to dispose of items in the best manner not just the most convenient manner. However the manufacturers have...
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New plastic shopping bags are not so ‘green’ –
Posted on December 28, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsIt is hard to believe a whole country like Dubai can be fooled by green washing salesmen. Oxodegradable bags are possibly worse for the environment than the original plastic bags that virtually...
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Plastic Packaging is the Problem
Posted on December 20, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsThere has been a trend to plastic way from cardboard boxes or cardboard containment of goods for shipping purposes. A lot of this is due to cost, not necessarily due to more secure packaging. Cardboard enjoys very high recycling rates...
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What does ‘biodegradable’ mean?
Posted on December 11, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsAs usual nothing in life is that simple. Biodegradable does not mean compostable. Many materials will biodegrade in a compost facility but many will not. This should be well understood. Most compostable material will NOT biodegrade in a landfill. ...
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Litter traps for plastic debris installed along Beaches
Posted on December 1, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsThree trial litter traps were installed by PWS along beaches of Port Melbourne. The litter traps cover the outlets of storm water drains that empty on to the beaches. Previously when a large storm event would occur, plastic litter on...
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Plastic bag ban in Wales
Posted on November 29, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsAnecdotal evidence from major retailers suggests that Wales’ carrier bag charge has dramatically reduced bag use in Wales, according to environment minister John Griffiths. The carrier bag charge came into force on 1 October in Wales. As a result of the...
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Drink bottles to be recycled at Olympics
Posted on November 29, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsCoca-Cola has pledged to recycle all clear plastic bottles disposed of at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The company will be joining forces with Sita UK, the Games organising committee’s waste management partner, to recycle clear plastic PET...
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Call for industry to do more to reduce pack waste
Posted on November 28, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSpeaking at a Westminster Food & Nutrition Forum on ‘Moving towards a zero waste economy’ (17 November), Thornton stressed that packaging had an important role to play in protecting products. However, he added that packaging “was also inherent waste”. He explained:...
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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?