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? From Methane to Plastic to Methane, Without Waste
Posted on September 26, 2012 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsFrom Methane to Plastic to Methane, Without Waste – NYTimes.com.
The process starts at a waste treatment plant where methane is captured and fed to bacteria that produce a biopolymer called poly-hydroxybutryate, whose properties are similar to polypropylene. This is then sold in the form of powder or pellets to plastic companies that can use it to make a wide range of products, from children’s toys to electronic casing to shampoo bottles to packaging materials.
At the end of a product’s life, it can be returned to a waste treatment plant where it will decompose and produce more methane to start the cycle all over again.
If this can make it to market, then it is worth a lot more than $630,000
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