Plastic

Is It Really Possible To Go ‘Plastic Free’? This Town Is Showing The World How.

March 5, 2020 Anna Turns, Huffpost.com Create! Europe, New Economy, Plastic, United Kingdom (UK)

PENZANCE, ENGLAND – As waves crash against the art deco wall of Jubilee Pool in the one of the country’s most westerly coastal towns, Sam Dean is talking about single-use plastics. Specifically, how to wean people off them. Dean is the food and beverage manager of the Jubilee Pool Café, which calls itself a ”single use plastic free venue.” Customers will find no plastic straws, cups or cutlery here.

‘David-and-Goliath Story’ As Texas Environmental Activist Diane Wilson Wins $50 Million Judgment Against Plastics Giant Formosa

December 6, 2019 By Eoin Higgins, Commondreams.org Resist! Courts, Environment, Plastic

Environmental activist Diane Wilson on Tuesday celebrated the approval of a settlement with plastics giant Formosa Plastics Corp. that will see the company devote $50 million to remediating areas of the Texas Gulf Coast it polluted. U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt approved the settlement (pdf), which was reached in October. "If this isn't a David-and-Goliath story, I don't know what is," tweeted Texas Tribune reporter Kiah Collier.

U.S. Government Reports: ‘It Is Raining Plastic’

August 20, 2019 By Andrew Emett, Nationofchange.org Educate! Climate Change, Environment, Plastic, pollution

After analyzing rainwater samples collected from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the U.S. Interior Department recently released a study concluding that microscopic plastic fibers have contaminated the air, soil, water, and even rainfall. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, plastic was found in over 90 percent of samples taken. In a recent report titled “It Is Raining Plastic,” the U.S. Geological Survey reported, “Atmospheric wet deposition samples were collected using the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN) at eight sites in the Colorado Front Range. Plastics were identified in more than 90 percent of the samples.”

As The Ocean Waters Rise, So Do The Islands Of Garbage

July 26, 2019 Vijay Prashad, TriContinental Institute for Social Research Educate! Plastic, pollution, Waste

On 12 July 2019, a twelve-year-old girl from Gresik (Indonesia), Aeshnina Azzahra, wrote a letter to US President Donald Trump. The letter was delivered to the US embassy in Jakarta and released to the press. ‘My country’, she wrote, ‘is the second largest contributor to waste. And some of that waste is your waste’. Then, she asked three powerful and sincere questions: ‘Why do you always export your waste to my country? Why don’t you take care of your own waste? Why do we have to feel the impact of your waste?’

All-American Torture Camps, It’s Raining Plastic & Oil Companies Dig It

May 14, 2019 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com Resistance Report Alabama, Environment, Plastic, pollution, Prisons

Human rights violations are rife in Alabama prisons – meanwhile, the Alabama Department of Corrections continues to overcrowd these torture centers while blaming mistreatment on staff shortages. Next up, we are effectively laminating our planet in plastic. And while the public recognition of plastic's evil and long life is growing, there are several aspects of this industry we don't talk about – and we really need to.

Activists Deliver Giant Trash Monsters To Nestlé Headquarters To Protest Plastic Pollution

April 30, 2019 Maddie Stone, Earther.gizmodo.com Resist! Nestle, Plastic, pollution, Protests

Plastic pollution in the oceans is a huge, disgusting problem. Which is why it’s pretty fitting that Greenpeace decided to raise awareness of one company’s contributions with huge, disgusting trash monsters. On Tuesday, Greenpeace activists hauled a 15-foot-tall heap of garbage, artfully crafted to resemble one of those deep sea fish that’s about 90 percent jowl, out in front of the Nestlé’s U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. An even bigger trash monster was delivered earlier in the day to the company’s global headquarters in Switzerland, while similar leviathans cropped up in Italy, Kenya, and the Philippines, Greenpeace oceans campaigner Kate Melges told Earther in a phone interview.

Microplastics Are Blowing In The Wind: New Study Shows Plastic Pollution Falling From The Sky

April 20, 2019 Ashley Curtin, Nationofchange.org Educate! Air Pollution, Plastic

Plastic pollution is now the greatest global issue. And a new study proves microplastics are traveling through the atmosphere. In a first of its kind published in Nature Geoscience, the study looked at atmospheric microplastic deposition and transport. Research presented in the study included “observations of atmospheric microplastic deposition in a remote, pristine mountain catchment (French Pyrenees).” Over a five month period, samples were analyzed in both wet and dry deposition identifying fibers up to ~750 µm long and fragments ≤300 µm as microplastics, the study reported. The study concluded “daily counts of 249 fragments, 73 films and 44 fibers per square meter” that deposited on the French Pyrenees.

Recycling Is Not Enough. Zero-Packaging Stores Show We Can Kick Our Plastic Addiction

January 18, 2019 Sabrina Chakori and Ammar Abdul Aziz, Nationofchange.org Create! New Economy, Plastic, Recycling

Zero-packaging stores show, in their own small way, a viable and healthier alternative to the current system. Both for ourselves, local economies and the planet. Wrapped, sealed, boxed, cling-filmed and vacuum packed. We have become used to consumables being packaged in every way imaginable. The history of “packaging” goes back to the first human settlements. First leaves, gourds and animals skins were used. Then ceramics, glass and tin. Then paper and cardboard. But with the invention of plastic and the celebration of “throwaway living” since the 1950s, the environmental costs of an overpackaged world have become manifest.

American Beauties

October 12, 2018 By Rebecca Altman, Topic.com Educate! Plastic, pollution

The story of the plastic bag—the kind that is so ubiquitous in grocery stores, in gutters, in the branches of trees—is a story of persuasion, one that began with a battle between paper and plastic in the hearts of the American people. “People are fond of the old paper bag,” Peter Bunten explained to the New York Times in 1984. “It’s as American as the flag and apple pie and all those other red, white, and blue clichés.” At the time, Bunten worked for American Paper Institute, and the plastic bag, first introduced to grocery stores in 1979, was ready to challenge the paper bag’s supremacy over how people carted home groceries—a $600 million market at the time.

Amsterdam’s Most Beneficent Tourist Activity Is Fishing For Plastic

September 6, 2018 Matt Hittman, Mnn.com Create! Amsterdam, Environment, New Economy, Plastic

There's really nothing as exhilarating as taking in the sights and sounds of Amsterdam from the water aboard a scenic canal cruise. And in a city that champions inclusivity while boasting a concentric network of 17th century canals that spans 65 miles, there's naturally a cruise option for everyone. And we mean everyone: romantic candlelit dinner cruises, kid-friendly cruises, foodie cruises, booze cruises, comedic cruises, cannabis-fueled cruises, cruises that serve unlimited pancakes and, last but not least, cruises that involve plucking plastic garbage from waterways.

There’s An Unexpected Downfall To Banning Plastic Straws. Here’s What To Consider.

July 4, 2018 By Parker Molloy, Upworthy.com Educate! Cities, Plastic

Nobody likes waste, but sometimes in our rush to eliminate it, we don't think through the consequences of our actions. Take, for example, the push to ban plastic straws. As of July 1, restaurants in Seattle are banned from giving customers non-recyclable plastic utensils or straws. Restaurants can still provide customers with a number of durable or compostable utensils or straws upon request. Other cities that have banned or restricted the use of straws include Edmonds, Washington; Miami Beach and Fort Myers Beach, Florida; Monmouth Beach, New Jersey; and a slew of California towns including Alameda, Berkeley, Carmel, Davis, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Oakland, Richmond, and San Luis Obispo...

Scientists Accidentally Develop ‘Mutant’ Enzyme That Eats Plastic

April 24, 2018 Lorraine Chow, Ecowatch.com Create! Plastic, pollution, Science

Researchers in the UK and the U.S. have inadvertently engineered an enzyme that eats up plastic. The enzyme is able to digest PET (polyethylene terephthalate)—the same material used in the ubiquitous plastic bottle that's clogging up landfills, coastlines and oceans around the world. Amazingly, this discovery only happened by chance. Scientists from the University of Portsmouth in the UK and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) were examining the structure of a natural enzyme, Ideonella sakaiensis, found in 2016 at a Japanese waste recycling center. This enzyme could already break down PET plastic—it just doesn't do it very quickly. To understand how Ideonella sakaiensis evolved, the research team "tweaked" the structure of the enzyme by adding some amino acids, according to John McGeehan, a Portsmouth professor who co-led the work.

I Kept All My Plastic For A Year – The 4,490 Items Forced Me To Rethink

April 20, 2018 Laura Barton, Theguardian.com Resist! Environment, Plastic, pollution

We all know, in theory, that we ought to use less plastic. We’ve all been distressed by the sight of Blue Planet II’s hawksbill turtle entangled in a plastic sack, and felt chastened as we’ve totted up our weekly tally of disposable coffee cups. But still, UK annual plastic waste is now close to 5m tonnes, including enough single-use plastic to fill 1,000 Royal Albert Halls; the government’s planned elimination of “avoidable” plastic waste by 2042 seems a quite dazzling task. It was reported this week that scientists at the University of Portsmouth have accidentally developed a plastic-eating mutant enzyme, and while we wait to see if that will save us all, for one individual the realisation of just how much plastic we use has become an intensely personal matter.

Campaigner Calling For The Final Straw

October 28, 2017 Hannah Wilkinson, www.jmu-journalism.org.uk Create! Environment, Oceans, Plastic

By Hannah Wilkinson for JMU Journalism - A Wirral man who has devoted his career to helping and protecting sealife is calling on businesses to help in the fight to keep local waterways safe and clean. While there is growing public awareness that the use of plastics is having a major detrimental impact with dangerous materials making their way out to sea, marine mammal medic, Chris Cureton, is a man on a mission. Last month, the JD Wetherspoon pub chain too the decision to remove plastic straws from its 900 UK bars, and Chris is hoping to encourage other firms to do the same. Mr Cureton told JMU Journalism: “I’m very focused on marine plastic pollution and its impact on marine life both locally and globally. “After seeing some campaigns around the world attempting to reduce the use of single use plastic straws, I decided to kick off the campaign locally focusing on New Brighton and Wallasey.” He only started his campaign at the beginning of September, but 13 local Wallasey and New Brighton businesses have already agreed to completely remove plastic straws from their venues. Other outlets have agreed to not automatically put straws in glasses, but will still have them on offer. ‘The Last Plastic Straw’ is a worldwide campaign striving to educate the public about the problems associated with of single use plastic, its effects on health, the environment, and the oceans.

Seattle To Ban Plastic Straws, Utensils At Restaurants Next Year

August 29, 2017 Lorraine Chow, www.ecowatch.com Create! Ban, Plastic, Seattle

By Lorraine Chow for Eco Watch - Starting next year, Seattle restaurants will no longer provide plastic straws and plastic utensils to its patrons after a 2010 ordinance finally takes effect. "As of July 1, 2018, food services businesses should not be providing plastic straws or utensils," Sego Jackson, the strategic advisor for Waste Prevention and Product Stewardship for Seattle Public Utilities, told Q13 FOX. "What they should be providing are compostable straws or compostable utensils. But they also might be providing durables, reusables, or encouraging you to skip the straw altogether," he added. Jackson said the city's effort to ban disposal plastic food service ware had been in the books since 2010 but was stalled because compostable alternatives were not viable yet. "Early on there weren't many compostable options," he explained. "And some of the options didn't perform well or compost well. That's all changed now." The exemption that allowed eateries to dispense plastic straws and utensils is set to expire and will not be renewed. The ban only applies to restaurants serving food, as plastic straws and utensils can still be purchased at city grocery stores. Restaurants that do not comply will be warned and eventually fined but eateries will be given assistance with the transition.

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