RECYCLING: How is PET plastic recycled?

Posted on June 23, 2011

CONSUMPTION: L.A. County bans plastic bags

Posted on November 17, 2010

In addition to wasting energy and resources in a time when fewer nonrenewable resources must be divided up amongst an ever increasing world population, the negative environmental consequences of plastic bags are too high to justify their use. Mere convenience shouldn’t trump the need to conserve valuable resources and to protect the environment. Via the Los Angeles Times (emphasis added):

In Los Angeles County alone, 6 billion plastic bags are used each year, an average of 1,600 bags per household a year. Government figures show that only about 5% are recycled.

Mark Gold, president of the Santa Monica environmental group Heal the Bay, said previous county efforts to promote recycling of plastic bags at grocery stores was a failure.

“You cannot recycle your way out of the plastic bag problem,” Gold said. “The cost of convenience can no longer be at the expense of the environment.”

The proliferation of plastic bags has wreaked environmental havoc. A Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times series in 2006 documented how plastics were choking the seas. In one region in the Pacific Ocean halfway between San Francisco and Hawaii, a garbage patch twice the size of Texas is swirling clockwise, filled with plastic debris that is ingested by birds and other wildlife.

On Midway Atoll, 40% of albatross chicks die, their bellies full of trash, The Times reported.

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MARINE POLLUTION: UNEP head wants worldwide ban on plastic bags; political commentator Glenn Beck believes ban doesn’t make any sense

Posted on June 9, 2009

Image: Sea birds mistake marine litter for food and will even feed pieces of marine debris to their chicks. As a result, chicks starve to death. All that’s left after some breeding seasons are decaying carcasses containing all types of marine litter.

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Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, wants to “reverse . . . [the] alarming quantities of rubbish thrown out to sea [that] continues to endanger people’s safety and health, entrap wildlife, damage nautical equipment and deface coastal areas around the world.” In addition to a ban, public education is certainly needed—especially in schools. From the United Nations Environment Programme:

“Marine litter is symptomatic of a wider malaise: namely the wasteful use and persistent poor management of natural resources. The plastic bags, bottles and other debris piling up in the oceans and seas could be dramatically reduced by improved waste reduction, waste management and recycling initiatives”.

“Some of the litter, like thin film single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased-out rapidly everywhere-there is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere. Other waste can be cut by boosting public awareness, and proposing an array of economic incentives and smart market mechanisms that tip the balance in favor of recycling, reducing or re-use rather than dumping into the sea,” he said.

Of course Glenn Beck shouldn’t be taken serious, but his obtuse attitude towards efforts to remedy the problem of marine debris is ignorant and embarrassing. In this video, Glenn Beck demonstrates why he’s a Fox News snake oil salesman and not an environmental manager.

Image found here. Video via Gawker.

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ANIMAL WELFARE: Turtle deformed from six-pack plastic ring

Posted on April 24, 2009

The first video below is a couple of years old, but I’ve just recently discovered it. It shows a turtle that was deformed from being encased within a six-pack plastic ring. The second video is of a snapping turtle (shown in the image) that was affectionately named Mae West. Mae West suffered deformities from being trapped within a plastic ring.

I thought that these videos are excellent to highlight the importance of (1) reducing waste, (2) the utility in recycling (when possible and as much as possible), (3) tossing our trash that can’t be recycled into a garbage bin (or don’t purchase items that can’t be recycled, that contain non-recyclable packaging, or unnecessary packaging), and (4) rethinking how we consume and handle our waste.