Story of Plastic

[Terry Dodge]

This is something that I can’t stand. Why this nation even allows worms (which I have not used since 2009) to be sold in plastic and styrofoam containers is beyond me.

I have thought for awhile about taking this problem on at a local level with trying to ban the sale of worms in such containers. Maybe now would be a good time to up my game.

 

https://youtu.be/37PDwW0c1so

 

On Tuesday, January 19, 2021, the Northwest Illinois Audubon Society will be hosting a Free Film Screening of the Story of Plastic plus optional Zoom discussion.

I plan to take part in this event.

Please contact me if you would to attend and I’ll hook you up to get you registered.

Follow link for more info > https://www.storyofplastic.org/

[Mark K]

Is Plastic Recycling A Lie? Oil Companies Touted Recycling To Sell More Plastic : NPR

[Terry Dodge]

58 minutes ago, Mark K said:

Is Plastic Recycling A Lie? Oil Companies Touted Recycling To Sell More Plastic : NPR

Yep.  Really not even worth the time to discuss at this point. 

 

[Mark K]

Any type of paper container, think... soft drink, coffee cup, etc.  Really anything paperboard that needs to contain liquids or wet stuff and and not turn to mush are generally coated and or lined with extruded polyethylene.  

Not  recyclable , biodegradable or compostable. 

[bill sheridan]

I remember as a kid all the cups were coated with wax. We would use them to wax the sliding boards.  I do not know how they used to decompose. Might be something to back to, more natural.

[Mark K]

On 1/27/2021 at 8:20 PM, bill sheridan said:

I remember as a kid all the cups were coated with wax. We would use them to wax the sliding boards.  I do not know how they used to decompose. Might be something to back to, more natural.

Paraffin wax is derived from petroleum products.  Non sustainable.  With regard to biodegradability it probably is.  recycleable probably not. 

There are still companies doing this however any wax used for this I've come across seems to me to be more than paraffin. I am not exactly sure. I don't think in any case it would be practical on a large scale. 

The real hope is for PLA.  Poly Lactic Acid, a biodegradable plastic derived from plant starches.   You can extrude this onto paper board  and mold it into solid plastics.  There are companies already doing this. 

I have been told that PLA is significantly more expensive ( a big deal) and harder to work with on machinery set up for PE.   

This stuff is already on the market you can buy it.

Biodegradable Disposable 16 Ounce Cup | PLA Cold Cup (greenpaperproducts.com)

 

[Mark K]

This is disturbing. There is so much waste  made in the US, UK and AUS. we used to ship it China.  Now a lot of it goes to places like Indonesia. where they can recycle some of the paper products but the leftover plastic is dumped i- basically on the economic demographic most easily exploited.  They pile all this stuff up in the villages.  The people weed thru it looking for plastic that can be recycled, that they sell to factories).  The rest they burn .  So, when you burn plastic it releases really nasty compounds like dioxins.  places like tofu factories are using plastic instead of wood for fuel.  There are so many toxins being released it is now made it in the food chain.