Some morning thoughts...Plastic Pollution

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Bandit99, May 21, 2019.


  1. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Morning thoughts over my tea this morning...

    I don't believe all this Climate Change crap that we hear, especially since it has been shown that much of the data has been skewed/altered; however, I do believe that the people of the planet has an effect upon the planet - I mean - we live here so how can we not effect it. I live in my house and it becomes dirty from me so...I try to keep my house clean and in repair and I think we should do the same for our planet, not to the point of driving ourselves crazy (not into tree hugging) but the best we can, to the point of logic and practicality. No 'Green Deal' just some common sense in keeping our house clean.

    Recently, I have read about whales and/or sharks dying from having eaten so much plastic, the last article had a shark with 50 pounds of plastic in its stomach. This morning, I read about an remote island that has more than 400 million pieces of junk plastic on its beach. I also read of floating garbage at sea that are bigger than many states.

    My point in this is...what the hell are we doing? We have mountains of this stuff that doesn't dissolve - ever - and yet we continue to make more? Seems illogical to me and yes, I realize that it is used in everything but I also realize we didn't always have plastic. It would seem to me to be more reasonable for these Climate Change Yahoos to drop this and prioritize a problem that is more immediate and definitely harmful to nature animals and its beauty.

    Anyway, plastics...what the hell are we doing? Your thoughts?





    Scientists went to one of the world's most remote island atolls. They found 414 million pieces of plastic
     
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  2. sec_monkey

    sec_monkey SM Security Administrator

    plastics gud

    plastic pollution bad

    nuff said
     
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  3. Merkun

    Merkun furious dreamer

    Plastics gud, U betcha. Recycling them, gud also. Burning them when done is better than simply landfilling them or not.
     
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  4. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    Yea, plastics not good for the earth!
    The blame is Africa, and most of the sub Asian/Indian regions, but we all share the guilt! I have seen one of those floating islands of garbage floating around the Pacific, it was a few miles across and suposed to have been around for 20 years or so! Whats worse is thats just what floats, what about all the other stuff that has sunk?

    Some one is going to have to figure out what to do with all that crap, soon!
    We are starting to see movement's to ban and eliminate plastics here in Or. We have banned plastic shopping bags and plastic straws, next will be Styrofoam food containers and plastic food and drink containers!
    And, the good folks in our state capital have added a "Fee" to use paper bags from now on, at .05 cents each! Thus encouraging folks to use reusable bags!
     
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  5. UncleMorgan

    UncleMorgan I like peeling bananas and (occasionally) people.

    Plastic in the ocean grinds down to micro-sized pieces that can clog up & kill even the smallest krill.

    Slow progress is being made in converting plastic waste into fuel oil (like diesel) and in making biodegradable plastic.

    Unless they put a recycle value on plastic waste of about $0.50/lb. it will continue to be discarded by the stupid and lazy.

    When they do, you'll see ocean-going filter ships straining all the plastic out of the Great Garbage Gyres, and people making big money. You'll also see an end to plastic trash, in general.

    In another 40 years or so, this should be a solved problem--if there's anyone left alive to be happy about it.
     
  6. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    Plastic,Styrofoam cups,beer,coke cans all were duly noted in the ditches and ''Coolys'' this last Sundays flood.
    What wasn't caught up in the culverts and drains ends up in the Vermilion river which in turn ties into the Intracoastal canal and Freshwater Bayou,Both dump into the Gulf.
    I show this to the wife and tell her...This!!! is why drainage is so slow here! Damn Trashed up ditches!
    And the first to cry ''Why is my house flooded'' Is usually the same SOB's trashing up the place....
    Rant time out>>>>>>>>>>
     
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  7. 3M-TA3

    3M-TA3 Cold Wet Monkey

    Might be sooner rather than later: Tigard company plans to recycle tons of hard to recycle Styrofoam, plastics

    "..."It’s a very advanced form of recycling,” said Brian Moe, vice-president of Agilyx Corporation. “It’s the next kind of stage, the next part of recycling. Previous types of recycling still has its place. This will enable us to just recycle more material than we ever have before.”

    Agilyx began taking that bulky Styrofoam packing material last year while it continued to develop the machinery to turn the foam and other plastics into a styrene-enriched oil.

    That's the basic building block of all plastics.

    “It’s returning it to its highest use,” Moe said. “Instead of when you traditionally recycle, it generally gets downgraded and you can only recycle it so many times. Where we’re returning the molecules to its original form.”... "​
     
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  8. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    A few years back , I remember a company that was distributing bottled water , if I remember correctly , they were making the plastic bottles out of a corn derivative , and supposedly , the bottles would dissentigrate after about 90 days in the sun and dirt . I thought that was a really cool idea , but I haven't heard anything else about that since . That would surely cure a big trash problem .
     
  9. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    I actually thought they could recycle this stuff but apparently not - a BIG not. I did read last week of a new plastic that will indeed break down but that does not resolve the current issue of literally mountains of this stuff. The company that finds a commercial use for this crap will definitely be in the big bucks.
     
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  10. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Plastics that break down are a good idea, but what do they break down into?
    If they deteriorate into harmless substances that's fine.
     
  11. 3M-TA3

    3M-TA3 Cold Wet Monkey

    A large local fast food chain called Burgerville uses that plastic for all their cups, straws, and any other disposable that isn't paper. They also have a pretty decent burger.
     
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  12. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    I would think the investment for "Harvesting" the plastic and then figuring out HOW to deal with it is the only real stoppage to making serious money recycling it!
    I would think reverce engineering would have sorted this out long ago, but i guess not!
    Me, i would take the stuff that cannot be broken down and recycled and burn it as a fuel to power the rest of the effort, and what ever residue remains would likely be useful for something, and if not, a much smaller pile to deal with!
     
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  13. sec_monkey

    sec_monkey SM Security Administrator

  14. DKR

    DKR Raconteur of the first stripe

    [​IMG]
    plastic kills fish

    "Ghost" nets kill a lot of fish and everything else in the ocean.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    These net are associated with illegal fishing fleets from......






    China.
     
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  15. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    Yup, China, India, Africa, Russia, and many of the smaller poorer countries are the biggest polluters, which means the lions share or any clean up costs will be a burden of the wealthy woke countries! Same with every thing else, look at tje ship breaking in Mumbai, and other areas, or the literal river of oil in Niger flowing almost freely into the Atlantic, yearly pollutent output is larger then the Deep Water Horizon/BP spill!
    And lets not forget Russia with its YUGE radiological waste disposals in the arctic as well as the kamchecketa district, or its former distruction of the Black Sea and Ariel Sea!!!!
    Amd then there is all the illegal fish poaching where suspected boats drop their nets to avoid getting caught!
     
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  16. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    Honestly, the whole world would be a better place if Africa were devoid of humans! No where has mankind destroyed so much in so short of a time, and no where is the earth so sensitive as Africa! And, the indigenous peoples cannot be trusted to preserve it!
     
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  17. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    Problem is companies are reverting back to raw product because recycling is costly .
    If every one were educated in proper recycling identification it would be much different .
    Composites are not the same as polyurethane . they don't blend .
    Composites don't melt, they burn .
    There are companies the use recycle plastics in place of wood products but it costs something to have employees to sort out the plastic from composites .
    These companies can be established world wide but you know something , it's trying to get people to work.
    Socialism is a world wide epidemic , people thinking the world owes them a living .
    Once a people get accustomed to getting something for free, they think it is a right. .Hence we have these coming from south America demanding free every thing free, and turn down work on the way.
     
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  18. SoaySheep

    SoaySheep Monkey

    Climate change is happening. The data is real. If anything it is understated. If you don't want to listen to science, ask anyone who has been farming for more than 20 years. Things are blooming out of season. Last year I saw Ragweed blooming next to Knotweed. Routinely crops are lost due to early spring and late frost. We might get pears this year but haven't for the last ten. Droughts are worse. Tornadoes are worse. Floods are worse. Insects, not just bees are dying off. 30 years ago you couldn't drive more than 10 miles without having to use your wipers to deal with bug spatter on the windshield. There used to be flocks of birds at rest stops waiting to clean your car grills. When the insects die off, everything above them in the food chain hasn't got long to live. When the plankton die, everything above them in the food chain hasn't got long to live.

    70 years ago any home being built north of Columbus Ohio had a snow door. A door on the second floor that opened out to air, because in the winter you needed that door to get out to walk on the snow drifts. The first floor door was buried. From what I've seen they stopped building snow doors about 40-50 years ago in even Minnesota. The corals are dying. the plankton are dying. It's blatantly obvious.

    Just google, "Plankton dying," and Coral dying," and, "Insect apocalypse." There are lots of articles. These below just happened to show up at the top of my page. Talk to any marine biologist, any entomologist.

    Regarding Plankton
    Study shows oceanic phytoplankton declines in Northern Hemisphere – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

    Regarding Coral:
    SECORE Foundation | Coral reefs are dying

    Regarding Insects:
    We have a new global tally of the insect apocalypse. It’s alarming.

    Regarding the 2nd half of your post: Yes, something needs to be done and there are plenty of ideas as you and others have stated. My question is why isn't something like this being done in America?

    This House was Built in 5 Days Using Recycled Plastic Bricks | ArchDaily

    It would be a cheap building material, light enough for DIY one story structures, workshops, barns, cabins. This would use up a lot a waste and convert it into a useful product. It wouldn't solve everything but could certainly play a part. I've not been able to find anyone in America either selling these products, or selling the equipment to make them. Why?
     
  19. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    I have worked with the synthetic lumber , it's drawbacks rigidity or rather the lack there of.
    It makes a great decking material due to resistance to UVs and no splintering or warping or twisting it can be painted and handled like wood, and it won't rot.
    The marinas use it in place of wood decking material .
    Realistically it could be used for roofing and flooring and walls and all kinds of nonstructural applications .
    The material name I am accustomed to is called Trecks but it is available in lumber yards under several other names and shapes.
    Problem in the world is builders and home owners are not intelligent enough to consider the material, and prefer the wood products for looks and salability to other less concerned with the worlds resources.
    Personally I like the material and I like working with it.
     
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  20. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    Another problem with the Trex materials is its 2-3 times the cost of wood , and very few of my clients are willing to spend the extra cash for their project . But then a few years later when they fail to keep the wood treated , paint , stain , or waterproofed , and their having to replace wood because the crappy treatments they use in treated lumber today that won't hold up to the elements , that's when they wished they'd have spent the extra cash . That's when I get the compliment of , " I wish I'd have listened to you before " .
     
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