Plastic polluting the Planet !

[arboriculturist]

As the ' So what's going to happen to the Firewood market ' thread has slightly derailed - I thought I would start a more apt one:

 

Buying loose fruit and veg in a supermarket is actually more expensive than buying prepacked cellophane wrapped products and until that changes a lot of people won't be swayed into avoiding packaging.

 

I am in for a real ear bending from my daughter if I dare to return home with anything whatsoever that could be bought without wrapping.

Kitchen roll is out the door also and we have returned to the days of my childhood when we had napkins in napkin rings on the table at mealtimes.

 

Came home with a few truckloads of potato boxes the other day to re-use - she loved that idea and was all smiles that day! ?

Edited September 9, 2018 by arboriculturist

[peatff]

I notice there are still places selling hand cleaner with poly chips which are finding their way into the food chain. They are available on Amazon and other places despite the ban since January 2018. I'm not an extremist but I think these problems need addressing. 

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, peatff said:

I notice there are still places selling hand cleaner with poly chips which are finding their way into the food chain. They are available on Amazon and other places despite the ban since January 2018. I'm not an extremist but I think these problems need addressing. 

This is a good example of  how innovations are readily adopted without  taking into account external costs, sometimes the effects are not seen for decades, like asbestosis for instance as well as halogenated hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere and more generally increases in atmospheric CO2.

 

I think there are two different levels here, first is microplastics which are an  inevitable   result of wear and tear, like fibrils from  plastic threads in clothing, which easily enter living organisms and the other is  discarded plastic, like litter, flotsam and jetsam and  plastics deliberately discharged into the sea from domestic and industrial waste. This latter may well  be from plastics we have exported as baled waste to other countries for disposal, IMO waste should be dealt with locally and export was never a good option.

 

Most people don't discard their rubbish other than in a proper  disposal system,  so the conspicuous litter in the countryside is a result of a small proportion of us, the micro particles, from wear and tear , like bits of strimmer cord or washing machine outlets is likely attributable to all of us.

[Conor Wright]

Ah, I was busy ranting on the previous thread while you were making this one... oops!

 

here we go..

 

Growing under any form of protection has its environmental impact, but one polytunnel cover will last up to a decade, a glasshouse indefinitely once of proper construction and well maintained.. At a pure guess, the impact of one flight of mange tout from Zimbabwe to europe is doing more damage, not just to the global environment but also to the local ones, both where it takes off and lands, than the whole life cycle of a tunnel. How little are the subsistence farmers (many whom are mere tennants on massive commercial enterprises) getting for their work if its 79cent for 150g of their product 3000km away from home, also, how is the local grower who has to pay staff, taxes etc. and keep up to stringent standards of h and s bureaucracy, none of which are adhered to or can be adhered to by aforementioned overseas growers supposed to compete?

If we spent less time over here farming subsidies and destroying arable land with over stocking dairy and beef cattle maybe we could utilise the same land to successfully grow a complete range of vegetables and fruits while still maintaining a sufficient number of animals to keep some high quality exports (not exporting live animals) and dairy products to neighbouring countries.. Who really and genuinely thinks that Ireland exporting dairy products to China is actually the basis of a succesful business model? Really? 

Reduce animal numbers, thereby

Increasing diversification of produce.

Apply real world pricing to air freighted fresh goods.

Increase both the quality of farm incomes and work practises through higher value produce

Increase the numbers of people willing to work the land, because now it makes sense.

Reduce monocultures, plant more trees, save seeds, create bee habitats, run mixed livestock enterprises in conjunction with environmentally sound land husbandry techniques. minimise harmful chemical inputs, maximise production on small acreages, involve people, utilise social media etc to build proper awareness of what we are actually eating and the processes involved.

Maybe then we could go about achieving some level of actual economic security

Edited September 9, 2018 by Conor Wright
too busy ranting to notice things had moved on!

[Vespasian]

How does our plastic waste end up in the sea....

 

i can't figure it. but i do see the odd vid of beaches in third world countries, the filthy bastards..  no wonder theres plastic floating round the oceans..   I was ruminating on this the other month when the problem was in vogue in the news..  My solution, plastic for us and the rest of the civilized world.

 

No plast for the shitholes as Trump would say...

[Squaredy]

Another significant contributor to ocean pollution is flushable wipes.  The manufacturers are totally misleading us all in describing them as flushable.  They should be described as "flushable so long as you are OK with the risks you are taking in blocking up drains on your property and then eventually starting to eat the wipes as they disintegrate and break down into tiny particles and find their way into the Tuna, Salmon, and other things that we like to eat."

 

There is no such thing as a genuinely flushable wipe....they are all harmful, and eventually the legislation is going to change in some countries....twenty years too late.  By the way, same problem with so-called "moist toilet tissue".  Do not flush them.  Any of them.

 

And by the way, I recently discovered that tea bags contain plastic.  No wonder they never seem to disappear in my compost heap.  Yet another scandal.

[Ratman]

Seen a few articles and programmes with regards to plastics being ingested by us humans through our foods etc, the possible consequences from doing so sound very alarming. I love fish and all seafood in general but these are some of the worst affected sources of human foods that contain large proportions of plastic particles. Its a shame we cant do more to stop plastics causing so much harm.

[peatff]

1 hour ago, Squaredy said:

And by the way, I recently discovered that tea bags contain plastic.  No wonder they never seem to disappear in my compost heap.  Yet another scandal.

Buy loose tea, we use Co-op 99, it still comes in a plastic foil container inside a cardboard box though. 

[Squaredy]

31 minutes ago, peatff said:

Buy loose tea, we use Co-op 99, it still comes in a plastic foil container inside a cardboard box though. 

I should make the change back to loose tea.  I love the smell of it brewing, and it is a nicer cuppa too.  I was brought up on loose tea and was quite glad in the eighties to throw off that "faffy" method.  Maybe the "faffy" method needs to come back.

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, Squaredy said:

And by the way, I recently discovered that tea bags contain plastic.  No wonder they never seem to disappear in my compost heap. 

Yes since I saw this some months back I have taken to burning dried tea bags in my experimental cook stoves