Bin liners to takeaway containers – ideas to solve your plastic conundrums

Plastic has become an environmental disaster. Microplastic pollution has been found in our waterways, fish stocks, salt, tap water and even the air we breathe. Reducing our reliance on plastic by refusing it wherever possible has never been more important, especially as Australia’s recycling system is in crisis.

Plastic water bottles are derived from crude oil and take
thousands of years to break down in landfill. Choose
 stainless steel bottles with silicon lids. 

Yet there are conundrums that continue to defeat even those dedicated to going plastic-free. From bin liners to takeaway containers, Guardian Australia has tried to solve them. And we want to hear from you: share your plastic conundrums and the solutions. We’ll round up the best ideas for a follow-up article.

Read Koren Helbig’s story from The Guardian - “Bin liners to takeaway containers – ideas to solve your plastic conundrums.”

Plastic waste reduced by up to 30 per cent with help from game-changing farmers' invention

Two brothers have taken on the fight to reduce plastic by inventing a solar shrink mulch film to help farmers minimise costs, wastage and to protect the environment.

Mark and Robert Trenchard launched their product
in 2015 and hope to tap into overseas markets.

Brisbane's Hydrox Technologies co-founders Robert and Mark Trenchard's patented solar shrink mulch film invention was named in the top 10 new agricultural products for 2018 at the world's largest agricultural show, The World AG Expo, in California earlier this year.

The film has a solar-powered shrinking action, allowing it to shrink and tighten at low temperatures as soon as it is exposed to the sun, reducing farmers' plastic usage by up to 30 per cent.

Fruit and vegetable growers use the film to control weeds. It stops weeds coming through the soil and taking up nutrients the plants require.

Read the ABC Rural News story by Jessica Schremmer - “Plastic waste reduced by up to 30 per cent with help from game-changing farmers' invention.”

‘Wake-up call': microplastics found in Great Australian Bight sediment

Plastic has been found in ocean-floor sediments 2km below the surface in one of Australia’s most precious and isolated marine environments.

The Great Australian Bight marine park, a so-called ‘pristine’ biodiversity
hotspot where microplastics have been found below the surface.

CSIRO scientists discovered the microplastic pieces while analysing samples taken hundreds of kilometres offshore at the bottom of the Great Australian Bight – a so-called “pristine” biodiversity hotspot and marine treasure.

Conservationists and scientists said the discovery off the South Australian coast should act as a “wake-up call” for governments and corporations to cut unnecessary use of plastics and to “legislate and incentivise” to tackle the growing ocean plastics problem.

Read Graham Readfearn’s story from The Guardian - “‘Wake-up call': microplastics found in Great Australian Bight sediment.”

Baby fish led astray by rising CO2 levels in the ocean.

The world's oceans are being polluted by chemicals and plastic, and disturbed by the movements of cargo ships and cruise liners.

Baby fish face a multitude of problems, among them. climate change.

But one of the most pressing issues for our oceans is climate change.

New research has found baby fish are being led astray by rising CO2 levels in the ocean.

And that could see a dramatic decline in fish populations in the future.

Listen to the Radio National program - “Baby fish led astray by rising CO2 levels in the ocean.”

Bottle and can deposit return scheme gets green light in England

All drinks containers in England, whether plastic, glass or metal, will be covered by a deposit return scheme, the government has announced.

 Deposit return schemes currently operate in 38 countries. 

The forthcoming scheme is intended to cut the litter polluting the land and sea by returning a small cash sum to consumers who return their bottles and cans.

Similar schemes operate in 38 countries, and campaigners have worked for a decade for its introduction in England.

Fees vary depending on the size of the bottle or can and many use “reverse vending machines” to automate the return.

Read Damian Carrington’s story from The Guardian - “Bottle and can deposit return scheme gets green light in England.”

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch counts 1.8 trillion pieces of trash, mostly plastic

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is getting greater. Twice the size of Texas, the floating mass of about 79,000 metric tons of plastic is up to 16 times larger than previously thought, according to scientists who performed an aerial survey.

The results, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, reveal that this plastic blight in the Pacific Ocean is still growing at what the researchers called an "exponential" pace.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or GPGP for short, is an accumulation of junk that has collected in the waters between California and Hawaii. The concentration of floating plastic in the patch ranges from tens to hundreds of kilograms per square kilometer. But much of it is hidden from the naked eye, partly because some of the plastic has been broken down into smaller and smaller bits over time. (It is not, as its name may suggest, an island.)

Read Amina Khan’s story from The Los Angeles Times - “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch counts 1.8 trillion pieces of trash, mostly plastic.”

(The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is analogous with climate change - we can’t see it and therefore we do nought about it, nor do we care - Robert McLean)

Eight million tonnes of plastic are going into the ocean each year

You might have heard the oceans are full of plastic, but how full exactly? Around 8 million metric tonnes go into the oceans each year, according to the first rigorous global estimate published in Science today.

That’s equivalent to 16 shopping bags full of plastic for every metre of coastline (excluding Antarctica). By 2025 we will be putting enough plastic in the ocean (on our most conservative estimates) to cover 5% of the earth’s entire surface in cling film each year.

Around a third of this likely comes from China, and 10% from Indonesia. In fact all but one of the top 20 worst offenders are developing nations, largely due to fast-growing economies but poor waste management systems.

Read The Conversation story - “Eight million tonnes of plastic are going into the ocean each year.”

We Are Drowning In Plastic, and Fracking Companies Are Profiting

We are choking the planet in plastic. Everything from wasteful water bottles to grocery shopping bags are polluting our waterways, and endangering marine life and the natural environment. It’s fair to say that even the most casual news consumer has probably encountered a Facebook post, TV report, or radio segment about the garbage patches in the Pacific Ocean. 

Plastics and other detritus line the shore of the
 Thames Estuary on January 2, 2018 in Cliffe, Kent.

But what’s less well-known is what is fueling this plastics binge: fracking. As the Guardian recently reported, in less than a decade, tens of billions of dollars have been invested in creating new manufacturing sites around the world to turn fossil fuels into resin pellets used to manufacture plastic products. The companies profiting off this surge in plastics are contributing to a growing climate crisis while generating mountains of plastic garbage.

Read the Yes! Magazine story by Wenonah Hauter - “We Are Drowning In Plastic, and Fracking Companies Are Profiting.”

Asda sets out new plans to reduce plastic waste

Asda, one of the UK’s largest food retailers, has become the latest supermarket to announce immediate plans to reduce plastic waste in its stores.

The supermarket’s new plan, released this week, pledges to reduce the amount of plastic in its packaging by 10 percent this year.

It will do this by implementing a range of measures, including replacing 2.4 million plastic drinking straws with paper; launching reusable coffee cups; and phasing out single-use carrier bags.

All single-use cups and plastic cutlery will also be removed from its offices in 2018, and in stores by the end of 2019.

Read the ClimateAction story - “Asda sets out new plans to reduce plastic waste.”

The 150-Mile Wardrobe: A Solution for One of the World’s Most Polluting Industries

Between pesticides, chemical dyes, and plastic, producing a typical sweater eats an enormous amount of natural and industrial resources. Apparel is one of the world’s most polluting industries, and the U.S. sends up to 75 percent of its cotton abroad—only to ship it back as cheap T-shirts.

Fibershed founder Rebecca Burgess, Mike Lewis of Growing Warriors in Kentucky,
 and Arnie Valdez of Rezolana Institute in Colorado collaborate on hemp processing. 

The Northern California Fibershed was designed to circumvent all that.

About 104 farmers, ranchers, weavers, spinners, and designers across 19 counties make up a garment-producing system where every producer uses materials sourced within a 150-mile radius: A shop in Oakland buys marigolds from a farm in Chico to dye yarn shorn from sheep in Sonoma and weaves it into sweaters sold in San Francisco.

The concept started in 2010 when textile artist and sustainability advocate Rebecca Burgess challenged herself for one year to wear only clothes produced near her community.

Read the Yes! Magazine story by Araz Hachadourian - “The 150-Mile Wardrobe: A Solution for One of the World’s Most Polluting Industries.”

The 150-Mile Wardrobe: A Solution for One of the World’s Most Polluting Industries

Between pesticides, chemical dyes, and plastic, producing a typical sweater eats an enormous amount of natural and industrial resources. Apparel is one of the world’s most polluting industries, and the U.S. sends up to 75 percent of its cotton abroad—only to ship it back as cheap T-shirts.

Fibershed founder Rebecca Burgess, Mike Lewis of Growing
Warriors in Kentucky, and Arnie Valdez of Rezolana Institute
 in Colorado collaborate on hemp processing.

The Northern California Fibershed was designed to circumvent all that.

About 104 farmers, ranchers, weavers, spinners, and designers across 19 counties make up a garment-producing system where every producer uses materials sourced within a 150-mile radius: A shop in Oakland buys marigolds from a farm in Chico to dye yarn shorn from sheep in Sonoma and weaves it into sweaters sold in San Francisco.

The concept started in 2010 when textile artist and sustainability advocate Rebecca Burgess challenged herself for one year to wear only clothes produced near her community.

Read the Yes! Magazine story by Araz Hachadourian - “The 150-Mile Wardrobe: A Solution for One of the World’s Most Polluting Industries.”

In a world swamped by plastic waste there's a tonne for every single one of us

More than 9 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since 1950, and almost all of it is still around.

Bad diet: This seabird was a victim of plastic pollution. 

A new study that tracked the global manufacture and distribution of plastics since they became widespread after World War II found that only two billion tonnes of that plastic is still in use.

A small amount is eliminated in incinerators, leaving seven billion tonnes  stuck on Earth as garbage in landfills, recycled rubbish or pollution in the environment, including the deep oceans, where it's been discovered in the mouths of whales and the bellies of dead seabirds that mistook it for food.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age by Darryl Fears - “In a world swamped by plastic waste there's a tonne for every single one of us.”

New study reveals plastic pollution in the Antarctic is 5x worse than expected

Microplastic levels in the Antarctic are five times greater than anticipated, according to the international team. 

Plastic in the Antarctic is five
times worse than anticipated.

Microplastics are those tiny particles less than five millimeters in diameter found in personal care items like toothpaste and shampoo, but they can also come from clothing fibers or be created as larger pieces of plastic in the ocean break down.

The researchers found the plastic around the Antarctic continent and in the Southern Ocean, which is around 8.5 million square miles large. They think plastic originating outside the area may be coming in over the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which scientists in the past considered nearly impassible.

Read the Inhabitat story by Lucy Cooke - “New study reveals plastic pollution in the Antarctic is 5x worse than expected.”

Floating Plastic Pollution from Europe and the US Is Accumulating in the Arctic

Plastic in its many forms is one of the obvious impacts of humanity on Earth; it’s everywhere and virtually impossible to destroy.

Polar Bears in the Arctic are often in the news and
this time it is because of plastic. While Arctic species
might well be troubled by plastic so is the huge range
 of species in Australia/'s many rivers and streams.

Frequent publicity is about the troubles arising from plastics in such exotic places as the Arctic, as discussed here, but equally this human construct is causing equally serious troubles in rivers and streams throughout Australia.

The low population of the Arctic Circle means little plastic waste is generated there. However, a new study has shown that the Greenland and Barents Seas (east of Greenland and north of Scandinavia) are accumulating large amounts of plastic debris that is carried and trapped there by ocean currents.

The new study, published today in Science Advances, found that the Greenland and Barents seas have accumulated hundreds of tons of plastic debris composed of around 300 billion pieces, mainly fragments around the size of a grain of rice. The vast majority of these fragments originate form the North Atlantic.

The team behind the study is composed of researchers from eight countries, led by Professor Andrés Cózar from the University of Cadiz in Spain, and including Dr Erik van Sebille from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.

Read the Science and Technology Research News story - “Floating Plastic Pollution from Europe and the US Is Accumulating in the Arctic.”

Clean energy grant companies see profits climb, says Department of Industry chief economist

Cold then hot, cold then hot. That's how millions of bottles of soft drink used to be filled, stored and packaged into boxes at the Coca Cola plant in Sydney's northwest before arriving on the shelf at the local shops. 

Scott Andrews, Coca Cola's National
Environment Manager, at their
 plant in Northmead.

Fully formed bottles had to be rinsed and filled cold, warm carbonated liquid would cause the soft-drink to spill everywhere when the bottles were filled. Then they had to be warmed because condensation would destroy the pallets they were transported on.

Read Eryk Bashaw’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Clean energy grant companies see profits climb, says Department of Industry chief economist.”

(Most soft drink bottles are still made of plastic and therein lies a problem as poorly disposed of plastic is emerging as one of the great issues facing humanity - Robert McLean)

Talking Beneath the Wisteria about purging ourselves of plastic

The idea that “Every piece of plastic ever created still exists, somewhere,” will be discussed on Saturday Beneath the Wisteria in Shepparton Maude St Mall. 

Plastic never dies, maybe it will breakdown into almost invisible tiny pieces; so tiny it is being ingested by microscopic species and so finding its way into the food chain.

Professor of environmental psychology from Cardiff University, Wouter Portinga, recently spoke at the University of Melbourne noting that plastic was becoming so pervasive in the food chain that people might just as well cut it into pieces and serve it up on their dinner plate.

The more visible pieces of plastic dumped carelessly by people, threaten the safety and lives of many species who live with us.

A visiting Rotarian who was out walking near the Shepparton/Mooroopna causeway was distressed by the sight of a wild duck struggling to walk because of a length of plastic wrapped around one leg.

Plastic is implicated in almost every aspect of our lives today and although it may enhance our wellbeing in many ways we do need to think about how much we use and why we use it.

Plastic, how we use it and how we dispose of it will be discussed at the Saturday, March 25, gathering Beneath the Wisteria in Shepparton’s Maude St Mall.

The gathering, which is free and open to anyone keen to join the discussion, or simply listen, starts at 11:00 am and continue for about an hour. 

Some public seating is provided, but those attending are advised to bring a folding chair.

Beneath the Wisteria was set up to allow people to consider individual and community responses to climate change and so a discussion about plastic may appear to be a distraction.

Plastic is not a distraction plastic as it emerged from the oil rich 20th Century and is a symbol of the human behaviour that leads to the worsening of climate change.

Overt consumption adds up to trouble for our Great Barrier Reef

Overt consumption is a root cause of climate change and within that over consumption is our perverse use of and addiction to plastics of all sorts.

And now, as The New York Times (NYT) reports, our coral reefs appear to have included plastic in their diet.

In a story headed: “Fears over plastic-eating coral in Australia's Barrier Reef” the NYT tells us that Australian researchers have fears about the impact the indigestible fragments have on coral health and that of other marine life.

The scientists found that when they placed corals from the reef into plastic-contaminated water, the marine life "ate plastic at rates only slightly lower than their normal rate of feeding on marine plankton", the study published in the journal Marine Biology said.

Creating tomorrow's energy source

In what was once a Polaroid factory 50 miles south of Boston, a high-tech company is printing sheets of solar cells made of plastic, trying to create tomorrow's energy source amid the tumult of today's energy market: reports Climate Central.

The article Plastics Put Solar on the Verge of an Energy Revolution published in Climate Central tells this exiting story.