Break Free from Plastic Report - Top Plastic Polluting Brands in the world.

One of the group members of Per La Mar Viva posted an article they found regarding an organisation called Break free from plastic and after following the links lead me to a report compiled from all over the world regarding the brands responsible for the most plastic pollution.

Here are some snippets from the report. (the full report is available at:https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BFFP-2020-Brand-Audit-Report.pdf)

In 2020, thanks to our members and allies, Break Free From Plastic engaged 14,734 volunteers in 55 countries to conduct 575 brand audits. These volunteers collected 346,494 pieces of plastic waste, 63% of which was marked with a clear consumer brand. Despite the challenges of organizing during a global pandemic, our volunteers safely coordinated more brand audit events in more countries this year than in the previous two years. 

As a special activity during the pandemic, we also worked with over 300 waste pickers to highlight their roles as essential workers. Participants catalogued over 5,000 brands in this year’s global audit. Our analysis reveals the following as the 2020 Top 10 Global Polluters: The Coca-Cola Com-pany; PepsiCo; Nestlé; Unilever; Mondelez International; Mars, Inc.; Procter & Gamble; Philip Morris International; Colgate-Palmolive; and Perfetti Van Melle.

The title of Top Global Polluters describes the parent companies whose brands were record-ed polluting the most places around the world with the greatest amount of plastic waste. Our 2020 Top Global Polluters remain remarkably consistent with our previous brand audit reports, demonstrating that the same corporations are continuing to pollute the most places with the most single-use plastic. Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and PepsiCo have remained our Top Three Global Polluters every year since our first global brand audit in 2018.

For the third consecutive year, Coca-Cola emerged as the #1 Top Global Polluter. A total of 13,834 branded Coca-Cola plastics were recorded in 51 countries, reflecting more plastic than the next two top global polluters combined. These results amount to a significant increase, as we recorded 2,102 more branded Coca-Cola plastic items in 14 more countries in 2020 than in last year’s global brand audit.  

Seven of the top polluters—The Coca-Cola Company; PepsiCo; Nestlé; Unilever; Mondelez International; Mars, Inc.; and Colgate-Palmolive—have joined The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, but this is not enough. 

According to a recent Ellen MacArthur report, the signatories to the New Plastic Economy Global Commitment have only reduced their use of virgin plastic by only 0.1% from 2018 to 2019. The Break Free From Plastic movement is calling on companies to urgently reduce the amount of single-use plastic they use. The top polluters must reveal how much single-use plastic they use, then set clear, measurable targets for reducing the quantity of single-use plastic items they produce. Finally, they must reinvent their product delivery systems to move beyond single-use plastic altogether.

The group participating from Spain are Plastifreecame (Spain) 

Break Free From Plastic’s (BFFP) brand audit is a citizen action initiative that involves counting and documenting the brands found on plastic waste collected at a cleanup to identify the companies responsible for plastic pollution. By collecting data on plastic waste, we challenge the industry narrative about who is responsible for the plastic crisis and how to solve it. 

Brand audits enable us to shift the focus back to the companies that are responsible for creating the problem in the first place, and empower us to demand that they stop producing unnecessary throwaway single-use plastics. The annual brand audit report holds the top polluting companies accountable for fueling the plastic pollution crisis. Our efforts rely on people power to stand up to these mul-tinational corporations.

People power launched the Break Free From Plastic movement in the Philippines in 2016 to unite the voices of people worldwide advo-cating to stop plastic pollution at every stage of the plastic lifecycle. We are committed to building a global movement towards a future free from plastic pollution, while supporting and empowering communities on the front-lines of this crisis. 

Our movement unites over 11,000 organizations and individual supporters from around the world to bring system-ic change through a holistic approach that tackles plastic pollution across the whole plastics value chain — from extraction to disposal — focusing on prevention rather than cure, and providing effective solutions. 

BFFP member organizations and individuals share the common values of environmental protection and social justice. Brand audits enable communities to collectively influence the discourse on plastic pollution and provide them with the means to challenge polluters. 

Everyone facing the consequences of plastic pollution is welcomed and encouraged to take part, from coastal communities impacted by microplastics, to people living in neighborhoods choked by the toxic fumes from plastic incinerators, to those whose water has been poisoned by petrochemical processing. 

Plastic causes pollution and other environmental assaults at the expense of various communities and stakeholders from the moment its raw materials — oil and gas — are extracted. Changemakers from all over the world have joined forces for this annual effort, including small and large NGOs, community groups, schools and youth clubs, and of course, individual volunteers. 

It is possible to become involved with this organisation, I have visited the website and requested more information on how to do it.

I think that this is really important information for people who are trying to stem the avalanche of plastic that is suffocating our only home.  I keep saying this but it is us the people who have the power to make change.  Stop buying these products in plastic whenever possible.  Is a plastic bottle filled with a fizzy drink really essential to live? MAKE A STAND PEOPLE!!!

The blog song for today is: " Kiss" by Prince

TTFN

Chickens, they are smarter than you think!

Chickens have a reputation for being profoundly dumb, but in fact they are remarkably intelligent and may even be empathic.

Reputation: Chickens are dumber than your average bird – little more than walking meat factories with a talent for laying tasty eggs

Reality: The world's most common bird is actually intelligent, and perhaps even sensitive to the welfare of its peers – which might raise some uncomfortable ethical questions for the farming industry.

 

How much brain does pecking at seeds even take? (Credit: Klein & Hubert/naturepl.com)

There is something odd about chickens. Globally they number more than 19 billion, making them one of the most abundant vertebrate species on the planet. Yet many people have little or no contact with the birds – at least, not while they are alive.

Chickens can count, show some level of self-awareness, and even manipulate one another.

That has led to some strange assumptions about chickens. According to some studies, people can struggle even to see them as typical birds. They are, in fact, reasonably representative of the galliformes, a bird group that also includes turkeys, partridges and pheasants.

It is also common for people to view chickens as unintelligent animals that lack the complex psychological characteristics of "higher" animals like monkeys and apes. This is a view reinforced by some depictions of chickens in popular culture, and one that might help people feel better about eating eggs or chicken meat produced by intensive farming practices.

But chickens are, in fact, anything but dumb.

They can count, show some level of self-awareness, and even manipulate one another by Machiavellian means. In fact, chickens are so smart that even a limited amount of exposure to the living birds can crush longstanding preconceptions.

I never thought that chickens would be intelligent enough and learn quite so quickly.

For a study published in 2015, Lisel O'Dwyer and Susan Hazel ran a class for undergraduates at the University of Adelaide, Australia. As a way to learn about psychology and cognition, the students performed experiments that involved training chickens.

Before the class began, the students completed a questionnaire. Most said they had previously spent little time with chickens. They viewed them as simple creatures, unlikely to feel boredom, frustration or happiness.

After just two hours training the birds, the students were far more likely to appreciate that chickens can feel all three of these emotional states.

"Chickens are a lot smarter than I originally thought," commented one student on a follow-up questionnaire. Another said: "I never thought that chickens would be intelligent enough and learn quite so quickly."

A male junglefowl (Gallus gallus), domestic chickens's closest wild relative (Credit: Tony Heald/naturepl.com)

In as-yet-unpublished research, O'Dwyer has replicated this study with workers in the poultry industry, and found the same results. "Basically we had two quite different social groups and found the same [initial] attitudes and the same attitude change in both," she says.

The researchers have shown that chickens can count and perform basic arithmetic.

She now plans to study whether these experiences have any impact on people's eating habits – for instance, whether they shift to eating chicken reared in ways that they believe to be more ethically acceptable.

O'Dwyer's study is just one of many picked out by Lori Marino of the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy in Kanab, Utah, as part of a scientific review of chicken cognition published in January 2017.

"The paper is part of a joint venture between Farm Sanctuary and The Kimmela Center, called The Someone Project," says Marino. "The aim of the Project is to educate the public about who farmed animals are from the scientific data."

Marino says the scientific evidence shows clearly that chickens are not as unaware and unintelligent as many people assume.

Newly-hatched chicks have remarkable skills (Credit: Ernie Janes/naturepl.com)

Take, for instance, a suite of papers published over the last decade by Rosa Rugani at the University of Padova, Italy, and her colleagues. Working with newly-hatched chicks, the researchers have shown that chickens can count and perform basic arithmetic.

Chickens may also have some ability to perform "mental time travel"

The chicks were raised from hatching with five objects – the plastic containers from Kinder Surprise eggs. After a few days, the scientists took the five objects and, in full view of the chicks, hid three behind one screen and two behind a second screen. The chicks were more likely to approach the screen hiding more of the objects.

A follow-up experiment tested the chicks' memory and ability to add and subtract. After the objects had been hidden behind the two screens, the scientists began transferring objects between the two screens, in view of the chicks. The chicks seemed to keep track of how many objects were behind each screen, and were still more likely to approach the screen that hid the larger number of objects.

Chickens have a strong grasp of numerical tasks from a young age, even if they have limited experience, says Rugani.

This chicken has a first-rate mind (Credit: Pete Cairns/naturepl.com)

She thinks that might be true of higher animals in general, rather than chickens in particular. "These abilities would help animals in their natural environment, for example to reach a larger amount of food, or to find a larger group for social companionship," she says.

If a male chicken foraging for food finds a particularly tasty morsel, he will often try to impress nearby females by performing a dance.

Chickens may also have some ability to perform "mental time travel" – that is, to imagine what will happen in the future – to secure a larger amount of food, according to a 2005 study led by Siobhan Abeyesinghe, then at the University of Bristol, UK.

Abeyesinghe gave chickens the option of pecking one key, which would give brief access to food after a two-second delay, or pecking a second key that gave prolonged access to food after a six-second delay.

The birds were significantly more likely to peck at the second key, which offered a greater food reward but after a longer delay time. In other words, they showed self-control – a trait that some biologists think hints at a degree of self-awareness.

Chickens are also socially complex.

Chickens have intricate social lives (Credit: Ernie Janes/naturepl.com)

Some studies suggest the birds can appreciate how the world must appear to their peers, and that they can use this information for personal advantage.

Females quickly wise up to males who perform this sort of deception too often

If a male chicken foraging for food finds a particularly tasty morsel, he will often try to impress nearby females by performing a dance while making a characteristic food call.

However, subordinate males that perform this song-and-dance routine risk being noticed and attacked by the dominant male. So if the dominant male is nearby, the subordinate often performs his special dance in silence, in a bid to impress females without the dominant male noticing.

Meanwhile, some males may try to trick females into approaching by making the characteristic food calls even when they have not found anything worth crowing about. Unsurprisingly, females quickly wise up to males who perform this sort of deception too often.

There are even some hints that chickens may show a rudimentary form of empathy for each other.

Chickens can be very communicative (Credit: Klein & Hubert/naturepl.com)

In a series of studies over the last six years, Joanne Edgar at the University of Bristol, UK and her colleagues have studied how hens react when they see their chicks having air puffed at them – something the hens have learned, from personal experience, is mildly unpleasant.

Hens can respond to their personal knowledge of the potential for chick discomfort

When the chicks were puffed, the hens' hearts began to race and they called more frequently to the chicks. However, they did not do so if the air was puffed near the chicks without actually disturbing them.

In a study published in 2013, the hens learned to associate one coloured box with the uncomfortable air puff and a second coloured box with safety – no air puff. The hens again showed signs of concern when chicks were placed in the "dangerous" box, even if the chicks never actually experienced an air puff and remained oblivious to the peril.

This suggests that hens can respond to their personal knowledge of the potential for chick discomfort, rather than simply reacting to signs of distress in the youngsters.

Chickens are farmed in many countries (Credit: Ernie Janes/naturepl.com)

The research is ongoing, says Edgar. "We have not yet established whether the behavioural and physiological responses in hens observing their chicks in mild distress are indicative of an emotional response, or are simply akin to arousal or interest."

When the chicks were puffed, the hens' hearts began to race and they called more frequently to the chicks

If it does turn out that chickens can show empathy when other birds are in distress, that could raise serious questions about the way farmed chickens are reared.

"There are numerous situations where all farm animals are exposed to the sights, sounds and smells of other individuals showing signs of pain and distress," says Edgar. "It is important to determine whether their welfare might be reduced at these times."

Marino also thinks it may be time to discuss these questions. "The perception of chickens [as unaware and unintelligent] is driven in part by the motivation to dismiss their intelligence and sensibilities because people eat them," she says.

The uncomfortable truth about chickens is that they are far more cognitively advanced than many people might appreciate. But it remains to be seen whether consumers who are armed with this knowledge change their shopping habits at the meat counter.

I must admit that I have changed my meat and poultry eating habits and do not eat as much as I used to,  I try to have a meat free day once a week! We are lucky here on Menorca to have easy access to free range chickens and eggs.

We do all need to try and eat less meat for the good of the planet and many people are doing this. There are a lot more meatless products available and some of them are really good.   

The blog song for today is:" Rock the Casbah" by The Clash.

TTFN

Compost bins and the 7 Unexpected Things You Can Compost!!

Another great and informative site: www.gardenersworld.com

How to choose the best compost bin

When choosing the best garden compost bin for you, there are a number of factors to consider. These include the size of your plot, the design of your garden and the amount of compost you are hoping to produce.

Firstly, how much space do you have available? Compost bins come in a variety of sizes and with a range of capacities. You will therefore also need to consider how much compost you would like to make and how quickly. If you are not prepared to wait a year for your first batch, there are compost bins which can speed up the process, as we explain in more detail below.

The type of ground you are setting your bin on is also important, as some types will ideally need to be placed on grass or earth while others can sit on hard ground.

Types of compost bins

Compost bins come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are made using different materials. Here, we explain the different types of compost bins along with the conditions and tasks they would each be suitable for.

Make your own compost bin

A compost bin made of corrugated iron and pallet wood.

You can make your own compost bin using wooden pallets or corrugated iron. Enclosing the sides will retain heat, speeding up the rotting process. The larger the pile, the more heat. The ideal minimum size is 1m x 1m and, ideally, make more than one – it makes the compost easier to turn.

See our guide on how to build a compost bin.

Plastic compost bin

Turning compost from plastic compost bins

A plastic compost bin is ideal for a small space. The plastic sides and lid retain moisture and heat to encourage rapid decomposition. They also block out light to stop weeds regrowing. The bin should ideally be placed on grass or earth.

Hot composting bin

Adding green garden waste to a hot compost bin.

Insulated with a close-fitting lid, hot composting bins are designed to allow decomposition at a much higher temperature and a higher speed (30-90 days, compared to around six months for ordinary compost) and result in a finer compost. They are roughly the size of a wheelie bin and can stand on a hard surface.

Wormery compost bin

Adding veg peelings to a wormery compost bin.

Wormeries are designed for the small-scale composting of kitchen waste. Worms mix and break down the compost quickly and produce a nutrient-rich liquid for use as a fertiliser. Compost worms can also be added to larger bins. Not all waste can be composted, so you’ll still need a compost bin too.

Here is an interesting article on composting that I found on one of my favourite sites - Earth 911. They recommend that if you are new to composting that you buy a proper composting bin.

Composting is the best way to get rid of your kitchen scraps without sending them to the landfill. And if you’ve been composting for a while, you may have already started experimenting with composting other items you don’t usually see in a list of materials you can compost. If you’re new to composting, you may be surprised by some of the items we suggest in this list things to compost.

While there are plenty of rules for successful composting, every rule does not apply to every compost bin. Compost acts differently in different climates and in different structures, such as in a bin in contact with the ground versus a rolling bin versus a true pile that animals feed on, as well. Your compost may not get as hot or as much air as your neighbor’s bin.

So, we suggest you experiment with the unexpected items in this list to see if they decompose in your compost pile before adding great quantities of them.

1. Price Tags on Clothing

As long as the tag on your new clothes is paper, paperboard, or cardstock with no plasticization, feel free to send your tags to the compost. These tiny papers are too small to be recycled curbside. In a compost pile, they will act just like shredded paper (see below) and are a nice, brown (carbon-based) addition.

2. Tea, Paper Wrappers, Tag, & Probably the Bag

Teabags have a lot of different little pieces and parts. Tea itself is very compostable as are paper wrappers that don’t have any sort of lining. There are some inconsistencies around the compostable-ness of the bag itself, staples, and the string connecting the tea bag to the paper tag. If your tea bag is made of cloth (cotton) or filter paper, you’re good to go (and compost).

However, if the bag is nylon, it’s unlikely to break down. The same goes for your teabag string. Do your research to find out what your specific teabag and string are made of. Most teabags I use do not have a staple to hold the string to the tag; they are just heat-sealed or sewn on. However, if your bags have that staple, you’ll need to experiment. Mine seem to rust away in my compost pile.

3. Bamboo Skewers, Wooden Chopsticks, Toothpicks, & Matchsticks

These small, disposable, single-use wooden kitchen tools can all be composted. Do break chopsticks in half to lower their surface area and I break off the match head as I never trust that phosphorous sulfide will break down or is a good addition to soil.

4. Tissue Paper

Beause it’s a very low-quality paper whose fibers can’t be reused again, it shouldn´t be placed in the recycling bin. She did suggest that I try to add only white tissue paper (without sparkles or glitter) to my compost bin and see what happens. In my bin, tissue paper has disappeared!

5. Kitchen Single-Use Paper Products

You’re not going to find many articles on Earth911 encouraging you to use single-use paper products but if you’re in a pinch, they can be composted. Paper napkins and paper towels, when unfolded and ripped up a bit, will easily compost. The same goes for uncoated paper plates and cups. Do make sure that your plates and cups have no coating whatsoever and are also ripped up.

6. Spent Potting Soil

If you are changing the soil in your houseplants or outdoor flowerpots, add the soil to your compost bin to add nutrients back to it.

7. Shredded Paper

Shredded paper probably does not belong in your curbside bin as it can tangle up in the machinery at your local material recovery facility. Many communities have shred days where they specifically collect shredded paper for recycling but I never want to wait that long.

Shredded paper can also be recycled in charity recycling dumpsters but I’ve personally seen shredded paper blowing around outside the bins, becoming litter. Instead of recycling shredded paper, I compost it. Talk about secure disposal!

If you’re just getting started with composting, check out our composting cheat sheet for the basics.

This article was originally published on October 16, 2020.

 

RECICLOS- Latest update - not a success

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say I am a bit disappointed with the whole thing. It has been quite some time since the service was introduced and there have been no improvements to the app or how you access it.

They give you the address to get the "App" but from day one it has not been an actual App, but a link from their website which unless you keep it constantly open ( I found this to be the best way) on your phone is a nuisance to keep finding and logging in..I keep the window open on safari so that it is always available.

The second problem I have constantly come across is that some things cannot be counted as recycled.  I found it a little strange that a 5Ltr bottle of Viladrau (Nestle)was not part of the program but Aquabona (CocaCola) was. I did write to customer service in November 2020 and they informed me that " at the moment it is only possible to scan drink bottles up to 3ltr, they hope to be able to include 5ltrs in the program.  This is when I did the experiment with the different brands of water.

In the beginning there were more possibilities to use the points redeemed, but now there is one cause to contribute them too and 2 competitions. They don´t seem to have updated the app since the very  beginning.

Thirdly, when you actually get to the bin in which you wish to place the stuff it is not too easy to do it, the qr code doesn´t always work, and the app has frozen quite a few times.

I can understand why not a lot of people have joined this program, and why the people that have joined it have given up using it.

It is such a shame that it didn´t take off, because it could have been brilliant.

I do keep using it but I wonder how much longer it will go on for.

With so much contradictory information going around about what you can and cannot place in the recycling containers and what actually happens to them at the plant that I am not surprised that people are losing interest.

A prime example is yoghurt containers(the smaller ones aimed at kids) according to sources in the UK and the USA these cannot be recycled but here in Spain we are being told to put them in the yellow plastic containers and they will be used to make other plastic products.

Crisp packets (the foil lined ones) are not often recycled or accepted because of the way they are made which makes it difficult to separate out the plastic from the aluminium, this is the general consensus in the UK and USA but not here in Spain.

The best that I can do is to carry on avoiding these products, try to buy more glass and canned goods and keep trying to get the message out!

The blog song for today is: " Should I stay or should I go" by The Clash

TTFN

Updates from PETA - Great news for animals!

Terrific progress for animals in France!

Champagne corks are popping on both sides of the English Channel in celebration of a pair of hard-won victories for animals.

Following a decade-long PETA UK campaign, high-end department store Fortnum & Mason has finally rejected “torture in a tin” and announced it will stop selling foie gras.

To make foie gras, workers crudely grab ducks and geese by the neck and shove metal pipes down their throats before repeatedly pumping massive amounts of food into their stomachs and then killing them to collect their diseased livers.

From board meetings to “force-feedings”, PETA UK’s activities encouraging Fortnum & Mason to ban foie gras ran the gamut – involving tens of thousands of letters from caring people, ads in the London Underground, and, of course, many colourful protests, including a giant “goose” crashing a Fortnum & Mason street party and a “crime scene” set up around the perimeter of the shop. The late Sir Roger Moore and more than a dozen other celebrities also added their star power to the PETA UK push.

The sky’s the limit when we work together to stop speciesism, and a big announcement from France is further proof. The country’s landmark animal welfare bill, which we first cheered last September successfully passed through the National Assembly! The bill will make a world of difference for animals in the entertainment industry, as it bans live pony merry-go-rounds, bars wild-animal circuses from operating in France – bringing Europe one step closer to banishing these cruel exhibitions altogether – ends the breeding and captivity of orcas and other dolphins, and prevents wild animals from being used in events and television shoots. It’ll also virtually shut down France’s fur industry and ramp up protections for companion animals

NSW Passes Monumental Regulations Protecting Dolphins!

Posted on 28 February 2021 at 7:58PM by PETA Australia

After a government inquiry and a long public consultation – in which many PETA supporters took part – new regulations have been introduced in New South Wales to prevent the breeding of captive dolphins in the state!

 

This is fantastic progress for these individuals, who are wild animals and not entertainers.

In nature, dolphins swim up to 100 kilometres a day with their family pods, diving and riding the waves. They are acoustically oriented – using clicks, whistles, and echolocation to perceive their surroundings. They’re unsuited to life in captivity, where they can only swim a few metres and the reverberations from their sonar bounce off the walls of enclosures, confusing and disorientating them.

While NSW-based Dolphin Marine Conservation Park continues to explore the idea of establishing a seaside sanctuaryf or its existing residents – Zippy, Bella, and Jet – this new rule means that no new dolphinariums can set up business in the area. These three dolphins will be the last to have to perform for noisy crowds in the state.

NSW joins the ranks of various countries that have stood up against dolphin captivity – including Brazil, Canada, France, India, Mexico, Norway, and Switzerland.

Now, everybody’s eyes are on Queensland, where just over the border, Sea World continues to breed dolphins, parade them about in daily shows, and launch trainers off their sensitive rostrums out of the water.

Will you please join us in urging the Queensland government to follow NSW’s lead?

   

https://secure.peta.org.au/page/74213/action/1

Copy and paste into the search engine and it will take you straight there.

Great news for bulls: the San Fermín festival and the infamous Running of the Bulls event have been cancelled for 2021.

 Why Ban the Running of the Bulls?

The Running of the Bulls is part of a barbaric bloodbath that takes place every summer during the San Fermín festival in Pamplona.

The tourists – including many Australians– who visit the city during the festival often don’t realise that the same bulls who slip and slide down the cobbled streets during the bull runs are later tortured to death in the bullring. Throughout the week-long festival, at least 48 bulls are violently stabbed to death.

What Spanish People Think About Bullfighting

More than 80% of Spanish people oppose the blood sport, and approximately 56% fewer official bullfights took place in 2018 than in 2007, but these sick displays are able to continue in large part because of tourist money. Thrill-seekers fail to realise that running with the bulls means participating in a festival in which animals are tormented and killed.

PETA and the San Fermín Festival

PETA UK has been teaming up with Spanish animal rights groups every year since 2002 to organise eye-catching protests in Pamplona in which hundreds of activists, including Australians, have taken a stand to draw attention to the cruelty of the bull runs and bullfights.

We’ve been calling for an end to this cruel spectacle for years, and now, under rather unique circumstances, the event has been called off – but it shouldn’t take a global pandemic for this to happen. It’s time for authorities to recognise that the ritualistic torture of bulls has no place in a compassionate society and cancel the event for good.

What You Can Do 

Please join us in urging the mayor of Pamplona to ban the Running of the Bulls and subsequent bullfights permanently.

https://secure.peta.org.au/page/44927/action/1

The blog song for today is: " Cool for Cats" by Squeeze

TTFN