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

 

 

Beach Cleanup on Sunday 21st February -60 Kilos and Plastics Exhibition at El Roser, Starts Tuesday 2nd March

 Here are some photos of the beach cleanup that Per La Mar Viva carried out last Sunday 21st February at the Zone of Faro Nati.

Considering there were only 6 people, I think they did a really fantastic job!

 

 

I wonder if those wheels are from a motorcyle and if it is the same one that we found bits for on the beach at La Vall!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is also an exhibition starting from Tuesday 2 March at El Roser, in Ciutadella, running until 7th April. The timetable is:Monday to Saturday 10.30 to 13.00 then 17.30 to 20.00.

 : 971 383 563

Come along and see what a great job this organisation is doing for us here on Menorca, and subsequently our wonderful home called Earth.

Despite having our green bin outside our house filled to the brim with someone´s old tat that they can´t be bothered to take to the proper place, I still think there are more people who care for our little Island and our world.  Sometimes it is hard to believe it.  I wouldn´t mind but you can see they were on the poligono because they went to the woodyard and bought some wood, it would have been so easy to drop off their stuff to the recycling place, it is literally around the corner. I suppose their reasoning is that they pay 70euros a year for the rubbish collection, it´s not their job to do it.  

The next moan today is the big pile of dog poo which was left on the pavement, in front of an apartment block, on a busy street corner and near a cafe!  Two weeks and one day it was there, nobody bothered to clean it up, despite someone obviously treading on it (there was a nice footprint).  You would think that if the street cleaners didn´t clean it up then maybe one of the residents of the apartment block would have thought to themselves "I know it´s not my job but it´s been there over a week now and it looks like it will be there longer, I will get rid of it because it is a health hazard and I am proud of where I live and want it to look nice".  No way, not one person. No wonder the planet is in such a mess, many people have this attitude, if only they could see that it just makes things worse.

The blog song for today is " Don´t look back in anger" by Oasis.

TTFN

Escaping from an aquarium is child's play when you are as smart as an octopus

I found this article on the BBC Earth Webpage and wanted to share it!

     

Here are eight reasons why octopuses are the geniuses of the ocean.

By Nic Fleming 30 May 2016

In 2007 I was snorkelling in Dahab, Egypt, when I came face-to-face with a common octopus.

It was an intense experience. I felt it was sizing me up, and there was an ill-defined but somehow profound communication. Our meeting only lasted a few seconds, but I was left with an enduring impression of having encountered a great intelligence.

The experience may help explain the loud cheer I let out in April 2016, when I heard the news of Inky the octopus's great escape from the National Aquarium of New Zealand. The lid of Inky's tank was left ajar at night, and he took advantage of this by climbing out, walking across a room to a drain opening, and squeezing down a 160ft (50m) pipe to the open ocean.

His successful bid for freedom was one more piece of evidence that octopuses are some of the most intelligent creatures on Earth. Here are eight of our favourite octopus behaviours that illustrate just how smart these cephalopods really are.

Intelligent design

Jennifer Mather is a comparative psychologist at the University of Lethbridge in Canada. She has been studying octopuses since 1972. One encounter, during field work in Bermuda in 1984, suggested to her that they were more intelligent than they were being given credit for.

Here was an animal with a mental image of what it wanted

Mather had watched a common octopus catch some crabs and take them back to its shelter to eat. Then it suddenly darted towards a rock about 7ft (2m) away, put it under its tentacles and took it back to its den. The octopus did this three more times, creating a wall in front of its home. As if confident in the extra security measure, it then fell asleep behind the barrier.

Mather argues that this and other examples are evidence that octopuses are capable of foresight and sequencing of actions.

"This demonstrated to me that here was an animal with a mental image of what it wanted and one that was capable of planning," says Mather. "It was very far removed from the automatic stimulus-response that we were used to thinking about with animals."

 

A veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) lifting a shell (Credit: Alex Mustard/naturepl.com)

Tooled up

Mather and her colleagues have argued that using stones to build walls could count as tool use. However others disagree, arguing that the octopuses could be acting in an instinctive rather than a calculated manner.

Then along came the veined octopuses. In 2009, Julian Finn and colleagues at the Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia found hard evidence that they used tools.

Play has often been seen as the preserve of animals with higher cognitive abilities

The octopuses were digging up discarded coconut shells from the ocean floor, cleaning them with water jets, sometimes stacking them and carrying them up to 66ft (20m) to later reassemble as a shelter.

The octopuses were filmed arranging the half-shells with the pointed ends facing down, then extending their arms over them and walking in a comic fashion along the sea floor.

Finn pointed out that this was a slow, awkward and energy-inefficient form of movement, which made them more vulnerable to predators. He argues that the octopuses' willingness to accept these risks, in exchange for protection in the future, is conclusive evidence of genuine tool use.

 

A giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) (Credit: Brandon Cole/naturepl.com)

Bend it like Inky

Play has often been seen as the preserve of animals with higher cognitive abilities. It is hard to precisely define it, but in broad terms play is activity that does not serve an immediately useful function other than enjoyment.

After learning about the work of Lethbridge University colleague Sergio Pellis on mammalian play, Mather wondered whether octopuses play. Working with Seattle Aquarium biologist Roland Anderson, who died in 2014, she devised an experiment.

Roland phoned me and said 'he's bouncing the ball'

They placed eight giant Pacific octopuses in bare tanks, and over 10 trials gave them floating plastic pill bottles to investigate. At first the octopuses all put the bottles to their mouths, apparently to see if they were edible, then discarded them.

However, after several trials, two of them began blowing jets of water at the bottles. The bottles were sent tumbling to the other side of their aquarium, in such a way that the existing current brought them back to the octopuses. The researchers, who published the study in 1999, argued that this was a form of exploratory play.

"Roland phoned me and said 'he's bouncing the ball'," says Mather.

She says the octopuses were playing with the bottles. This is similar to the way human children quickly start to play with unfamiliar objects, something psychologist Corinne Hutt highlighted several decades ago.

"If you have an octopus in any new situation, the first thing it does is it explores," says Mather. "I think it was Hutt who said children will go from 'what does this object do?' to 'what can I do with this object'. That's what these octopuses were doing."

Temperamentally tentacled

Mather and Anderson were happy to conclude that their octopuses were playing, even though only a couple of them did so. That was because they had previously shown that octopuses have personalities.

This means that individual octopuses behave in consistent ways, which differ from their fellows. This comes as no surprise to people who work with them. For example, octopuses kept in aquaria are often given names, which relate to how they respond to people.

Octopuses pass their personality traits onto their offspring

Mather and Anderson set out to measure these personality differences. They kept 44 East Pacific red octopuses in tanks. Every other day for two weeks, a researcher opened their tank lids and put their head close to the opening, touched the octopuses with a test tube brush, and offered them tasty crabs.

The researchers recorded 19 different responses. In a study published in 1993, they identified significant and consistent differences between individuals. For example, some of the octopuses would usually respond passively, while others tended to be inquisitive.

"People often talk about rainforests as complex environments, but the near-shore coral reef is much more so," says Mather. "The octopus has many potential predators and a huge array of potential food, and given their varied and varying environments it makes a great deal of sense that individuals do not fit precisely into the same niche."

In a follow-up study published in 2001, they found evidence that octopuses pass their personality traits onto their offspring. Given that they do not raise their young, this suggests their personalities are at least partly genetic.

Mather believes these variations in personality may underpin many of octopuses' advanced cognitive abilities, by allowing them to learn and adapt quickly.

It just shows that there are many other intelligent life forms that we share this planet with! 

The blog song for today is: " Octopus´s Garden" by The Beatles. (of course)!!!

 

TTFN

Master of disguise

The evolutionary arms race has led animals to develop many devious ways to fool each other. There are grass snakes that play dead to avoid being eaten, male fish that pretend to be female to boost their reproductive prospects, and birds that feign broken wings to lure predators away from vulnerable offspring.

When moving through open water, it mimics a lionfish

Yet of all of nature's charlatans, the mimic octopus must be a leading contender for the title of "master of disguise".

Other octopuses can change the colour and texture of their skin to give predators the slip. The mimic is the only octopus that has been observed impersonating other animals. It can change its shape, movement and behaviour to impersonate at least 15 different species.

When travelling across sand, it can flatten its arms against its body and undulate like a venomous banded sole. When moving through open water, it mimics a lionfish, which is also venomous. Another trick is to put six of its arms into a hole and use the remaining two to look like a banded sea krait, a type of sea snake that is, of course, venomous.

A problem solved

Octopuses can use trial and error to find the best way to get what they want.

They have different strategies to achieve the same ends

In work published in 2007, Mather and Anderson observed giant Pacific octopuses trying to get at the meat in different types of shellfish. They simply broke open fragile mussels, pulled apart stronger Manila clams, and used their tongue-like radulas to drill into very strong littleneck clams.

When given a choice of the three, the octopuses favoured the mussels, presumably because they required less effort to get a meal.

The researchers then tried to confuse their subjects by wiring Manila clams shut. However, the octopuses simply switched technique. Mather concluded that they could learn based on non-visual information.

"It told us that octopuses are problem-solvers," she says. "They have different strategies to achieve the same ends, and they will use whichever is easiest first."

Mazes for molluscs

During fieldwork in Bermuda, Mather observed octopuses returning to their dens after hunting trips without retracing their outgoing routes. They also visited different parts of their ranges one after another on subsequent hunts and days.

Most of the octopuses had learned to recognise which maze they were in.

In a study published in 1991, she concluded that octopuses have complex memory abilities. They can remember the values of known food locations, and information about places they have recently visited.

When animals use landmarks to help them navigate, they have to be understand the landmarks' relevance within their contexts. This ability, known as conditional discrimination, has traditionally been seen as a form of complex learning: something only backboned "vertebrates" can do.

In work published in 2007, Jean Boal of Millersville University in Pennsylvania placed California two-spot octopuses in two different mazes. In each case they had to travel from the middle of a brightly-lit tank to reach a dark den, an environment they preferred. To get there they had to avoid a false burrow, which was blocked by an upside-down glass jar.

After five trial runs, most of the octopuses had learned to recognise which maze they were in and immediately headed for the correct burrow. This, Boal concluded, meant octopuses do have conditional discrimination abilities.

 

A mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) (Credit: Jeff Rotman/naturepl.com)

Similarly different

In many ways, octopuses' brains are rather like ours.

They have folded lobes, similar to those of vertebrate brains, which are thought to be a sign of complexity. What's more, the electrical patterns they generate are similar to those of mammals.

The last common ancestor of humans and octopuses lived a long time ago

Octopuses also have monocular vision, meaning they favour the vision from one eye over that from the other. This trait tends to arise in species where the two halves of the brain have different specialisations. It was originally considered uniquely human, and is associated with higher cognitive skills such as language.

Octopuses even store memories in a similar way to humans. They use a process called long-term potentiation, which strengthens the links between brain cells.

These similarities are startling. The last common ancestor of humans and octopuses lived a long time ago, probably quite early in the history of multicellular life, and was a simple animal. That means the similarities in brain structure have evolved independently.

Even more fascinating than the similarities, however, are the differences.

Octopus intelligence may be distributed over a network of neurons, a little bit like the internet

More than half of an octopus's 500 million nervous system cells are in their arms. That means the eight limbs can either act on their own or in coordination with each other.

Researchers who cut off an octopus's arm found that it recoiled when they pinched it, even after an hour detached from the rest of the octopus. Clearly, the arms can act independently to some extent.

While the human brain can be seen as a central controller, octopus intelligence may be distributed over a network of neurons, a little bit like the internet.

If this is true, the insights octopuses offer extend way beyond their advanced cognitive and escapology abilities. Inky and his relatives may force us to think in a new way about the nature of intelligence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mail Order goods and their packaging - mostly bad!

  

The problem: 

Companies and private sellers that deliver products through the mail often over-package, putting a pre-boxed item in a second box, and sometimes even a third one. This practice, which Dancy calls the “Russian doll” approach, is exceedingly wasteful.

Who does it?  

Sellers on the eCommerce network, including eBay.

What is the solution?

One option is to use sustainable packing materials, rather than the traditional styrofoam. There are numerous sustainable options, including packing materials made from corn starch or sorghum, which can be composted. And New York-based Ecovative design has developed fungus-based packing materials that are being used by Dell, Crate and Barrel and Puma, among others.

Ed Kastenbaum, general manager of San Francisco-based The Packaging Store, and vice president of the Retail Packaging Association, packs with recycled pulp instead of Styrofoam when selling to wine shippers. Kastenbaum says that the pulp wine shippers are widely available. The market change started more than 10 years ago & now the vast majority of wine is shipped in this manner by wineries, wine clubs, and wine retailers.

I have however noticed that Amazon have changed the way they package their delveries, more paper and cardboard packaging, which is fantastic! Those polystyrene chips are a right nuisance,they get everywhere and for me unneccessary.  

As I have said before I do try and buy here on Menorca but sometimes it is impossible to get it here, so I have to buy online.  

Some nice person had actually dumped three cardboard boxes full of those polystyrene chips next to the recycling bins the other week, I didn´t realise that those chips actually jumped in all by themselves. I have been assured by the entity responsible for recycling here on Menorca that they can be placed in the yellow bin.

The blog song for today is: "Hold me now" by The Thompson Twins

TTFN

Toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes - At last a tube that can be recycled!

 

The problem: The small size, blended material and leftover toothpaste inside toothpaste tubes – and other tube-based containers – make recycling almost impossible. As for toothbrushes, their slender shape and blend of plastic and nylon bristles make them tough to disassemble and recycle.

Who does it? Toothpaste and toothbrush manufacturers, including consumer giant Colgate-Palmolive, manufacture these non-recyclable products.

What is the solution? Since being served with a shareholder resolution by As You Sow (AYS) a non-profit environmental protection group in 2012, Colgate-Palmolive has been working with AYS to create a recyclable toothpaste tube or package. 

And as you can see from the photo they have done it!  I have seen these for sale in our local Eroski Syp supermarket. When my current tube runs out I will be buying one!                                                                                           

It is a great step forward!  Maybe now more manufacturers will do the same!

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for toothbrushes! I don´t like to throw them away so after I have finished with them for teeth cleaning, they get used for all kinds of cleaning things, I have even cleaned the rims of my car with them! They are great for reaching those hard to get places!  But when they eventually run out of use, I have been keeping them in a pot along with dental flossing harps and other things and when I have filled up the pot I take them along to the recycling centre on the poligono.

I contacted  the Residus here in Menorca (that´s them above)  and asked them if they would consider placing a container along side all the others they have at the recycling centre to place these types of things in. They replied that at the moment there was not a service available for the old toothbrushes and other bits, however the tubes of toothpaste could be placed in the yellow container and sent off to the relevant place for treatment.

 The blog song for today is "Make me smile" by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel

TTFN      

Everybody loves Crisps, but what about the empty packet?

The problem: 

The typical snack crisp bag is made from up to seven layers of foil and plastic (known as metallised plastic). Companies like this because these bags are light, reduce shipping volume, don’t take up much space on a shelf, and are graphics friendly. The downside is that there’s currently no machinery to separate these layers, so they aren’t recyclable.

“It’s not cost effective and there would be no market for the separated material,” explains Lawrence Black, director of global business development at Waste Management, a US-based environmental solutions provider. “It is expensive to fix and it all comes back to is there a market for the material. If there’s not an ongoing market for the material it won’t get recycled.”

Who does it? Multi-layered packages are popular with consumer giants, particularly snack food manufacturers such as Frito-Lay and PepsiCo.

How can I tell what they are made of?

Do the scrunch test!

An easy way to find out if an item is foil or metallised plastic film, is to do the scrunch test. Simply scrunch the item in your hand - if it remains 'scrunched' it is foil and can be recycled easily if it springs back (like crisp packets) it is probably metallised plastic film.

Crisp packets made from metallised plastic film can’t be recycled at household waste and recycling centres. So at this time they have to be thrown in with general rubbish.

Crisp packets have become a thorny recycling issue of late. Around 6 billion packets of crisps are consumed each year in the UK, equating to more than 16 million of them being thrown away every day.

Of course this leaves the question of what to do with them once their contents have been polished off.

Contrary to popular belief, the technology is there to recycle crisp packets, but up until very recently it was considered too much of a tricky process to be cost effective. As a result, the vast majority of scrunched up packets have ended up in landfill. The plastic they are made from is so tough, it has been proven that crisp packets can last for over 30 years out at sea.

What Exactly Are Crisp Packets Made From?

Put simply, in most cases it’s plastic, its the metallised film which causes the problems.

Even the silvery lining on the inside of bags, which helps to extend the shelf life of the product, is made out of metallised plastic film, which is also what lots of wrapping paper is made from. Pringles tubes, while being made of materials which are recyclable on their own, are much more difficult to process in combination. The cardboard tube, inner foil, metal base and plastic cap makes separating the different components a “nightmare” according to The Recycling Association.

Walkers ( the largest crisp company in the UK) have pledged to make sure that all their crisp packaging is biodegradable by 2025, but there are plenty of consumers who want action now. In fact, some people have become so vexed by the situation that they started to post their empty packets back to manufacturers in the hope that they would do something about the completely unsustainable situation.

Pressure from the #PacketInWalkers social media campaign, and a petition which attracted more than 300,000 signatures, seems to have paid dividends. In December 2018 Walkers launched an initiative to recycle these single-use plastics.

Is there technology available to deal with Crisp Packets?

There is a new scheme, run by TerraCycle (unfortunately this is not available in Spain) which aims to turn all materials received into brand new resources.

As with most other forms of recycling, they are sorted and arranged into different groups, with the separated items being cleaned, shredded and made into fresh products. As their fibres are so small, crisp packets are most suitable for being extruded into plastic pellets, which can then be used in the creation of other useful commodities.

Are There Any Biodegradable Crisp Packets?

Yes, but not many.

The only ones currently in circulation in the UK are made by Two Farmers, a small company in Herefordshire, who say that their packets will completely vanish around six months after they have been disposed of, meaning that they are completely compostable.

What can I do with them?

Put a box or bag in your kitchen so that you can collect your used packets and aren’t tempted to chuck them in the bin.

Try making homemade crisps instead to avoid packaging altogether, you could even try with different veg.  

I have notice here in Spain that some of the crisps are in plain plastic bags so maybe these can be put in the yellow bin. 

I suppose the same can be said for the snacks like ´´Pipas´ and packets of peanuts and the like.  An option is to buy loose, which is good because you only buy what you want and not what comes in a prepared packet, but it is more expensive.  There are places that sell snacks in plastic containers, which can be recycled.  

 

The blog song for today is " You really got me" by the Kinks 

TTFN

Yoghurts and single serve foods containers - Cannot be recycled. It´s all about size

 

The problem:  

Size and material are two of the biggest factors for recyclability: in general, the smaller a package and the greater its mix of materials, the less recyclable it is. While consumers and businesses may think that sleek, recyclable containers are sustainable, experts note that single-serving foods, including yoghurt and coffee cups, are especially problematic. Their small size and – in the case of yoghurt cups, difficult-to-recycle plastic – tend to make them a tough sell for recyclers.

Who does it? 

Most common single-serve foods, including cups of coffee, violate the material and size rule. Yoghurt, especially, is a problem – the majority of yoghurt companies, ranging from giants like Danone and Chobani, to smaller independent producers, use packaging that is difficult to recycle. 

Unfortunately sweet wrappers fall in this category, in fact anything small is sifted out and burnt.

What is the solution? On the recycling end, advances in technology could lead to new sorting machines and more sustainable polymers. Alternately, some companies, including Unilever, have redesigned their packaging to make it more sustainable. On the consumer end, many coffee chains, including Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, allow customers to use reuseable coffee mugs. 

So yet again it is due to the producers of all these things to get their acts together and redesign the packaging.

There are some yoghurts available in glass jars, which I like because the jars can then be reused or recycled!

Another option is compostable, biodegradable packaging. Some supermarkets, like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, are increasingly utilizing compostable and biodegradeable containers. Unfortunately, this is still uncommon. Green-conscious consumers can also opt to purchase larger size items and transport them in reusable or washable containers. 

It seems like everyday we are finding out that the things we thought could be recycled, actually cannot be. So another item to go in with the general household waste.  What a joke.

The blog song for today is: "Smoke on the water" by Deep Purple.

TTFN

 

 

The problem: Size and material are two of the biggest factors for recyclability: in general, the smaller a package and the greater its mix of materials, the less recyclable it is. While consumers and businesses may think that sleek, recyclable containers are sustainable, experts note that single-serving foods, including yogurt and coffee cups, are especially problematic. Their small size and – in the case of yogurt cups, difficult-to-recycle plastic – tend to make them a tough sell for recyclers.

Who does it? Most common single-serve foods, including cups of coffee, violate the material and size rule. Yogurt, especially, is a problem – the majority of yogurt companies, ranging from giants like Dannon and Chobani, to smaller independent producers, use packaging that is difficult to recycle.

What is the solution? On the recycling end, advances in technology could lead to new sorting machines and more sustainable polymers. Alternately, some companies, including Unilever, have redesigned their packaging to make it more sustainable. On the consumer end, many coffee chains, including Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, allow customers to use reuseable coffee mugs.

Another option is compostable, biodegradable packaging. Some supermarkets, like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, are increasingly utilizing compostable and biodegradeable containers. Unfortunately, this is still uncommon. Green-conscious consumers can also opt to purchase larger size items and transport them in reusable or washable containers.

Greenpeace have taken the case against Ecoembes to the European Commission at Brussels

Here is the latest actions carried out by Greenpeace Spain regarding the terrible situation of our recycling system I have translated from their webpage.

"We bring Ecoembes waste management (not) to Brussels Last week the European Commission accepted the complaint filed by Greenpeace, along with 15 other groups from all over the country, for non-compliance with the waste management targets set by Brussels. 

European regulations required Spain to reuse and recycle 50% of municipal waste in 2020, an objective that the complaint to the European Commission shows that it will not be met, since it is below 35%. In our garbage can many things go, including organic matter (40%), but another important part (almost 25%) is made up of light plastic containers, cans, cartons, paper, cardboard… managed by Ecoembes; and glass, managed by Ecovidrio. 

The rest are other minor fractions (wood, textile, others). It is evident that each fraction has its characteristics and peculiarities, and consequences for health and the environment. 

And one of the main agents who has not carried out the task entrusted to it by law for two decades has been Ecoembes, responsible for managing the yellow cube and almost half the blue one. The contamination caused by their disposable containers is another of the pandemics that our planet suffers. A silent pandemic that, day by day, is revealed to us thanks to scientific studies, is of an unimaginable magnitude.

For this reason, the complaint accepted by the European Union not only reflects the neglect of the Government of Spain, but also calls into question the very integrated waste management systems, such as Ecoembes (and Ecovidrio). 

An entity that has been doing an excellent job of greenwashing, marketing and advertising campaigns for two decades, but deplorable when it comes to preventing, reusing and incredibly recycling less than 25% of its packaging (according to the latest data provided by the Balearic Government). 

We hope that Brussels can put some order in the chaotic situation of waste management in Spain. We are at an excellent moment for the central government to change the system, make it better and really "circulate". It is easy for it, the new waste law is in imminent parliamentary procedure, to be approved. 

Madam Fourth Vice President of the Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition of the Government of Spain, do you accept the challenge from Greenpeace and the rest of the entities?"

 This case has been gathering momentum for quite some time now and watching it unfold is very very important.  It has been awful to discover that despite all our efforts to recycle the company responsible for carrying it out has been deceiving us.  It seems that they have been taking money for something they have not been doing.  Is this not a type of fraud?  What we need now is for genuine action to sort out the mess we now find ourselves in, it is really imperative that this happens.  

In the meantime I am continuing to cut down on my plastic consumption along with making my own stuff!  The results of the Soap Nuts experiments have been outstanding!  I have been using them primarily for washing clothes, washing dishes, cleaning floors and all purpose cleaning products.  I have tried them in shower wash and shampoo but they were a bit of a flop!

The blog song for today is "when the sun goes down" by the Arctic Monkeys

TTFN

 

106 kg of plastic collected up at a beach here in Menorca

Last Sunday 14th February a wonderful bunch of people went out early in the morning to go and clean up a beach only accessible by boat.  It is part of the work that Per la Mar Viva carry out every year.  Unfortunately I was unable to go with them, but hopefully an opportunity will arise for me to do so.

Here is what they collected:

Some of those tubes are enormous!

All of this was collected up in one morning.   As you can see a lot of the plastic looks like waste from construction, I think it is pretty difficult to understand how this amount of stuff ended up in the sea! The boat I can imagine that due to the heavy storms we have had it just got battered on the rocks and fell into pieces.

 

Per La Mar Viva are involved with the Menorca Preservation Fund who recently provided their monthly newsletter giving the following update:

With your support, in 2020 we were able to...

Support 3 scientific studies in the field of marine conservation.
Support new local projects with + € 50,000.
Support 4 outreach and awareness initiatives.
Lead of the creation of the Plastic Free Menorca Alliance and support its first steps.
Avoid 20 tons of local produce from going to waste during lockdown, by purchasing from our local farmers and distributing it to 140 vulnerable families.
Support 15 local entities with their environmental projects.
Collaborate with 3 farms in the improvement of their water management systems.
Add 3 more local companies that wish to work in a more sustainable way and at the same time support us in our mission.
Extract more than 1.5 tons of waste from the sea.

 

And here we go again! We'd like to share with you all the four new environmental projects supported by MEPF

The projects, closely linked to the Sustainable Development Goals, will be carried out during 2021 and have a total value of € 20,000, of which 60% will be directly financed by the Menorca Preservation Fund.

On the one hand, the Societat Ornitològica de Menorca (Menorca's ornithological society) has been the recipient of the first of these grants in 2021, for which the MEPF is supporting a study of the feeding areas of the paíños, a seabird whose colony, located in the Isla del Aire Marine Reserve (Sant Lluís), will provide important knowledge. It will help to protect these and other birds that nest in Mediterranean coastal areas. These small birds are believed to be able to travel up to 1,000km in 3 days in order to feed.

On the other hand, the local radio station Ràdio Far Cultural has launched its “KM0” initiative, a new radio project. In the format of an interview with different prominent environmental actors, the program seeks to reach young audiences in order to raise awareness among them about the need to manage fresh water responsibly or to consume local and seasonal products, to name two examples of programs already broadcasted and that are available on their web site esfarcultural.com.

At the same time, the Surf and Clean Association has been the recipient of the third recently approved grant. “Learning through surfing” will be its pilot project in Menorca and which will take place in Ciutadella, with 160 students but aiming to implement the initiative permanently on the island. The objective is to raise awareness amongst primary school students regarding the respect for our marine environments and how important it is to live closely linked to the sea, preserving life in the oceans and avoiding plastic pollution and other dangers in the marine environment.

Lastly, the MEPF has approved the GoZeroWaste project, in close collaboration with the Plastic Free Menorca Alliance. Through this project, the MEPF seeks to promote the challenge of eliminating or drastically reducing our waste generation through the use of an APP linking to local businesses, creating challenges, etc.

So all in all there are some fantastic things going on here on Menorca.

 

 

I really like the look of the GoZeroWaste project, that looks great, exactly what I am interested in and am trying to do.. Less waste!

The blog song for today is: "Last Nite" by The Strokes.

TTFN

The top 10 things found in the sea

Find out key facts about plastic in the ocean with our infographics, as well discover their impact and how the EU is acting to reduce plastic litter in the seas.

The results of today’s single-use, throw-away plastic culture can be seen on sea shores and in oceans everywhere. Plastic waste is increasingly polluting the oceans and according to one estimation, by 2050 the oceans could contain more plastic than fish by weight.

New EU rules, adopted by MEPs on 27 March 2019, tackle lost fishing gear and  the 10 single-use plastic products most widely found on European shores. Together these two groups account for 70% of marine litter. These new rules were also approved by the Council in May 2019.

 

Infographic on key facts and issues caused by plastic waste in the ocean  

Problem

Plastic doesn’t just make a mess on the shores, it also hurts marine animals who get entangled in larger pieces and mistake smaller pieces for food. Ingestion of plastic particles can prevent them from digesting normal food and might attract toxic chemical pollutants to their organisms.

Humans eat plastic through the food chain. How this affects their health is unknown.

Sea litter causes economic losses for sectors and communities dependent on the sea but also for manufacturers: only about 5% of the value of plastic packaging stays in the economy – the rest is literally dumped, showing the need for a approach focussed more on recycling and reusing materials.

Infographic on plastic and non-plastic marine litter by type  

What needs to be done?

The most effective way to tackle the problem is to prevent more plastic getting in the ocean.

Single-use plastic items are the biggest single group of waste found on sea shores: products such as plastic cutlery, drink bottles, cigarette butts or cotton buds make up almost half of all sea litter.

 

List of top 10 single use plastic items found on beaches  

The new measures

A total ban is proposed for single-use plastic items for which alternatives in other materials are already readily available: cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws, drink stirrers and balloon sticks. MEPs also added oxo-degradable ( Oxo biodegradable materials degrade by oxidation, being stimulated by the chemical additives) plastic products and fast food containers made out of polystyrene to the list .

For the rest, a range of other measures was approved:

• Extended producer responsibility, especially for tobacco companies, in order to strengthen the application of the polluter pays principle. This new regime will also apply to fishing gear, to ensure that manufacturers, and not fishermen, bear the costs of collecting nets lost at sea.
• Collection target of 90% by 2029 for drink bottles (for example through deposit refund systems)
• A 25% target for recycled content in plastic bottles by 2025 and 30% by 2030
• Labelling requirements for tobacco products with filters, plastic cups, sanitary towels and wet wipes to alert users to their correct disposal
• Awareness-raising

For fishing gear, which accounts for 27% of sea litter, producers would need to cover the costs of waste management from port reception facilities. EU countries should also collect at least 50% of lost fishing gear per year and recycle 15% of it by 2025.

This looks very promising from the European side of things, I will be looking into what the rest of the world are doing to tackle the problem.

The blog song for today is: "Love me tender" by Elvis Presley

TTFN