Finding Better Biodegradable Bags - a report from earth911.com

Finding Better Biodegradable Bags

ByGemma Alexander

Sep 6, 2022 biodegradable plastic, Plastic-bags

Once upon a time, plastic was heralded as a miracle material. Cheap, lightweight, infinitely customizable yet virtually indestructible, plastic quickly replaced natural materials in myriad products – especially bags. Today, plastic bags are ubiquitous for shopping and groceries, and even inside other types of packaging. Plastic bags are found on roadsides, in waterways, and deep in the ocean, where they break down into microplastics that end up in our food.

Biodegradable Is Better

We need to move towards a post-plastic world. Unlike other nonbiodegradable materials like metals, plastic is not infinitely recyclable. In fact, it is often not recyclable at all. What we need is a biodegradable alternative. But creating a biobased material that functions like plastic is a technological challenge; creating a feasible production model for bioplastics is another challenge. Making the switch to biodegradable products can also be as complicated for consumers as making the bioplastics is for manufacturers.

Biodegradable Plastic

Plastic as we know it is made from natural gas, and accounts for between 4% and 8% of global oil consumption. But functionally similar materials can be made from polylactic acid (PLA), which is typically made from plant starch. The other main type of bioplastic is made from polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). PHAs are long-chain polyesters produced by microorganisms and plants. Both types of material are called bioplastics. You will also see them referred to as biodegradable plastics and compostable plastics. Despite the name, not all bioplastic products biodegrade naturally or break down in a compost bin. In one study, only one plant-based plastic bag (of four bioplastics tested) broke down quickly in water, and even that kind survived more than a year buried in soil.

Not all compostable or biodegradable plastic bags will break down in a backyard compost bin. Many require industrial composting conditions.

Biodegradable Drawbacks

Many of the desirable qualities of plastic – like being sturdy and waterproof – are opposed to biodegradability. Many bioplastics can only break down in a high-temperature commercial composting facility. Those that are readily biodegradable are not sturdy enough for most products. Easily compostable bags are available, but they need to be stored carefully. They can break down in hot or humid environments before you use them.

Most biodegradable plastic bags still require a commercial composting facility. If your local composting facility accepts biodegradable bags, look for ones with a “BPI certified compostable” label. If you don’t have access to a commercial composting facility that specifically accepts bioplastics, the landfill is usually the best option for disposal.

Bioplastics cannot be placed in with the recycling, even if your community recycles other plastics. Products like compostable plastic bags are a contaminant in recycling because they are chemically different from petroleum-based plastics. There have been some attempts to develop consistent labels that will inform consumers about the best way to dispose of bioplastic products.

Plastic Bags

Bioplastics have mostly been used as an alternative for PET, especially in food packaging like beverage bottles and compostable cutlery. Durables might be a better option for these products. One product category where biodegradability makes the most sense is plastic bags. Even when they are made of a recyclable polymer, plastic bags can’t go in the regular recycling in most communities. A few curbside programs accept bagged plastic bags, but more often, they must be delivered to special collection bins – which are not available everywhere.

Biodegradable Bags

Unfortunately, biodegradable bags are not necessarily more environmentally friendly. As a replacement for shopping bags, biodegradable bags might not eliminate the problem of litter, because many of them don’t break down in the environment. Nor are they a very good substitute for garbage bags; they don’t break down in landfills. But they might break before they reach the landfill, creating litter. Biodegradable pick-up bags for pet waste are only environmentally preferable if your municipal composting facility specifically states that they accept pet waste.

The best use for biodegradable bags is to contain food waste in communities that have a three-bin recycling program that accepts both food and yard waste for industrial-scale composting. Even then, you should confirm that your local composting facility accepts biodegradable plastics before throwing them in the bin.

BIOOK biodegradable compost bags are certified to be compatible with backyard compost systems. Photo: Amazon

Compost Bags

BioBag is BPI-certified and even OK Compost Home-certified for home composters. EcoSafe bags are also BPI-certified. Besides food waste bags, they also make compostable grocery bags and a compostable alternative to latex gloves for food preparation. Good Housekeeping rated the BPI- and OK Compost Home-certified bags from BIOOK as the best choice for home composters. Full Circle’s biodegradable compost bag can give you lemon-scented compost collection. They also offer a Kraft paper compost bag with a vegetable-based plastic liner that looks a bit nicer than the standard green bioplastic, and may hold up better in storage.

So now everything is more confusing, do we stick to ordinary plastic bags and put them in the recycling bin, it looks like the answer is no. Are compostable bags really compostable or have they just renamed the type of plastic bag? It just seems like a constant merry go round of complete and utter misdirection and bad information.

The answer is, do not use plastic bags of any description at all, take your reusable bags at all times and if necessary keep an old old ancient plastic bag in your handbag at all times!

The blog song for today is: " Subterranean homesick blues" by Bob Dylan.

TTFN

 

 

♻️ Ayúdanos a reciclar mejor! Hoy, Envases ligeros-Ayuntamiento De Ciutadella

 

ajciutadella
⁉️ ¿Dudas a la hora de reciclar? Depositar correctamente los residuos donde toca nos permite ser más eficientes en el tratamiento y evitar que acaben en el vertedero elementos que podrían reciclarse o valorizarse🔵

👇🏼Aquí va un listado que puedes consultar siempre que quieras saber si lo haces correctamente. Y si todavía tienes dudas, siempre puedes consultarnos a nosotros.

♻️ Ayúdanos a reciclar mejor!

Hoy, Envases ligeros

SÍ ✅

Bótiles de plástico
Latas de conserva y bebidas
Tapas y tapones de plástico, metal y chapas
Bandejas de aluminio
Papel film y papel de aluminio
Aerosoles
Botes de desodorante
Bolsas de plástico
Terrinas y tapas de yogur
Brics: de leche, zumos, sopas, etc
Bandejas de corcho blanco
Tubos de pasta de dientes
Cajas de fruta y verdura

NO ❌

Juguetes de plástico
Biberones y chupetes
Utensilios de cocina
Cubos de plástico
Vasos de papel de cafeterías
Papel plastificado usado en carnicerías y pescaderías
Tupperwares
Puedes tipos Pringles
Cápsulas de aluminio de café
Moldes de silicona para cocinar
Termos
Cajas de CD's y DVD's
Bolígrafos
Encendedores
Materiales de plástico de cuadros o fotografías
Envases de los medicamentos

CÓMO⁉️

1️⃣ Consulta la etiqueta del envase para asegurarte de que va al contenedor amarillo

2️⃣ Mira que en el envase no queden restos de comida u otros residuos impropios.

3️⃣ Aplasta bótiles, briks y latas para reducir el espacio que ocupan en el contenedor.

#AyuntamientoDeCiutadella #Ciutadella #Reciclemmejor

Este muy util y mas facil de entendir. ¡Descubrí que al limpiar los contenedores también se atraen menos insectos y no hay olor!

La canción del blog de hoy es: "Don't you (forget about me)" de Simple Minds.

 

ajciutadella
⁉️ Do you doubt when it comes to recycling? Correctly depositing waste where it belongs allows us to be more efficient in treatment and prevent elements that could be recycled or recovered from ending up in the landfill 🔵

👇🏼Here is a list that you can consult whenever you want to know if you do it correctly. And if you still have doubts, you can always ask us.

♻️ Help us recycle better!

Today, light packaging

YES ✅

plastic bottles
Preserves and beverage cans
Plastic, metal and sheet metal caps and plugs
aluminum trays
Cling film and aluminum foil
Aerosol sprays
deodorant bottles
Plastic bags
Yogurt tubs and lids
Bricks: milk, juices, soups, etc.
White cork trays
toothpaste tubes
fruit and vegetable boxes

NO ❌

Plastic toys
Bottles and pacifiers
Cookware
plastic buckets
coffee shop paper cups
Laminated paper used in butcher shops and fishmongers
tupperware
Pringles and similar types of crisp tubes
aluminum coffee capsules
silicone molds for cooking
Thermos
CD and DVD boxes
Pens
Lighters
Plastic materials of paintings or photographs
medicine containers

HOW⁉️

1️⃣ Check the label on the container to make sure it goes in the yellow container

2️⃣ Check that there are no food remains or other improper waste in the container.

3️⃣ Crush bottles, bricks and cans to reduce the space they take up in the container.

#Ciutadella City Council #Ciutadella #Recyclembetter

It is very useful and easier to understand. I have found by cleaning out the containers less insects are attracted also and there is no smell!

The blog song for today is : "Don't you (forget about me)" by Simple Minds.

TTFN

♻️ Ayúdanos a reciclar mejor! Papel y cartón🔵👇- #AyuntamientoDeCiutadella

 

 

ajciutadella
♻️ Ayúdanos a reciclar mejor!

Papel y cartón🔵👇

SÍ ✅

Folios y libretas
Periódicos y revistas
Papel de regalo y envolver
Sobres (sin ventanilla)
Folletos de publicidad.
Cajas y piezas de cartón
Envases (de cereales, galletas, comidas precocinadas y congeladas, comida rápida, zapatos, etc.).
Hueveras de cartón
Tubos de cartón del papel higiénico o de las servilletas de cocina

NO ❌

Papel manchado de grasas u otros residuos
Papel plastificado
Papel encerado o parafinado
Papel adhesivo o con restos de cola
Papel autocopiador o papel carbón
Papel de fax o fotográfico
Pañuelos
Toallas de papel
Pañales
Compresas
Productos de higiene íntima usados
Brics
Bolsas de plástico
Platos y vasos desechables
Bandejas de corcho blanco

CÓMO⁉️

1️⃣ Dobla o corta los papeles y cartones para que ocupen menos espacio dentro del contenedor.

2️⃣ No dejes cajas de cartón o residuos de papel al pie del contenedor. ¡Y mucho menos sin desmontar!

3️⃣ Si cuentas con el servicio de recogida comercial de papel y cartón, no utilices los contenedores azules de la calle.

4️⃣ Respeta los días y horarios establecidos para la recogida comercial.

#AyuntamientoDeCiutadella #Ciutadella #Reciclemmejor
4 w

 

ajciutadella
♻️ Help us recycle better!

Paper and cardboard🔵👇

YES ✅

Sheets and notebooks
Newspapers and magazines
Gift and wrapping paper
Envelopes (no window)
Advertising brochures.
Boxes and cardboard pieces
Packaging (for cereals, cookies, precooked and frozen meals, fast food, shoes, etc.).
cardboard egg cups
Toilet paper or kitchen napkin cardboard tubes

NO ❌

Paper stained with grease or other residues
laminated paper
Wax or paraffin paper
Adhesive paper or paper with traces of glue
Carbonless paper or carbon paper
Fax or photo paper
scarves
Paper towels
diapers
compresses
Used intimate hygiene products
bricks
Plastic bags
Disposable plates and cups
White cork trays

HOW⁉️

1️⃣ Fold or cut paper and cardboard so they take up less space inside the container.

2️⃣ Do not leave cardboard boxes or paper waste at the foot of the container. And much less without disassembling!

3️⃣ If you have a commercial collection service for paper and cardboard, do not use the blue containers on the street.

4️⃣ Respect the days and times established for commercial collection.

#Ciutadella City Council #Ciutadella #Recyclembetter
4w

 I often find pizza boxes in the blue container, it's a shame that they cannot be totally recycled , however I would think it would be possible to recycle the bits that are not covered in grease!

The blog song for today is: "My way" by Sid Vicious

TTFN

¡Ayúdanos a reciclar mejor! - Envases de vidrio - #AjuntamentDeCiutadella

 

 

¡Ayúdanos a reciclar mejor!

🟢 Envases de vidrio

SÍ ✅

Bótiles de vino, agua, zumo
Bótiles de cerveza, licores o cualquier otro líquido.
Bótiles de aceite o de salsas
Botes de mermeladas, legumbres, miel y otros alimentos en conserva.
Frascos de cosméticos, colonia y perfumes.
Desodorantes de roll-on o pulverizador.

NO ❌

Tapas, y tapones de los envases depositados (metal, plástico, corcho)
Cristal plano (ventanas, cristales de coches, espejos)
Cristal de pantalla (televisores, ordenadores, etc.)
Vasos y copas
Vajillas de cerámica o porcelana
Ladrillos y piedras
Cristales decorados
Cristales opacos
Frascos de medicamentos
Cristales de lentes y microscopios

CÓMO⁉️

1. Procura vaciar bien los envases.
2. Deposita las tapas y tapones de plástico y metal en el contenedor amarillo, y los tapones de corcho en la fracción orgánica.
3. Si utilizas bolsas de plástico para llevar el vidrio hasta el contenedor, deben ir después al contenedor amarillo.
4. El vidrio es un material fácilmente reciclable, prioriza siempre los envases de ese material.

#AyuntamientoDeCiutadella #Ciutadella #Reciclemmejor
3 w

Poco mas claro, que si o no!

El cancion del blog este: "Mariposa Traicionera" de Maná

TTFN 

Help us recycle better!

🟢 Glass containers

YES ✅

Bottles of wine, water, juice
Bottles of beer, spirits or any other liquid.
Bottles of oil or sauces
Jars of jam, legumes, honey and other preserved foods.
Bottles of cosmetics, cologne and perfumes.
Roll-on or spray deodorants.

NO ❌

Lids and stoppers of deposited containers (metal, plastic, cork)
Flat glass (windows, car glass, mirrors)
Screen glass (TVs, computers, etc.)
glasses and cups
Ceramic or porcelain tableware
bricks and stones
decorated crystals
opaque crystals
medicine bottles
Lens glasses and microscopes

HOW⁉️

1. Try to empty the containers well.
2. Put the plastic and metal lids and stoppers in the yellow container, and the cork stoppers in the organic fraction.
3. If you use plastic bags to carry the glass to the container, they must go to the yellow container afterwards.
4. Glass is an easily recyclable material, always prioritize containers made of this material.

#Ciutadella City Council #Ciutadella #Recyclembetter
3w

Little clearer, yes or no!

The song of this blog: "Mariposa Traicionera" by Maná

TTFN

Increasing the Circularity of #1 Plastic (PET) Recycling - an earth911 report

 

Increasing the Circularity of #1 Plastic (PET) Recycling

ByMary McDonald

Aug 17, 2022 #1 plastic, PET plastic, recycling, thermoformed plastic

Here’s a trick question. Can #1 plastics — otherwise known as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastics — go in the recycling bin?

Bet you thought the answer was yes. That’s only half right. It’s a trick question because the answer’s complicated. Most curbside recycling programs accept #1 plastics for recycling, but only certain forms of it. Bottles that hold various products—shampoo, salad dressing, water, and soda — are almost always accepted. Other types of #1 plastic containers — made by a method called thermoforming — are not accepted or used in the recycling stream.

That may be about to change.

What Is Thermoforming?

Thermoforming is a method of creating packaging by stretching a heated sheet of plastic over a mold to make a desired shape. Clamshell containers — which have a hinged side similar to clams — are one common type of thermoformed packaging. These containers are used to package salad greens, berries, cherry tomatoes, bakery items, egg cartons, and more. They cannot be recycled with PET bottles because the two types of plastic, although both categorized as #1 plastic, are chemically different and melt at different temperatures.

As far as plastic packaging goes, thermoformed packaging isn’t all bad. It:

• Is lightweight.
• Can protect food from going to waste (food waste is a major climate change culprit). It’s also used for packaging blisters, medical packaging, and many other types of packaging.
• Is recyclable.
• Can be made with recycled PET (rPET) as well as a variety of other polymers.

If we could recover more thermoform packaging and add it to the recycling stream, it would represent a positive step toward reducing waste and the need for drilling more oil to support our packaging needs.

There’s a growing demand for recycled PET, especially in the textile industry, which uses it to make polyester. If we can introduce efficient recycling technology, those thermoformed #1 plastic clamshells do have value.

Molded from a sheet of plastic, thermoformed containers 

are popular lightweight packaging for food and other products.

Current Stats on Recycling Plastic PET

Even though it is highly recyclable, the recycling rates for PET plastic packaging are disappointing. Lack of access to recycling systems and low participation among consumers and businesses contribute to poor recycling rates.

As of 2020:

• PET plastic bottles have a recycling rate of about 27%, even though most curbside recyclers accept those items.
• Only 54% of Americans have access to recycle thermoformed PET plastics such as egg cartons and fruit containers.
• Only 9% of thermoformed PET plastics are recycled.

That means that way too much recoverable PET plastic is taking up space in our landfills or incinerated. At the same time, more oil is needed to make virgin plastics used in packaging.

Challenges of Recycling PET Thermoform Packaging

There are challenges to recycling PET thermoform packaging, which is why it often goes to waste. These are some of the problems:

• In contrast to PET plastic bottles, there is no deposit on food packaging, so it’s solely up to the consumer to recycle.
• Adhesives used for labels don’t separate from containers and gum up recycling machinery.
• Paper labels mix in with the PET plastic.
• Thermoformed plastics have less viscosity and are more brittle, making these plastics unsuitable for bottle production. So it’s essential to separate thermoformed PET from other PET containers when recycling.
• Not all materials recovery facilities have sorting equipment that can separate thermoformed packaging from other plastics.
• Consumer confusion about whether thermoformed plastics can go in curbside bins.

None of this means we can’t do better. In fact, there is an array of stakeholders working to improve the circularity of PET packaging.

Working Towards Closed-Loop Recycling of PET Thermoform Packaging

A few years ago, Driscoll’s, the berry company, recognized the lost opportunities of thermoform-to-thermoform recycling. In collaboration with packaging suppliers, a materials recovery facility (MRF), and other industry brands, Driscoll’s became part of The Alliance for PET Thermoform Recycling to remove barriers to thermoform recycling.

In 2021, Driscoll’s and their suppliers achieved a 9% rate of rPET thermoform packaging in their clamshell packaging. Before then, their suppliers used rPET from bottles, but not from thermoform packaging. (Overall, Driscoll’s clamshells use about 80% rPET — including 40% pre-consumer content, 30% rPET from bottles, and 21% virgin plastic.)

The success of this type of material-specific collaboration may serve as a model for other challenging materials in the recycling stream.

Solutions

Another collaboration comes from The Recycling Partnership. In June 2022, it launched its PET Recycling Coalition, which is working to improve the circularity of PET recycling. Its purpose is to create “scalable solutions to packaging and system challenges” and accelerate “the shift to a circular economy that uses fewer finite resources.”

As stated on its website, the Recycling Partnership’s plans include:

• Increasing PET capture rates by upgrading the efficiency of the recycling system
• Optimizing the flow of recycled PET by technology and infrastructure updates at sortation facilities and PET reclaimers
• Bolstering PET recycling through expanded access and effective messaging in local recycling programs

Thermoformed PET plastic is recyclable but likely not in

your curbside bin. Ask your recycling provider where you 

can recycle them locally.

How Consumers Can Support PET Circularity

The success of PET circularity initiatives will come largely from industry and infrastructure. But you can play a role, too.

Send a message that you prefer sustainable alternatives. Buy products made with recycled #1 plastics or biodegradable packaging. When you are shopping, read the package to see if it’s made from recycled content. If brands put in the effort and expense to source rPET, they’ll let you know. Look for the term “post-consumer content” and a percentage.

Call your recycling company and see which #1 plastics they accept. It’s tempting to toss everything with a #1 on it in the bin. If the company doesn’t accept it, though, that’s called wish-cycling and can do more harm than good.

Do your bit by sorting plastics at home and ensuring they are clean and dry when placed in your recycling bin. Be careful not to put thermoformed plastics in the bin if your recycling system does not accept them. But there may be a store or other location where you can drop off these plastics for recycling. Ask your local recycler and also search the Earth911 database for a drop-off location near you. Nothing happens in our recycling system until you take the first step.

Support extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation at state and local levels. EPR programs can include deposit and incentive programs that make it profitable to collect recyclables. Take the time to ask your local waste management office to add comprehensive recycling for all plastics, not just #1 plastic.

Our local council has been sending out information on what we can and cannot put in the recycling bins, it is not as we knew before, so there is at least some recognition that everything is not recyclable despite what it says on the container. We have a new recycling plant here on Menorca which is supposed to be able to recycle more than before.

Keep on keeping on! As I keep saying we as consumers can only do so much,in the way of sourcing products in anything other than plastic, it is not easy, however one of the easiest is stop buying plastic bottles of fizzy drinks and other refreshments.  It is amazing how much of this is around.

The blog song for today is: " Little white bull" by Tommy Steele

TTFN

Truly transformative: why the US climate bill is such a big deal - a report from Adam Vaughan at New Scientist

This week’s Fix the Planet comes on the heels of momentous news from the US. “This legislation truly is transformative: it would be hard to overstate what a pivotal moment this was,” says Dan Lashof at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a US-based non-profit organisation.

He’s referring to Sunday, when the US Senate passed the single biggest investment to tackle climate change in the country’s history. The $369 billion allocated for climate action over 10 years in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will not only transform the US economy, but send ripples globally via the UN climate talks and the private sector. The legislation could pass the US House of Representatives this week.

Today’s newsletter dives into where the money will make the biggest dent in emissions, and why it puts the US’s carbon goals in sight – even though, at first blush, the plan falls short.

New wind power projects will get a huge boost from the US climate bill. Photo: Ashley Cooper / Alamy

What are the big-ticket items?
The number of technologies and products getting support is dizzying. The package includes incentives, primarily via tax credits, for wind, solar and geothermal power, next-generation nuclear plants, electric cars, clean hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, direct air capture for carbon dioxide removal, sustainable aviation fuel, energy efficiency measures for homes, heat pumps and the lifting of a moratorium on offshore windfarms in the Atlantic Ocean. The plan largely consists of carrots rather than sticks. One exception is financial penalties for methane emissions above government limits, which will rise by two thirds between 2024 and 2026. 

One large slice of funding is $30 billion for renewable power schemes and battery storage projects. A further $27 billion is for a “green bank” that will fund further clean energy schemes, with a focus on those located in disadvantaged communities. And $60 billion will provide transport measures that cut air pollution for lower-income communities and people of colour. The US has a long history of environmental injustice, where polluting infrastructure disproportionately affects poorer and non-white communities . “There is, for the first time ever, a climate legislation that really is also dealing with environmental justice issues,” says Christina DeConcini at the WRI. “Of course, it’s not enough, but it’s great that there’s a start.”

How much will this cut US emissions?  
Ahead of last year’s landmark COP26 climate summit, US president Joe Biden promised the country would cut emissions by 50 to 52 per cent by 2030, on 2005 levels. That elevated the US to the top rank of international climate pledges. But the difficult history of the IRA and its predecessor, the Build Back Better Act – both were repeatedly blocked by one Democratic politician, Joe  Manchin – meant there were fears that Biden would fail to deliver domestically.

Three analyses, by Energy Innovation, Rhodium Group and a Princeton University team , come to roughly the same conclusion on the new climate legislation: it should cut US emissions by about 40 per cent (44 per cent at best). The energy sector should see the biggest reduction, at about 360 million tonnes of CO₂ by 2030. Transport is expected to be second, falling by about 280 million tonnes.

Sure, but that’s still not halving emissions. How will the shortfall be made up?
I asked Lashof if this makes the 52 per cent goal plausible. “I think this bill puts it within reach,” he says. “It will depend on how rapidly we can implement the measures here, how quickly we can actually build these things, which is a challenge but something that we're trying to tackle.” There are two main reasons to think the gap can be made up. 

One is extra rules from the US regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), most significantly its plans to set emissions standards for vehicles all the way from light-duty ones up to heavy-duty trucks. Electric vehicle sales are very uneven in the US today. Plug-in models commanded an 18 per cent share of new car sales for the first half of the year in California; in North Dakota, the figure was 1 per cent. Lashof sees the regulations as “raising the floor” so that take-up is spread more evenly. The EPA is also planning to advance standards for power plants, within the constraints of a recent Supreme Court ruling limiting its ability to regulate emissions. 

The second reason for hope is action at the state and city scale (the $369 billion is being channelled at a federal level). Lashof says he expects some states will see economic value in going faster than others, such as California’s past leadership on clean vehicle standards. How states choose to spend the billions in last year’s infrastructure bill will also have an impact, such as whether they direct more towards roads or public transport. Finally, cities are taking matters into their own hands, such as Los Angeles, New York and, most recently, San Diego emulating Berkeley in California by banning gas connections in new buildings.

How does the ambition compare internationally?
Fairly well. The European Union’s plan is for a 55 per cent emissions cut by 2030, but against a different baseline, of 1990 levels. China, because of how fast it’s moved on clean energy and its population being four times the size of the US’s, is still doing more on energy in absolute terms. The country attracted eight times as much investment in renewables in the first half of this year as the US.

Meanwhile, some smaller economies are planning deeper cuts, such as the UK aiming for 78 per cent by 2035. However, the UK still needs more policies to meet that goal. Lashof says he wouldn’t claim the US move is the “biggest action in the world”, but it still shows leadership internationally.

What are the buts?
The worst one is the concessions given to Manchin to get the bill passed. The West Virginia senator secured several fillips for fossil fuels, including opening up oil and gas licences on federal land and easing the passage of a gas pipeline in the state.

There are also some niggles in the details of the funding. For example, there will be $7500 tax credits for buying a new electric vehicle and, for the first time, $4000 credits for used vehicles costing less than $25,000. The caveat there, as The New York Times reports, is that less than a fifth of vehicles are in that price category.

Can this all be overturned by a future president?
No. A president’s executive order can’t undo a piece of legislation, says DeConcini. One reason to think the 10-year plan will stay is that businesses including ExxonMobil and Shell have welcomed it, and companies will resist efforts to withdraw the funding.  “Could another Congress undo this? The answer’s yes, [but] I’d say the likelihood is pretty slim,” says DeConcini. She gives the example of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (known by some as “Obamacare”), which opponents have repeatedly threatened to overturn but have failed to do. “I don't think it's high probability [that the climate bill will be undone], which is why legislation in the United States is so preferable, but so difficult to achieve,” says DeConcini. 

This looks so promising and let's hope that all other countries, especially the EU are going to do the same.

Maybe they are all on it already.

The blog song for today is:  "Tell all the people" by The Doors

TTFN

Wind power's recycling problem- a report from :Adam Vaughan at New Scientist ; However there is a solution!

For an industry that wants to present itself as green, wind power’s problem can be summed up in one word: blades. Most of the mass of a wind turbine, about 90 per cent, is relatively easily recycled, including the steel that compromises the tower. The blades aren’t. The waste generated by those blades might not seem like a huge problem today, but Europe is only just starting to reach serious numbers of turbines nearing the end of their lives. Come 2025, an estimated 30,000 tonnes of blade waste will be generated in Europe. By 2030, the figure is expected to have doubled.   That’s why today’s Fix the Planet is all about efforts to make blades recyclable, starting with this week’s news that recyclable blades have been deployed for the first time on a commercial wind farm.

Several recyclable blades before being installed in a German wind farm. Photo: Siemens Gamesa

Why are blades so difficult to recycle? 
They’re typically made up of several materials, which, like crisp packets , makes them hard to recycle. The interior of the blade is a frame made from balsa wood. The material you see on the outside is usually a composite of glass fibres, carbon fibres and epoxy resin that acts as the glue holding it all together. It’s what’s known as a thermoset material because it’s bonded using heat. This is great for durability, rigidity with enough flexibility and making the blades lightweight. Unfortunately, those chemical bonds are so strong they’re a massive headache to break up. “It’s not impossible, but it is difficult,” says Alexander Vandenberghe at trade body WindEurope. A handful of blades get incorporated into playgrounds and bridges, but most end up in landfill.

What’s new?
Siemens Gamesa, one of Europe’s biggest turbine manufacturers, has gone from announcing plans to make recyclable blades less than a year ago to deploying them last month on a wind farm in Germany. The nine blades across three turbines are a small fraction of the Kaskasi project in the German North Sea, owned by energy giant RWE. But they are also the first of their kind on a commercial wind farm. “We've done it because we work in green energy. We try to provide solutions that are less harmful to the climate than what we've seen in earlier times,” says Jakob Maennchen at Siemens Gamesa. “As a wind turbine manufacturer, I think it hurts all of us deep inside when we see these pictures of the [blades in] landfill, because we want to create something that's positive,” he adds. Some of those pictures are a bit dystopian, in a Blade Runner 2049 fashion.

How are these ones easy to recycle?
The new material is thermoset in the same way, but a supplier based in India and Thailand has added a “link” in the chemistry. When the blade is put in acetic acid at 80°C for about 4 hours, the link is activated, allowing all the component materials to be separated. For now, the number of blades being made this way is small. Beyond the German wind farm, nine recyclable blades will be deployed across three turbines on Vattenfall’s Hollandse Kust Zuid project in the Netherlands. It will take until around 2024 or 2025 before Siemens Gamesa can reach the point where all its blades are made this way, Maennchen expects. There should be no limit on the size of the blades that can be made recyclable.

What will the recycled materials be made into?
This is the big unanswered piece of the puzzle. When the composite material has been recovered in pellet form in the past (as opposed to breaking it down into its constituent parts as can happen now) it has been for “lower grade” uses – in bathroom furniture, for example. Breaking the material down into its component parts will usually mean some form of “downcycling” for another use. “There is always some degradation in any recycling process,” says Vandenberghe. Siemens Gamesa sees a few possible candidates, such as making furniture, surfboards or soundproofing. But the world only needs so many surfboards. Potentially, the fibreglass could one day even be reprocessed to be used in new blades. That’s an unattractive prospect today because virgin fibreglass is “dirt cheap”, says Maennchen. But he says the situation for materials may look different in 25 years’ time.

What are other companies doing? 
Another turbine manufacturer, LM Wind Power, announced earlier this year that it has produced a prototype recyclable blade using a similar approach. Vestas, the huge Danish turbine-maker, is taking a different tack, focusing on a target of creating a blade by 2030 that can be recycled into new blades rather than downcycled into other products. Allan Poulsen at Vestas says this is a vital distinction. “We are pursuing our own idea of making a resin recyclable. But not only recyclable, but also circular,” he says. Making blades into blades is important, he says, because recycling blades into materials that have no use risks creating a new problem. “If there’s no demand, then we're just making a new challenge, aren't we? We need to figure out what to do with these materials. I'm not saying it's easy – it's a really tough ambition.”

Will recyclable blades push up the cost of wind power?
The cost of incentivising new wind farms keeps falling to record lows, pointing the way out of the current energy price crisis facing many European countries. So no one wants to make wind power far more expensive. The new blades do cost more than conventional ones, but Siemens Gamesa says only by a single digit percentage.

What’s next? 
For Siemens Gamesa, it’s all about scaling up production and the supply chain. Vestas is working on its longer-term goal. At a broader level, Vandenberghe says WindEurope is pressing the European Commission to introduce a date on banning blades from being put into landfill. No progress has been made since the idea was first raised last year, but he hopes there might be headway in the coming year, with a ban implemented by the end of 2025. There are a lot of ifs, but a ban could drive investment in better recycling.

In the meantime, what do we do about existing blades?
There are no great answers today, but several ideas are being explored. One cement plant in Germany is burning blade waste to generate heat. Some blades are being shredded so the material can be used in construction materials. Finally, there is pyrolysis, where the material is heated in the absence of oxygen to break polymers apart. But that’s far from a mature process for blades. “I would like to see other industries, the chemical industry, think circularity into their products instead of just making materials as they’ve always done. That’s my big ambition, my big dream,” says Poulsen.

 

This has been one of my concerns, all this stuff is great when it is new, what happens when it gets old?  Unfortunately having seen some of the abandoned solar farms in a lot of countries going to ruin and nothing happening it looked like nothing was going to be done about it.  This report is brilliant and gives hope! We cannot go on like we are, things need to change. 

The blog song for today is: " Dreamer" by Supertramp.

TTFN

 

5 surprising things we learned from the biggest ever household plastic count - a report from https://www.greenpeace.org.uk

Greenpeace UK

5 surprising things we learned from the biggest ever household plastic count

(dated :13th July 2022)

After weeks of number crunching, The Big Plastic Count results are finally here!

Nearly a quarter of a million people counted their household plastic packaging waste for one week, and the results are fascinating. Here are the most surprising things we’ve learnt…

1. UK households throw away approximately 96 billion pieces of plastic packaging a year

That’s a mindblowing, absurd number. It’s so difficult to imagine just how big 96 billion is, but it works out around 11 million piece of plastic per hour, or 3,000 every second. It’s staggering.

Participants in The Big Plastic Count threw away 6,437,813 pieces of plastic packaging in just one week, which means on average each household threw away 66 pieces. This amounts to 3,432 pieces a year, and we arrive at 96 billion pieces a year for the whole country by applying this average to all UK households.

The message couldn’t be clearer: too much plastic waste is leaving our homes.

2. The vast majority of it is food and drink packaging

83% of the plastic packaging waste we throw away comes from food and drink packaging.

If you’re a supermarket shopper, maybe this doesn’t come as a surprise, as the shelves are so overflowing with single-use plastic packaging that it’s very difficult to avoid it. This is especially the case for anyone with a disability or restricted mobility who may rely on pre-prepared food for their independence and quality of life.

Supermarket giants sell most of our groceries, so it’s safe to say that they are responsible for an awful lot of our plastic packaging waste. We’ve had many promises from supermarkets to reduce their plastic footprint, but this actually increased across the top ten supermarkets between 2017 and 2019.

Voluntary commitments are not working.

3. Just 12% of our household plastic packaging waste is recycled

Millions of us do our bit by recycling – it’s part of everyday life in the UK. But we estimate that only 12% of our household plastic packaging waste is actually recycled in the UK. A minority.

This number might be disheartening, but it’s still important to recycle and we should all continue to do so. But we can’t avoid the fact that recycling alone won’t solve the plastic crisis – we are throwing away so much, we’ll never be able to recycle it all, and much of it is never recyclable in the first place.

It’s vital that we reduce the amount of plastic produced at source by turning off the plastic tap, and rapidly transitioning to reusable packaging which caters to everyone’s needs, including those with disabilities.

4. The rest is burned, landfilled or exported

The vast majority of the UK’s household plastic packaging waste is either shipped overseas, or landfilled or incinerated in the UK.

How can the UK claim to be a world leader in managing our waste while this is happening?

We’re producing so much plastic packaging waste that we can’t cope with it ourselves, so 17% of it is exported to other countries to deal with. Greenpeace investigators have previously revealed how this waste may be dumped and burned illegally, creating environmental and human health crises in countries around the world. It’s waste colonialism.

A quarter of our waste ends up in landfill, where it slowly degrades and releases toxins and microplastics, which can pollute the air and waterways – with grave consequences for neighboring communities and natural environments.

And almost half (46%) is burnt in incinerators, which also place local people at risk from the toxic gasses released. And we can’t forget that plastic is made from fossil fuels, so burning it releases greenhouse gasses that are fueling the climate crisis.

We wouldn’t need to rely upon these dirty, polluting methods of disposing of plastic packaging waste if we didn’t produce so much of it in the first place.

5. The majority of plastic we throw away is soft plastic

Just over half of the pieces of plastic thrown away during The Big Plastic Count were soft plastics and plastic film – used in everyday items like crisp packets, bread bags and toilet roll wrap. Soft plastic is notoriously difficult to recycle – meaning just 13% of local authorities collect it.

Supermarkets have tried to fill this gap, through the recent nationwide roll-out of soft plastic take-back schemes. These allow shoppers to drop off plastic waste in-store for recycling, and have proved popular (but are not always accessible for people with disabilities or mobility issues who are unable to visit a store in person). However, an investigation into Tesco’s take-back scheme revealed that some plastic was being exported for incineration or landfill, rather than being recycled. Our recycling systems cannot effectively deal with soft plastics.

What next?

These results paint a dire picture of the UK’s plastic use and waste management systems.

The UK’s plastic crisis is even worse than anyone imagined – we cannot cope with the amount of plastic waste generated – and too much focus has been placed on recycling to solve it. We’re never going to be able to recycle our way out of this mess, and pretending that recycling is a silver bullet is simply industry greenwash.

The government must step in with tough measures to drive a reduction in plastic production and a transition to a circular economy built around materials that can be reused and recycled many times over. This means they need to:

• Set an ambitious, legally binding single-use plastic reduction target under the environment act, to cut single-use plastic by 50% by 2025. All reusable alternatives to single-use plastic must be universally designed to work for everyone’s needs, and decisions must be informed by the disabled community
• Immediately implement an all-in Deposit Return Scheme for plastic bottles, to encourage reuse, and set new Extended Producer Responsibility Requirements to incentivise a transition to reusable packaging

At the same time, the government must tackle the catastrophic social and environmental consequences of waste exports and incineration, by:

• Banning all plastic waste exports by 2025.
• Setting an immediate moratorium on building new incinerators or upgrades of old ones.

The Big Plastic Count has provided overwhelming evidence of the UK’s plastic crisis. Neither this evidence, nor the 248,957 people who gathered it can be ignored. It is time for the government to act.

So there it is in black and white,what a lot of us have been screaming about for it seems like forever! It is the work of everyone, not just people at the bottom end of the chain,trying to do the right thing and not getting as far as would be liked.

This plastic count was done in the UK, but there is no doubt in my mind the same applies here in Menorca, all of Spain, Europe and the rest of the world.  What is it going to take to get things changed?

We are all to blame, but the onus must be placed on the producers of the items to use suitable packaging, yes we can change to glass but as you may have seen in one or two of my blogs there are not many alternatives, at the moment. We, as consumers can also stop buying so much of these items, I am sure 2 litres of a fizzy drink is not absolutely essential to live (for example).

The blog song for today is: " Can't get it out of my head" by ELO

TTFN

 

Recycling isn’t the ‘panacea’ that saves oceans from plastic - a report from https://www.nationalobserver.com

 

Recycling isn’t the ‘panacea’ that saves oceans from plastic

By Rochelle Baker | News, Island Insider | June 30th 2022

Greenpeace volunteers do a plastics audit at a 2018 beach cleanup in Vancouver. Photo by Amy Scaife / Greenpeace

Canada has the opportunity to position itself as a leader in tackling the world’s marine plastics problem at this week’s UN Ocean Conference, experts say.

However, to effect real change, Canada and its international partners will have to aggressively wean themselves off unnecessary plastics and accelerate the development of a global circular economy to make sure plastic pollution doesn't end up in oceans.

“There’s no question the world faces a bit of an existential crisis over how best to proceed on the plastic economy front,” said Peter Ross, senior scientist and director of water pollution at Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

Big or small, plastics are ingested by virtually every creature in the marine food chain, causing harm to animals from zooplankton to whales, Ross said.

Marine plastic pollution exacerbates the decline of marine biodiversity, a crisis already made worse by global warming, with more than 800 marine and coastal species suffering impacts from the ingestion, entanglement and absorption of the petroleum product.

A baby turtle grapples with plastic on a Sumatra beach. Photo by Paul Hilton / Greenpeace

Plastic has no half-life

There’s no getting rid of it, said Ross, a former researcher with Fisheries and Oceans Canada — plastic only breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.

“The reality is recycling is not going to be the panacea that saves the world's ocean,” said @Raincoast scientist Peter Ross about dealing with marine plastic pollution as Canada participates in the #UNOceanConference.

“It breaks down physically but not chemically. It has basically no half-life,” Ross said.

Beyond being permanent pollutants, virtually all plastics are made from fossil fuels and contribute significantly to the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change. In a business-as-usual scenario, emissions from plastic production, use and disposal in 2040 would eat up 19 per cent of the world’s carbon budget under the UN Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 C.

The vast majority of plastic pollution in oceans comes from sources on land that then finds a way into water systems, Ross explained.

“We are creating a geological layer for future archeologists and anthropologists to sift through the rubble and find this layer of plastic around planet Earth.”

Forums on marine plastics pollution at the conference emphasized the global scale of the problem. Some 11 million tonnes of plastic waste flow annually into oceans — a volume that may triple by 2040 if the status quo continues.

A week before the UN gathering, Canada put into action a phased ban on six single-use plastics, including checkout bags, non-recyclable takeout containers, straws, stir sticks, cutlery, and the yokes or plastic rings on six-packs of beverage cans. The new rules come with timelines to restrict the import, production, sale and export of these items.

Canada also helped secure an international agreement by 175 countries to develop a groundbreaking, legally binding international plastics treaty by 2024 that aims to address the full life cycle of the product and create a circular plastics economy.

But whether the plastics treaty is truly a watershed moment will depend on political will, said Ross.

“I think it's good that Canada is positioning itself for kind of a leadership role on the file,” he said.

“But with all the grand aspirations of the UN Ocean Conference … as we look ahead, the question is how do we have a blue economy?”

To halt the “moving train” of vested corporate interest in plastics production, the treaty needs to include significant improvements on the recyclability of plastics and a carrot-and-stick approach to push companies to redesign products and find innovations and alternatives in the private sector, he said.

More research on the effective monitoring of waterways, oceans and wastewater discharges is also needed to identify and tackle the most significant problems, Ross said.

Raincoast Conservation Foundation senior scientist Peter Ross says recycling does not abate marine plastics pollution. Photo by Alex Harris / Raincoast Conservation Foundation

It's a myth that recycling plastics will stem ocean pollution

The idea that plastic recycling will curtail the waste stream into oceans is “fiction,” he said.

Plastic products are full of dyes and a variety of chemicals that make them virtually impossible to recycle.

“The reality is recycling is not going to be the panacea that saves the world's ocean,” he said.

Sarah King, Greenpeace Canada's oceans and plastics campaigner, agreed.

The vast majority of plastics in Canada — 87 per cent — end up in landfills or the environment, with the packaging sector alone the source of nearly half of that garbage.

At best, Canada only has the capacity to recycle 17 per cent of its plastic waste, and the federal phaseout of single-use plastics involves a mere three per cent of the plastic headed into landfills, she said.

“We really need to look at the source of the problem, which is we’re producing too much of it,” King said.

There needs to be concrete reduction in plastic production in Canada and across the globe, she said, or plastic pollution will continue to sabotage federal and international commitments to create low-carbon economies.

A Canada's National Observer investigation into the country's top carbon emitters found three plastics and petrochemical factories — two in Alberta and one in Ontario — collectively produced about 5.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019.

The fossil fuel industry is banking on plastics and expanding production to ensure its future, Greenpeace asserts. And without radical change, plastics use will nearly double in Canada and triple globally by 2060, a new Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study shows.

Greenpeace Canada's oceans and plastics campaigner Sarah King (pictured in the Philippines) says the international community must set plastic waste reduction targets. Photo by Daniel Müller / Greenpeace

No country, including Canada, has concrete waste-reduction targets, King said.

To meet its net-zero plastics pledge by 2030, the federal government needs to phase out all non-essential plastics in short order, stop the production of single-use plastics and set timelines for reducing plastic production across various sectors, she said.

Canada needs to rapidly accelerate the transition to a reuse-and-refill economy, shifting to systems that don’t rely on single-use plastics to provide everyday goods and services, she said.

“We need truly zero-waste and circular systems,” she said, adding government investment will be necessary to help scale up innovation and infrastructure for the transition.

The federal government has shown leadership in calling for the plastics treaty to be ambitious and legally binding, King said.

But the concern is Canada isn’t going into international discussions, such as those underway at the ocean conference in Portugal, prioritizing a wind-down of the industry, she said.

The world is working to phase out oil and gas to combat climate change and must do the same for plastics, which is the flip side of the same coin, she said.

“They go hand in hand,” King said.

“This is definitely where governments need to come together and agree to a cap and phasedown of plastic production globally.”

We are all in a position to demand the reduction in plastic production. If we can switch to alternative packaging in even a small way it will have a significant change.  The main responsibility is on the large companies to use different packaging. Everyone needs to get on board. I saw an advertisement the other day on Sky tv (which has a part of sky news dedicated to the climate) advertising coca cola in a plastic bottle.  This has to change.

The blog song for today is:" Elected" by Alice Cooper

TTFN

Following the Money: Holding Financial Institutions Accountable , a report from : https://www.climaterealityproject.org

Following the Money: Holding Financial Institutions Accountable

The fight for climate justice will be long and hard, but we will continue to fight the expansion of the fossil fuel industry and hold financial institutions accountable together.

December 8, 2021

As the climate crisis worsens in magnitude and urgency, climate advocates are emerging with new targets and tactics to save our world. We do so because we no longer have a choice – business as usual is not working. The battle for climate justice must be approached from multiple angles.

When we think of those most responsible for perpetuating the climate crisis, many automatically think of the C-suite executives at fossil fuel companies. Corporate greed within the fossil fuel industry is indeed an enormous problem, but blaming the climate crisis on the actions of a few corporations alone fails to tell the whole story. 

The construction, transportation, refining, manufacturing, and more that support the fossil fuel industry requires financial backing via loans, insurance, and financial planning. Financial institutions provide these services to corporations that drive the maintenance and buildout of fossil fuel and petrochemical infrastructure. In doing so, they are largely responsible in perpetuating the climate crisis.

In this case, the “power of the purse” rests with numerous major banks and investment firms.

Activists Are Taking A Stand

Around the world, activists are recognizing the complacency and harm coming from the financial sector amid climate chaos, and they are taking a stand.

Youth climate justice advocates have taken an unapologetic lead in much of this work, recently landing an op-ed in Teen Vogue calling attention to the issue and calling for action. Targets included financial institutions with ties to the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry, including Chase Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Blackrock, the Federal Reserve, and many more.

Indeed, it would perhaps be easier to name the major financial institutions that are not passive or active supporters of industries that fuel the climate crisis than it would be the other way around.

Climate Reality is among the ranks of those calling for financial institutions to promote climate justice. Former Vice President Al Gore, our founder and chairman, is tackling this issue head-on, and has been doing so for years as chairman of Generation Investment Management, a sustainable investment fund.

Vice President Gore recently shared his thoughts with the Financial Times about the need for an “overhaul” of our current financial system to increase regulations and transparency in the financial sector and to force financial institutions to stop backing climate-destructive industries and projects.

Climate Reality chapters are also becoming active in the fight against fossil fuel finance.

The Climate Reality-Chicago Metro Chapter signed onto this petition, joining climate justice advocates around the world calling for an end to fossil fuel finance, using the activities of COP 26 as a launching point. The Climate Reality New Orleans Chapter has also stood in solidarity with their Gulf south community, calling on Bank of America and other financial institutions to defund the proposed Formosa Plastics facility in St. James Parish, a project rife with environmental racism and climate injustice.

Climate Reality’s Dallas Fort-Worth chapter has also joined global cries for climate justice and an end to fossil fuel finance, participating in the worldwide Fossil Free Future day of action, an initiative spearheaded by youth climate activists with Future Coalition to target financial institutions for their role in perpetuating the climate crisis. Dallas Fort-Worth chapter members protested and targeted the Federal Reserve for its complacency in fossil fuel finance, calling on them to hold banks like Chase and Wells Fargo accountable.

Climate Reality organizers in the Ohio River Valley were also eager to participate in this day of action as another way to tackle the proposed petrochemical buildout of the region.

The Ohio River Valley Has Had Enough

Climate Reality has been a long-time voice in the Ohio River Valley to halt the expansion of fossil fuels and petrochemicals.

In this fight, we have also joined the movement to hold financial institutions accountable. Two of our regional organizers joined forces with activists from the People Over Petro Coalition and other regional partners to also participate in the aforementioned Fossil Free Future day of action. Taking place just days before Halloween, the action tapped into the creative and theatrical spirit of the season, with participants dawning scary and gruesome costumes and holding signs and banners saying that fossil fuel finance “haunts” their region.

What You Can Do

The fight for climate justice will be a long, hard road, but our movement is demonstrating incredible adaptiveness and resiliency. We will continue to fight the expansion of the fossil fuel industry and hold financial institutions accountable. We are led by the guidance of incredible youth, BIPOC, and frontline organizers demanding environmental and climate justice. 

At least we are building momentum (at last) more and more people are waking up to the fact that it is not too late to make changes,they don't need to be big ones! and stop buying the products that we know are the worst ones for pollution and plastic waste.

The blog song for today is: "You don't even know me" by Al Stewart

TTFN