Plastics – No Fricking Fracking

Studies: Plastics and oceans – 4 articles

Futurity: DISCARDED COVID MASKS AND GLOVES ARE REALLY BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. When it comes to COVID-19 masks, gloves, and disinfectants, the transformation from protection to pollution happens quickly, but the damage can last for centuries.

Vox: Why 99% of ocean plastic pollution is “missing”. A lot of it is probably hiding in plain sight. All of this plastic consumption — and the world’s inadequacy at containing it — means an estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. It is remarkably difficult to track all of this plastic, but in 2019, a group of researchers affiliated with the Ocean Cleanup published a study about plastic debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. They excavated plastic from it and, using what they found, made a model showing what is likely floating in each of the five (at least) ocean garbage patches around the world. They also estimated that what’s floating on the surface of the water accounts for only 1 percent of what we put into the ocean.

National Geographic: Plastic gets to the oceans through over 1,000 rivers. Scientists used to think 20 rivers at most carried most plastic into the oceans, but now they know it’s far more, complicating potential solutions. New research published today in Science Advances has turned that thinking on its head. Scientists found that 80 percent of plastic waste is distributed by more than 1,000 rivers, not simply 10 or 20. They also found that most of that waste is carried by small rivers that flow through densely populated urban areas, not the largest rivers.

CNN: ‘The ocean is our life-support system’: Kerstin Forsberg on why we must protect our seas. After finishing her degree, the Peruvian biologist began working on a sea turtle protection project in the north of the country. Two years later, in 2009, Forsberg founded “Planeta Océano,” an organization that aims to empower local communities to look after the ocean. Its work with giant manta rays led to Peru’s government granting the species legal protection.

Are Compostable Bags Really Compostable? What You Need to Know This Int’l Compost Awareness Week

Green Matters: Are Compostable Bags Really Compostable? What You Need to Know This Int’l Compost Awareness Week. May 2 through May 8, 2021 marks International Compost Awareness Week — an annual week-long educational initiative to get more people composting their food scraps. Composting is a fantastic way to reduce your environmental impact and become closer to zero waste, but there can be a lot of confusion when beginning your composting journey.

We have endless guides to composting on Green Matters, including exactly what composting is, how to build an indoor compost bin, how to build an outdoor backyard compost bin, how to prepare compost for gardening, and more. But when first starting out, many wonder if compostable bags are actually compostable, or if that’s just a marketing term.

So in honor of International Compost Awareness Week’s goal of educating people on composting, read on for everything you need to know about the difference between compostable and biodegradable bags, plus a few of the best truly compostable bags on the market.

Why it’s so hard to eliminate plastic from the supply chain

Fast Company: Why it’s so hard to eliminate plastic from the supply chain. Everlane eradicated 90% of virgin plastic from its company. But it’s struggling to tackle the last 10%, mirroring challenges other companies face in trying to get rid of plastic waste altogether. It’s really hard to create buttons, sneaker soles, spandex, and zipper teeth without virgin plastic. Just ask Everlane.

In 2018, the fashion label made a radical commitment to eliminate all virgin plastic from its supply chain by the end of 2021. As Everlane approaches the deadline, the brand has cut out 90% of virgin plastic, but the remaining 10% is proving tricky, as global recycling and manufacturing systems are not set up to address specialized objects (such as zipper teeth).

THE PLASTIC PROBLEM

There is good reason for Everlane to focus on that last 10%. Creating plastic from oil generates carbon emissions, which accelerates climate change. Once the material is made, it does not biodegrade, so it stays in our landfills and oceans for hundreds of years, breaking into microscopic fragments that end up in our food chain. While consumers tend to be aware of the plastic in their straws, food packaging, or grocery bags, many are not aware that much of their closet is also made up of plastic, since synthetic materials, such as spandex and polyester, are plastic. “We wanted to draw attention to fashion’s plastic problem,” says Michael Preysman, Everlane’s CEO. “But we also wanted to see if it was possible to cut out new plastic from our supply chain, relying instead on the abundance of plastic that already exists on the planet.”

3 things that could improve America’s recycling problem

Good Morning America: 3 things that could improve America’s recycling problem.

Many of us crush LaCroix cans, break down cardboard boxes and try really hard to get all that peanut butter out of the jar to put it in the recycling bin instead of the trash — a small victory for the environment. Or is it?

We’ve been told recycling is a great, green solution for our planet, but according to experts, our recycling system as it currently stands is broken.

“A lot of what’s happening in America right now with recycling plastic is that it’s actually going directly to landfills,” White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council member Jerome Foster II told “Good Morning America.”

Study: Microplastics in our air ‘spiral the globe’ in a cycle of pollution

CNN: Microplastics in our air ‘spiral the globe’ in a cycle of pollution, study finds.

Tiny bits of plastic from your packaging and soda bottles could be traveling in the atmosphere across entire continents, carried by winds, a new study found.

Most of our plastic waste gets buried in landfills, incinerated or recycled — but up to 18% ends up in the environment. Since plastic isn’t easily decomposable it instead fragments into smaller and smaller pieces until the microplastics are small enough to be swept into the air.

“Akin to global biogeochemical cycles, plastics now spiral around the globe,” said the study, led by researchers from Utah State University and Cornell University, and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That means much of the plastic that gets dumped in the sea and across the land is broken down and spat back out, posing potential risks for our ecosystems. And though there has been some progress with the creation of biodegradable polymers, the researchers warned microplastics “will continue to cycle through the earth’s systems.”

Recycling is an outdated solution — it’s time for a circular economy

The Hill: Recycling is an outdated solution — it’s time for a circular economy. Plastic in America will continue invading our landfills, floating in our oceans, and contaminating our bodies as long as we are stuck in the 20th-century linear economic mindset of “take-make-waste.” What the 21st-century needs is an intersectional approach to the plastics crisis. In March, the Break Free from Plastic Act of 2021 (BFFPA) was reintroduced to Congress, targeting the chemicals and plastics industries for their role in pollution and landfilling. The bill argues for increasing recycling rates, shifting financial responsibility for recycling and waste management systems to upstream producers, and bans an expanded list of petroleum-based, single-use plastic products. This is a good starting point, but these are linear solutions that still result in wasted resources and only incremental improvements to the economic models that are fueling the climate crisis. If we are to successfully address climate change, the BFFPA must push for circular economy principles that design out the concepts of waste and pollution entirely and advance regenerative natural systems instead.

Environmental Health News, March 26, 2021

Articles include: mystery chemicals found in pregnant women; Europe’s plastic boom and US fracking; US Chemical Safety Board & trump; Paraquat poisoning; Florida’s lead poisoning problem; pesticides in US streams; Study paper released last week on Florida manatees exposed to weed killer adds glyphosate; microbes & PFAS; Rat Study published in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology: chemicals pass through to offspring; coal plant next door.

Studies: Masks are adding to coastal trash & harming wildlife – 2 articles

OCRegister.com: Masks aren’t only reason pandemic is adding to coastal trash. A new study documents COVID-19’s role in increasing plastic pollution on beaches and in the ocean. Disposable masks, gloves and wipes are helping suppress the spread of COVID-19, but they’re adding significantly to plastic litter that’s trashing our shores and ocean, according to a study from the Ocean Conservancy released Tuesday, March 30. Coastal pollution has been further worsened by the pandemic-driven increase in take-out food and the subsequent littering of single-use plastic containers. And even as more trash reaches the beach, the pandemic also has meant fewer volunteers for beach cleanups. The report, based on data collected worldwide in the last half of 2020, documented 107,219 items of personal protective equipment gathered by the conservancy’s cleanup partners. On Sept. 19, California’s Coastal Cleanup Day, more than 6,000 masks and gloves were collected by some 13,000 volunteers, according to state organizers. Turnout was down dramatically, from the 75,000 people who volunteered to pick up beach litter in 2019.

The Guardian: Trapped in gloves, tangled in masks: Covid PPE killing animals, report finds. Mask and gloves protect people but harm animals from penguins to dogs when discarded, researchers say. The researchers searched news sites and social media posts from litter collectors, birdwatchers, wildlife rescue centres, and veterinarians and found incidents on land and in water across the world. But they said much more information is needed and have launched a website where anyone can submit a report. The study, published in the journal Animal Biology, is the first overview of cases of entanglement, entrapping and ingestion of Covid-19 litter by animals. The PPE litter was mainly single-use latex gloves and single-use masks, consisting of rubber strings and mostly polypropylene fabric.

DeSmogBlog, March 27, 2021

Articles include: Appalachian Fracking Faces Financial Risks, Report Warns. Hopes for Petrochemical Plastics Boom ‘Unlikely.’ (Report is here.) Why Companies’ ‘Net-Zero’ Emissions Pledges Should Trigger a Healthy Dose of Skepticism. Experts Urge World Leaders to ‘Put Marine Ecosystems at the Heart of Climate Policy’. Climate Disinformation Database: Charlie Kirk.

DeSmogBlog, March 20, 2021

Articles include: Argentina’s Illegal Oil and Gas Waste Dumps; Whistleblower Claims Dangerous Defects in Pipeline for Shell’s Pennsylvania Plastics Plant; Nudging Social Media Users to Think Critically Helps Slow the Spread of Fake News, Study Finds; Green Groups File ‘First-of-Its-Kind’ FTC Complaint Against Chevron for Climate Lies; Climate Disinformation Database: Principia Scientific International.