Reducing the use of Plastics

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Reducing the use of Plastics
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Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15981

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 18 6:53 am Post subject:

Before plastic straws paper straws were common and you had to take great care not to suck too hard, or chew the end, otherwise they closed up on you. Rather difficult for children, and I was a child at the time.

'Plastic' is a generic name for a whole range of materials, all with different properties and recycling issues. I am not an expert, but I don't know why thermoplastics can't be recycled by melting down and reforming, although no doubt the quality would deteriorate on each melting, and any additives would affect it too. Others are not so easy to recycle, and composites are a nightmare.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8933
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 18 8:22 am Post subject:
The problem with recycling plastic I think is that there are so many different types. Some local authorities only collect a very limited range for recycling, although it is improving. Have you noticed that some shops seem to be moving away from the bags that can be recycled with carrier bags for vegetable/fruit wrapping ?

derbyshiredowser

Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Posts: 980
Location: derbyshire

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 18 8:27 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

On the BBC film about plastic recycling in Norway they said they can recycle and reuse the plastic scrap 12 times which made me wonder how given its granulated and reformed how do they know its number of uses?.

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 18 10:20 am Post subject:
I heard this morning that deposits on plastic bottles and also on cans is being introduced later on in the year to encourage more recycling.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2571
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 18 3:41 pm Post subject:

Trash collection. We pay for once a week garbage collection. Every other week the trash company collects recyclables, no additional charge. They pick up metal cans, glass, bundled corrugated cardboard (must be tied up), newspaper (must be tied up) paper (junk mail, office paper, etc). AND plastics, number 1 through 7.

Grocery stores / supermarkets collect plastic carrier bags for recycling. Not the somewhat flimsy bags for produce. But they do accept the plastic carrier bags from any store, not just the ones at the collection point.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15981

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 18 7:14 am Post subject:
We pay for rubbish collection as part of our council tax, so we get alternate weeks recycling and rubbish. Glass collection separately once every 4 weeks. They will take plastics 1-3, but why they won't take some of the others I really don't know, as I would have through HDPE would be ideal for recycling, and I think that is a higher number.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 18 11:14 am Post subject:
Not plastics, but related to hauling and curbside pickup, a lot of areas are starting to mandate food scraps hauling, and further separating waste streams. Here's the timeline for the entire state of Vermont https://cswd.net/wp-content/uploads/Act-148-UR_Timeline_Summary-AMENDED-2017.jpg

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8933
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 18 1:46 pm Post subject:

They've just changed our collection..we have three boxes on one trolley, paper, plastic and metal, and glass. Once a week. There is also a food waste lidded bucket, but we just compost.
Landfill is once every 3 weeks and its good to see them actually calling it that.
Green waste is every four weeks, apart from the winter..no collection. There is talk that the green waste could be charged for soon.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15981

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 18 7:01 am Post subject:
What do they do with the food waste and what do they call food waste? Everything raw goes on our compost heap, and I try to only cook what we need, but things like bones and odd bits have to go in the bin. In England, probably the whole of UK, food that has been in a kitchen is not permitted to be fed to pigs.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8933
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 18 7:51 am Post subject:
THEY call food waste anything from the kitchen, and its treated at high temperatures. What I call food waste is anything cooked. Not much of that spare around here

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 18 11:27 am Post subject:

Similar here. Labels get used somewhat interchangeably and may not be well defined by many.

The state law here is designed to divert "organics" from the waste stream. That stuff is all supposed to go to dedicated composting facilities now (or to a biomass power plant for woody stuff). Anything easily biodegradable is theoretically meant to be diverted: food scraps, meat, bones, paper towels, paper coffee filters, coffee grounds, etc....

I don't know how realistically the above will be diverted until the next generation really takes hold, as I think it will take some persuading to get people to stop throwing things into the trash the way they always have.

And there are a large number of people who have space to compost in a pile in their backyard that do.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15981

Posted: Sat Mar 31, 18 6:37 am Post subject:
I think only our 'garden waste' goes to the composting facility, but we don't use it as we run our own compost heaps. Other stuff goes mainly to the incinerator I think. It produces electricity, so not all bad, but could be better.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Sat Mar 31, 18 11:41 pm Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

I was thinking it’s a finite, oil intensive resource, but surely that applies to metal as well? But then I thought metal is recyclable, but so is plastic, isn’t it? Why is single use plastic any worse than single use metal?

Because when single use metal gets into the ocean it sinks and/or corrodes into natural earth minerals.
Plastic floats about until it is eaten, where it tends to make things die.
Stick "Plastic whale" into your preferred search engine and reach for the anti-depressants.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15981

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 18 8:08 am Post subject:
Metal is a finite resource in one way, but it is easier to recycle than plastic, and even if it is all put in landfill it is easier to get out again and reuse, even if at present that isn't economic. Overall it is probably better to have reuseable things to keep food in, but tins have their uses and can store food for a very long time.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 18 7:39 pm Post subject:
I'm not convinced that landfill isn't a better place for plastic than burning it. There will come a day when they'll want to dig it up again and reuse it.

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