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: 15966

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 18 8:25 am Post subject:

I agree that burning is a waste, but it is a way of getting rid of it so it is really got rid of. I don't think being in landfill for several decades will make it easy to recycle though. The first problem is always sorting the various types, removing additives such as colour, additional things to modify the properties etc., which I think must be pretty difficult if not impossible with fresh stuff, let alone stuff that has been in the ground.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8918
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 18 3:22 pm Post subject:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/wishaw-dairy-sees-surge-glass-11984295

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 18 7:06 am Post subject:
There doesn't seem to be much point in plastic bottles if you have milk delivered daily. It is good to see that glass bottles are being used though.

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 18 10:00 am Post subject:
Our milkman occasionally delivers a plastic milk container, usually with an apologetic note saying they have run out of bottles. I think, but am not certain, that you can request plastic rather than glass. Henry

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8918
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 18 2:00 pm Post subject:
https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/16146628.Plastic_free_shop_opens_in_Stroud/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialSignIn Any other shops we know doing this?

Hairyloon

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

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 18 8:45 pm Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

I don't think being in landfill for several decades will make it easy to recycle though...

It will give it decades of technological improvements to the recycling facilities...

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 18 5:53 am Post subject:

That looks interesting Gz. I take my own plastic bags with me and reuse them at the farm shop. They know I am mad anyway, so it doesn't matter.

I don't buy fruit and veg at the supermarket except for bananas, and I never put them in a bag. If there is a paper bag, I prefer to use that.

Son told me yesterday that our county doesn't do landfill any more; all the non-recyclable waste goes to the incinerator that produces power from the burning. It is better than the first one we had here which produced rather bad pollution. I worked near it and we had to keep silver carefully wrapped or it went black in days.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8918
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 18 8:35 am Post subject:
Just heard in conversation with a friend that Skipton (I think) is landfilling plastic..she missed her plastic collection, took it to the local recycling centre. There was no plastic recycling point there and she was told it all goes to landfill as they can no longer export it to China.

sgt.colon

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

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 18 8:53 am Post subject:
Not sure if anyone saw the one show last night but apparently they have an enzyme now that eats plastic. Should help with the recycling process.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46209
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 18 11:40 am Post subject:

lab scale, only pet iirc but it is a start in enzyme tech.

a big downside is that pet is one of the easiest to recycle with no chemistry involved.

most can be recycled or repurposed if and it is a big if is is sorted into specific types each of which need different methods. any mixed plastic or muck contamination makes recyc uneconomic

china got fed up of being used as a dump rather than being supplied with well graded feedstock for reuse

the world market for recycled paper fibres is very strong so at least that part of the recyc system is doing ok at the mo.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 18 6:41 am Post subject:

The only downside with that is that the trees which were planted for pulping can no longer be used for that. Luckily the beech trees we have that were planted for pulp are doing well for firewood. This is the problem with long term crops; our oak trees are no longer wanted for ships, and really only for shingles for houses unless we have a very good one for timber framing. Luckily we know people who make shingles and do timber framing.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 18 8:57 am Post subject:
It really struck me a few days ago looking round a quid shop type place, that not only was everything plastic, but that 80% of it was for products like disposable razors and other shite that 50 years ago people would not have used, and which are in fact worse than non disposable alternatives.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 18 6:09 am Post subject:
We have certainly developed as a throw away society, but plastic products do allow us to do things we couldn't 50 years ago. We did have some plastic; my mother had some bakelite clothes pegs I remember, but we used paper bags in shops, all bottles were glass, and mainly deposit on the bottle. Things like razors were made of metal and pencil cases for instance, of wood.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8918
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 18 5:17 pm Post subject:
There is a fb page,Using Less Plastic.....the more the merrier, spread the word! Seems to have been going for at least three years

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9881
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Sat May 05, 18 10:43 am Post subject:

buzzy wrote:

Jam Lady wrote:

Brown sugar will dry out and get very hard if it is kept in paper.

..............................................................

Maybe so, but I remember buying brown sugar and watching the shop assistant weigh it out and pack it in a blue paper bag, and fold and seal the top ever so neatly. How did we manage then?

Henry

brown sugar is offered in paper tubes in coffee shops - it seems to survive perfectly well then - don't see why it wouldn't work on a larger scale

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