The Plastic Crisis/Environment Thread | Page 14 | Vital Football

The Plastic Crisis/Environment Thread

Few really great bits on re-wilding

RECORD NUMBERS OF BEAVERS TO BE RELEASED IN BRITAIN THIS YEAR

The last decade has been pretty darn good for beavers in the UK, and it’s only getting better. In August last year, the first beavers to live wild in England for hundreds of years were given the right to remain in their home on the River Otter, in east Devon, after a five-year introduction trial. Now it's been confirmed that The Wildlife Trusts are going to be restoring beavers to five more counties in England and Wales

THE SPANISH CITY SQUEEZING ELECTRICITY FROM LEFTOVER ORANGES

https://www.muchbetteradventures.co...s-and-turning-oranges-into-green-electricity/

HOW HIKING IS HELPING WILD BROWN BEARS IN THE MOUNTAINS OF GREECE
We speak to the co-founder of Callisto, a conservation NGO working in the Greek mountains to protect, preserve and educate people about the brown bear

https://www.muchbetteradventures.com/magazine/hiking-greece-brown-bears-callisto-conservation/


FROM THE HISTORY BOOKS: THE REWILDING OF YELLOWSTONE WOLVES
We look back at the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone in 1995, considered one of the most successful rewilding projects

https://www.muchbetteradventures.com/magazine/yellowstone-wolves-rewilding-1995-history-books/


 
Fascinating example, from the link above, what happens when we mess with the natural world.

This was killing wolves to the point of there being none in Yellowstone


With no wolves, the elk population exploded. Elk were still being preyed on by bears and cougars to an extent (and hunted by humans), but lack of wolves meant numbers remained high enough to cause overgrazing of young willows, aspen trees and cottonwood plants, which in turn led to a decline in songbirds and beavers, the latter of whom rely on willows in winter. As beavers declined in numbers, the lack of damming and of shade, due to decline in trees, meant water temperatures rose, and certain cold-water fish could no longer survive in Yellowstone.
 
:shake:

More than eight billion drinks bottles, cans and cartons were wasted across the UK in 2019, according to new figures which campaigners say underscore the need for an ambitious deposit-based recycling system for drinks packaging.

The total equates to around 126 drinks containers sent to landfill, littered or burned per person in the UK, according to the non-profit Reloop which compiled the figures. Plastic bottles made up the bulk of the waste, while cans accounted for one third and glass containers just under 20 per cent.

https://inews.co.uk/news/eight-bill...own-into-landfill-burned-littered-2019-917172
 
wittonite said:
Agree with you JF, but it didnt help when stories emerged last year of our recycling being sent to India and Africa to go into land fill over there.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Makes it even more annoying, especially when so many products could (and so should) be made of recycled materials.
 
I'm glad after a hard fight JF the beavers got there right to remain through - I so hope it was smoother for them than the right to remain debacle of fellow humans 😏

On a serious note regarding Coca Cola if there is still going go be plastic in them however little it can't be recycled.

Once a fortnight when I go to Tesco with my friend we get a take out from Costa and sit in the car and have it.

I take my own reusable Costa cup. They won't fill it though here. They have to serve it in one of their cups and I have to pour it in my Costa cup. Defeats the object of them
 
At last, it should not be taking this long... the others had better follow pretty damn soon

UK supermarket Asda is switching from plastic to reusable bags in its fruit and veg aisles, and plans to remove plastic pear punnets later this year

Supermarket Asda is removing 101m pieces of single use plastic from its stores each year by switching from plastic to reusable fruit and veg bags.

The move follows a nine-store trial and following positive customer and colleague feedback, Asda has now decided to remove all single-use plastic fruit and veg bags from its stores across the UK, instead offering customers a reusable alternative.

http://www.fruitnet.com/fpj/article/184718/asda-switches-to-reusable-fruit-and-veg-bags


I assume this means the pre-packed stuff, as other stores have already stopped the single use bags and replaced them with the recycled multi use ones.
 
Meant to post this earlier but forgot.

A 10-year-old girl is campaigning to stop plastic toys being included in children's magazines amid concerns about the impact on climate change.
Skye, from Gwynedd, launched a petition after becoming fed up with being sent "cheap plastic rubbish" with her favourite magazine.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56335522

She's got a result as well, the publisher in question is changing - Waitrose seems to be the first to jump as well.

Waitrose has said it will no longer sell children's magazines with plastic disposable toys to help tackle pollution.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56456170

And a few big campaign groups have circled (one's offered her a Twitter takeover for a day to further promote her campaign).

Nice little result, that will have another small effect.
 
There is a very interesting piece by John Oliver on this. Basically, the plastic industry are pushing the onus for recycling on the consumer while the infrastructure isn't there.

 
Tried linking that last night, but like you, the youtube wouldn't work.

But yeah the age old, if the consumer didn't want this we wouldn't supply it line. We don't have a choice yet! Also interesting about the lobbying on banning single use in the US - I don't doubt it's any different elsewhere either.
 
I really don't know anything about chemistry but couldn't all of that waste plastic be crushed into blocks that could be used to build things?
 
BodyButter said:
I really don't know anything about chemistry but couldn't all of that waste plastic be crushed into blocks that could be used to build things?
Click to expand...

There are some things being done, and also (links somewhere in this thread) experiments with using it to re-surface roads.

Plenty of plastic products that could be made with recycled plastic, but I guess it is cheaper to produce yet more plastic instead.
 
It was in the Oliver thing, at least for the US, it's cheaper to produce new virgin plastic (as they call it) than it is to recycle - I'm assuming it's no different for anyone else.
 
I remember reading that about aluminium cans too although that was a long time ago so the economics of that might have changed.
 
I got a delivery of sauces this morning! They are very keen on their green credentials, recycled box, sign on the box things made with 100% green electricity and so on.

I opened it up and those foam/polystrene type cushion things (sorry!) were in there as was bubble wrap.

Fair enough, ish, I thought, these are glass bottles and sauces, it could be very messy. But hardly green. In there though, was a leaflet. The bubble wrap is biodegradable and the foam things are made from vegetable starch and can be dissolved in water.

Into the sink they all went and sure enough, easy as anything, they dissolved.

SO. There you go. It IS possible. No need for TVs to be in those awful polystyrene things, they can be done with veg starch.

Progress... albeit, this is a small and environmentally interested company.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.