PLASTIC BAGS and our WATER WORLD

Bottlemania

Bottled-water companies haul in $11 billion a year in the U.S., with the help of marketing campaigns that describe the stuff as pristine and natural-that is, better than tap water. Yet 4? percent of the bottled water produced here comes from the same municipal sources as tap, and 85 percent of the 30 to �0 billion plastic water bottles sold end up in landfills. Or consider that shipping one million gallons of "untouched-by-man" Fiji water to New York City dumps 190 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, nearly 1 0 times as much as the average American produces in 3 year. In Bottlemania, Elizabeth Royte reveals these truths and more, as she examines the evolving debate over who owns water: the corporations that pump millions of gallons from springs and aquifers for pennies, or the locals who see little of the cash but must deal with environmental side effects and sputtering spigots.

-BJORN CAREY

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb242/is_200807/ai_n32306285/

...and you have to wonder where a LOT of those empty plastic bottles end up

'PlasTiki, out to draw attention to ocean pollution and acidification

Sail-World Cruising followed Plastiki's crossing of the Pacific with six crew with regular updates. They weren't fast, in fact she sailed like a dog, but she was made of recycled material and owner David de Rothchild, sailor, explorer and global green leader was not out to go fast, he was out to make a point.

The point was to draw attention to the gross waste and pollution of the Western world, and in this he succeeded brilliantly - now there is the book.

In it he recounts the extraordinary Pacific-crossing voyage of the Plastiki, an innovative and mostly untested sixty-foot sailing catamaran that floats on 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles.

....more here
Sail-World.com : Plastiki - the book of a very Green adventure

I don't know, can't you read

Perhaps you should look back thru a few of these postings,...for instances
Plastic in Sea Birds
http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/yachtforums-yacht-club/9525-plastic-bags-our-water-world-3.html#post69660

Jacques Cousteau remembered

The thought occurred to me that one thing we really need is another Jacques Cousteau, and those fabulous TV shows he brought to us. They made me want to become an oceanographer originally.

Jacques Cousteau - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jacques Cousteau - The Aqua Lung - Jacques Cousteau Videos - Biography.com

Jacques Cousteau Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com

Perhaps we should start a petition drive for a TV network to begin a 'rerun' of these fabulous shows.

Turning Plastic Back into Oil

I'm assuming you saw some of these previous postings,....like this?
http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/85297-post51.html

Turning Plastic back into Oil
http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/yachtforums-yacht-club/15281-turning-plastic-back-into-oil-came.html

Converting Plastic into Oil
Converting Plastic to Oil

Think Your Plastic is Being Recycled, Think Again?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/18/1239747/-Think-your-plastic-is-being-recycled-Think-again?



Think those plastic items you carefully separate from the rest of your trash are being responsibly recycled? Think again. U.S. recycling companies have largely stayed away from recycling plastic and most of it has been shipped to China where it can be processed cheaper. Not anymore. This year China announced a Green Fence Policy, prohibiting much of the plastic recycling they once imported:

For many environmentally conscious Americans, there’s a deep satisfaction to chucking anything and everything plasticky into the recycling bin—from shampoo bottles to butter tubs—the types of plastics in the plastic categories #3 through #7. Little do they know that, even if their local trash collector says it recycles that waste, they might as well be chucking those plastics in the trash bin.

“[Plastics] 3-7 are absolutely going to a landfill—[China's] not taking that any more… because of Green Fence,” David Kaplan, CEO of Maine Plastics, a post-industrial recycler, tells Quartz. “This will continue until we can do it in the United States economically.”
U.S. recyclers are scrambling to come up with a solution now that China is drastically cutting back on their top import from the U.S.:

China's demand for low-cost recycled raw materials has meant waste shipments from Europe, the US, Japan and Hong Kong have arrived thick and fast, with scrap becoming the top US export to China by value ($11.3bn) in 2011.
China controls a large portion of the recycling market, importing about 70% of the world's 500m tonnes of electronic waste and 12m tonnes of plastic waste each year. Sudden Chinese policy changes therefore have a significant impact on the global recycling trade, which puts pressure on western countries to reconsider their reliance on the cost-effective practice of exporting waste, a habit that's reinforced by a lack of domestic recycling infrastructure and a lower demand for secondary raw materials.

China's Green Fence policy just might spur the U.S. government and recyclers into much-needed innovation:

Historically, higher labor costs and environmental safety standards made processing scrap into raw materials much more expensive in the US than in China. So the US never developed much capacity or technology to sort and process harder-to-break down plastics like #3 through #7.
Green Fence might be a chance to change that, says Mike Biddle, CEO of California-based recycling company MBA Polymers. “China’s Green Fence offers a real opportunity to the US government and recycling industry to step up its efforts on recycling and catalyze a strong domestic recycling market in the US,” Biddle said at a recent webinar on Green Fence.
Some U.S. recycling companies are applauding the news:

The policy also has leveled the playing field by allowing large-scale companies that have invested additional money in pollution control and recycling services to operate at a more equal and fair-cost level, according to Kathy Xuan, CEO of full-service recycler Parc Corp. of Romeoville, Ill.
With China taking a harder look at the plastic waste it imports, U.S.-based recyclers are looking for opportunities in the changing global market.
Parc has doubled production in the last six months, Xuan said in a July 2 webinar hosted by the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. of Washington.
The opportunity for big change (and big profits) is there. Let's hope the U.S. government and recycling companies don't throw away the opportunity to lead the way.


Perhaps its time to look at that solution in the preceding posting above,....turning it back into oil...​

Adidas brings its ocean plastic footwear to the masses

There's a huge amount of plastic swirling around in the ocean and some long-term plans to clean it up, but Adidas has some short-term plans to put at least some of it to use. The sportswear manufacturer has today announced that its footwear made from the ocean's plastic waste will be available to buy this month, and has put together some recycled plastic jerseys for a couple of big-name soccer clubs to help mark the occasion.

Adidas has teamed up with environmental organization Parley for the Oceans to make the shoes, which draws the plastic waste materials from the coastal areas of the Maldives. The two joined forces last year to help increase awareness and drive new technologies to retrieve and recycle ocean plastic debris. They first produced a limited run of 50 recycled plastic shoes last year, and are now bringing the eco-minded footwear to market.

The knitted upper part of Adidas' UltraBoost Uncaged Parley trainers is made from a mix of 95 percent recycled ocean plastic and recycled polyester. The rest, such as the laces, heel cap and lining is made from recycled materials.

Meanwhile, two of Europe's soccer giants in Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will this month take to the field in jerseys made from Parley's recycled ocean plastic. Bayern's recycled red shirt will be on display when it takes on TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday, while Real Madrid will show off its white version later this month on November 26 against Real Sporting de Gijón.

Both jerseys will be available from the Adidas online store (Bayern Munich's from today and Real Madrid's from November 24) though there is no word yet on pricing. The footwear will be available online from mid-November and priced at €200 (US$222). The company says, however, that it will make one million pairs in 2017, a tally that would remove eleven million bottles from the ocean.

http://newatlas.com/adidas-ocean-plastic-footwear/46295/

...from another forum where I posted a similar subject thread...

Marshall Medoff unveils to 60 Minutes his innovative method of turning plant life into fuel and other useful products

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marsha...ing-inedible-plant-life-into-fuel-60-minutes/


excerpt....