Milk packaging: Lifting the seal - "As US customers were becoming accustomed to coated cardboard and plastic jugs, drawbacks became apparent at an early stage in their adoption – particularly with regards to jugs, which had no secondary sealing between the container lip and the screw cap resulting in product leakage. The remedy – which many US retailers continue to use to this day – was to accept the fact that ‘leakers’ were an inevitability and simply accept the constant task of keeping shelves clean and accepting the complaints of consumers who, on returning home, had discovered that product had leaked in transit. Indeed, a new market was spawned for ‘spill mats’ which retailers use to soak up leakages from shelf surfaces. As retailers quickly discovered, these have proved to be an unhygienic and costly inconvenience"
The plastic haters don't care that plastic seals (an alternative to this type of seal) reduce spillage and waste. All that matters to them is their irrational hatred of plastic and the big picture doesn't matter
Trash Talk: No time to waste in dealing with Singapore’s mounting trash problem - "At the rate Singaporeans are throwing out trash, Semakau is projected to last for only another 16 years. The National Environment Agency (NEA), which administers Semakau, declined to answer when TODAY asked what they plan to do when the landfill is completely filled up... The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) says that there is simply no room for a second landfill on the mainland. When asked whether Singapore could potentially create a new landfill offshore"
Telling that they were caught out in their half-truth. Singapore literally uses material for reclamation
Plastic Recycling Doesn't Work and Will Never Work - The Atlantic - "The first problem is that there are thousands of different plastics, each with its own composition and characteristics. They all include different chemical additives and colorants that cannot be recycled together, making it impossible to sort the trillions of pieces of plastics into separate types for processing... Another problem is that the reprocessing of plastic waste—when possible at all—is wasteful. Plastic is flammable, and the risk of fires at plastic-recycling facilities affects neighboring communities—many of which are located in low-income communities or communities of color. Unlike metal and glass, plastics are not inert. Plastic products can include toxic additives and absorb chemicals, and are generally collected in curbside bins filled with possibly dangerous materials such as plastic pesticide containers. According to a report published by the Canadian government, toxicity risks in recycled plastic prohibit “the vast majority of plastic products and packaging produced” from being recycled into food-grade packaging. Yet another problem is that plastic recycling is simply not economical. Recycled plastic costs more than new plastic because collecting, sorting, transporting, and reprocessing plastic waste is exorbitantly expensive. The petrochemical industry is rapidly expanding, which will further lower the cost of new plastic."
Plastic hystericists want to ban it, which is even worse. Notably no life cycle assessment or other holistic evaluation of their recommendations is ever offered
No straw, no problem: Taiwanese industrial designers have come up with a strawless bubble tea solution - "While some bubble tea-purveyors have started offering extra-large reusable stainless steel straws for purchase in preparation for straw bans, Taipei-based industrial designers Mickey Wu and Fang Shih have taken a more innovative and far-reaching approach with Float, a reusable vessel that eliminates the need for a straw altogether. Float’s recycled glass cup features an inner basket made from BPA-free plastic, which holds the tapioca pearls in the top portion of the cup rather than allowing them to accumulate at the bottom as they do in today’s standard format. The lid has two openings: One for the tea; the other for boba or other toppings such as grass jelly, taro balls or pomegranate seeds."
Recycling can release huge quantities of microplastics, study finds
New study questions environmental benefits of recycling paper - "A recent study from researchers at Yale University and University College London questions the environmental benefits of paper recycling, which is considered to be an important part of a circular economy. According to the study, Limited climate benefits of global recycling of pulp and paper, which was published in Nature Sustainability in October 2020, the recycling of paper materials in particular could have a negative impact on the climate. The study’s writers warn that circular economy efforts should carefully consider the energy implications of recycling paper products, and they concluded that recycling paper has a limited climate benefit but a higher climate impact than the production of fresh fibre-based paper. The main reason for this is making recycled paper uses more fossil energy than the production of new paper, as it uses electricity from the grid or natural gas. Fresh fibre paper can be produced using fossil-free energy made from by-products of the wood pulping process. “We need to be careful about assumptions that recycling, or a circular economy in general, will always have a positive effect on climate change,” says one of the report’s writers, Paul Ekins of University College London’s Institute for Sustainable Resources"
Recycling is the right thing to do, so it should be done regardless of the cost to the environment!
Greenpeace report finds most plastic goes to landfills as production ramps up - "The vast majority of plastic that people use, and in many cases put into blue recycling bins, is headed to landfills, or worse, according to a report from Greenpeace on the state of plastic recycling in the U.S. The report cites separate data published this May which revealed that the amount of plastic actually turned into new things has fallen to new lows of around 5%. That number is expected to drop further as more plastic is produced. Greenpeace found that no plastic — not even soda bottles, one of the most prolific items thrown into recycling bins — meets the threshold to be called "recyclable" according to standards set by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation New Plastic Economy Initiative. Plastic must have a recycling rate of 30% to reach that standard; no plastic has ever been recycled and reused close to that rate... Trent Carpenter, the general manager of Southern Oregon Sanitation, says when they told customers a couple years ago that they could no longer take any plastic trash other than soda bottles and jugs — like milk containers and detergent bottles — people were upset. They wanted to put their strawberry containers, bags, yogurt cups and all manner of plastic trash in their recycling bin. "We had to re-educate individuals that a great deal of that material is ending up in a landfill," Carpenter said. "It's not going to a recycling facility and being recycled. It's going to a recycling facility and being landfilled someplace else because [you] can't do anything with that material." That message has been difficult for the public to absorb with so many different bins in public spaces, and their own communities telling them to put their plastic in recycling containers. Carpenter says they wanted to be transparent with their customers and tell them the truth, unlike companies that continue to tell customers that plastic, such as bags and containers, is being turned into new things. "Politically it's easier to just say 'Gosh, we're going to take everything and we think we can get it recycled,' and then look the other way," Carpenter said of the other companies. "That's greenwashing at its best."... The low reprocessing rates are at odds with plans from the oil and gas industry. Industry lobbyists say they plan to recycle every piece of plastic they make into something new by 2040. In interviews with NPR, industry officials were unable to explain how they planned to reach a 100 percent recycling rate. An NPR investigative report found in 2020 that industry officials misled the public about the recyclability of plastic even though their own reports showed they knew as early as the 1970s and 1980s that plastic could not be economically recycled."
This will increase plastic hysteria. Poor climate
Rubbish from HDB flats transported 80kmh underground to collection points - "Residents throw rubbish down their chute and it goes into a refuse chamber on the ground floor.Instead of having cleaners collect the rubbish, a sensor is triggered when the container in the refuse chamber is full.The waste is then transported by air through underground pipes at speeds of between 50kmh and 80kmh, to a central bin.In the centralised bin, rubbish is stored in sealed containers and trucks will transport them to incineration plants when they are full... For this system to function effectively though, all waste thrown down the chute must be bagged... Because it is automated, this system reduces manpower needs by about 70 percent.It is a fully-sealed system, reducing foul odours, the infestation of pests, and the need for cleaning up spillages at the chute.The system also supports the separation of waste for recycling."
Of course, with the plastic bag ban that eco warriors are crying for to virtue signal, this waste disposal method will be screwed up
Facebook - "Only virtue signalling environmentalists don't see that they are creating a market for NEW plastic bags to be bought and thrown away for the sake of saving use of recycled NTUC ones. Yay. As a bonus, when they skimp on bagging garbage, they clog up our garbage disposal systems"
Life cycle environmental impacts of carbonated soft drinks - "The drink packaged in 2 l PET bottles is the most sustainable option for most impacts, including the carbon footprint, while the drink in glass bottles is the worst option. However, reusing glass bottles three times would make the carbon footprint of the drink in glass bottles comparable to that in aluminium cans and 0.5 l PET bottles. If recycling of PET bottles is increased to 60 %, the glass bottle would need to be reused 20 times to make their carbon footprints comparable"
The average beer bottle is refilled 15 times in its environmentally-friendly life cycle - "Barring an unforeseen disaster, such as breakage, the beer bottle will be refilled 15 times before it’s recycled into new glass.The Beer Store’s deposit return program is considered the most successful in North America because of its high recovery rate"
So the average glass bottle is refilled less than 15 times (probably a lot less)
Ban on straw bans is a win for facts over hysteria - "there’s no doubt plastic pollution is a major environmental threat. But there’s also no doubt straws barely contribute to the massive plastic blobs gathering in our oceans.That hasn’t stopped cities and corporations across America from getting sucked into the straw hysteria. Ten municipalities in Florida banned them, and more were considering it. Then along came House Bill 771, which will prohibit local governments from enforcing bans for five years. It passed last week and awaits the formality of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature.The reaction has been predictably apocalyptic. “Plastic straw, bags should be phased out in FL,” tweeted St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, whose city passed a ban last year. “You don’t need to do a study to understand the harm plastic does.”Don’t scientific studies provide the information needed to make sound decisions?Apparently you don’t need them when you have Milo Cress. He conducted a study that found Americans use 500 million plastic straws a day.The stat was initially reported in 2011 in Cress’s home state of Vermont. It spread like Ebola through the media ecosystem and is still often quoted as gospel. At least three Florida cities cited it in their ban ordinances.The only problem was Cress was 9 years old in 2011. He wanted to start a conservation campaign but couldn’t find any statistics on straw use.So he called a few manufacturers and based his projections off that info. It was fine work for a fourth-grade project, but hardly the product of scientific rigor. Neither is another favorite straw-man argument. According the International Cleanup Report by the Ocean Conservancy, plastic straws and plastic stirrers were No. 7 on the list of trash items collected on the world’s beaches in 2018.Along U.S. coasts, 144,464 plastic straws and stirrers were collected. If Americans really used 500 million straws a day that means 0.000079 percent ended up on the beach.That sounds like a reason to celebrate, not call the Straw Police. The problem in these situations is people often think with their hearts instead of their brains. They want to DO SOMETHING, even if it’s counterproductive. Starbucks is replacing plastic straws with “Adult Sippy Cups.” There is more plastic in the new lids than there was in the old straws, but at least patrons feel good about themselves as they sip their lattes... About 9 million tons of plastic gets dumped every year, according to Science magazine. Plastic straws account for about 2,000 tons of it.That’s all of .02 percent. Science reports the U.S. is responsible for 1 percent of all that waste. I won’t bore you with any more math, but our 1 percent contribution to the oceans’ 0.2 percent straw problem means St. Pete might as well ban jellybeans for all the good it will do to cleanse the seas. Ah, but what harm would a plastic straw ban do?Many disabled and elderly people have medical issues and need to use plastic straws. Some bans accommodated them, some did not.Paper straws are the preferred alternative, but they are five to 10 times more expensive. They are far more taxing on the environment to produce. They also wilt after a half-dozen sips... “If people are forced not to use straws, then they won’t necessarily see that it’s for the environment. They’ll just think it’s just another inconvenience imposed on them by government.”Milo Cress said that to Reason magazine last year.It sounds as if the young man is learning to think with his brain instead of his heart. If only his disciples would do the same."
In the sea, not all plastic lasts forever - "A major component of ocean pollution is less devastating and more manageable than usually portrayed, according to a scientific team at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Previous studies, including one last year by the United Nations Environment Program, have estimated that polystyrene, a ubiquitous plastic found in trash, could take thousands of years to degrade, making it nearly eternal. But in a new paper, five scientists found that sunlight can degrade polystyrene in centuries or even decades... It’s well known that sunlight can cause plastics to weather. “Just look at plastic playground toys, park benches, or lawn chairs, which can rapidly become sun-bleached,” Mr Ward noted in the Woods Hole statement. The new study demonstrated that sunlight does even more, breaking down polystyrene into basic chemical units of organic carbon, which dissolves in seawater, and trace amounts of carbon dioxide, at levels far too low to play a role in climate change. By the end of this process the plastic has effectively disappeared from the environment.In the paper, the researchers described the study as “the first direct evidence” of how sunlight can break down polystyrene in the environment into its basic chemical building blocks... the new finding might eventually shed light on one of the outstanding mysteries of ocean pollution: that more than 99 per cent of the plastic that should be identifiable is missing. Expeditions that have specifically looked for evidence of the calculated mass of plastic have repeatedly come up with surprisingly low returns."
Unfortunately plastic hysteria has already become self-sustaining. So people won't listen to the scientists
Coffee cup ban: Boston Tea Party's sales fall by £250k - "An independent coffee chain said it has seen sales fall by £250,000 since it banned single use cups last summer.Boston Tea Party (BTP) has called for major national and international brands to follow suit.Owner Sam Roberts said it had factored the loss in takings into its plans and that too many operators were "putting their profits before the planet".Rebecca Burgess, chief executive of plastic pollution campaign group City to Sea, praised BTP's "bravery"... Boston Tea Party usually sells £1m in takeaway coffees per year but it is down 25%."
Looks like consumers value convenience, and the only way the company can compete is by asking other coffee shops to collude
UN: Don't worry about drinking microplastics in water - "The World Health Organization says the levels of microplastics in drinking water don't appear to be risky, but that research has been spotty and more is needed into their effects on the environment and health... The report is WHO's first review to investigate the potential human health risks of microplastics. It said people have inadvertently consumed microplastics and other particles in the environment for decades without sign of harm... the higher priority is proven risks in drinking water like bacteria that cause typhoid and cholera."These are things that cause immediate illness and can kill a million people""
Stay away from bamboo coffee cups, German consumer group warns - "You might think you’re doing your bit for the environment by using a bamboo cup - but new research by German consumer group Stiftung Warentest has shown that you might be risking your health in the process... All of the cups tested contained melamine resin, a kind of plasticky glue made from formaldehyde and melamine... Many of the cups also suggested that they were “biodegradable” or “recyclable”. Stiftung Warentest maintains that this is a barefaced lie. Of course, natural bamboo fibres will biodegrade over time, but the cups will not rot, even if you give them years. Neither can they be recycled via standard methods - the only option is to burn them."
Meme - "I’M OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER WHEN PAPER BAGS WERE BEING BLAMED FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF TREES - AND PLASTIC BAGS WERE THE SOLUTION!"
How to solve the plastic packaging paradox - "different materials have different properties, so multiple layers can give you the same performance from a thinner - and thus lighter - piece of packaging. But these compound packaging materials are harder to recycle. The trade-off is hard to fathom.Depending on how much of the heavier, recyclable packaging would in practice be recycled, you might find that the lighter, non-recyclable packaging actually generates less waste.And once you start looking into plastic packaging, this kind of counterintuitive conclusion comes up all the time.Some packaging is a foolish waste.But are shrink-wrapped cucumbers really so silly if it means they stay fresh for 14 days rather than three? Which is worse 1.5g (0.05oz) of plastic wrap or entire cucumbers going off before being eaten? Suddenly it's not so obvious.Plastic bags stop bananas going brown so quickly, or new potatoes going green; they catch grapes that fall off bunches.About a decade ago, one UK supermarket experimented with taking all its fruit and vegetables out of their packaging - and its food wastage rate doubled.And it's not just shelf life - what about waste created before food gets to the shop in the first place?Another supermarket, stung by criticism for putting apples in plastic-wrapped trays, tried selling them loose from big cardboard boxes - but so many were damaged in transit that the approach used more packaging per apple actually sold. According to a UK government report, only 3% of food is wasted before it gets to shops.In developing countries, that figure can be 50% - and that difference is partly due to how the food is packaged."
Plastic packaging ban 'could harm environment' - "Consumer pressure to end plastic packaging in shops could actually be harming the environment, a report says.Firms are swapping to other packaging materials which are potentially even worse for the environment, the cross-party Parliamentary group warns.Glass bottles, for instance, are much heavier than plastic so are far more polluting to transport.Paper bags tend to have higher carbon emissions than plastic bags – and are more difficult to re-use... Several supermarkets, for instance, are selling more drinks in coated cartons under the assumption that they can be recycled. In fact, the Green Alliance says, the UK only has the facilities to recycle a third of the coated containers in circulation... “A lot of shops are selling packaging described as biodegradable or compostable. “In fact the items might only be composted in an industrial composter – and, even then, some items might not be fully digested.”... The retailers worried that confusion could potentially harm the environment if people either put "compostable" plastic in with conventional plastic, or littered it, wrongly assuming it would biodegrade like an apple core. Some companies that had tried using this type of plastic also suggested that the material did not degrade as expected in real world conditions. One firm is quoted as saying: “Consumers are hugely confused about what bio-based, compostable and biodegradable mean. “We are aware that [by switching from plastic to other materials] we may, in some cases, be increasing our carbon footprint.”... Andrew Opie, from the British Retail Consortium, echoed calls for a clearer strategy. He said: “All responsible retailers agree that climate change needs to be at the heart of their business, whether that is sourcing products or changing packaging. “Plastic remains the most effective material in many circumstances - for example cucumbers wrapped in plastic last 14 days longer, reducing food waste. "A coherent waste and resources strategy is one that prioritises reducing the environmental impact of the things we buy, not simply reducing plastic use.”"
When religion comes up against facts, facts don't matter
Does banning single use packaging carry contamination risk? - "A top science professor has made headlines by claiming the EU Single Use Proposal to restrict packaging and other items for serving food will increase the risk of E. coli, Listeria, Campylobacter and other foodborne viruses.The EU wants to promote reusable containers by restricting access to disposable cups, glasses, trays, boxes, food containers, cutlery, stirrers, straws and bags, expected to come into effect by 2021... Foodborne bacteria and viruses can get on food or in drinks when they are put into contaminated containers or when people handling contaminated containers then handle food.The bacteria/viruses can also be transferred from container to container by contact with, for example, a vending machine dispensing unit where one or more contaminated reusable containers were earlier refilled and then come into contact with the dispenser... To avoid this, most public health authorities recommend using single use containers in food service situations or careful sanitizing of reusable alternatives... “The Commission’s own statistics claim plastics bottles and caps, cigarette butts, and crisp packets and sweets wrappers account for 60% of the single use plastics litter found on EU beaches. Yet no restriction of these is proposed,” he said.“Food & beverage service packs and related items together account for 8-9% of single use plastic litter found and 4-5% of all litter found on EU beaches. Yet they are being subjected to the toughest measures – market consumption reduction measures and in some cases bans.”"
Of course, environmentalists also think labour is free. Ironically they also push for an increase in minimum wages. So in addition to sickness, there're also very real monetary costs on consumers for virtue signalling
Reusable vs. Disposable Cups - "The energy of manufacture of reusable cups is vastly larger than the energy ofmanufacture of disposable cups (Table 1). In order for a reusable cup to be an improvement over a disposable one on an energy basis, you have to use it multiple times, in order to “cash in” on the energy investment you made in the cup. If a cup lasts only ten uses, then each use gets “charged” for one-tenth of the manufacturing energy. If it lasts for a hundred uses, then each use gets charged for only one-hundredth of the manufacturing energy. But in order to reuse a cup, it has to be washed"
What is interesting is that foam cups are even more environmentally friendly than paper cups
Reusable and disposable cups: An energy-based evaluation - "For the same area paper cups used once and discarded are found to consume less fossil fuel energy per use than any of the other cup types examined"
Paper referenced above. "Sustainability" can be less sustainable than the status quo
South Korea undoes ban on disposable plastic utensils at cafes & restaurants due to Covid-19 - "South Korea cracked down on single-use plastics since August 2018.Then, the government announced the banning of disposable plastic cups in cafes.Cafes that violate the ban can face fines of up to 2 million won (S$2,400).This amendment to an existing law is part of the government’s aim to gradually phase out disposable cups and straws at cafes and public areas by 2027, in a bid to reduce plastic waste, and encourage recycling and conservation.Supermarkets and major discount outlets like Lotte are also banned from distributing plastic bags, and are instead encouraged to offer alternatives such as recyclable and reusable bags.Otherwise, these retailers could face fines of up to 3 million won (S$3,680).The law also prohibits around 18,000 bakeries nationwide from handing out free disposable plastic bags."
The limits of virtue signalling
Now if we consider that seasonal influenza also kills a significant number of people, the true cost of plastic hysteria can start to be grasped
