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INTRODUCTION
* Plastic use is exponentially accelerating worldwide.
* New recycling capacity is obliterated by the sheer mass of legacy plastic; much of it in our oceans.
* Heavier, thicker, stronger packaging is harder to break down; packages impossible to open with bare hands.
* Europeans alarmed at plastic waste for decades; tight environmental regulations; strategy for a circular economy.
* Concern here began only when landfills started hitting capacity and new capacity is needed.
RECYCLE SYMBOLS
* The chasing arrow symbols on plastic containers “give permission” to not "feel guilty" about single use.
* Not a guarantee of recycle- ability; in reality, most plastics are not recyclable.
* There has been a move to replace the chasing arrows with a solid bar triangle around the code #, indicating item is not recyclable, but implementation has been slow.
PLASTIC MANUFACTURING
* The SPI codes #1- 7 designate the class of petrochemical feedstock bases (aka, resins, polymers) used in manufacture.
* Manufacturing process adds specific organic reagents, customized to plastic type, to the feedstocks.
* Referred to as volatile organic compounds (VOCs); highly toxic chemicals, with some known carcinogens.
* Plastics “outgas” VOCs.
* The chemical compositions of plastic are proprietary, but each plastic formulation can contain up to 30 VOCs.
* Trace chemicals from plastic containers leach into liquids.
DEGRADATION
* Plastic takes ∼450 years to degrade on land.
* In seawater, it slowly decomposes into micro- and nano-particles, which attract and bind toxins.
* Nano-particles are in the ocean food chain, including marine mammals and in the brains of fish; also in sand and sea salt.
* Micro-particles accumulate on the deepest sea floors, and are ingested.
* Massive seabird deaths from bottle cap ingestion; sea turtle deaths from swallowing plastic films. [1]
** Earth's beautiful oceans have become a plastic soup, with estimated 5 trillion pieces of plastic-- more than the fish in the sea.
RECYCLING
* Plastic recycling is not a closed loop.
* Recycled plastics are shredded, melted into pellets, and “down-cycled” to new products., e.g., carpet.
* Costs to municipalities for Recycle Collection are prohibitive and resource intensive.
* Manufacturing costs for recycled plastic products can exceed those for virgin petrochemical use.
* Plastic for recycle-- placed in 1250 lb. bales for sale.
* China, our largest buyer, just banned the import of plastic waste; pressures the recycling industry business model.
* The vast majority of plastics still get landfilled.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
1) "Plastic Island" video, CNN is to be commended: https://tinyurl.com/y5zxscoe
2) Balloons and wildlife: https://tinyurl.com/glkjcjg
3) CVWMA site: https://tinyurl.com/y2wtsv92
4) EU commitment on plastic: https://tinyurl.com/y3kc5plf
Beach, Dominican Republic.
SEA TURTLES SWALLOW BALLOONS AND PLASTIC BAGS THINKING THEY ARE JELLIES. US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE.
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