The Guardian (May 18)
“The enormous plastic waste footprint of the top 20 global companies amounts to more than half of the 130m metric tonnes of single-use plastic thrown away in 2019. Single-use plastics are made almost exclusively from fossil fuels, driving the climate crisis, and because they are some of the hardest items to recycle, they end up creating global waste mountains. Just 10%-15% of single-use plastic is recycled globally each year.”
Tags: Climate crisis, Enormous, Fossil fuels, Plastic, Recycle, Single-use plastic, Top 20, Waste footprint
Ethical Corporation (June Issue)
“The fate of our plastic-clogged oceans is no longer top of mind in the face of the more immediate threat of a killer disease, leading to mountains of waste from millions of discarded face masks and gloves and other personal protective equipment.” Coupled with plunging oil prices that dramatically lowers prices, “the battle against single-use plastic finds itself in the teeth of a perfect storm.”
Tags: Discarded, Disease, Face masks, Fate, Gloves, Immediate threat, Oceans, Oil prices, Plastic, PPE, Waste
Inc (May Issue)
“Images of sea creatures ensnared by plastic six-pack rings are a common source of environmental anguish. They also provided inspiration for the Mexico City-based startup E6PR,” which stands for eco six-pack ring and is made with natural fibers. “Those natural fibers not only make it compostable, but sea animals can eat it as well without suffering any ill effects. And, unlike plastic six-pack rings, which last for decades, E6PR’s naturally disintegrate.” The revolutionary product is already getting take up from “leading Mexican brewer Corona” and “craft breweries in the U.S., Australia, Poland, Scotland, and South Africa.”
Tags: Australia, Compostable, Corona, E6PR, Ensnared, Mexico, Natural fibers, Plastic, Poland, Scotland, Sea creatures, Six-pack rings, South Africa, U.S.
Gizmodo (March 23)
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch “has more lost and discarded plastic inside it than previous surveys suggested—like, a lot more. And it’s still growing.” A recent study published in Scientific Reports suggest it “is filled with 79,000 metric tonnes (87,000 tons) of plastic, which is between 10 to 16 times higher than previous estimates…. Disturbingly, plastic pollution inside the GPGP ‘is increasing exponentially and at a faster rate than in surrounding waters.’”
Tags: Disturbing, Estimates, Exponentially, Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Growing, Plastic, Pollution
The Economist (May 27)
“Earth is poorly named. The ocean covers almost three-quarters of the planet.” While “the ocean sustains humanity. Humanity treats it with contempt.” One sign of this contempt is that “scientists expect almost all corals to be gone by 2050,” a time when “the ocean could contain more plastic than fish by weight.” Our very survival now hinges on successfully answering the question, “How to improve the health of the ocean?”
CNN (December 1)
“Nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists today. More than five trillion pieces of plastic are already in the oceans, and by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish, by weight… Some 8 million tons of plastic trash leak into the ocean annually, and it’s getting worse every year. Americans are said to use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.” The potentially catastrophic impact largely lies beyond our gaze in remote places, like Midway Atoll, where birds are dying from plastic consumption. There is now also “growing evidence that fish may prefer eating plastic to food,” and that the nano-plastics and styrene that make their way into the food chain could have profoundly negative consequences for humankind.
Tags: Birds, Consequences, Consumption, Evidence, Fish, Food, Food chain, Midway Atoll, Nano-plastics, Oceans, Plastic, Remote, Styrene
Financial Times (December 21, 2013)
The UK is set to adopt “funny money,” abandoning paper currency for polymer. In 2016 the Bank of England “will begin introducing plastic notes that can be wiped clean and are difficult to tear. These are expected to last two-and-a-half times as long as the cotton and linen variety, which can quickly become ragged and soiled.” The UK will be following Australia, where paper currency was eliminated in 1996, resulting in a significant decrease in counterfeiting.
Tags: Australia, Bank of England, Counterfeiting, Currency, Paper, Plastic, UK
