Plastic Isn't Nice: This blog is in hibernation!

Sunday 12 September 2010

This blog is in hibernation!

I've decided to put a hold on this blog, for now at least. I feel I've gone as far as I personally can with this. There are far more eloquent blogs around that are dealing with the issues and challenging our ideas about waste and plastics. I highly recommend that anyone interested in facing up to the problems that plastic is causing to our environment, look at a few of the great blogs I have listed on my blog list.

I am still blogging over at my other blog, Beyond Materialism. Hope you will pop in sometime

Warmest wishes

John

3 comments:

Karin15 September 2010 at 07:31
Plastic can be quite a depressing subject, John, depending how you look at it. Sometimes it is better not to dwell on certain things too much.

Don't feel that what you have posted here is of no value, Everyone has their own unique contribution to make. One or two of your posts have informed me or made me think and you have introduced me to blogs I didn't know about.

As you may have gathered my sole focus is not on plastic, but it is part of what I want to address, so I have found your helpful.
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Anonymous16 September 2010 at 03:21
I think this is a great blog. It is so informative and you have covered all the problems that I have thought of and given me so much more information. Thank you.
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Anonymous2 November 2010 at 05:02
well as one of the blogs on your list - and thanks for that - I will greatly miss your input. Its great to have UK based plastic boycotters.

If you face book you might be interested in Planet trash at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Planet-trash/147126068657362

Its a visual map of world plastic pollution - please add to or just like. there is also the plastic is rubbish photo pool

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1154325@N25/pool/with/5130863206/

Hope to see you back in the front line soon
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Welcome

I've been aware of the dangers posed by plastic to the environment for a while now. But it was whilst watching a video clip which showed graphically the effects the stuff is having in our oceans, that inspired me to create this blog. I hope that you will feel able to contribute in some way, either by adding comments or sending pieces for me to post. We won't rid the earth of plastic over night, but we can make our voices heard, so those who produce this highly versatile yet dangerous material, will begin to question the logic of manufacturing a product that takes hundreds of years to break down and which is filling our rivers, oceans, and fields with its detritus, causing millions of wild creatures to suffer painful deaths. We can but try to lessen our dependency on the stuff!

Some Sobering Plastic Facts

To clean the oceans, you'd need to fill 630 oil supertankers to the brim at a cost of about $56,000 per each a day to charter

To give an example of how long plastic lasts in the ocean. In 2001 a piece of plastic found in an albatross stomach bore a serial number that was traced to a World War II seaplane shot down in 1944 (US Fish & Wildlife)

All plastic breaks down into particles.It does not dissolve; it just breaks into tiny pieces and stays there. At this size it is small enough to be ingested by every single organism in the world's oceans - animals as small as krill and salps (plankton feeders) right up to the great Blue Whale.

It's estimated that over 10's of thousands of seabirds choke or get tangled in plastic debris (including domestic waste and disused fishing gear) and about 100,000 seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins, other marine mammals and sea turtles suffer the same fate, although some scientists believe this figure to be much higher. (DNR) (Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission)

UK beaches have on average 2000 pieces of litter for every kilometer. (MCS)However this average is only given to larger items.The number of plastic particles (small plastic pieces) on a beach in just one square foot can range from hundreds to thousands in some of the worst polluted area's. (Thompson) (Algalita)

The world produces over 200 million tonnes plastic annually. Around half of this is used for disposable items of packaging that are discarded within a year. This debris is accumulating in landfill and the problem is growing. (Thompson).

Since the 1950's almost every piece of plastic that we have ever made, used and thrown away is still here on this planet in one form or another, whether its in our homes, in landfill or in the environment; and it will be here for centuries to come.

An estimated 17 billion plastic bags are given away annually by United Kingdom supermarkets-enough plastic to cover an area the size of London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and west Yorkshire combined.

On average we only recycle 1 plastic bag in every 200 we use. (londoncouncils.gov.uk)