Laundry

28 October 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up, 3.1 House, Office & Garden, 3.2 How To...plastic-free Tagged 3.1.1 Laundry, 3.2 house, 4 Reviews, 5 Content Veiw 7 Comments

Laundry Liquid & Fabric Conditioner
ECOVER do a
LAUNDRY LIQUID,
FABRIC SOFTENER,
You can get your plastic bottle refilled.
To find where Ecover have a refill station check the postcode search on their site

If you cant get to a Ecover refill station try getting a refill by post….

Splosh

This is an online refill service.
Some products come in soluble pods which you drop into water; others in plastic pouches which can be sent back to be refilled or recycled.
Splosh also claim that the postal packaging for the starter kit and refills are plastic free. Though according to some reviews they come with some plastic.

Read more about cleaning product refills here e http://plasticisrubbish.com/2014/12/14/u-k-europe/

Hanging Out

Pegs, Peg Baskets and Washing Lines

N.B. I got sent some Ecoforce stuff to review. They supply a range of household cleaning and laundry products made from recycled plastic.
I agreed because while I dont think recycling is the answer it can be part of the solution and one way to deal with all the waste plastic we have created, most of their stuff is made in the UK making it even a better recycling option and the disposable product packaging is pretty good.
And I think with damp damp laundry sometimes plastic products may be preferable so they might as well be ethical plastic options. And it gave me the opportunity to compare and contrast options.

Pegs

Wooden

I use wooden pegs. I bought them ages ago. They came in plastic packaging. Obviously my wooden and steel pegs represent a pressure on natural resources. And there is no denying they get a bit mucky and fall apart quite easily. I don’t know where they are made, or from what kind of wood.

The plus point about my wooden pegs is that when they do fall apart and they end up lost in the garden they will naturally biodegrade. Plastic pegs of course don’t.

Plastic

If you really want plastic pegs you can try these by Ecoforce. I like that they are 93% recycled plastic and (so far) very sturdy. They don’t use steel which I like. I worry about how much steel we use. They are made in the UK which is nice and local. On the down side they do come in a plastic bag. The bag is clearly marked with a plastic code which is good, but made of a type of plastic rarely recycled in the UK – not so good.

I would feel much happier about this product if the throwaway part the packaging was compostable.

Peg Baskets

Metal

I keep my pegs in a peg basket which hangs on the line. Mine is an enamel bucket with holes in the bottom. I bought it from one of those gimcrackery shops that sell arty gubbins. I dont think the quality is of the best as it is getting a bit rusty.

Plastic

Apart from the rust, I cant really think of any reason why you would prefer a plastic peg basket but if you do the Ecofriendly peg basket is a good choice.

As with the pegs it contains 93% recycled plastic, seems sturdy and made in the Uk. Also, whoop, whoop, it is packaged in cardboard and better still the display hanger is made of cardboard.
It bugs me so much when I see cardboard packaging with a plastic hook attached to hang the item – one of those tiny unmarked pieces of plastic that are so hard to dispose of.
The basket is clearly marked with a recycle code so it can be recycled again.

Eco friendly clothes line »

I don’t have a drier and when I do have to use one, in the depths of winter say, I go the launderette. For environmental reasons I choose to mostly air dry my washing line. Our business means I do a lot of drying. My washing line is an important bit of kit and sad to say I have found a plastic washing line to be the best for the job. It gets very wet where we live and natural lines soak up the water, never dry out, then start to grow mould. A plastic line can be quickly wiped dry and doesn’t get slimy.

Ecoforce Plastic line is 89% recycled plastic and like that it is made in the EC so fairly close to home.
But I HATE that the plastic line is wrapped in unidentified plastic wrap. Why? It’s a plastic line. And unidentified plastic at that. Booo.

Recycling Information on your products

21 October 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic Tagged 5 Content Veiw

Why so much information on my box of chocks? Well several materials have gone into packing those bad boys. The plastic tray in which they sit, the foil wrapping, the cardboard box and the Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene -BOPP in which the box is wrapped. They all have to be identified.

In the UK, the Packaging Waste Regulations require “packaging ‘sellers‘, organisations that supply packaging to end-users / people or organisations that discard of the packaging, to provide recycling information to consumers”. That means they have to say wether it can be recycled, not that they are obliged to use recyclable packaging.

This is also known as the Consumer Information Obligation (CIO).

Find out more about what is required of packaging ‘sellers’.

The Green Dot licence DOES NOT represent compliance with the UK Packaging Waste Regulations because it does not mean that the product is recyclable. Find out what the green dot means here.

Find out which are the most commonly used plastics and wether they can be recycled in the U.K. here

Of course we say composting is the answer. If it don’t rot, don’t use it!

Some U.K. Recycling Stats

21 October 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic, 2.1 reports, stats and studies Tagged 1.7 Recycle, 5 Content Veiw 2 Comments

Here are a few statistic to whet your appetite. There are plenty more throughout the blog.

Our previous work had suggested that bottled water production was an energy-intensive process, but we were surprised to see that the energy equivalent of nearly 17 million barrels of oil are required to produce the PET bottles alone,” Cooley told PhysOrg.com.

From Container Recycling

Around 899 thousand tons of PET plastic bottles were recycled nationwide in 2013, but more than two times as much PET was wasted: 2 million tons.*

*Notes/Calculations:

Recycled: (1,798 million pounds/2,000)*1,000,000 = 899,000 tons

Total: 5,764 million pounds produced

Wasted: (3,966 million pounds*1,000,000)/2,000 = 1,983,000 tons

Plastic Sats

According to the United Kingdom (UK) Government, in 2008 the total environmental cost of waste sent to landfill and incinerators within the United Kingdom (UK)was £211 million and £125 million, respectively. ( the big green book)

Daily Mail 7 September 2014

In September last year, England’s household recycling rate stood at 43.9 per cent – a decline from 44.1 per cent in 2012.

And according to Pledge4Plastics, the average UK home uses 440 plastic bottles a year, but recycles just 250 of them.

One in five people admit they don’t recycle fizzy drink or milk bottles, while a quarter don’t put juice or water bottles in the correct bin.

Some 5 billion plastic bottles were sent to UK landfill sites last year.

From Gov.UK 2011

In 2011 the UK disposed of an estimated 10.8 million tonnes of packaging waste, of which around 67% was recovered. In 1998 only 27% of packaging waste was recovered.

2011 recovery and recycling achievement data

	Total packaging waste arising (tonnes)	Total recovered/recyled (tonnes)	EU Target (%)	Recovery/recycling rate (%)
Paper	3,817,860	3,232,461	60	84.8
Paper composting		6,727
Glass	2,739,989	1,751,852	60	63.9
Aluminium	160,877	73,683		45.8
Steel	648,740	373,714		57.6
Metal		447,397	50	55.3
Plastic	2,515,809	609,910	22.5	24.2
Wood composting		442
Wood	1,023,939	600,276	15	58.7
Other	22,443
Total recycling		6,649,065	55	60.8
Energy from Waste		685,612
Total Recovery	10,929,657	6,641,896	60.0	67.1

Cardboard Boxes With Plastic Liners

18 October 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.2 Plastic The Product Tagged 3.0 sneaky plastic, 5 Content Veiw 6 Comments

The plastic free cocoa quest has suffered something of a setback.

Last week Mother came bustling in flushed with pride.“I don’t know what all the fuss is about”, she carrolled handing me a box of cocoa from Sainsburys.

Yes, a cardboard box, of cocoa.As if!

How many times have I told her “Squeeze and listen!”.

Most food products in cardboard boxes are further wrapped in plastic bags. To find out if this is so, you have gently squeeze the box and listen for the tell tale crackling of the plastic bag inside.

And yes, you look a right idiot in Supermarkets doing this

Sure enough the cocoa was further packed in a plastic bag – and not even one we can recycle.

Look here for other sneaky plastic.

Find out more about the cocoa quest here

Cardboard Cups & Pots

8 October 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 00 compostable plastic, 3.0 sneaky plastic, 3.1.2 disposables, 5 Content Veiw

So you find what looks like a cardboard container full of yummy ice cream or you see that your favourite coffee shop does paper cups. You remember something about waxed paper. Hooray.
STOP
To make paper or cardboard water proof, they are laminated with polyethylene, a plastic resin. These products are in effect very thin plastic containers reinforced.

Other Issues
cardboard containers are made from virgin wood because there are major problems using recycled paper. Regulations are strict about what materials you can use to package food and drink and recycled paper isn’t strong enough.

Recycling
Because these cups are made from paper and plastic they are difficult to recycle. The parts have to separated. Though this can be done it is a complex procedure which adds to the cost of the recycled product.
many recyclers say that they don’t recycle paper cups. Though some claim to. It’s a murkey scenario at best.

Compostable Alternatives
There are compostable cardboard products for food on the market. They are lined with a clear, certified-compostable, cornstarch plastic (PLA).
Vegware for example do a full range.
But there would need to be far more, large scale municipal composting schemes for this to be a properly effective answer but can check out this rather sweet cup to compost scheme here.

Biodegradable, Compostable Plastics

What is biodegradable? Biodegradable products break down through a naturally occurring microorganism into simple, stable compounds which can be absorbed into the ecosystem. More about biodegrading here

What is compostable? To be classed compostable, items must biodegrade within a certain time (around the rate at which paper biodegrades), and the resulting biomass must be free of toxins, able to sustain plant life and be used as an organic fertilizer or soil additive.

Composting Plastic At Home
FYI While most agree that some plastics are indeed compostable, many say that they can only composted in large scale municipal schemes. I have used and composted a number of compostable plastic products

Fooled again? Check out the lesser known sneaky plastics here

Plastic recycling – the law

16 September 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic Tagged 5 Content Veiw 1 Comment

This is the law relating the use of plastic. I’ll leave you to judge how well it is being applied…. I think you can guess my opinion…

The waste hierarchy refers to the “3 Rs” reduce, reuse and recycle, which classify waste management strategies according to their desirability. The 3 Rs are meant to be a hierarchy, in order of importance. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From the British Plastic Federations website….

The recycling of plastics fits into the Waste Framework hierarchy of efficient and sustainable use of material resources. The hierarchy is now enshrined in law as a result of the recently revised Waste Framework Directive.

Waste Framework hierarchy

Prevention
Using less material in design and manufacture.
Keeping products for longer; re-use.
Using less hazardous material.

Preparing for re-use
Checking, cleaning, repairing, refurbishing, repair,whole items or spare parts.

Recycling
Turning waste into a new substance or product. Includes composting if it meets quality protocols.

Other Recovery
Including anaerobic digestion, incineration with energy recovery, gasification and pyrolysis which
produce energy (fuels, heat and power) and materials from waste; some backfilling operations.

Disposal
Landfill and incineration without energy recovery.

See all our posts on how to recycling plastic here.

Morrisons

6 September 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.2.3 Supermarkets & Chains Tagged 5 Content Veiw

A quick overview of some of the plastic free / reduced stuff you can get in Morrisons Supermarket, Huddersfield.

A pretty good selection of fruit and veg and a good butchers and fish counter where they sell unwrapped cuts. Take your own cornstarch compostable bags because they only have plastic.
Most unusually for any supermarket they have a great selection of spices – fresh ginger, garlic and chillies, that they sell unpackaged. Hooray, stir fry tonight.
They do loose bread rolls and some round bread rolls they call bagels. They are not proper bagels more like round bread rolls but you can pretend. Again you will need your own bags paper – or better still reusable produce bags,

Cat litter in paper bags and dry dog food (sewn with thread – possibly synthetic?)
Pick & Mix sweet stall with paper bags. But you can use your own.
Salt in cardboard box – I don’t buy this as it is too expensive, (I buy from Lidles), but I heard it came plastic bag free. That has since been disputed. Does anyone know?
ketchup in a glass jar (metal lid plastic lined)
Vinegar in a glass bottle (plastic lid)
pasta (small plastic window but least plastic packed ready made pasta on the market).

I have not seen these myself but know a woman who has.

Here are some packaging less products from Louises Bayfield and her “POSTIVE PRODUCTS LIST (UK) a list of High Street and Supermar-ket products that have no packaging or in some way help reduce packaging.”

Cake Mix, Wright’s – Paper
Coconut Oil – Glass and metal
Cornflour, Brown and Polson – Cardboard, I believe this may be bagless inside
Coffee, instant, extra large sizes – Various packaging
Double Edge Razor Blades 10’s – Cardboard and small plastic cover
Ecover Washing Powder – Cardboard, no scoop
Fish Fingers, Birds Eye 30 MSC – Big pack to save on packaging – Cardboard
Gram Flour – Paper
Laundry Stain Removal Soap Bar – Cardboard
Oats – Several Brands – Cardboard
Pizza bar – Larger stores – Has anyone tried to buy one of these unwrapped yet?
Rice, Various 4 – 10kg bags, biggest selection – Various packaging
Washing-up Eco Liquid,

Shopping Tips

If you want to buy loose you will need to take your own reusable packaging – produce bags, tupperware even compostable disposables. You can find them here.

For the plastic free freak metal lids to glass jars are of course plastic lined .

Tin and cans including those for cosmetics are also plastic lined

For products that are packaged in plastic choose to buy simple plastics that can easily be recycled

Do remember not all stores stock all products. It might be wise to check ahead if you are making a special visit.

Don’t Like Supermarkets?

Other places to buy unpackaged food are listed here

Dog poop disposal

21 August 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Composting, 3.1 House, Office & Garden, 3.1.7 Wo/M/animals Tagged 00 compostable plastic, 3.1.6 Garden, 3.1.7 Pets & Animals, 5 Content Veiw 3 Comments

This is something I really hate …. plastic bags of dog @*%! hanging from the bushes.

But then plastic bags of dog poop anywhere are a bad idea and a big problem!

According to PFMA (Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association) the dog population of the U.K., in 2014, stood at 9 million. The average dog according to Streetkleen produces 340g of fecal matter per day x 9,000,000 dog population = 3,060 tonnes of poo per day x 365 days per year =1,111,900 tonnes of dog poo annually.

Why Not Landfill?

Putting plastic bags of poop in landfill is problematic for the following reasons

Biodegradable waste does not do well in the unnatural conditions of landfill. It bubbles away producing methane another more potent greenhouse gas.
The non biodegradable waste, plastic, is there for ever.
As of April 2016 Landfill Tax is £84.40 per tonne . At over a million tons that poop costs a lot.
we are running out of holes

What to do?

But how do you dispose of dog poop responsibly and environmentally?
Seems there are two options:
Flushing:
Composting.

Flushing

Here’s what the United States Environmental Protection Agency has to say about cleaning up pet waste.

“Pet waste can be a major source of bacteria and excess nutrients in local waters. . . Flushing pet waste is the best disposal method. Leaving pet waste on the ground increases public health risks by allowing harmful bacteria and nutrients to wash into the storm drain and eventually into local waterbodies.”

If you don’t fancy using your own toilet you can get an attachment for your outside drain. The doggybog.

The Doggybog™ unit fits onto your existing outdoor soil pipe and can be DIY fitted in less than 30 minutes. Simple removal of the cap means that you can throw the dog waste down the pipe, then with the cap replaced you can flush it away. Your dog poo goes into the sewage system never to be seen or smelled again.

Pet poop composter

Use compostable plastic bags such as BioBag dog bags and get a pet poop composter. You can read more about compostable plastics here and you can find cheaper than Biobags by Googling.

Use them in conjunction with a pet poop composter. I believe that composting is the future. A household that can turn its own waste into food for the plants is truly sustainable and delightfully green. And who wouldn’t want to be any of those? I have a number of compost bins BUT I don’t have a pet so cannot try this. I thought of getting a puppy but apparently they are for life, not just for composting.

How they work…
A pet waste composter is a bin set in the ground. Chuck the pop in and nature will deal with it naturally. It will compost away. Just to reiterate, the resulting material is left in place. It is not meant to be used as compost, rather that the composting process is used to naturally dispose of dog poop!

Have a look at these ready made dog waste composters. You bury it in the back garden and drop in the poop.

Here is an Australian product called Yard Art in action

Here is a home made one

And an article, you can read on the subject.
Using the Compost…nooooooooo

MATT SULLIVAN writes a thoughtful and informative piece about the joys and perils of pet poop composting. As he says “several writers discourage pet owners from the practice at all. Others gave specific warnings of not using the final composted product in any edible gardens. A handful wrote that the compost from domestic animals was safe and could be used in vegetable crops.”

But, despite doom laden warnings, he goes ahead and uses worms to compost his dog dirt. It’s a success and he concludes that “even if you have no desire to add compost to your garden, I believe it makes sense to be a good steward of your animals. You feel good, help out the environment, and have an excuse to spend time outside.”

Wise words.

A worm composting bin. Worms are eating the newspaper bedding and producing compost. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You can find hundreds of different composting methods here including links to worm bins and underground composers.

This is an interesting idea – biogas from dog poo.

PTFE Non stick plastic

28 June 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.3 Plastic Types - Fact Sheets Tagged 1.2 Chemicals, 1.6 Definitions, 3.2.2 Kitchen, 5 Content Veiw 11 Comments

When I was young and innocent, I knew nothing of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Well, it’s not the kind of thing a nicely brought up girl should have to deal with.

Instead, I went out met a man, got married and got given some very nice, very expensive wedding pans. Lovely non-stick pans.

Which brings us right back to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) .

This is what the non-stick coating on pans is made from.
Teflon is perhaps the best known manufacturer of polytetrafluoroethylene (non-stick) linings.
Polytetrafluoroethylene is a plastic and, like other plastics, has a down right nasty side.

Over to wise geek…..
The nonstick coating used in DuPont’s Teflon® pans has been found to release one or more of 15 different toxic gases when heated to certain temperatures, but is generally safe when used according to manufacturers’ specifications. Which chemicals are released depends on the temperature of the pan. This outgassing can be fatal to pet birds and can cause “polymer fume flu,” also known as “Teflon® flu,” in humans.

read the rest here

Teflon say if you use the pans properly(?), there shouldn’t be a problem. Try telling that to the budgie.

Whatever, the pans are too good to throw out, and I feel bad about giving them away, so I am still using them – but in future I will not be buying any more non-stick.

New Non Stick Pans

No PTFE non stick frying pan

More info

You can find out about the other sorts of plastic here

Razor

19 June 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Personal Tagged 3.1.2 reusables, 3.2.2 West Yorkshire, 4.1 plastic we use, 5 Content Veiw 7 Comments

Shaving is a big part of almost every adults life wether a beard or a bikini line. Back in the day razors were reusable items now of course they are plastic and throwaway. Obviously something has to done about this. Both the husband and I have trialled the razors on the market. Heres a quick synopsis of our findings:
Not shaving:
Electric reusable razor – plastic but long lasting – my preferred option.
Metal safety razor with a reusable body and a disposable metal blade – did not work for either of us:
Metal cut throat razor with a blade you can sharpen – way too scary for us:
Disposable razor – the husbands preferred options but he has found ways to extend life and reduce use:

Not Shaving…Happy Days Of Hairy Legs

Razors always gave me a horrible shaving rash so I stopped shaving my legs. This was back in the 80’s when I was a student. In those days and social circles it was perfectly acceptable to stomp round in D.M.s, proudly sporting fuzzy legs. How I miss them. But times change and so do bodies. Now everyone is depilated to within an inch of their labia and with age my leg hair has got thicker and blacker. While I would never go for a Brazilian I did feel the pressure at work to shave my legs. And I gave in. It was that kind of job and office.

Electric Shaver

But age did not change my extreme reaction to razors so for a long time I waxed. Then one day I tried an electric razor. Wahey. No shavers rash at all. I know that an electric razor is made from plastic but my battery operated Phillips has lasted years and is still going strong. I appreciate that shaving your legs is not absolutely essential but there is a strong social pressure to do so. I think a reusable plastic shaver is plastic fairly used. What do you say?

A Dry Shave Is A Greener Shave
PLUS an electric shave is a dry shave which cuts down on your hot water use. Apparently the most carbon intensive part of your shave is the hot water used. Wet shaves are way less green. You can read more about this here.
You can read more about the plastic we use here….

Metal Safety Razor

This has a metal body and takes double sided, disposable metal blades which you have to replace.
Husband being a tightwad he bought a rattly old thing from an Indian bazaar. he hated it. I spent ages trying to persuade him to give the metal razor another go. My argument is he bought a rubbishy, cheap thing and paid the price. His argument was TWENTY FIVE QUID FOR A RAZOR. And yes they are expensive. But that said you save loads on the blades over time and of course cut your waste. Finally I made and executive decision and went and bought him one.

Using A Safety Razor
Well neither of us could get the hang of the safety razor. Hubby still cut himself to bits I still got a revolting shaving rash But there are others out there who swear by them. Check this out

Reviews
After posting about our close shaves with a razor in some of my favourite zero waste groups, I got loads of positive responses. FYI I have quoted some below. Thank you for taking the time guys….
“I love my safety razor i use it with my homemade coconut oil soap as it lathers well. (On my legs and underarms) yes i do shave slightly slower but have never cut myself (well not so far!)”
Others say that you have “to get the angle right when shaving, and it is a difference since you don’t need to apply any pressure to the handle. I just let it glide along the skin and it works great, the one and only cut I got was when I turned the angle too sharp and pressed down by accident.”

Buy
I got a Merkur Razor. It is a metal razors with disposable old style double-edged blades from our local hardware (Huddersfield) shop which is wonderful.

But I could have got him a Mutiny Box Shaving Kit. These guys are ” Anti-corporate! Anti-plastic! Anti-animal testing! Vegan friendly! Carbon Neutral! Yoghurt-knitting! Lentil-weaving! Tree-hugging! Wet shavers!”

And they sell a shaving kit which as long as you don’t mind the synthetic bristles (plastic) in the shaving brush, is almost plastic free. I haven’t used them so cannot judge the quality but I like their style.

And at 24.99 very reasonable indeed. Check out the website…

Ebay

You can also get razors, and the replacement blades, on Ebay.

Blade Plastic Spoiler

Sometimes the blades will come in a plastic box but it is possible to get them in cardboard. I quote from Facebook here: “I’ve been buying blades from http://www.shavelounge.co.uk/and they have free delivery in the uk. I bought a package of different kinds of blades since I wanted to try them out and they all came in cardboard and individually wrapped in paper.”

Straight Razor

Seems the hard-core, zero-waste find the safety razor too easy and have moved on to a straight razor which, (I think), is also known as a cut throat razor. Yes one of those Sweeney Tod things.

For the love of pies why?

Because “it gives me a closer shave and cause I don’t have to change a blade.” Rather “you just have to sharpen it every once in a while and use a strop at home before each use to align the blade.”

And not just for the gents but “a small Dovo made for women that I adore, it’s great for getting to the back of the knee and the bikini.”

Any one fancy guest posting on the straight razor? I would love to know more but I am never, ever going to try myself. I say I am clumsy is to understate. Currently got two fingers wrapped in plasters from a rather nasty paper cut! Quite frankly I would prefer to look like a monkey then return of the mummy.

Disposable Razor

Husband went back to disposable blades limited his use of them by growing a beard. So on trend!

For the few bits he still has to shave he used a Gillette blades with the reusable handle. Being, as already stated, careful in the wallet region he hoards those heads and uses them for ever.

Read this Indestructables post on how to keep your blade sharp for months .

Or you could invest in a Razor Saver “The Stay Sharp Razor Saver keeps your blades clean and free of hair, skin and soap buildup that lead to dull blades and uncomfortable shaves. Patented friction technology cleans and sharpens to make you feel like you’re shaving with a brand new blade, every day! Works with all men’s and women’s blades including cartridge, disposable and double edge blades, and guaranteed to extend the life of your razor up to 6 times your normal use.”

You can further cut your plastic by getting a “Beautiful, Oiled Beechwood Handle, Fits Mach3 Blades” They also do oak and olive wood.

Plastic Trash By Country

3 May 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 2 BAD PLASTIC Tagged 2.2 Trash Stats, 5 Content Veiw 6 Comments

Statistics can be wobbly and there will be discrepancies between reports but even bearing that in mind it is obvious we are making a great deal of plastic rubbish most of which we are not recycling. And our use of plastic is increasing every year.

Since the 1950s, one billion tons of plastic have been discarded.

During the first year, sales of Coca-Cola averaged nine drinks a day, adding up to total sales for that year of $50. Today, products of The Coca-Cola Company are consumed at the rate of more than 1.8 billion drinks per day.FAQs: The Coca-Cola Company

U.K.

Each UK household produces over 1 tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to about 31 million tonnes for the UK each year.

How much of the is plastic? And how much is recycled?

In October 2006 when I started my plastic boycott I saved all my plastic for a week. The amounts of waste we, a fairly green couple, produced was worrying.

British consumers got through nine billion pints of milk last year. 90% of that milk was bought in a plastic container.

2015 and Recycle now states the average UK household uses 480 plastic bottles a year but only recycles 270 of them – meaning nearly half (44%) are NOT put in the recycling.

Wrap state

Around 40% of plastic is used in packaging and the UK generates around 2.4 million tonnes per year of packaging waste. Of this, around 1.7 million tonnes is from households.

In the UK we currently recycle around 50% of plastic bottles and just 12-15% of mixed plastics, so there is still progress to be made.
The Guardian writes Of the 1.5m tonnes of recyclable plastic waste used by consumers in Britain in 2015 only 500,000 tonnes was recycled, according to the figures compiled by Co-op from the Recoup UK Household Plastics Collection survey.

Recycle More estimate that nearly 1.2 million tonnes of plastics packaging are consumed by households in the UK (source:recoup)
From this 1.2 million tonnes, it is reported that 440,401 tonnes is collected for recycling – an overall 37% recycling rate (source:recoup)

The Recycling Guide states that most families throw away about 40kg of plastic per year, which could otherwise be recycled.

They also claim that
The use of plastic in Western Europe is growing about 4% each year.
Plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose.

2011 Government Statistics for the UK – rather different story – but still not good.


Plastic	2,515,809 Total packaging waste arising (tonnes)	609,910 Total recovered/recyled (tonnes)	22.5 EU Target (%)	24.2 Recovery/recycling rate (%)

Recoup

RECycling Of Used Plastics Limited (RECOUP) is a registered charity and not-for-profit member based organisation. RECOUP works in collaboration with all stakeholders to promote, develop, stimulate and increase the levels of plastics recycling within the UK.

Their latest survey can be downloaded here http://www.recoup.org/p/229/uk-household-plastics-collection-survey-2016

Some Solutions

Find plastic free products here

World

See what everyone else is throwing away. This is only the briefest of outlines to illustrate the scale of the problem. It doesn’t matter who throws more but that we all get on cleaning our own back yards.

Planet Trash – A page of images showing plastic pollution the world over plus one of the biggest list of anti plastic groups on Facebook.
You can find a full list of places featured here.

Europe

Plastics consumption is growing about 4% every year in western Europe.

We produce and use 20 times more plastic today than we did 50 years ago!

America

In 2010, Americans created 31 million tons of plastic waste. It consisted of

14 million tons of containers and packaging,
11 million tons as durable goods, such as appliances,
7 million tons as non-durable goods, for example plates and cups.

(ermmm that makes 32million tons?…)

Only 8 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2010 was recovered for recycling.

Only 12% of bags, sacks, and wraps were recycled

These figures are from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency who go on to note

“The recycling rate for different types of plastic varies greatly, resulting in an overall plastics recycling rate of only 8 percent, or 2.4 million tons in 2010. However, the recycling rate for some plastics is much higher, for example in 2010, 28 percent of HDPE bottles and 29 percent of PET bottles and jars were recycled”.

According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, Americans bought a total of 31.2 billion liters of water in 2006, Most of this water was sold in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, requiring nearly 900,000 tons of the plastic and more than 106 billion megajoules of energy.

California

Californias governing body have this to say “In the United States, consumers use 100 billion plastic bags annually, but fewer than 5 percent of plastic bags are recycled, which means they eventually end up in landfills, open spaces, or waterways.

Californians use an estimated 12 billion plastic bags annually. That’s almost 400 bags per second.
In California, approximately 247 million pounds—that’s 24 billion bags!—end up in landfills every year.
California spends approximately $25 million annually to landfill discarded plastic bags. Public agencies in California spend more than $300 million annually for litter abatement.”

25 MILLION???? ON BAGS???

13 billion plastic carrier bags are used in the UK each year. Shoppers worldwide are using approximately 500 billion single-use plastic bags per year.

People

This fantastic collection of photos shows what people eat in a week the world over. Humbling? yes…but also check out the packaging! Way to go Japan!

Problems

The problem with plastic waste, is that plastic doesn’t biodegrade. There are no natural processes in place that can absorb plastic back into the biological cycle. Drop it and leave it, as with an apple core say, and rather than rot away, it stays there…for decades, maybe centuries, possibly for ever.

So it has to be specially disposed of. It has to be collected up and specially treated. Either burnt or buried or, in very small amounts, recycled.

And we are using this product to make one use throwaway items.

The result? Everlasting litter! That’s just dumb.

Yet simply by saying no to unneccessary plastic, you can cut your pile of trash almost completely.

Find other rubbish statistics here

Cut Your Trash

Find plastic free products and lifestyle hacks here

Plastic Is Rubbish– group, join, share, rant, post. A resource for plastic less living. As the interest in zero waste and plastic free living grows we need a space to pool resources – especially in the U.K. where we don’t have bulk stores and finding unpackaged produce is so much harder. I hope that people will use it to share plastic free info and lifestyle hacks. Join us here.

Mechanical Methods Of Recycling Plastic

20 March 2013 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic Tagged 5 Content Veiw 6 Comments

Most plastics are recycled mechanically though they can also be recycled other ways.

Compared with lucrative recycling of materials, such as glass and metal, plastic polymers recycling is often more challenging because of low density and low value. There are also numerous technical hurdles to overcome when recycling plastic. Wikkipedia

Mechanical Recycling

Mechanical recycling, very simply, consists of melting down the old plastic and using it to make new products

Mechanical recycling can only be done a few times before the polymers break down and the quality of the plastic degrades. So, unlike glass for instance, you cannot necessarily use mechanically recycled polymers to remake the same product. You have to use them to make something different. The chain of recycling might go as follows

Virgin PET bottle to fleece or carpet
Carpet fibers to plastic lumber.
Plastic lumber to waste disposal plant – though manufacturers claim that plastic lumber can be recycled again.

This process is sometimes called DOWNCYCLING.

Sadly it is not quite as easy as that. There are hundreds of kinds of plastic – some easy to recycle, others not (plastic film for example ). Consequently is not cost effective to recycle all plastics. While it is theoretically possible to recycle nearly all plastics. generally it is the simpler plastics that actually are recycled.

ALL the above is open to change and may have changed by the time you read this. It will also depend where you are reading it.

Sorting Plastics for recycling

Plastics must often be of nearly identical composition to mix efficiently.Wikkipedia

When different types of plastics are melted together, they tend to phase- separate, like oil and water, and set in these layers. The phase boundaries cause structural weakness in the resulting material, meaning that polymer blends are useful in only limited applications. Wikkipedia

recycled plastic lumber featured This means that plastics have to be identified and sorted into types. In the olden days recyclers had to rely on the plastic code stamped onto the plastic product and sort by that. These days most use automatic sort systems to identify the resin, such as near infrared (NIR) technology. “NIR sorting is the industry’s preferred plastics sorting technology because it can accurately identity the many different polymers already in use today (different polymers reflect an identifiable light spectrum).” Inez

NB PLA plastic manufacturers claim that NIR technology can recognise PLA plastics (compostatble plastics) and so refute the oft stated claim that PLA plastics bugger up the recycling system. You can see some test results here.

Additives, fillers, and reinforcements are used to change and improve the physical and mechanical properties of plastics. However the widespread use of dyes, fillers, and other additives in plastics can also affect the ease with which they are recycled. You can read about plastic additives here

“The polymer is generally too viscous to economically remove fillers, and would be damaged by many of the processes that could cheaply remove the added dyes. Additives are less widely used in beverage containers and plastic bags, allowing them to be recycled more often.
The percentage of plastic that can be fully recycled, rather than downcycled or go to waste can be increased when manufacturers of packaged goods minimize mixing of packaging materials and eliminate contaminants. The Association of Plastics Recyclers have issued a Design Guide for Recyclability. Wikkipedia

You can read the Design Guide for Recyclability. here

Mechanical Recycling Case Studies

Melt & Reform my visit to a mechanical plastic recycling plant recycled lastic chair featured

Melt & Press – making innovative plastic sheeting

Plastic lumber sturdy, longlasting and functional? Or tacky as anything!

Make your own plastic recycling machine.

More on recycling here

Other ways to recycle and reuse plastic trash here

Recycling and waste plastic – a discussion

Splosh

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2011 recovery and recycling achievement data

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Don’t Like Supermarkets?

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Flushing

Pet poop composter

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Electric Shaver

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Straight Razor

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U.K.

World

Europe

America

California

13 billion plastic carrier bags are used in the UK each year. Shoppers worldwide are using approximately 500 billion single-use plastic bags per year.

People

Problems

More

Cut Your Trash

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Mechanical Recycling

Sorting Plastics for recycling

Mechanical Recycling Case Studies

More on recycling here

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