Oban shores full of rubbish after the storms

Following the first big storm of 2012 to hit Oban,
I ventured out along the Esplanade.  This is what I found.
Do let's try to keep packaging – and plastics – to an absolute minimum. 

A plea by Keep Scotland Tidy as seen on one of the big litter bins near the Columba Hotel

Glorious Oban Bay...

Not so glorious when you look close...

 Oban's Esplanade pavement all but impassable to pedestrians

The derelict fishing vessel completely destroyed

Swans sitting on the beach in the "Wee Oban Bay", amid litter that's been there for weeks, not just since the latest storm on 3Jan2012!

In the usual places, the rubbish eddies along with the bladderwrack

 

Bio-Plastics -- Bio?? -- Plastics?? Questions and answers

This is a historic entry from about 2009 that – for some obscure reason – never made it into the blog, some information may be outdated by now.  Still instructive, though.


Questions and Answers on BioBags from London BIO Packaging:

* Some retailers are confused with the term bio-plastic, as it refers to a type of plastic, which in fact it is not. Is the term protected and only used for compostable, biodegradable vegetable-based starch?

The name ‘bio-plastic’ can be a little confusing! The plastic in the title just refers to the fact that it shares many similar properties with traditional oil-based plastics. Be careful as there is a lot of misleading information and ‘branding’ on the market place. Some plastics claim to be ‘bio-plastics’ and ‘biodegradable’ when they actually still contain oil-based compounds and may degrade but are only broken down into smaller oil-based plastic pieces.

Bio-plastics, such as those used in most of our products, are produced from organic matter and therefore break down/biodegrade back into complete organic matter. There are certain standards you can look out for when sourcing certified compostable plastic products such as EN13432 or ASTM D6400 (however some of the aforementioned oil-based plastics are also certified). Bio-plastics which conform to these standards must break down to a certain particle size within a specified amount of time under commercial composting conditions.

* Is the vegetable starch used for the alternative bags a byproduct or are the plants grown and harvested for the purpose of making the bags?

The starch used in the bio-shopper carrier bags is non genetically-modified starch and is a byproduct of the agricultural industry.

* How long is the shelf life of the bags -- according to one shopkeeper we contacted, the bags start decomposing while still in stock (within a few months). Could a shopkeeper place an order for say 10.000 bags and then get them delivered in 3 or 4 separate deliveries to avoid such a problem (should it exist)?

As long as the bags are stored in a cool, dry place then the shelf life of the bags is guaranteed for 12 months. If your retailers have any concerns we can certainly take bulk orders and then deliver the bags over several deliveries.

* Would the half-pint cups be suitable for a dairy company? How long does it take for the cups to biodegrade with a product like yoghurt in it? Do any health and safety regulations apply for food companies or retailers (like our fish & chips shops) who are willing to use the starch-based cups, containers, sandwich wedgers etc.

I don’t see any reason why the half pint cups would not be suitable for a dairy company. The cups should not biodegrade with yoghurt in them – only when placed under the necessary composting conditions. All of our packaging items are Food Grade Safe.

* The number 7 designation for plastic on the bottom of the cups confuses retailers as it is known for the
various combinations of the aforementioned plastics or from unique plastic formulations not commonly used. Usually imprinted with a number 7 or nothing at all, these plastics are the most difficult to recycle and, as such, are seldom collected or recycled. More ambitious consumers can feel free to return such items to the product manufacturers to avoid contributing to the local waste stream, and instead put the burden on the makers to recycle or dispose of the items properly.
From your website we gather that in fact compostable and biodegradable vegetable starch products are given the same number as the plastics mentioned above. Is that correct?

The number 7 designation is one of the groups which forms the Plastic Identification Code – PIC. This indicates the polymer type to help recycling companies when separating different plastics for recycling. Group number 7 is generally used for all ‘other’ plastics which don’t fall into the preceding 6 groups.

Currently the infrastructure to support the recycling of bio-plastics does not exist in the UK. However, as with any new and developing industry, it is only through growth and increasing pressure on government that changes can be made so that more suitable infrastructure can be established – either by introducing the capacity to recycle bio-plastics or by increasing the number of industrial composting facilities.

All we can say is thank you to London BIO Packaging for this information, and Let's put the pressure on to make sure these recycling facilities are soon put into place.

Honour where honour is due...

Hello again

It is a pleasure to see more and more shops in Oban making the move away from handing plastic carrier bags out to customers unasked and for free.

Roz Savage – what a woman!

No comment needed, just watch this:

Transform plastic junk into jewellery – or a high-rise greenhouse

A clip on the BBC News page has just alerted me to the fact that Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria, had an exciting exhibition showing what can be done with waste plastic:
“Repair” constituted the focal point at this year's Ars Electronica Festival, September 2-11, 2010, chiefly held at Tabakfabrik Linz.
What grabbed my imagination most strongly was a few seconds of window farming. For more on this, go to
http://www.windowfarms.org/

Making Oil Out Of Plastic

Hi there

Does anyone out there know how far we have come in adopting processes of making energy out of our mountains of plastic waste?

Here's a video clip (from 2007) demonstrating how a company called Blest transforms waste plastic into fuel (sadly, something goes wrong with the sound about two thirds into the clip):


And here's another clip (from 2008) demonstrating pellets made from recycled plastic, cooking oil, wood chips and other materials. The product is designed to insulate the industry from volatile fossil fuel prices. The company (repla) claims that their PWF pellets can supply almost the same energy yield at half the going rate:


See also http://article.wn.com/view/WNAT2083CAEE60FA53F650758E687938BB1D/

Throwaway decline – last year ten percent fewer plastic bags were used in the UK

Your blogger hopes that the Guardian will have no objections to her quoting their snippet of fairly good news. However, let's also focus on the fact that, according to the item, we still use (= waste) 6.1 billion – six-point-one billion – plastic carrier bags each year. 

There IS a better way to get our shopping home: re-using bags, using wicker baskets, jute bags, or cotton bags sewn from leftover material (see Morsbags on how to do that). 

Use your imagination, don't use a plastic bag!

Here's the Guardian snippet:

"Throwaway decline
"Future archaeologists will no doubt shake their heads at the vast numbers of plastic carrier bags we use and then chuck away to rot, very very slowly, on landfill tips. But we are getting better: over the past four years we have cut our use of the wretched things by 43%.
"Last year alone we used 10% fewer bags. The bad news is that we are still filling up 6.1bn a year. The campaign group Waste Watch says if the switch to reusable bags slows down, it will call for a bag tax.
Carrier bags are a favourite target for anti-waste activists, but they have even bigger, more polluting, targets in their sights. The latest include throwaway razors and single-use picnic plates and cutlery."


Oh yes: anything made of plastic needs to disappear from the shelves in our shops and supermarkets that is designed to be used just the once. Your blogger is radical in this regard, and reuses and recycles fruit and vegetable punnets to grow seeds in or to carry harvests of brambles about to share with friends. She even carefully washes out plastic goblets to reuse on another occasion.

PS:
Waste Watch are "a practical charity inspiring and helping individuals, communities and organisations to waste less.
Working together, [WW] aim to change the way we live and the way we produce, buy, use and dispose of things."