Charge on plastic carrier bags a great success story

Good news:

The number of plastic bags handed out by supermarkets in Scotland fell by 147 million last year - the first figures since a 5p charge was introduced.

The reduction came despite the levy for single-use bags only being in place for the final 11 weeks of the year.

But in England - where large shops will have to charge for plastic bags from October - 200 million more bags were used in 2014, Defra research suggested.

Northern Ireland saw usage fall by 42.6%, while Wales had a rise of 5.2%.

The fall in Scotland follows statistics released three months ago, which suggested the number of carrier bags being used by shoppers had fallen by 90%.

For more, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-33644662

Scotland has changed legislation on single-use plastic carrier bags

Today, Scotland's legislation on charging for single-use plastic carrier bags is coming into effect. The new legislation is bound to reduce the number of plastic bags, a vast number of which end up in the environment where they not only look unsightly but also endanger wildlife, especially when they end up in the sea.

For more details, please see here:
http://carrierbagchargescotland.org.uk

Conversion of Plastic Rubbish into Oil

Conversion of plastic rubbish into oil – pretty impressive! 

Do the figures really stack up? How much energy goes into this conversion? It's a pity the video doesn't say.

Well worth watching all the same: 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/qGGabrorRS8?rel=0

Impose heavy fees on plastic bags in supermarkets

Lively interview on BBC Today Radio, Thursday, 2 August 2012:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9742000/9742259.stm

A fee of 5p introduced in Wales in October 2011 has resulted in a significant reduction (up to 90%) of plastic bags handed out by some supermarket chains. Scotland is currently holding a consultation on the issue  – why, when it looks like a no-brainer?

Maybe we should adopt Judith Holder's idea not just of charging a levy of £1 per bag, to make people remember to bring their own bags. She also feels that shoppers might be encouraged if supermarkets created a fast check-out lane for people with their own shopping bags.

We urgently need to reduce the amount of plastic stuff in our lives, much of which ends up in the oceans, where it has a devastating impact on the wildlife.
Here's a must-read article on this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096142/Sperm-whales-How-plastic-bags-poisoning-planets-greatest-predators.html

Devastation: John Fairfax Rowed A Different Ocean

I cannot but re-post yesterday's message from Roz Savage, Ocean Rower:

"John Fairfax, who died on 8th February in Henderson, Nevada, was the first person to row solo across an ocean. In 1969 he spent 180 days alone at sea to row across the Atlantic from the Canaries to Florida. In 1971/2 he rowed across the Pacific with his girlfriend, Sylvia Cook.

John Fairfax

"A colourful character never at a loss for a quotable soundbite, Fairfax was a precocious adventurer. At 13 he left his mother, then living in Argentina, to “live like Tarzan” in the jungle. He spent time with local peasants, foraged for food, and hunted jaguar and ocelot for skins which he sold in Buenos Aires. Subsequent adventures saw him drive from New York to San Francisco, ride a bike from San Francisco to Guatemala, hitchhike to Panama, and make his first million by smuggling contraband with pirates. And all this by the age of 25.
After making his way back to Argentina on horseback he tried to figure out what to do with his next quarter-century. As a child he had read about the 1896 crossing of the Atlantic in a rowboat by Harbo and Samuelson (fantastic book about this voyage), and it had captured his imagination. Now he stumbled across a report about the recent 1966 crossing of the Atlantic by Ridgway and Blyth. The record for the first solo crossing was up for grabs.
"Less than twenty hours after launching from the Canaries in 1969 he was wondering what had possessed him to believe that this was a good idea. But a cigar and a steaming cup of tea laced with brandy apparently gave him renewed motivation, and 180 days later he successfully arrived on Hollywood Beach in Florida, and went on to row the Pacific with Sylvia Cook 2 years later.
I feel a certain amount of empathy with John Fairfax. I, too, have rowed solo across oceans. I, too, have frequently found it “a miserable journey”, as he described his Pacific crossing. I, too, have felt the boredom and frustration of the crossing, and the euphoria of arrival.

Shark populations devastated by 80%

"However, in one key regard, Fairfax and I have had profoundly different ocean experiences. When he was rowing the oceans forty years ago, shark populations were around five times what they are now. Shark-finning, by-catch, and the demolition of the ocean food pyramid have devastated populations of sharks and other apex predators. Fairfax happily describes how he lassoed and killed a dusky shark. Now he would be lucky to see one.
Forty years ago we had no notion of climate change or ocean acidification, although the process was already underway. Two-thirds of the world’s coral reef systems are now damaged, with ten percent being degraded beyond recovery thanks to coastal development, destructive fishing practices, pollution, and mining, as well as rising acidity.
"The Atlantic that John Fairfax rowed across still had a thriving cod fishing industry. By 1992, Northern Cod biomass had dropped to one percent of its previous levels, and the Canadian government was forced to declare a moratorium on Atlantic fisheries.
The first container ship launched just over a decade before Fairfax’s voyage, in 1956. Today there are over 50,000 container ships plying the world’s oceans, transporting everything from cars to kiwifruit. It has been estimated that one container ship pollutes as much as 50 million cars due to their enormous weight and the low quality of their fuel, contributing up to 30 percent of the nitrogen oxide that leads to acid rain.

Plastic bags at sea

"When John Fairfax rowed across the Pacific with Sylvia Cook, the plastics industry was still in its infancy. Now there are an estimated 3.5 million tons of plastic floating in the North Pacific Gyre, just one of five oceanic gyres around the world where plastic pollution accumulates, leaching toxic chemicals such as BPA into seawater and killing marine life.
"It was concern over our unsustainable use of the world’s resources – oceanic and otherwise – that first led me to take up my oars for the cause. In just fifty years we have devastated the blue two-thirds of our planet. Let’s protect our oceans and give them a chance to recover, not just for the sake of future adventurers, but for all our sakes."

We didn't have that "green" thing back then...

I can't resist re-posting this ... thanks to Jenny Macdonald, thanks to Marion Power ... (both on facebook):

Think on this:
At the supermarket checkout recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." 

She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in “our” day. So what did we have back then? 
After some reflection and soul-searching on "our" day, here's what I remembered we did have:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. 
We walked to the grocery shop and didn't climb into a 300HP vehicle every time we had to go two-hundred yards. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. 
Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. 
We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 3 kilowatts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our day. 
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day. 
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Argyll. And a local electrician would repair it when it stopped working. We didn't bin it and buy a new one. 
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wadded-up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. 
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the grass. We used a push mower that ran on human power. 
We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to the gym to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then. 
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. 
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then. 
Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their pushbikes to school or walked, instead of turning their parents into a 24-hour taxi service. 
We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest chippie.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then? 

Feel free to post this on so another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smarty-pants young person can add to this... ;)
Thank you!

For some great ideas about recycling and reducing litter, see here: http://www.grab.org.uk/
and why we should bother to recycle, here: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/may/24/greenpolitics.localgovernment 
==> we're fast running out of landfill sites, for example, not to mention the waste of resources unless valuable materials are recycled.

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."

An urban myth: bottled water hazard, heated plastic releases dioxin

Hi there

Have you recently received a message warning you not to drink water from a plastic bottle that has been "cooked" in your car? Because Sheryl Crow is reported to have said on the Ellen Show that she contracted breast cancer from drinking such water.

Well, no matter how often this claim is repeated, it doesn't get any truer. Chemically, PE bottles cannot possibly create dioxin, because there is no way polyethylene combined with heat and fat can result in dioxin. And freezing water in a plastic bottle will not release harmful chemicals into the water, quite the opposite.

Please take the time to download the magazine (for free) published by the American Council on Science and Health in this link: http://www.acsh.org/news/newsID.1669/news_detail.asp
You will see that it was first published on 14th January 2008 (!)

Here's the comment by Dr. Michael Kamrin:
"While it is true that some chemicals may leach out of plastics in very tiny amounts, these chemicals have been carefully studied and do not cause cancer even when animals are exposed to them in very large amounts. This conclusion is supported by scientists around the world and is reflected in the confidence that regulatory agencies have in the safety of using plastics in containers and wraps for food and drink. — Dr. Kamrin"

If you feel the American Council on Science and Health may be infiltrated by the food or plastics industry, or that testing methods just aren't good enough yet, see what Snopes.com has to say on the same subject. This is an excellent source of all kinds of knowledge, usually great debunkers of urban myths: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cookplastic.asp
Incidentally, this link will tell you the long and sorry history of this particular urban myth. Have fun!

The long and the short of this all is: there are indeed different kinds of plastic; don't use the wrong kind for the wrong purpose. In other words, it may be wise not to drink water from a plastic bottle that has been rolling around and lying around in a car left to "cook" in the hot sun for hours, not least because the water will taste horrible.

Festival of the Sea: Beach Clean in Oban with GRAB

In the context of SAMS' Festival of the Sea, GRAB Trust's Caroline Askew and several helpers participated in a Beach Clean at Oban Harbour on 24th May.

Have a green Christmas

Achaleven Primary School in Connel, Argyll, have been promoting green, sustainable, package and rubbish-reduced living.

Last Tuesday, 24 November, the school put on a coffee evening themed Have a green Christmas.

The children sold eco-friendly bags and cards as well as gifts to promote their eco work. Head Teacher Sharon Burt and her team put on a fantastic spread of baking; there were also a lucky dip and a raffle with great prizes.

Despite really horrible weather, the room was packed with parents and friends.

All money raised will be put towards further developing the school's garden.

(© Photo: Caroline Askew, The GRAB Trust)

Sustainable Oban / Oban Plastic Bag Free! were happy to be present with displays promoting the two organisations. Thank you for your hospitality, Achaleven.

Our Petition to the Scottish Government: Ban plastic carrier bags throughout Scotland...

Dear All

At long last our Petition has gone out to the Scottish Government. Oban Plastic Bag Free! sent 87 signatures to Mr Jim Mather, MSP for Argyll & Bute and Minister for Enterprise, Energy & Tourism, with the following covering letter, demanding the ban of plastic carrier bags throughout Scotland and serious action against plastic packaging in general:

17th November 2009

Mr Jim Mather MSP for Argyll & Bute
Minister for Enterprise, Energy & Tourism
31, Combie Street
Oban, Argyll, PA34 5HS

Petition to the Scottish Government to ban plastic carrier bags in Scotland and take serious action against plastic packaging in general

Dear Mr Mather

As Minister for Enterprise, Energy & Tourism it must matter to you that our environment be as clean and healthy as possible. Plastic bags and plastic waste are a blight on our environment. Small plastic particles attract toxins and enter the food chain via marine and land-based creatures. It was recently reported "that human hormone-mimicking phthalates commonly found in PVC plastics would appear to alter the brains of baby boys making them 'more feminine'"; they are known to have a serious impact on male fertility.
In view of your past positive responses to messages from Sustainable Oban and the Oban Plastic Bag Free! Initiative, I am taking the liberty of passing on to you a total of 87 signatures to a Petition to the Scottish Government to ban plastic carrier bags in Scotland and take serious action against plastic packaging in general.
We will appreciate it if you will kindly forward this petition to the Scottish Government in Edinburgh. We will appreciate it even more if you will defend this petition and help us push it through into legislation.
With many thanks and best wishes
[signature]
Margaret Powell-Joss
[co-initiator of OPBF! and Secretary, Sustainable Oban]

Enclosures

Copy to The Editor, The Oban Times, Oban

*) International Journal of Andrology, quoted in
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8361863.stm, see also http://obanplasticbagfree.blogspot.com/

Of course now we look forward to getting results.

The Story of Stuff -- Sunday, 29th November 2009, Benderloch, Argyll, Scotland

Dear All

On Sunday, 29th November, 2009, an extremely instructive and entertaining cartoon documentary will be shown at 7pm at the Victory Hall in Benderloch, Argyll.
Admission free -- donations welcome.

The Story of Stuff

What it's about:
"From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever." (from the Story of Stuff website)

Following on to watching this short video together, we will have a discussion and a "freecycle"-inspired STUFF SWAP. So, please bring something that you've long been wanting to get rid of and swap it for something someone else may bring and that you would like to have.

Mairi Stones and friends, as well as Sustainable Oban, look forward to seeing you there.

Let's get rid of plastic -- it's toxic in many ways

Dear all

The showing of a documentary at Benderloch's Victory Hall yesterday evening once again underscored our extreme dependency on oil for everything - from fuel to petrol to plastic to cosmetics and much, much more. We need to get rid of plastic. It is not only a blight on our landscapes and endangers sea-dwelling creatures, it has also slowly been poisoning the food chain and the human body.

Quite by chance I just found more evidence for the latter. Read the following article, which underscores how little we know about the effects of the oil-based synthetics we have been producing and using for the past approximately 60 years. It would appear that phthalates cause disruption of male reproductive health and affect male behaviour. We are constantly exposed to these chemicals through our use of plastic.

Let's get rid of plastic, or at least reduce our use.

Toxins in plastic 'feminise boys'

Chemicals in plastics alter the brains of baby boys making them "more feminine", say US researchers.

[Page last updated at 10:23 GMT, Monday, 16 November 2009]

Males exposed to high doses in the womb went on to be less likely to play with boys' toys like cars or to join in rough and tumble games, they found.

The University of Rochester team's latest work adds to concerns about the safety of phthalates, found in vinyl flooring and PVC shower curtains. The findings are reported in the International Journal of Andrology.

Plastic furniture

Phthalates have the ability to disrupt hormones, and have been banned in toys in the EU for some years. However, they are still widely used in many different household items, including plastic furniture and packaging.

There are many different types and some mimic the female hormone oestrogen.

The feminising capacity of phthalates makes them true 'gender benders' E. Salter-Green, director of CHEM Trust

The same researchers have already shown that this can mean boys are born with genital abnormalities.

Now they say certain phthalates also impact on the developing brain, by knocking out the action of the male hormone testosterone.

Dr Shanna Swan and her team tested urine samples from mothers over midway through pregnancy for traces of phthalates. The women, who gave birth to 74 boys and 71 girls, were followed up when their children were aged four to seven and asked about the toys the youngsters played with and the games they enjoyed.

Girls' play

They found that two phthalates DEHP and DBP can affect play behaviour. Boys exposed to high levels of these in the womb were less likely than other boys to play with cars, trains and guns or engage in "rougher" games like playfighting.

Elizabeth Salter-Green, director of the chemicals campaign group CHEM Trust, said the results were worrying.
"We now know that phthalates, to which we are all constantly exposed, are extremely worrying from a health perspective, leading to disruption of male reproduction health and, it appears, male behaviour too. This feminising capacity of phthalates makes them true 'gender benders'."

[Elizabeth Salter-Green] acknowledged that the boys who have been studied were still young, but she said reduced masculine play at this age might lead to other feminised developments in later life.

But Tim Edgar, of the European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates, said: "We need to get some scientific experts to look at this study in more detail before we can make a proper judgement."
He said there were many different phthalates in use and the study concerned two of the less commonly used types that were on the EU candidate list as potentially hazardous and needing authorisation for use.

DBP has been banned from use in cosmetics, such as nail varnish, since 2005 in the EU.

PHTHALATES
There are many different types.
The most commonly used are deemed entirely safe by regulators [MPJs emphasis].
[Potentially hazardous phthalates needing authorisation for use:]
DEHP - used to make PVC soft and pliable and used in products like flooring
DBP - used as a plasticiser in glues, dyes and textiles

For the original article, please go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8361863.stm

*****

My own two cents, to be taken with a pinch of salt:
The world might be a better place if males were a bit more feminised and less testosterone were coursing through their veins...

Plastic litter on UK beaches

Dear all

44.30 minutes into Autumnwatch 2009, Episode 7, Chris Packham and Kate Humble confirm what Oban Plastic Bag Free! have been clamouring for: abolish plastic bags, and significantly reduce the use of plastic in general.

Chris Packham: "We think that 100,000 mammals die every year because they are ensnared by pieces of plastic. And those are just those the ones we find on the beach. Imagine how many more there are out at sea!"

It is said that the average fulmar has got 30 pieces of plastic inside it.

Kate Humble: "As plastic breaks down it becomes the size of plankton and enters the food chain."

To watch the programme, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ny9ct – you have 13 days left to watch, i.e. approx. until 26 November 2009.