CALIFORNIA : VERY LITTLE PLASTIC BEING RECYLCLED

LA TIMES - Environment : VERY LITTLE PLASTIC BEING RECYCLED IN CALIFORNIA 

Excerpt:  Polypropylene, labeled as #5 on packaging, is used for yogurt containers, margarine tubs and microwavable trays. Only 2% of it is getting recycled. Colored shampoo and detergent bottles, made from polyethylene, or #1 plastic, are getting recycled at a rate of just 5%.

Other plastics, including ones promoted as highly recyclable, such as clear polyethylene bottles, which hold some medications, or hard water bottles, are being recycled at just 16%.

No plastic in the report exceeds a recycling rate of 23%, with the majority reported in just the single digits.

READ ON MY FRIENDS!  

DO YOU KNOW WHICH PLASTIC CONTAINERS ARE SAFE TO REUSE TO STORE OR COOK FOODS?

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR HOW TO RECYCLE SOMETHING?

I'm always interested in any ideas or information on how to recycle things, especially PLASTICS, so that we can combat the SEA OF PLASTIC as well as all other forms of PLASTIC POLLUTION!

Please leave a comment, including any links to information you'd like me to read!

THANKS!

Siren

REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE

 

HELLO and WELCOME BACK TO MY BLOG

The reason you have not seen posts here is because Google blocked me from my own long held account, which is used ONLY for this blog and no outside communications, simply because I changed computer use. 

Frankly, I have sent Google messages letting them know that they are making using Google a much less than a friendly experience.

I continue to be highly interested in sea life, ocean ecology, and all the subjects I've presented to you here at SIREN'S LINK TO SEA for many years.

Yours,

Siren

ALL THOSE PRESENTS, ALL THAT PACKAGING!

So much paper, cardboard, and plastic that needs to go into the recycling, or at least in the proper garbage pickup bins.  

PLEASE think about how YOU can recycle!

Reuse wrapping paper or skip it...  use scrap fabric or a scarf instead!  Or put the presents in a pillow sack!

WATERBOMB ORIGAMI

WHAT IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO FOR THE CREATURES OF THE SEA ?

RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE


PLEASE ! When you throw garbage on the street, it gets washed into a gutter, and the gutter takes it to a river, and the river takes to the sea...  By putting trash - especially PLASTICS into the right garbage bin - or taking your cans and bottles in for the deposit return - and taking all the things you brought to the beach back home with you - YOU ARE A CITIZEN ENVIRONMENTALIST!

REUSE PLASTICS : THESE IDEAS ARE GOOD BUT YOU MAY NEED SUPERVISION!

I like the sock storage idea!  They're all interesting!

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE GARBAGE TO BREAK DOWN?

Taking your trash home and putting it in the proper container - recycling plastic and aluminum cans is a start - is the easiest and best thing you as a person can do to keep that out of the water.

Take photos or make memories when looking around in low-tide tide pools!

Stop buying plastic junk that breaks - including toys - that end up in our landfills for hundreds of years...

STORAGE ORG PDF : HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR GARBAGE TO BREAK DOWN!

THANKSGIVING PLEDGE TO RECYCLE AND REUSE

 

UP-CYCLING SHIPPING ENVELOPES - BE ECOLOGY SENSITIVE AND REUSE THE PLASTIC BUBBLE WRAP TYPE ENVELOPE

My ecology-sensitive friends are often trying to reuse items - such as packaging and bottles at least one more time to avoid throwing things into the trash after use and - let's face it - to economize.

I want to share what I do with envelopes that come to the house via shippers such as Amazon Prime. These envelopes are often made of plastic and have a version of bubble wrap inside them. I try to buy things local and don't often order on line but my friends do.

Here are some ideas.

Use the envelopes to organize other things such as paper, envelopes, cut outs, fabric samples and so on.  You can cut them and place them in another box with the open side up.

Use the envelopes to line and add padding to boxes that need a little insulation, such as Christmas ornaments.

Cut them into strips to pad boxes you are sending. You can cut them open to lay down a bottom layer and add a top layer before you put on the lid.

Are you transporting a hot meal?  Slip it into one of the envelopes to keep it warm longer.

Cut the envelope open and put it down in your car floor as a matt to protect your carpet from dirty shoes.  (I'm not sure about the driver's seat as they are light and can shift around but the passenger seats for sure.

Art projects : You can cut these envelopes up and paint or otherwise decorate them.

Think of more ways to reuse them.  Send me a comment to post.

NOT TOO LATE TO SAVE THE OCEAN?

DAILY MAIL : IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO SAVE THE OCEANS BY 2050 by Jonathan Chadwick

Excerpt: Although humans have greatly altered sea life to its detriment in the past, the researchers found evidence of the remarkable resilience of marine life.

This include particularly spectacular cases of recovery7, such as the humpback whale, which was brought to the brink of extinction in the 1960's, with just a few hundred surviving in the wild, a result of commercial whaling.

WHAT IS RECYCLEABLE?

THE OCEAN CLEAN UP - NEW MACHINE TO CLEAN UP PLASTIC GARBAGE PATCHES

THE OCEAN CLEAN UP NON PROFIT
EXCERPT: "Plastic pollution in the world's oceans is one of the biggest environmental issues of our time, impacting more than 600 marine species.

DAILY MAIL UK on INVENTOR'S OCEAN CLEANING BOOM : BOYAN SLAT

Boyan is only twenty five years old.

Excerpt: "Having addressed issues caused by the boom's drifting speed, large waves and damage at sea, the device is now successfully  helping to clean up the Pacific.

The system, which drifts slowly across the sea and is emptied by visiting ships is currently gathering together rubbish between California and Hawaii.

The device is capable of catching floating waster ranging in size from discarded fishing nets and car tired down to plastic chips one milimeter in size."

GULF OF MEXICO LITTERED WITH CIGARETTE BUTTS and PLASTIC BOTTLES

MARINE DEBRIS NOAA:  Read all about the program of debris removal and the partners.

EXCERPT: Marine debris in the Gulf of Mexico ranges from large concentrations of litter ( i.e. cigarette butts and plastic bottles) that find their way through the storm drains to the beaches to large 190 foot derelict vessels that disturb marshes and seagrass habitats.  The NOAA Marine Debris Program aims to prevent and reduce marine debris in the Gulf of Mexico thorough education, research, removal, and response to large debris events. ...

CLEAN BEACH POSTER CONTEST - 3rd to 5th GRADERS ENTER SOON!

BEACHES - LA COUNTY - CLEAN BEACH POSTER CONTEST

Department of Beaches and Harbors! is sponsoring this contest and if you win, your art will appear on trash cans!

This site has a video and some fun activities for children.

SUMMER ENDS - SCHOOL BEGINS - REMEMBER TO REUSE and RECYCLE

Those of you who live by a beach probably know that you should not only take home with you anything you brought in, because even beach garbage cans with open lids can become scattered contents, but also take any other refuse you find, in particular glass, metal, and PLASTIC.  Plastic can break down in the waves and against the rocks but into MICRO-PARTICLES that are digested when sea life eats and breathes.

MICROPARTICLES of plastic also make it into the FOOD CHAIN, and HUMANS have been tested and found to have plastic within their bodies.

This is especially serious when found in women's breasts.

It's possible that microparticles and other chemicals (after all plastic is a chemical) are causing CANCER in humans.

If possible, take water to the beach or out with you in containers that are not made of PLASTIC.  Glass does break and the lids can be a problem, but clean water in clean glass containers is preferable to plastic or metal.

Some of my friends have bought reusuable aluminum water bottles.

I know aluminum is also controversial but I believe PLASTIC is the greater problem.

Siren

BEACH CLEAN UP!

If you live near a shore, chances are there is some volunteer group that you can get together with to clean up the beach.  Plastics are especially important to retrieve from the beaches, but all fast food containers, cold drink cans and bottles, everything you bring in,  should be picked up and taken to a recycling place or put into home bins for pick up. 

Group efforts give you a chance to meet other people who are ecology and animal welfare advocates. But if EVERYONE was mindful about taking all their trash home with them in the first place the beaches would have less refuse on them to clean up between group efforts. 

Remember that it takes forever for plastics to degrade and even small worn pieces can be swallowed and kill fish and other sea creatures and birds.

STARBUCKS TO ELIMINATE PLASTIC STRAWS by 2010

NPR: STARBUCKS GOODBYE PLASTIC STRAWS

EXCERPT: The company says the move, when fully implemented, could mean a billion fewer plastic straws across its stores each year. And it's a part of Starbucks' $10 million investment in creating recyclable and compostable cups around the world.

SEA OF PLASTIC - WORSE THAN EVER - BENOIT LECOMTE

WASHINGTON POST - SEA OF PLASTIC PACIFIC OCEAN SWIM

BEN LECOMTE has decided to make himself and his swim into a scientific experiment.

EXCERPT: Before French marathon swimmer Benoit Lecomte began his six-month long attempt Tuesday to become the first to swim across the Pacific Ocean, he prepared for a number of possible challenges such as sharks, extremely cold water — and “plastic smog.”

That’s the term scientists use to describe billions of pieces of microplastic in the sea.

On his way from eastern Japan to San Francisco — a distance of 5,600 miles — the 51-year-old swimmer will encounter a lot of those microplastic particles, most of which have broken down from larger plastic items or deliberately included by manufacturers in body wash or toothpaste. In the Pacific, the biggest accumulation of plastic smog is about the size of Germany, France and Britain combined and Lecomte will swim right through it.