Plastic

A lot of things can be made from recycled plastic - but what happens to them when they are thrown out or start to disintegrate?

That is one thing that has puzzled me for a long while when I have seen benches, fleeces etc made from recycled plastic.

“When plastic bottles are recycled they can be made into lots of things: t-shirts, sweaters, fleece jackets, insulation for jackets and sleeping bags, carpeting and more bottles. It takes about 10 bottles to make enough plastic fiber to make a cool new t-shirt.”

Just googled that Iam64 because you got me thinking.

I know next to nothing about how re-cycling works, though I do my best in abiding by our council recycling programme and attempts to minimise the amount of plastic we have. I read recently about attempts to make road surfaces from recycled plastic. It will be great if progress in recycling plastic can be made. I have uvpc windows fitted 20 years ago. My attempt to minimise maintenance and its costs have been successful but I'm feeling bad about adding to the amount of plastic around.

I think I read somewere hat the plastic littering the oceans is not only from thoughtlessly discarded bottles and such but from badly organised landfill. In other words rubbish that has been thrown away by conscientious people and then allowed to spew out into nature.

Only yesterday I saw a woman on TV who was banning plastic out of her life entirely and converting to glass and paper for storage in her kitchen. She also ran a shop that sold pasta from glass containers which she filled into paper bags for her customers. That's fine, but what happens to the plastic containers that she has thrown out to make room for them?

My DD and I were discussing this the other day and she said how hard she had tried to obtain groceries etc. on her weekly shop that were not in plastic of any sort. She does get a veg box, so no plastic there, but there is virtually nothing to be bought without plastic packaging. Even if you go to a real butchers, they wrap your purchases in plastic bags.

Each week when I go to the choral society we all have a drink in a disposable plastic cup. One quick swig and into landfill the cup goes. I always keep my cup and bring it back the next week - they all think I am crazy! But I cannot bear to see the waste.

What I find truly depressing is that it’s a global problem. In a recent report, Ocean Conservancy claims that China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are spewing out as much as 60 percent of the plastic waste that enters the world’s seas.

Great idea whitewave. Litter picking is an integral part of dog walking in our local park, as well as dogs, treat bags and pooh bags, the regulars often have a bag full of rubbish they've picked as they walked.
Even better idea - why can't everyone take their rubbish home and recycle it properly?

Quite a few bars and chains have stopped using plastic straws. I think the number quoted by the entire Wetherspoon chain was 70 million single-use straws a year !

There was a report in the Herald today about Ullapool, where they are no longer using plastic straws. The local primary school children have been lobbying local businesses (they got the idea from a primary school in Glasgow, apparently) and have persuaded them to stop issuing straws, or else use non-plastic ones (remember paper straws?) and, as it's a tourist hot-spot, perhaps the idea will spread further. Maybe we should all suggest it to our DGC so that other schools could do the same thing. There are few things more intimidating than a group of primary school children on a mission!

I tend to pick up general litter while I walk my dog. I think the area is less littered now than when I started!

I'm a rubbish picker upper too. Wherever I go, particularly the beach and the grass outside my flat.

Yes i agree and often clear rubbish from the beach if we are on a day out. Pity others think its ok to leave it instead of doing the same thing, though to be fair i think a lot comes from ships etc. It was shocking to see so much on the blue planet. Also pick up around my house on the pavement outside. Something i partucularly dislike.

Good idea. whitewave! Normally when I come home through the park I pick up cans and put them in my recycling bin, but after the Blue Planet (which we don't normally watch, so caught it by accident) I decided to pick up plastic bottles too. Unfortunately for my good intentions, any bottles in the park have been covered with snow and ice since then, so haven't started yet.