This brief article manages to get to the heart of the problem with plastics and it’s entitled “Oil-Rich Countries Hinder the Global Plastics Treaty”. Here’s the link: https://www.earthday.org/oil-rich-countries-hinder-the-global-plastics-treaty/ . Bottom line, we can’t recycle our way out of the mess we’ve created for ourselves and the planet. As the article states, “Limiting, and eventually ending, plastic production is the only way toward a future free from the chokehold of plastic pollution.”. The article closes by urging you to add your voice to the Global Plastics Treaty petition. You CAN make a difference! Thank you Earthday.org!
Category: Plastics
Tell the EPA: plastic waste is NOT a renewable fuel
A friend of mine recently forwarded to me an article from BeyondPlastics.org. Check it out:
“Taking a page from George Orwell, the U.S. EPA is actually encouraging big companies to turn waste plastics into fossil fuels to be burned through it’s Renewable Fuel Standard program. But there’s absolutely nothing “renewable” about using plastics as fuel.
Please click here now to add your name to Beyond Plastics’ petition calling on the EPA to stop supporting “chemical recycling” and other false solutions to our plastic pollution crisis.
“Chemical recycling” is a polluting false solution to our plastic pollution crisis that’s being aggressively promoted by Big Plastic to enable the industry to continue to produce massive amounts of plastics (and profits).
“Chemical recycling” (also called “advanced recycling”, “molecular recycling”, “waste to fuel”, gasification, or pyrolysis) refers to a suite of processes that use high heat, chemicals or pressure to turn plastic waste into fossil fuels and other feedstocks that are most often burned.
It’s got a lot of names but no matter what you call it, making fuel from plastic is worse in many ways for the climate, our environment, and human health than simply burning fossil fuels.
If you’d like to learn more about this troubling trend at the EPA, I highly recommend reading this eye-opening ProPublica expose on the health and environmental hazards of so-called “chemical recycling”.
So-called “chemical recycling” is highly problematic because it creates toxic emissions and end products, typically uses more energy and emits more greenhouse gases than conventional recycling or even virgin plastic production, it requires huge investments of money and has not yet been proven viable at scale, and it relies on non-existent clean streams of used plastic to work even though the lack of clean used plastics is already a major stumbling block to conventional plastics recycling.
In addition to all of these critical issues, “chemical recycling” does nothing to turn off the plastic tap and would not reduce the demand for virgin plastics. We can’t afford to waste time and money investing in this false solution at the expense of enacting effective, true solutions to the plastic pollution crisis.
I hope you will join us in urging the EPA to stop supporting “chemical recycling” projects through its Renewable Fuel Standard Program and urge the agency to support solutions to our plastic pollution crisis that actually work and are readily available right now, such as eliminating plastic packaging and advancing reuse and refill systems.
Please add your name here then forward this email to your family and friends and urge them to join you in calling on the EPA to change course.
If you are active on social media, you can also like and share this action there using the links below:
Thank you so much for your help.
Cheers,
Judith Enck
President, Beyond Plastics
Former U.S. EPA Regional Administrator”
Consumer Alert!
This is being repeated because it’s too important not to do so. My wife and I do a lot of our shopping at our local Safeway grocery stores. They’ve been working hard, as do many grocers these days, in trying to provide products that are sustainable and organic. That said, they recently took a WRONG TURN in the plastic packaging of many of their O Organics product line and it’s up to us to remind them.
Please note the following statement from O Organics, one of Safeway’s premier product lines:
“Why O Organics® ?
With O Organics®, you know that what you feed your family is actually good for them. Because all O Organics® products are USDA Certified Organic. They are made responsibly, sustainably and safely (my highlighting). They are always non-GMO, and grown without synthetic pesticides.
Dear fellow consumers: feeding your family microplastics is NOT good for them and pumping MORE plastics into our environment is NOT helpful. https://www.safeway.com/shop/lp/o-organics-organic.html is the home of O Organics. Please write to them and express your disdain for switching from paper containers to PLASTIC containers in many of their dairy products, e.g. Half and Half, Heavy Whipping Cream, etc. This switch happened recently in 2021! They also have countless other products that are being sold in plastic that could be packaged in a more sustainable manner. We, as consumers, need to fight back or we will truly be even more awash in plastic.
Safeway is trying to do the right thing by going to a product line like O Organics. We LAUD their efforts to bring us higher quality products. Unfortunately, they’ve become distracted from their mission and it’s up to us to remind them that we DO care about our environment and the products we consume. Please go to https://www.safeway.com/shop/lp/o-organics-organic.html and at the bottom of the page, under Quick Links, click on “Contact Us”. Scroll down to the lower part of the next screen to the header ‘Contact Us’ and the right most of three boxes is a box “Other Ways To Contact Us“. Click on “Comments and Questions” and explain to them that their sustainable practices are going BACKWARDS instead of forwards in their packaging. This page also has addresses for Customer Support Center and Media Inquiries. ANYTHING you can do to help mitigate this senseless INCREASE in plastics will help. Your planet and your body THANK YOU!!!
DARIGOLD switching from paper packaging to PLASTIC!
I wrote to Darigold.com this morning: they’ve switched from paper packaging for decades of their Half & Half dairy product to PLASTIC! (Barcode is 264002760) I sent the following to their contact URL:
“Good day!! Your website talks about Sustainability & Stewardship, the Environment, and then you switch from paper packaging to PLASTIC for your dairy products, e.g., Half & Half? Are you kidding me? For your reference that’s Barcode 2640022760. I am OUTRAGED!! Talk about hypocritical! You have such a wonderful product and then you put it in PLASTIC? WAKE UP!!!! Not only will I not buy your product now, but I’ll do everything in my power to spread the word of your hypocrisy, including reporting you to Green Peace, Ocean Conservancy, Oceana.org, 5gyres.org, my own church, and worthyvisions.com.”
I urge you to PLEASE go to darigold.com and click on the Contact button and beg them to stop adding PLASTIC to our environment. Thank you!
Oceans looking at 600 Million Metric Tons of Plastic by 2036.
This article comes to us from truthout.org on October 7th, 2022 in an article written by Tina Casey. According to Tina, “Global plastic waste is expected to triple by 2060 as fossil fuel stakeholders pursue new revenue in petrochemicals.” Here’s the link.
Victory! Canada bans single-use plastics!
This just in from OCEANA.ORG:
| On Monday, June 20, Canada banned six common single-use plastics! Canada is now one of the only countries in the world to ban a list of single-use plastics, including plastic bags, cutlery, stir sticks, six-pack rings, straws, and takeout containers made from problematic plastics, and is the second country ever to ban exporting these items. This announcement marks a victory for our oceans and the marine life that call them home, and positions Canada as a global leader in efforts to reduce single-use plastics. This victory would not have been possible without the support of ocean advocates like you. Check out the Oceana Canada blog to learn more about the national plastic ban and what comes next! |
This news was just too awesome not to share with you. Cheers!!!
Three to Get Ready…
(or standing on the shoulders of giants)
My readings have turned up some books that I simply have to share with you because they’re that good:
- Under the Sky We Make by Kimberly Nicholas, PHD, Putnam, 2021.
- The Story of More by Hope Jahren, Vintage, 2020.
- Draw Down by Paul Hawken, Penguin Books, 2017.
- Regeneration by Paul Hawken, Penguin Books, 2021.
Each of these authors, especially the first two, bring so much more than ugly data to the conversation on environmental issues. We CAN make a difference. They spell out in a VERY readable manner, the ways we can help. What we do and don’t do in the next decade have such far reaching impact on this planet as to make it difficult to fully comprehend. These authors put it into perspective for us in easy-to-understand analogies and anecdotes.
Perhaps most important is to not let our circumstances overwhelm us. Yes, we need to wake up and do our part! But we can only do what we can and encourage/be kind to ourselves and each other along the way.
Elephant Journal’s “Planet Over Plastic 31-Day Challenge: Elephant’s Favorite Weird Little Avoid-Plastic Tips.”
This article appeared in Elephant Journal in 2019. Guess what? It’s still relevant and even more critical today! https://www.elephantjournal.com/2019/07/planet-over-plastic-challenge-2019/ (1). There’s plenty in this article for ALL of us. When I read this article, I realize there’s so much more that I can be doing with very little effort on my part. And while we’re at it, let’s not forget about H.R. 5389, the “Reduce Act” presently sitting in Congress today (link)! If you haven’t already done so, let your U.S. Congress Representative know you support taxing the production of virgin plastics. Cheers!
(1) elephant journal | daily blog, videos, e-newsletter & magazine on yoga + organics + green living + non-new agey spirituality + ecofashion + conscious consumerism=it’s about the mindful life. 2022. Planet Over Plastic 31-Day Challenge: Elephant’s Favorite Personal Weird Little Avoid-Plastic Tips. | elephant journal. [online] Available at: <https://www.elephantjournal.com/2019/07/planet-over-plastic-challenge-2019/> [Accessed 4 January 2022].
What we can do about Plastics
Worthy visions are all well and good, but without planning and doing, that vision has little chance of materializing. In the Men’s Group I attend weekly, our organizer posed this question to us as a topic teaser: “What has to happen before…?” In the case of plastics, MANY things need to happen before we can even begin to see a light at the end of the plastics tunnel. Here’s just a few:
1) Taxes need to be levied on plastics – see H.R. 5389, the “Reduce Act” presently sitting in Congress – we need to tell our U.S. Representative we expect them to support it (in this case, our Olympic Peninsula WA Representative. Derek Kilmer already does, thank the Gods, but we should also write the others!).
2) We would do well to start making building blocks/material/consumer products from plastics that are tossed and giving tax breaks to those organizations that do so. Additionally, they have to be reused in a SAFE manner. Here’s just a few of these already happening:
https://www.intheknow.com/post/innovative-building-blocks-are-made-of-100-percent-plastic-waste/
Also https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/10/phillipines-company-turning-plastic-waste-into-building-materials/
Also https://www.wwf.org.au/news/blogs/17-cool-products-made-from-recycled-plastics
It goes without saying that we need to find and purchase food that is packaged to minimize the use of plastics. The following chart from the above link to weforum.org underscores this big time:
The above pie chart of estimated plastic waste by industrial sector was prepared by Ed Cook, Emma Burlow, Edward Kosior, Bernie Thomas, Brian Riise and John Gysbers in article “Eliminating avoidable plastic waste by 2042: a use-based approach to decision and policy making.” and presented by “Resourcing the Future Partnership Steering Group”. The article was published in collaboration with Reuters 27 Oct 2021 by Adrian PortugalJournalist, Reuters.
Consumer Alert!
My wife and I do a lot of our shopping at our local Safeway grocery stores. They’ve been working hard, as do many grocers these days, in trying to provide products that are sustainable and organic. That said, they recently took a WRONG TURN in the plastic packaging of many of their O Organics product line and it’s up to us to remind them.
Please note the following statement from O Organics, one of Safeway’s premier product lines:
“Why O Organics® ?
With O Organics®, you know that what you feed your family is actually good for them. Because all O Organics® products are USDA Certified Organic. They are made responsibly, sustainably and safely (my highlighting). They are always non-GMO, and grown without synthetic pesticides.
Dear fellow consumers: feeding your family microplastics is NOT good for them and pumping MORE plastics into our environment is NOT helpful. https://www.safeway.com/shop/lp/o-organics-organic.html is the home of O Organics. Please write to them and express your disdain for switching from paper containers to PLASTIC containers in many of their dairy products, e.g. Half and Half, Heavy Whipping Cream, etc. This switch happened just this year (2021)! They also have countless other products that are being sold in plastic that could be packaged in a more sustainable manner. We, as consumers, need to fight back or we will truly be even more awash in plastic.
Safeway is trying to do the right thing by going to a product line like O Organics. We LAUD their efforts to bring us higher quality products. Unfortunately, they’ve become distracted from their mission and it’s up to us to remind them that we DO care about our environment and the products we consume. Please go to https://www.safeway.com/shop/lp/o-organics-organic.html and at the bottom of the page, under Quick Links, click on “Contact Us”. Scroll down to the lower part of the next screen to the header ‘Contact Us’ and the right most of three boxes is a box “Other Ways To Contact Us“. Click on “Comments and Questions” and explain to them that their sustainable practices are going BACKWARDS instead of forwards in their packaging. This page also has addresses for Customer Support Center and Media Inquiries. ANYTHING you can do to help mitigate this senseless INCREASE in plastics will help. Your planet and your body THANK YOU!!!
worthyvisions.com 