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originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
May 2012 – Plastic now outweighs plankton in the ocean.
Someone asked the question, “Are you mad? How mad?” the other day... Yeah, I’m pretty f# mad right about now.
Anybody else have a realistic approach? Anybody else PO’d about humans being stupid enough to make two of these in our ocean?
‘Garbage patches’ are found in the world’s oceans wherever there is a gyre. The Pacific is not the only place in the world’s oceans where you will find a concentration of plastic; ‘garbage patches’ also exist in the other four major gyres of the oceans: in the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, South Pacific and Indian Oceans, and in several smaller gyres such as the North Pacific Subpolar Gyre, mentioned above.
The currents in the gyre suck in floating material from around the periphery and trap it in the centre. The waves and currents break up the plastic into smaller and smaller pieces, but it never goes away. The gyre is like a huge processing machine – continuously taking in large pieces of plastic and grinding them up into smaller pieces. But it’s a machine with no output, so it is gradually clogging up with plastic.
100% Plant-Based PET Bottle Wars Heat Up March 3, 2017 by Jessica Lyons Hardcastle biobased PET plastic bottleThe world’s two largest bottled water companies, Danone and Nestlé Waters, have teamed up with a California startup to develop and launch at commercial scale a PET plastic bottle made from 100 percent bio-based material. The joint effort of Danone, Nestlé Waters and Origin Materials, called the NaturALL Bottle Alliance, aims make the technology, which the partners say will enable a 100 percent renewable and recyclable bottle, available to the entire food and beverage industry “in record time.” It come as other multi-nationals including Coca-Cola and Toyota are also racing to produce 100 percent plant-based plastics at commercial scale — a target that has thus far eluded manufacturers.
The market for bio-based PET is projected to reach $13 billion by 2023, according to a market research report. Last summer Toyota Tsusho, the Toyota Group’s trading arm, invested an undisclosed amount in sustainable technology company Anellotech, which is working to make 100 percent bio-based PET plastic. And in 2015, Coca-Cola and Virent produced the world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant materials — but at demonstration scale. Coca-Cola has been producing partially bio-based PlantBottle since 2009, a product comprised of 30 percent plant materials. The newly formed NaturALL Bottle Alliance project uses non-edible biomass feedstocks, such as previously used cardboard and sawdust. The partners say the bio-based PET will be as lightweight, transparent, recyclable and protective of the product as petroleum-based PET. Danone and Nestlé Waters are providing expertise and teams, as well as financial support to Origin Materials, although the companies did not disclose their investment amount.
Origin Materials has already produced samples of 80 percent bio-based PET in its pilot plant in Sacramento, the companies say. Construction of a “pioneer plant” will begin in 2017, with production of the first samples of 60-plus percent biobased PET to start in 2018. The initial volume goal for this first step is to bring 5,000 metric tons of bio-based PET to the market. The alliance aims to develop the process for producing at least 75 percent bio-based PET plastic bottles at commercial scale as early as in 2020, scaling up to 95 percent in 2022. The partners say they will continue to conduct research to increase the level of bio-based content, with the objective of reaching 100 percent.
“Our goal is to establish a circular economy for packaging by sourcing sustainable materials and creating a second life for all plastics,” said Frederic Jouin, head of R&D for plastic materials at Danone, in a statement. “We believe it’s possible to replace traditional fossil materials with bio-based packaging materials. By teaming up and bringing together our complementary expertise and resources, the Alliance can move faster in developing 100 percent renewable and recyclable PET plastic at commercial scale.”edit on 2pmf31473531 by waftist because: (no reason given)
The Ocean Cleanup is developing a passive system, using the ocean currents as its driving force to catch and concentrate the plastic. By suspending a large sea anchor in a deep, slow moving water layer, we can slow down the system enough so that the plastic moves faster than the cleanup system. This will cause the plastic to accumulate against the cleanup system.
The Ocean Cleanup develops advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. A full-scale deployment of our systems is estimated to clean up 50 % of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years.
originally posted by: Plotus
Wonder how much the floating trash changes sea temperatures ?
I suspect that is true to a degree. I don't think we'll have the ability to do certain things until some lessons, in many cases harsh ones, are learned.
originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
a reply to: testingtesting
Or turn it back to plastics. It is already ground up.
There are some smaller sea creatures actually using the one in he North for shelter.
a reply to: SpeakerofTruth
Maybe that is why we seem to be "trapped" here. We are banned from space until we clean up our room.
CO2, atmospheric soot, plastic islands the size of US states, oil spills, nuclear waste,... yeah, I'd keep the dirty monkeys from trashing our neck of the woods too!
originally posted by: waftist
Hey here is some good news. Major manufactures as Nestle, Coca Cola,Pepsi and Toyota are designing plant based plastics! Yay!!
I would like to see hemp used as a source because of it's availability and strength.
Nestle and the soda peeps have been inundated over the years with complaints of plastic manufacturing. There is hope that we still have a voice.
Let's flag this thread so it can make front page and add to the awareness of both problem and some good solution ideas.
Yes, there are solutions. It's important to get big money behind it to do it, and I'd say those companies are a significant start.
100% Plant-Based PET Bottle Wars Heat Up March 3, 2017 by Jessica Lyons Hardcastle biobased PET plastic bottleThe world’s two largest bottled water companies, Danone and Nestlé Waters, have teamed up with a California startup to develop and launch at commercial scale a PET plastic bottle made from 100 percent bio-based material. The joint effort of Danone, Nestlé Waters and Origin Materials, called the NaturALL Bottle Alliance, aims make the technology, which the partners say will enable a 100 percent renewable and recyclable bottle, available to the entire food and beverage industry “in record time.” It come as other multi-nationals including Coca-Cola and Toyota are also racing to produce 100 percent plant-based plastics at commercial scale — a target that has thus far eluded manufacturers.
The market for bio-based PET is projected to reach $13 billion by 2023, according to a market research report. Last summer Toyota Tsusho, the Toyota Group’s trading arm, invested an undisclosed amount in sustainable technology company Anellotech, which is working to make 100 percent bio-based PET plastic. And in 2015, Coca-Cola and Virent produced the world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant materials — but at demonstration scale. Coca-Cola has been producing partially bio-based PlantBottle since 2009, a product comprised of 30 percent plant materials. The newly formed NaturALL Bottle Alliance project uses non-edible biomass feedstocks, such as previously used cardboard and sawdust. The partners say the bio-based PET will be as lightweight, transparent, recyclable and protective of the product as petroleum-based PET. Danone and Nestlé Waters are providing expertise and teams, as well as financial support to Origin Materials, although the companies did not disclose their investment amount.
Origin Materials has already produced samples of 80 percent bio-based PET in its pilot plant in Sacramento, the companies say. Construction of a “pioneer plant” will begin in 2017, with production of the first samples of 60-plus percent biobased PET to start in 2018. The initial volume goal for this first step is to bring 5,000 metric tons of bio-based PET to the market. The alliance aims to develop the process for producing at least 75 percent bio-based PET plastic bottles at commercial scale as early as in 2020, scaling up to 95 percent in 2022. The partners say they will continue to conduct research to increase the level of bio-based content, with the objective of reaching 100 percent.
“Our goal is to establish a circular economy for packaging by sourcing sustainable materials and creating a second life for all plastics,” said Frederic Jouin, head of R&D for plastic materials at Danone, in a statement. “We believe it’s possible to replace traditional fossil materials with bio-based packaging materials. By teaming up and bringing together our complementary expertise and resources, the Alliance can move faster in developing 100 percent renewable and recyclable PET plastic at commercial scale.”
originally posted by: waftist
Hey here is some good news. Major manufactures as Nestle, Coca Cola,Pepsi and Toyota are designing plant based plastics! Yay!!