Plastics and similar materials

[rainbow]

It's going to be a miserable few weeks at sea though isn't it?

I do hope that there will be no effluent discharges into the sea. Composting toilets, and no plastic packaging, one assumes.

[Rum]

I presume everyone saw this deeply depressing story.

Why is there microplastic in Arctic snow? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49343293

Even in the Arctic, microscopic particles of plastic are falling out of the sky with snow, a study has found.
The scientists said they were shocked by the sheer number of particles they found: more than 10,000 of them per litre in the Arctic.
It means that even there, people are likely to be breathing in microplastics from the air - though the health implications remain unclear.
The region is often seen as one of the world's last pristine environments.
A German-Swiss team of researchers has published the work in the journal Science Advances.

[JimC]

The law of unintended consequences bites humanity on the bum very frequently...

[rainbow]

The law of unintended consequences bites humanity on the bum very frequently...

A few years ago, I heard that they added starch and other additives to plastic packaging so that they would break down. Well the binder would decompose, leaving very small bits of the polymer that wouldn't be noticeable.
...except now maybe?

[Tero]

Trump will save plastics!
http://karireport.blogspot.com/2019/08/ ... trump.html

[Tero]

Nothing stops or regulates how much new plastic is made:
A report from ICIS, a plastics market research company, says the petrochemical industry will likely double its plastic manufacturing capacity from 2016 to 2024. And the American Chemistry Council, which represents, among others, plastics manufacturers, says it expects industry to spend nearly $25 billion to build new plastic manufacturing capacity by 2025. (That compares with the $1.5 billion that the industry plans to spend on cleaning up plastic waste.) The World Economic Forum has issued a report on plastic that predicts a doubling of production in the next two decades.
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/75086403 ... hout-china

[rainbow]

...so it turns out that they actually haven't shown that plasic in our food isn't good for us.
Extra fibre?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... who-report

[Brian Peacock]

But we do know that lots of plastics are manufactured, stored, and ultimately degrade in ways that are bad for us and the environment - I mean, if you have a large vinyl collection you probably shouldn't enter the room in which it is stored, or ever play any of it again.

[Woodbutcher]

...so it turns out that they actually haven't shown that plasic in our food isn't good for us.
Extra fibre?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... who-report

Eventually there will be enough of it so that we'll be able to excrete our shit bagged. No wiping required!

[rainbow]

...so it turns out that they actually haven't shown that plasic in our food isn't good for us.
Extra fibre?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... who-report

Eventually there will be enough of it so that we'll be able to excrete our shit bagged. No wiping required!

The upsides are endless.