Credit: Montgomery Cty Division of Solid Waste Services via Flickr

Plastic has been around for over 100 years. It’s become such a staple of our man made environment that we don’t think twice about it. Every day items from our clothing, vehicles, homes, electronics and more  contain plastics. It’s an incredible product that has allowed us to produce a wide range of items. But what was once a revolutionary product promising a bright future has become a blight from an environmental perspective.

Forever plastic takes a look at the history of plastic from it humble origins the incredible range of products we see today. But the real story in the documentary is a close look at the recycling of plastics, and the challenges faced by the recycling industry. Most of us assume that everything we put in our blue boxes gets recycled and we feel better having taken one small step to being green. But as the documentary shows, recycling isn’t always that simple.

Forever Plastic interviews a commodities trader, his job is to find a market for the recycled plastics. If there is no market demand for a particular type of plastic it gets sorted out from the recycled items and often either accumulates in storage or is brought to a landfill. It was shocking to see how little of the recycled items were of no value to his firm as he had no buying market to take certain plastics. Only 1/3 of the plastics in a blue bin were re-usable in the sample shown.

For example the clear plastic egg cartons that are often assumed to be recyclable are in fact not being recycled at all. It turns out there is no market for that particular type of plastic. Which means these containers are simple shipped to a landfill in the end. Even if the manufacturer creates a product with recyclable plastic it may not be recyclable, it depends what recycling processing plants exist in your community and if there is a market for that particular plastic.

To add more confusion to the mix, it turns out what most people think is a recycling symbol on the bottom of plastic packaging does not actually indicate a product is recyclable at all. The triangular arrows present on most packages is called a mobius loop, this symbol is not owned by anyone and it’s application is not regulated in any way. In 1988 the society of the plastics industry decided to incorporate this logo in their resin identification system. The plastics industry added a number inside the arrows, but all this indicates is what resin the plastic is made out of. So when you see this logo on the bottom of a package it doesn’t necessarily guarantee recyclability, it’s actually quite meaningless except for the number inside which indicates the type of plastic it is.  But the plastics industry refuses to change the misunderstood symbol.

The government of Canada has made recommendations to the plastics industry. Namely that the manufacturers clearly label the front of the product with a recycling symbol that indicates a product is truly recyclable. But these are just voluntary guidelines, manufacturers are free to choose if they want to follow the guidelines.

As it turns out recycling isn’t as simple as one might think. It involves many companies, manufactures, markets and different regulations in each municipality. The manufacturers say they have done their due diligence, and point to the recyclers, the recyclers point to the market demand, and the market points back to the governing body.

Forever plastic was a great documentary, it really showed how much work there is to do in Canada before we have a truly green recycling program. So what can consumers do? Recycling is defenitely something that should be continued, but it’s important consumers get involved. Contact your city, town or municipality. Often they have a list of acceptable products on their website or can direct you to the information elsewhere. And most of all get involved let your civic officials know you want better and more thorough recycling in your area.

For more information on Forever Plastic click here

Credit *clarity* via Flickr

I was recently caught in a discussion over organic food. Our family eats quite a bit of organic food everything from dairy, meat and most of our vegetables. We prefer to eat organic mostly for the health benefits and the reduction in chemicals use that goes into the environment and our bodies. But in a recent discussion the opinion was expressed that organic food was a marketing ploy and that we were being ripped off. I of course defended our choices by stating that organics are supposed to be safer and the certification process is supposed to protect that.

But the discussion did prompt me to think twice about organics, was organic food really worth it? Are we really just suckers of a current trend, like the Atkins diet craze a few years back? What if the organic certification wasn’t really being followed and we were consuming the same apples everyone else was albeit at a higher price?

While you can never be absolutely certain a producer isn’t circumventing the organic certification, there are some facts that have led me to believe my original reasons for going organic were the right choices to make.

Everyone acknowledges that current vegetables and fruits are sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This is not a debate, this is a fact. What is debated is whether these chemicals have any effect on our bodies. Some say that these chemicals are benign and without them we could never have the abundant food harvests cultivated in modern farming. In addition using these chemicals are necessary if we are to feed an ever increasing global population.

On the other side of the argument the organic camp states that any amount of chemical ingested is bad for you. Children in particular are most susceptible due to their size and decreased capacity to process these chemicals. And the chemicals also pose an environmental threat as ground water contamination from run off.

So what is the risk from these chemicals?

Studies have show that many chemicals still exist in our bodies long after consumption. PCBs for example can be found in every person on the planet even those with no direct contact from this chemical. PCBs have been found amongst the most remote indigenous tribes to the upper reaches of the arctic circle.

In addition according to a Fast Company article posted earlier, it states that the chemical companies in the US are not regulated by a particular government body. That means the onus to prove that a chemical is safe rests solely on the chemical manufacturer’s shoulders. In the case of Bisphenol A the chemical manufacturers admit it’s bad for you, but again they revert back to the argument that it’s safe so long as it’s in small enough quantities. Studies have show that Bisphenol A can take some time to pass our bodies, during that period we are exposed to more Bisphenol A so it has an accumulating effect. With millions on the line and shareholders holding the executives accountable, how thoroughly are products like Bisphenol A being tested?

We know that chemicals are being sprayed on conventional fruits and vegetables, and we also know that there are some unanswered questions about the chemicals that surround us. While it’s true I can not proove inconclusively that organics practices have been followed, if there is a food option that has a higher likely hood to contain fewer chemicals I’ll take it. And when it comes to my child no price is too steep to reduce exposure to chemicals.

But what about the cost? Critics of organic foods also point out the increased cost of the everyday food items. This is not something I debate either, we definitely see a larger grocery bill than we did previously, but we also buy half if not more of our food as organic, I suspect we eat more organic food than the average consumer so our bill may be larger than the average organic consumer.

According to the USDA in 2006 the average American household spent 9.6% of their income on food. While this may seem like a lot of money consider these facts; India (39.4 percent) and Indonesia (49.9 percent) are among the highest when it comes to the amount of disposable income spent on food according to an article published in the Salem news. In reality most of us have the resources to purchase foods that are less likely to contain pesticides. While others may not want to spend that much, there are options.

For instance certain foods absorb more chemicals than others or are more susceptible to pesticides when sprayed. Start with the foods you eat that have the greatest risk and purchase only those as organic. In essence buy organic strategically, you don’t have to convert your shopping habits overnight. (For a list of the foods with the highest toxicity levels jump to the links below.)

While I realize not everyone can afford to purchase organic, if you can afford it, why not reduce your chemical exposure? I for one am happy to reduce our risk even if it comes at a higher cost, and I think my daughter will thank me for it later.

Let me know what you think in the comments, I’d love to hear about others opinions or experiences.

Click here for a list of which fruits and veggies have the highest pesticide loads.

List of sources:
Percent of us income spend on food
Article providing stats on income spent on food globally

VBS.tv Video Series

We all know the problems plastics pose, their resource use as a petroleum and chemical product, the leeching of chemicals, and the problem with waste once the product they make up is no longer needed.

However one problem that isn’t as widely know is how everyday products are infiltrating our waterways slowly making their way into our Oceans and collecting in the north pacific. The most widely know of these spots is the North Pacific Gyre, aka the North Pacific Garbage Patch.

The Gyre is a slowly moving, clockwise spiral of currents created by a high-pressure system of air currents in the norther pacific ocean. The area is an oceanic desert , filled with tiny phytoplankton but few big fish or mammals. Due to its lack of large fish and gentle breezes, fishermen and­ s­ailors rarely travel through the gyre. But the area is filled with something besides plankton: trash, millions of pounds of it, most of it plastic. It’s the largest landfill in the world, and it floats in the middle of the ocean.

VBS.tv has presented a 12 part documentary on the gyre, each episode lasting about 5 minutes give or take. It’s a little slow in the middle and there is some swearing but I think the message is what’s important and in the end they show the average person just what we are putting in our ocean.

Captain Charles Moore has dedicated himself to exposing the gyre and studying it effects. Towards the end he reflects on the gyre and what it says about us as a society, here are his thoughts:

Critical thinking it’s  a faculty that’s in danger in our present day society. We live in the happy consciousness era. We’re the strongest nation on earth (the US), globalization is inevitable, we’ve got more stuff, he who dies with the most toys wins.

I think that’s why I’m so gung-ho on this plastic thing, because it’s a symbol of the wrong direction we’re taking as a society as a whole. What is the promise of society? Descartes said there was such a thing as a social contract. That we give up our individual liberties to the society as a whole because it can liberate us greater than we could do by ourselves. Is that still the case? Are we getting the bang for the buck out of our society and our social institutions that we gave up our anarchistic tendencies for? We’re caught in the trade winds of our time, we can’t succeed from society, but we have to plant the seed of the future in the present.

Warning: this video series uses some coarse language.
Watch the VBS.tv series

More on the north pacific gyre:
Treehugger article on the gyre

Credit: Shrff14 via Flickr

With the amount of money we spend on bottled water we could bring fresh water to all the people in the world who need it. The American people, including most western nations, have been conned into thinking that bottled water is healthier than tap water. In fact the regulations for tap water in the US are much stiffer than for bottled water in most situations. The same is true of most western countries and as regulations pass in other parts of the world the same holds true there as well.

Bottled water costs about a thousand times as much as tap water. We complain about the higher prices of gasoline but we’ll pay even more for water that’s often inferior to what we can get from the tap.

And this doesn’t take into account the environmental impact from bottled water. Oil is used to produce the plastic bottles and even more oil and energy is consumed transporting and distributing a product that we can get from our taps for next to nothing per liter.

Bottled water is one of the easiest items to remove from your carbon footprint. Get a reusable canteen such as a sigg or kleen kanteen and open the tap. If you don’t like the taste of your water get a Brita pitcher and filter your water. While Brita filters have their own environmental issues, such as distribution and adding to landfills, they aren’t as significant as those presented by bottled water.

For more on bottled water and related issues follow the links below:
Treehugger: A world of reasons to ditch bottled water
Earth Policy Institute: Pouring Resources Down the Drain