# data[].attributes.body
Irish video - must see

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a paper cut out information commissioned by MARLISCO, UCC to highlight the effects of marine litter. I learned a load by making it - for instance I never knew before that helium balloons and chinese lanterns look like jelly fish when they land in the water and they get ingested by sea turtles... or about microplastics coming off our clothes and cosmetics. I painted the textures onto real paper, scanned it in to the computer, drew in photoshop and animated in Motion. Anthony Hanley composed the music. It was, as ever, a pleasure to work with him. Tom Doyle, also a pleasure to work with, came to me with the concept and together we worked up a script.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The lowly cucumber remains crisp for three days at your local market. Wrap it in polyethylene shrink wrap and its longevity extends to 14. That, in short, explains the rapid growth of plastic food packaging, projected to become a $370 billion market next year.

With those numbers, it comes as little surprise that the way humans buy and consume food is having such a tangible impact on the oceans. Nine of the Ocean Conservancy's top ten items retrieved from its annual beach cleanups are related to food and drink. Food packaging remains the second most common trash item collected during the group's annual beach cleanup in 2018. And now for the first time, plastic forks, knives, and spoons have made the list, according to the group's new report.

Aside from food packaging-more than 3.7 million individual wrappers were collected-the list of disposable plastics includes straws, stirrers, cutlery, bottles and caps, grocery bags and other plastic bags (for food and other uses), lids, cups, and plates.

The exception is cigarette butts, which contain plastic filters, and has remained the No. 1 item for many years.

"Cigarette butts are a separate issue and they win the race every year," says George Leonard, the Ocean Conservancy's chief scientist.

"If you run down the rest of the top ten list, what strikes me is that the vast majority are not recyclable. To the extent we talk about recycling as a solution to ocean plastic problems, it would have to get to 50 or 90 percent, which is a huge lift and gets complicated very quickly," he says.

The 2018 cleanup also drew more than a million people for the first time. They collected more than 23.3 million pounds of trash on beaches in more than 120 nations, and catalogued nearly a million separate items, creating a snapshot of nearly everything humans make and use.

The cleanup collection included more than 69,000 toys, more than 16,000 appliances, a chandelier, an artificial Christmas tree, a garage door, and a cash register.

The organization is conducting an extended analysis of data, looking for global patterns that could inform the effort to keep plastic trash out of the oceans, Leonard says.

What struck Leonard about the 2018 cleanup wasn't the volume of items retrieved-more people on the beach collect more trash-but what the volume of people turning out to pick it up says about the issue of plastic pollution.

"Volunteerism is alive and well," he says. "And the growing outrage about oceans is a real motivator."

This year's cleanup is scheduled for September 21.

National Geographic is committed to reducing plastics pollution. Learn more about our non-profit activities at natgeo.org/plastics. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics, and take your pledge.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Plastic food packaging was top trash in global beach cleanup

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The lowly cucumber remains crisp for three days at your local market. Wrap it in polyethylene shrink wrap and its longevity extends to 14. That, in short, explains the rapid growth of plastic food packaging, projected to become a $370 billion market next year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This weekend hundreds of supermarkets across Ireland are having to deal with large volumes of extra plastic and cardboard handed back by their customers.

Saturday's "shop and drop" initiative is to highlight excessive packaging, according to environmental groups, who are urging shoppers to politely remove packaging and leave it at the checkout. It is being organised by the "Sick of Plastic Campaign", a joint initiative by VOICE and Friends of the Earth Ireland (FoE).

The day of action "gives voice to people", by allowing them show their concerns about excessive use of plastic, and is far from being a token gesture, according to FoE director Oisín Coghlan.

How much plastic do we generate?

- Ireland is the top producer of plastic waste in Europe; generating an average of 61kgs per person every year - almost double what the UK produces.

- We produce the equivalent of nearly 2,000 water bottles, or 5,550 disposal coffee cups, per person annually.

- 30 per cent of the EU's plastic is recycled (the equivalent figure in Ireland is 34 per cent); 39 per cent is incinerated, 31 per cent goes to landfills.

- More than 60 per cent of plastic waste still comes from packaging - but only 40 per cent of that packaging is recycled.

- In 2015, Ireland generated 282,148 tonnes of plastic packaging waste.

- China accepted 7 million tonnes of the world's plastic scrap in 2016 - more than half of all the waste plastic exported globally that year.

- Up to 97 per cent of Irish plastic went to China because of our inability to deal with it at home up to 2017, before that market closed.

- We have recycled 8.5 billion plastic bottles since 1997.

- 83 per cent of Dublin Bay Prawns have ingested microplastics.

How do you reduce plastic when shopping - 10 tips:

- Leave plastic and excess cardboard packaging behind at your supermarket either at the till or in a designated container.

- Try to buy loose fruit and veg - you end up buying less. You can limit non-recyclable packaging and food waste by only buying what you need - less food items go off.

- Make or buy reusable cotton bags, or put the produce loose in your own shopping bag.

- When there's a choice, buy items with paper or cardboard packaging.

- Ask your supermarket to offer items such as pasta, rice and nuts in bulk, and bring your own containers for them.

- Do the same with meat, chicken and fish. Ask your butcher to wrap your purchases in butcher paper rather than plastic bags - or bring a reusable container such a piece of tupperware.

- Break up packaging where possible and take one or two items if that is all that is needed - it sends a message to supermarkets not to use excessive packaging

- Buy fresh bread if possible - or break open packaging and leave it behind.

- Where packaging is inevitable, favour hard plastic (which is recyclable) over soft film which is generally not.

- With toiletries: Use shampoo bars rather than plastic containers (though they are recyclable).

Any other advice on ditching plastic?

- Use the right bottle - instead of buying disposable plastic water bottles every time you're on the move, why not buy a reusable one and fill it up before you leave the house, saving money and the planet? Also, check out refill.ie which shows where you can refill your bottles for free.

- Use the right coffee cup - buy a reusable coffee cup for takeaways. The vast majority of the 200 million takeaway cups we use annually are not recyclable here. Many coffee shops and cafes offer financial incentives for using your own reusable cups.

- Refuse plastic straws and ask bars and retailers to invest in paper straws instead. If you can't give them up, switch to paper straws. They're strong, biodegradable and a great alternative to plastic.

- Refuse single-use plastic coffee stirrers, cutlery and water cups all of which remain in the environment for hundreds of years.

- Use one durable bag - Grab a canvas bag that can be put in your handbag or pocket for shopping.

- Say goodbye to cling film - Wrap your sandwiches up in wax wrap. It's malleable, water resistant and airtight while also keeping food fresh.
Sources: VOICE environmental group and Brother Ireland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Plastic: how much do we generate and how can we reduce it?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This weekend hundreds of supermarkets across Ireland are having to deal with large volumes of extra plastic and cardboard handed back by their customers. Saturday's "shop and drop" initiative is to highlight excessive packaging, according to environmental groups, who are urging shoppers to politely remove packaging and leave it at the checkout.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As a parent, nothing is more humbling than when your child starts asking science questions that you don't know the answers to. That's why I was so excited to discover the science comics written and illustrated by Maris Wicks that delve into the science behind topics like primates and the human body with the help of lots of colorful pictures and fun story telling.

I got the opportunity to chat with Maris Wicks about her book called Coral Reefs: Cities of the Ocean. Thank you for being here, Maris!

EE: Your book covers a lot of ground on coral reefs, from types of coral to the coral life cycle, and even insights into the scientific method like categorizing by genus and species. What do you find most fascinating about coral reefs? Of all the things in the ocean-and across science-that you could have written about, what made you choose coral reefs?

MW: I love the whole ocean. Bonus fun fact: my name Maris actually means "from the sea" or "from the ocean." I grew up in New England and the closest ocean to me is pretty cold ocean water with intertidal animals (sea stars, hermit crabs, snails) and the coral reef was really a place that I never imagined myself ever going to. So I think that's what kind of started my interest-a habitat or an environment that I had never been able to see before. And then once I got older, the incredible amount of biodiversity or just the amount of different animals that live in a coral reef I found fascinating. It's kind of like visiting a really big city for the first time. So you have all these different people from all over living in one place doing all these different things and a coral reef is the same except instead of people you've got lots of different animals and some of those animals eat each other to survive.

Why are coral reefs important?

EE: In your book, our adorable little goby fish narrator explains that one billion people depend on coral reefs directly and then even more so do indirectly. Why are coral reefs important to humans?

MW: The number for the one billion people just has to do with how many people live near the ocean worldwide and how many people live in warmer areas near the ocean worldwide. But the rest of the world that doesn't live near the ocean or lives near a colder ocean needs coral reefs just as much as people who live near them. The folks that live nearby are using the coral reefs for food or for work like fishing or using the ocean's resources. We might do the same as well living far away. But without coral reefs, if you take them out of the picture, the rest of the ocean would suffer. Coral reefs are a really big puzzle piece to the puzzle that is Earth, and if you take them out the rest of the Earth can't really survive as well. If coral reefs went away then fish and ocean animals all over the world would decline or disappear. And if that happened - this kind of gets me scared to think about this because I don't want coral reefs to go away! They are really really important! - but if coral reefs weren't there it wouldn't just be the fish and whales and turtles, even small things like phytoplankton which are teeny tiny plant plankton in the middle of the ocean. If they were to go away then we would have less air to breathe on this planet. You need coral reefs for the planet to be healthy even if you don't live near them.

What is coral bleaching?

EE: So the thought of coral reefs going away sounds super scary, and we hear about coral bleaching and I knew that it was linked to the death of the coral, but until reading your book, I didn't realize exactly what causes it. Can you tell us what is coral bleaching?

MW: Yeah! Coral bleaching-I think before we can talk about it, we have to talk about coral's very special relationship with teeny tiny algae named zooxanthellae which is my favorite science word in all of science: "zooxanthellae." Corals and zooxanthellae live together in perfect harmony. It's a symbiotic relationship. The corals need the zooxanthellae to survive and the zooxanthellae need the corals to survive. The corals hang out there with the zooxanthellae, these little tiny algae-like plants, all over them and the zooxanthellae-for having a home that is the corals-will give the coral in return oxygen and food and really bright colors. If the temperature in the ocean nearby the corals increases or just goes up too much-if it gets too hot-the zooxanthellae say, "Ah! It's too hot! We can't survive here anymore! We're outta here!" and they actually leave the corals.

So what happens is that not only do the corals lose their beautiful colors, they also lose their major source of food and oxygen which is a HUGE problem. The good news is that if the temperatures go back to normal or if it's not too big of a temperature increase, the zooxanthellae might come back and the corals can recover. But if the temperature increases too much-if it gets too hot-the zooxanthellae will leave which means that the corals can survive for a little bit but eventually they'll die. That's one of the big scary parts that I think about. Because you do hear a lot about coral bleaching and you ask, "What is it? Is someone going in and bleaching the corals?" The reason why the word "bleaching" happens in there is because the corals literally turn white because their zooxanthellae friends are gone.

Pages

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As a parent, nothing is more humbling than when your child starts asking science questions that you don’t know the answers to. That’s why I was so excited to discover the science comics written and illustrated by Maris Wicks that delve into the science behind topics like primates and the

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A supermarket in Amsterdam opened Wednesday with an aisle that has more than 700 grocery items - and no plastic.

The store, Ekoplaza, said it is the first of its kind to have an entire aisle without plastic packaging. Instead, food is displayed in glass, metal and cardboard containers, as well as materials that can be composted.

While some of the packaging may look plastic, it's actually a biofilm made of trees and plants that will break down within 12 weeks in a home composter.

The products in the plastic-free section include: meat, rice, sauces, milk, chocolate, yogurt and fresh fruit and vegetables.

Environmentalists on social media celebrated the move.

Nice job @EkoPlaza Let's go for the full market now 💪🏼 You're an example for the future pic.twitter.com/3BxmXSwYZx
- Iyukcan (@iyukcan) February 28, 2018

Ekoplaza said that by the end of the year, all 74 of its stores across the Netherlands will have a plastic-free aisle.

The next store to roll out the eco-friendly aisle is in The Hague, which is expected to debut in June. The aisles will be a 'test bed' for packaging materials that are able to be composted, according to a news release from the store.

"Plastic-free aisles are an important steppingstone to a brighter future for food and drink," said Ekoplaza chief executive Erik Does in a statement.

Just weeks ago, British Prime Minister Theresa May floated the idea of plastic-free supermarket aisles as part of her green agenda.

The idea came to Ekoplaza from the environmental group A Plastic Planet. The group has developed a plastic-free mark so shoppers can quickly identify products that have no plastic.

"There is absolutely no logic in wrapping something as fleeting as food in something as indestructible as plastic," said Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, in a statement.

"Plastic food and drink packaging remains useful for a matter of days yet remains a destructive presence on the earth for centuries afterwards."

Across the globe, people use more than a million plastic bottles each minute, mostly for drinking water, according to Ekoplaza's website. Less than 9 percent of those bottles are recycled.

Sutherland encouraged other grocery stores to also "turn off the plastic tap."

"For decades shoppers have been sold the lie that we can't live without plastic in food and drink," she said.

"A plastic-free aisle dispels all that. Finally we can see a future where the public have a choice about whether to buy plastic or plastic free."

But Jessica Green, assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University, cautioned that "sustainable consumerism" has its limits, and said what is needed is government regulation.

"Sure, it's great to consume less plastic when you make decisions about what to consume at the supermarket," she said. "But that's not going to fix the problem."

Anne R. Kapuscinski, professor of sustainability science at Dartmouth College, said the amount of plastics people use across the globe is "terribly harmful" to the planet. She said plastic often ends up in the oceans, harming birds, fish and other species.

Even recycling, she said, uses a great deal of energy.

She said she hopes the Ekoplaza experiment shows that people will buy food if it's not wrapped in plastic.

"I hear people say that consumers want this much plastic," she said. "But I'm not convinced of that."

2018 © The Washington Post
This article was originally published by The Washington Post.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This Shop in Amsterdam Just Proved More Than 700 Groceries Can Be Sold Plastic-Free

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A supermarket in Amsterdam opened Wednesday with an aisle that has more than 700 grocery items - and no plastic. The store, Ekoplaza, said it is the first of its kind to have an entire aisle without plastic packaging. Instead, food is displayed in glass, metal and cardboard containers, as well as materials that can be composted.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Scientists have discovered up to nine different types of plastic in the faeces of every person who took part in a Europe-wide study.

On average, researchers found 20 microplastic particles in every 10 grams of stool, suggesting humans are swallowing them in food.

Particles between 50 and 500 micrometres across were found, the most common being polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Diaries kept by each participant in the week before the stool tests showed that they were all exposed to plastic by consuming plastic-wrapped food or drinking from plastic bottles.

Plastic in the gut could suppress the immune system and aid transmission of toxins and harmful bugs or viruses, experts believe.

Lead researcher Dr Philipp Schwabi, from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, said: "Of particular concern is what this means to us, and especially patients with gastrointestinal diseases.

"While the highest plastic concentrations in animal studies have been found in the gut, the smallest microplastic particles are capable of entering the blood stream, lymphatic system and may even reach the liver.

"Now that we have first evidence for microplastics inside humans, we need further research to understand what this means for human health."

The pilot study recruited eight participants from the UK, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Austria. None were vegetarians, and six ate sea fish.

It is estimated up to 5 per cent of all plastics produced end up in the sea.

Once in the oceans, plastics are consumed by sea animals and move up the food chain. Significant amounts of plastic have been detected in tuna, lobster and shrimp.

Food is also likely to be contaminated with plastic as a result of processing or packaging, say the researchers whose findings were presented at UEG Week, the largest meeting of gastroenetrology experts in Europe.

Environmental expert professor Alistair Boxall, from the University of York, said: "I'm not at all surprised or particularly worried by these findings. Microplastics have been found in tap water, bottled water, fish and mussel tissue and even in beer.

"We will also be exposed to particles from house dust, food packaging materials and the use of plastic bottles. It's therefore inevitable that at least some of these things will get into our lungs and digestive systems."
Additional reporting by PA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Scientists discover plastic in faeces of every person who took part in Europe-wide study

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Scientists have discovered up to nine different types of plastic in the faeces of every person who took part in a Europe-wide study. On average, researchers found 20 microplastic particles in every 10 grams of stool, suggesting humans are swallowing them in food.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
British Firm Creates Novel Way to Recycle Plastic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Voice of America is an international news and broadcast organization serving Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, the Middle East and Balkan countries

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The giant build-up of waste taking over the Caribbean.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The EU has announced a crackdown on single use plastics in a bid to reduce pollution in seas which is harmful to the marine environment and potentially damaging to human health.

Under the new proposal, single-use plastic products will be banned from the market where alternatives are readily available and affordable.

For products without straight-forward alternatives, the EU focus will be on limiting their use through a national reduction in consumption and design and labelling requirements.

The EU is also planning a producer-funded, recycling scheme for plastics , similar to waste electronics or used tyres.

The EU Commission said the scheme will initially target the 10 single-use plastic products most often found on Europe's beaches and seas, as well as lost and abandoned fishing gear which are a severe threat to marine life.

Specifically the draft law proposes:

- A ban on the sale of certain plastic items such as cotton bud sticks, disposable cutlery and balloon sticks;

- Only allowing plastic single-use drinks containers if their caps and lids remain attached;

- Reducing the use of plastic food containers and drinks cups by setting national targets or using levies;

- Requiring producers to help cover the costs of waste management, clean-up, and awareness-raising measures for food containers, packets and wrappers, drinks containers and cups, tobacco products with filters, wet wipes, balloons, and lightweight plastic bags;

- Standardised labelling for sanitary products, wet wipes and balloons with information about plastic content and the impact of littering;

- Obliging member states to collect 90 per cent of single-use plastic bottles by 2025, for example through extended producer responsibility schemes or deposit refund schemes; and

- Extended producer responsibility schemes to be established for fishing gear containing plastic.

EU Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans who is responsible for sustainable development said plastic waste was "a big problem" as it "ends up in our air, our soil, our oceans, and in our food".

Impact on health

His fellow vice-president Jyrki Katainen who is responsible for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness said plastics make up 85 per cent of marine litter and are present in the air, water and food having "an unknown impact" on people's health.

The moves have been welcomed by Minister for Environment, Denis Naughten who said it envisages a range of measures available to EU member states to tackle single-use plastic items. He said he urged the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers to consider these proposals as soon as possible.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan also welcomed the moves but said they "mirror" elements of his party's Waste Bill.

"The Government has fought against our Bill every step of the way but should now change tack and support what the Commission Environmental NGOs and the rest of the political system agree has to be done" he said.

Dublin Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan said the proposals were "a step in a right direction but not ambitious enough to meet the threat of plastic pollution".

"It is crucial that the concept of reduction remains at the heart of the EU plastics strategy and pressure is kept on industry to explore alternatives to single-use plastics" she said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
EU announces crackdown on single use and harmful plastics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The EU has announced a crackdown on single use plastics in a bid to reduce pollution in seas which is harmful to the marine environment and potentially damaging to human health. Under the new proposal, single-use plastic products will be banned from the market where alternatives are readily available and affordable.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Humans have made 8.3bn tons of plastic since 1950. This is the illustrated story of where it's gone

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Until recently we didn't know how much plastic was piling up around us. When we found out, the picture wasn't pretty

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Indian homes and pavements made from plastic - BBC News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Yes, plastic straws are bad, but they're just a teeny drop in the giant ocean of plastic we're swimming in. Here are other everyday plastic objects that we could put on the discontinued list.

On July 9, Starbucks announced that by 2020, it plans to phase out plastic straws from all its stores worldwide (four days later, it clarified that it will continue to offer straws to customers who need or request them). Activists hope Starbucks' announcement will lead other companies to follow suit in eliminating these and other unrecyclable, single-use items.

But why stop there? One of the big downsides to disposable straws is they end up in our waterways, along with a lot of other stuff. In the TED community are people who've made it their life's work to study, document and conserve the planet's marine life and habitats. They see up close the consequences of the 8.8 million tons of plastic waste entering the oceans every year.

So, we asked them: What everyday plastic item would you like to ban, and why? We had them focus on objects that we all come into contact with, since these are within our control. Now, contemplating the plastic pollution problem may make you feel angry, gloomy or frustrated (or all three). We feel that way too. But we hope hearing from these experts will also help you feel like you're part of the solution - by looking at the plastic that passes through your hands every day and thinking about what you could live without.

Microfibers. Microfibers, which are shed by the synthetic fabrics found in yoga pants and fleece jackets, are underrated, insidious plastic pollutants. Every time the fabrics are washed, the water carries away some of their fibers, which end up in the ocean. Unfortunately, this happens even with polyester fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles. ( Editor's note: Here's an article with 15 ways we can reduce microfibers.) Another item I'd ban are cotton swabs with plastic shafts. We found a lot of these in the Balearic Islands Hope Spot in the Mediterranean Sea, where plastic routinely washes up on the shore.
- Sylvia Earle (TED talk: My wish: Protect our oceans) and the team at Mission Blue

Single-use plastic items such as plastic wrap, straws, cups, bags and utensils; and microfibers from synthetic fabrics. With the first, we've seen innumerable cases of mortality in wildlife and cases of endocrine disruption in humans as a result of single-use plastics, and there are so many reusable versions of these items sold in stores. As for the second, microfibers from plastic fabrics have invaded the biosphere. They're in our water (bottled and tap), beer, air, honey and salt. They've been shown to pass the blood-brain barrier and cause changes in fish behavior.

- Charles Moore (TED talk: Seas of plastic) and the team at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation

Those plastic packing straps that keep boxes secure during shipping. Many straps don't get disposed of properly, and they find their way to the ocean. Young marine animals are especially curious about such debris, and a plastic noose can choke a growing animal. At The Marine Mammal Center, we commonly see animals entangled in plastic trash, and these entanglements can cause debilitating, even life-threatening injuries. We've rescued patients (like sea lion Blonde Bomber) trapped by packing-strap nooses. You can reduce their use by buying products produced locally. Businesses can, and should, switch to sustainable, compostable/biodegradable shipping materials. At the very least, cut any packing-strap loops. While it won't reduce litter, it could save an animal's life.
- Claire Simeone (TED talk: How shared knowledge can benefit humans and animals)

Those gawd-awful machines at airports that wrap people's luggage in plastic. Security officers cut through the plastic when they're doing a search, rendering the wrappings useless. Using it also broadcasts to thieves that this is a bag to target. Travelers should use TSA-approved locks on their bags; they cost the same as the wrapping, and they're reusable. I'd also ban plasticulture. It's overtaken agriculture - when I drive through the Salinas Valley, all I see are fields of plastic glinting in the sun. Not only does it put plastics into the soil, but it creates a massive amount of waste. But perhaps even more important than imposing bans are creating incentives and robust research programs to develop bio-benign materials. Without viable replacements, it will be much tougher to implement a successful ban.
- Tierney Thys (TED talk: The secret life of plankton)

All take-out-related single-use plastics. Restaurants, cafes, bars and businesses should stop giving out plastic straws, stirrers, lids, cups, utensils and bags - all of these so-called small items add up to a major plastic pollution crisis. A recent study estimated that 8,300 million metric tons of plastics have been produced to date, but since about 91 percent isn't recycled, the vast majority has ended up in our environment. Think reusable and not disposable. Bring your own bags to the store, refuse plastic straws when you order a drink, and bring your own reusable water bottle and cup.
- Dianna Cohen (TED talk: Tough truths about plastic pollution)

Plastic bags. In the ocean, leatherback turtles mistake floating plastic bags for jellyfish - their favorite food - and suffer devastating consequences when they eat them. Always carry tote bags in your car and anywhere you might need them. Initially, it will be hard; you'll forget. But for the turtles' sake, just vow to try harder.
- Edie Widder (TED talk: How we found the giant squid)

Styrofoam cups and food containers. For years, I lived in Portland, Oregon, where these products were banned in 1998. It's been a disappointing eye-opener to see it still going strong in the outside world. When I pick up trash in Mexico where I'm working to help regenerate coral reefs, I find crushed-up, filthy cups and plates on the ground and blowing out of dumps, fragmenting, and floating in the water. Because all marine life consumes this toxic material, styrene - which is a carcinogen - is getting into all of us. Banning styrofoam won't be easy. It will require establishing reliable recycling programs, robust local landfill operators and possibly new import relations, yet the alternative is living in a world awash in a material that takes 500 years to degrade.
- Colleen Flanigan (TED talk: How can sculptures save coral reefs?)

Microfibers. These tiny fibers are too small to be filtered out by standard wastewater treatment. Scientists are just starting to study them, so they don't fully know the harm they're causing. But they know they're entering the food chain - one-third of fish caught in the UK are contaminated with microplastic. Another study found 83 percent of drinking water samples around the world were contaminated. We should produce and purchase clothing made from natural materials, such as cotton, silk, linen and wool, and also buy fewer fabric items and wash them less often.
- Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (TED talk: How to use the ocean without using it up)

I see the whole public conversation around plastic straws as a shot of morphine into our collective veins to avoid facing what actually matters. The production and consumption of the following items - and all of the fuel, raw materials and pollution they entail - continues to rise, unabated, in the world: computers, phones, tablets, servers and server farms; military weapons; container ships and shipping facilities, commercial airliners, cruise ships, helicopters, pleasure boats, jet skis, lawnmowers, leaf blowers, motorcycles, cars and trucks, refrigerators, washers and dryers, air conditioners, televisions, condominiums, housing developments, apartment and office buildings, shopping malls, paved roads/highways, dams, and power plants. Together, these represent a colossal crisis of environmental degradation and climate destruction that has all but dropped off the collective radar.

At the same time, we're also witnessing the continuing global decimation of ocean creatures for food. Leading marine scientists predict that at current harvest rates, most fish populations will be commercially extinct within our lifetimes. Anyone who cares about ocean creatures can stop eating them as a first step; yet despite how obvious that is, only a tiny percentage of people are doing that.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What plastic item would you love to ban? 15 ocean experts (and TED speakers) tell us.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On July 9, Starbucks announced that by 2020, it plans to phase out plastic straws from all its stores worldwide (four days later, it clarified that it will continue to offer straws to customers who need or request them).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The EU is leading a meaningful crusade against plastic pollution with excellent measures to curb usage but some new legislative proposals "are weak and wacky", according to Coastwatch Ireland's Karin Dubsky.

The EU announced a crackdown on single-use plastics last month in an effort to reduce their toll on the marine environment and potential risk to human health but there was little on prevention of use, said the Coastwatch co-ordinator.

There was a focus on particular items with a ban on plastic cotton buds and obscure items such as balloon sticks proposed, yet nothing on hundreds of other items, such as plastic cable ties which were an insidious and rampant form of plastic found in the sea.

There were some measures to reduce plastic waste arising from fishing industry through recycling of fishing nets, for example, but no focus on aquaculture. In addition, action on materials such as polystyrene, which break down and are ingested by marine species, was absent.

Prevention should require replacement of plastic items such as fish boxes with sustainable alternatives, and audits before any plastic item is allowed on to the market, she said.

Ms Dubsky was speaking at a protest on the Rosie Hackett Bridge in Dublin to highlight indiscriminate dumping of plastic in marine environments; the theme of 2018 World Oceans Day this Friday.

Marine litter

The protest supported by other environmental groups was staged on the River Liffey, "because rivers are the main conduit for plastic from land to sea", she added. "With a deposit and refund scheme [DRS] for plastic drinks containers people would not throw them into rivers and they would not be going out to sea," she said.

A particular problem was accumulations of litter at the mouths of rivers due to particular wind and current patterns. As a consequence, build-up of plastic waste was all too evident, often on the northern side of estuaries - and needed to be addressed, Ms Dubsky said.

VOICE co-ordinator Mindy O'Brien said Ireland should up its game on single-use plastic as so much of it ended up in oceans. The best way to make an immediate impact was to introduce a DRS for plastic drinks containers, she added.

EU moves to curb plastic were "a great start", particularly the strengthening "extended producer responsibility schemes" designed to promote integration of environmental costs associated with goods throughout their life cycles into the market price of products.

Recycling fees

If adopted, it would also require action on all litter types; not just marine litter, she said. In addition, there was a welcome proposal for recycling fees collected from producers to be used more widely in curbing litter, such as in city bin management.

Sustainable Water Network co-ordinator Sinead O'Brien said it was "urging a more joined-up approach to managing plastic pollution in all our waters - both our seas and our inland waters".

She added: Our seas are the final recipients of much of the plastic waste and litter that are first dumped or discharged into our rivers, lakes and streams and we want to emphasise the importance of a whole catchment approach to the management of plastic pollution."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Environmentalists call for alternatives to single-use plastics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The EU is leading a meaningful crusade against plastic pollution with excellent measures to curb usage but some new legislative proposals "are weak and wacky", according to Coastwatch Ireland's Karin Dubsky.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ireland wastes 22,000 coffee cups per hour

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Recycled Plastic Bottles Are Building Homes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Recycling is very big business. All plastics are recyclable in theory. In practice, it only pays to recycle some types of plastics. Rigid plastics.

The prices paid for rigid plastics are by weight. International re-processors pay for a clean, uncontaminated product. We contaminate an estimated 40% of our plastics in Ireland, which is below the EU average.

Soft plastics, like cling film, are a different story. Soft plastics go into your non-recycling bin. Soft plastics don't pay to recycle. You need an awful lot of clean, uncontaminated cling film before the economics make sense. So into the non-recycling bin the soft plastics go.

If you are reading this thinking 'I don't want to help make some foreign company rich', consider the alternative. Without the global recycling industry, those plastics would clog our landfills faster. We would have to build recycling facilities. By recycling well, and for a profit, these firms are helping save the environment. By helping them, we help ourselves. The point of Leonard E. Read's story of I, Pencil is to show how we are all interconnected. These interconnections define the shape of our economy.

Don't put soiled soft plastics in with your rigid plastics. You could undo all the good work you, and your neighbours have done with the rest of your recycling.

Technology changes. Markets change. In the future soft plastics might get recycled the way we recycle rigid plastics. But for now, we separate them.

Leonard E. Read wanted us to understand what a vast undertaking producing a single pencil was. Today's circular products need production and reproduction across the global economy. This is a vast and complex re-combination of miracles. The more we recycle by separating rigid and soft plastics, the better off we'll all be.
Dr Stephen Kinsella

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
I, Yogurt, Analysis Of The Economics Of Global Plastics Recycling From An Irish Perspective | MyWaste Ireland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1953 the writer Leonard E. Read wrote a short story from the point of view of a pencil. Leonard Read asked a simple question with a complicated answer: Who makes a pencil, and how? I, Pencil took the reader on a journey across the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Aldi Ireland has committed to ensuring 100 per cent of its own-brand packaging will be recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022.

The move forms part of a wide-ranging packaging and plastics reduction plan being implemented across Aldi's Irish and British operations.

Giles Hurley, group managing director of Aldi Ireland, said: "Our customers trust us . . . to help them lead healthier, better lives. That includes reducing waste, particularly around unnecessary packaging and plastics that damage the environment we live in."

He added: "While we cannot do this alone - and call on others to collaborate with us and drive change industry-wide - we are committed to doing all we can to lead the way and to bring our customers on this journey with us."

Aldi has set itself some of the most demanding targets on reducing plastic use and packaging of any major supermarket group operating in Ireland and Britain - and ahead of EU targets for 2030 under the bloc's plastics strategy.

Earlier this year, food retailer Iceland stole a marketing march on its rivals by promising to eliminate plastic packaging from its own-brand products by the end of 2023.

Drive innovation

Aldi has set up a taskforce that includes internal and independent experts to help drive innovation in reducing plastic.

"It will provide regular updates on progress, including making further commitments when possible, and will publish an annual packaging and plastics report each spring reporting on the progress of its packaging initiatives," Mr Hurley said.

Aldi said it would also educate customers on the importance of reducing waste and work with partners to help children learn about recycling.

The retailer has already removed all plastic stems from its cotton buds and banned microbeads and microplastics from its products.

It sends no waste to landfill and recently announced it had joined the Retail Action Group on food waste. It has also pledged to halve operational waste by 2030.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Aldi Ireland pledges to end wasteful packaging by 2022

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Aldi Ireland has committed to ensuring 100 per cent of its own-brand packaging will be recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022. The move forms part of a wide-ranging packaging and plastics reduction plan being implemented across Aldi's Irish and British operations. Giles Hurley, group managing director of Aldi Ireland, said: "Our customers trust us .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
China was the recycling mecca of the world-the country where 70% of the world's plastic waste went to be broken down and reused-until early last year, when the government decided to block the import of materials like metal, steel, and plastic, claiming that the massive quantities of goods that were coming in were contaminated and basically worthless.

The decision set the global waste industry into a frenzy. In the months since, countries like India and Malaysia have been scrambling to set up new waste markets, as former trash exporters like the U.S. have been left wondering what to do with all their recyclables.

"Now we have this huge supply, and the infrastructure is not there because we haven't needed it to be there," Beth Porter, a director at Green America and author Reduce, Reuse, Reimagine: Sorting Out the Recycling System, explains. "There's a scramble to build a recycling infrastructure to meet the modern waste stream." In the interim, she says, some markets have been forced to send recyclables to the landfill or the incinerator until they figure out next steps: "When the policy first started happening, some recycling facilities would actually just stockpile-they were keeping recyclables and filling their parking lots even... But of course, at a certain point, we are consuming and disposing of so much material every single day that there's a lot of pressure on companies to deal with it."

Needless to say, recycling has hit a rough patch, but it could prove the wake-up call the industry needs: "Some are looking at this as a huge opportunity to correct these problems and invest in a system that can deliver more of the environmental and economic benefits that recycling was meant to deliver on," Porter says. For this to happen in the U.S., it'll take the government enacting laws to tackle our waste problem (like the one we might to see from Sen. Tom Udall and U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal this fall), cities and states investing in recycling education (such as Michigan's new $15 million Recycling Raccoons campaign), and brands designing products that are easier to recycle or reuse. As consumers, we all have a role to play too! Here are three ways to help out:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Recycling Industry Has Been Struggling For Years - But You Can Help Out

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
China was the recycling mecca of the world-the country where 70% of the world's plastic waste went to be broken down and reused-until early last year, when the government decided to block the import of materials like metal, steel, and plastic, claiming that the massive quantities of goods that were coming in were contaminated and basically worthless.

# data[].attributes.body
Start here

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ireland's Waste Management Offices advise householders on recycling best practice.

Dr Stephen Kinsella explains that just as plastic is produced by a global economy so too is it recycled.

THE volume of rigid plastic recycled by Irish householders everyday would fill the Aviva Stadium to its roof in just three years.

And Ireland's three Regional Waste Management Offices (Connacht/Ulster, Eastern/Midlands, and Southern) believe the country has the capacity to recycle even more, benefiting the environment and preserving the earth's depleting natural resources.

75,000 tonnes of rigid plastics is directed to recycling from Irish households each year by way of the global economy that produced it, thereby significantly reducing potential landfill waste here and preventing further extraction of the earth's finite resources.

Declan Breen, Waste Prevention Officer with the EMWMO believes we can and should do better.

"Ireland is currently recycling just 35% of its plastic waste and we can definitely improve on this. By recycling better we will not only reduce the need for incineration and landfill, we will also reduce the need for additional raw material extraction as more material will be available for reprocessing and reuse."

"Planet Earth does not have an infinite supply of raw materials from which to draw on to make more and more plastic. All too often plastics end up in our seas and oceans or dumped in landfill sites for centuries to come," he said speaking on behalf of the country's three waste management offices.

"While reducing our dependency on single use plastic such as straws, plastic cups and cutlery would help, recycling is our best hope at producing other plastic objects into the future, and preventing an even bigger environmental crisis."

Dr. Stephen Kinsella, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Limerick & Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne said, "The fundamental truth of the modern economy is that millions of humans around the world are involved in the production and recycling of plastic."

"Without the global recycling industry, we would have to burn, bury or recycle plastics ourselves here in Ireland," warned Dr Kinsella, "and with our small population, plastic recycling doesn't make economic sense, leaving the burn or bury options, which don't make environmental sense.

"By recycling well, and for a profit, these firms are helping save the environment. By helping them, we help ourselves. These interconnections define the shape of our economy," he said.

To illustrate his point the acclaimed academic and author wrote a thesis following not only the production of the humble yogurt pot (link here), but also the recycling process after the pot has been washed, left to dry and then put loosely into the household recycling bin.

"A yogurt tub is rigid plastic. All plastics come from oil. Oil comes from all over the world. It's an unbroken global chain. The oil rigs. The injection moulding factories. The distribution networks and the shopping centres. Millions of engineers, supply chain managers, and quite a few cows, too," explained Dr Kinsella.

"The tub is rigid plastic, so you pop it into your recycling bin filled with clean, loose, dry material. If you're wrecked one evening and don't wash out the tub, you potentially contaminate all of your recycling. Your recycling may then get sent to one of Ireland's three or four rapidly-filling landfills. 95% of the potential economic value in plastic packaging currently goes to waste. We are throwing money in the bin," he warned.

Once the plastic has been sorted and shipped it gets melted down and injection-moulded into something else.

Dr Kinsella stated, "Recycling is very big business. All plastics are recyclable in theory. In practice, it only pays to recycle some types of plastics. Rigid plastics.

"The prices paid for rigid plastics are by the pound. International re-processors pay for a clean, uncontaminated product. We contaminate an estimated 40% of our plastics in Ireland, which is below the EU average."

"Soft plastics, like cling film, are a different story. Soft plastics go into your non-recycling bin. Soft plastics don't pay to recycle. You need an awful lot of clean, uncontaminated cling film before the economics make sense. So into the non-recycling bin the soft plastics go."

"Today's circular products need production and reproduction across the global economy. This is a vast and complex re-combination of miracles. The more we recycle rigid plastics and place them clean, dry and loosely in the bin, the better off we'll all be," he said.

Mr Breen added, "While the majority of Irish householders continuously show a willingness to recycle and are extremely environment aware, some are still confused about what is suitable for modern day recycling bins.

"Ireland's Recycling List is simply paper, cardboard, rigid plastics, tins and cans. All recyclable material must be clean, dry and placed loosely in the bin," he said.

"More questions can be answered by logging on to recyclinglistireland.ie and by following us on Facebook or Twitter."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Over the last 3 years Ireland has recycled enough plastic to fill the Aviva Stadium - but this is just 35% of the country's total plastic waste

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ireland's Waste Management Offices advise householders on recycling best practice. Dr Stephen Kinsella explains that just as plastic is produced by a global economy so too is it recycled. THE volume of rigid plastic recycled by Irish householders everyday would fill the Aviva Stadium to its roof in just three years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Could plastic roads help save the planet? - BBC Ideas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Watch the "Could plastic roads help save the planet?" video at BBC Ideas. Explore other related content via our curated "Sustainable thinking" playlist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the world's largest collection of floating trash-and the most famous. It lies between Hawaii and California and is often described as "larger than Texas," even though it contains not a square foot of surface on which to stand. It cannot be seen from space, as is often claimed.

The lack of terra firma did not deter a pair of advertising executives from declaring the patch to be an actual place. They named it the nation of Trash Isles, signed up former Vice President Al Gore as its first "citizen" and last fall, petitioned the United Nations for recognition. The publicity stunt perpetuated the myth.

The patch was discovered in 1997 by Charles Moore, a yachtsman who had sailed through a mishmash of floating plastic bottles and other debris on his way home to Los Angeles. It was named by Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle oceanographer known for his expertise in tracking ocean currents and the movement of cargo lost overboard, including rubber duck bath toys and Nike tennis shoes. The patch is now the target of a $32 million cleanup campaign launched by a Dutch teenager, Boyan Slat, now 23, and head of the Ocean Cleanup, the organization he founded to do the job.

Beyond those details, not much was known about the specific contents of the patch-until now.

What's Really in the Patch?

Microplastics make up 94 percent of an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic in the patch. But that only amounts to eight percent of the total tonnage. As it turns out, of the 79,000 metric tons of plastic in the patch, most of it is abandoned fishing gear-not plastic bottles or packaging drawing headlines today.

A comprehensive new study by Slat's team of scientists, published in Scientific Reports Thursday, concluded that the 79,000 tons was four to 16 times larger than has been previously estimated for the patch. The study also found that fishing nets account for 46 percent of the trash, with the majority of the rest composed of other fishing industry gear, including ropes, oyster spacers, eel traps, crates, and baskets. Scientists estimate that 20 percent of the debris is from the 2011 Japanese tsunami.

Laurent Lebreton, an oceanographer with the Ocean Cleanup and the study's lead author, says the research team was looking to assess the larger pieces.

"I knew there would be a lot of fishing gear, but 46 percent was unexpectedly high," he says. "Initially, we thought fishing gear would be more in the 20 percent range. That is the accepted number [for marine debris] globally-20 percent from fishing sources and 80 percent from land."

Ghostnets, a term coined to describe purposely discarded or accidentally lost netting, drift through the ocean, entangling whales, seals, and turtles. An estimated 100,000 marine animals are strangled, suffocated, or injured by plastics every year.

Ocean Cleanup is currently working on a system to remove much of this abandoned fishing gear, with plans to launch later this year.

"The interesting piece is that at least half of what they're finding is not consumer plastics, which are central to much of the current debate, but fishing gear," says George Leonard, the chief scientist at the Ocean Conservancy. "This study is confirmation that we know abandoned and lost gear is an important source of mortality for a whole host of animals and we need to broaden the plastic conversation to make sure we solve this wedge of the problem."

Marine debris expert Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute, cautions that the new study is based on only limited surveys, making it difficult to accurately estimate the complete size of the patch. The data are significant in showing such a high accumulation of fishing gear, he notes.

Publication of the garbage patch study coincided with a new report from Britain, Foresight Future of the Sea, that found plastic pollution in the ocean could triple by 2050 unless a "major response" is mounted to prevent plastic from reaching the ocean. The report declared plastic pollution to be one of the main environmental threats to the seas, along with sea-level rise and warming oceans.

The study included two aerial surveys in October of 2016 that took 7,000 images, and 652 ocean surface trawls conducted in July, August, and September of 2015 by 18 vessels.

The surface trawls also filled in the rest of the story.

Fifty plastic items collected had a readable production date: One from 1977, seven from the 1980s, 17 from the 1990s, 24 from the 2000s, and one from 2010. Researchers also found 386 objects with recognizable words or sentences in nine different languages.

The writing on a third of the objects was Japanese and another third was Chinese. The country of production was readable on 41 objects, showing they were manufactured in 12 different nations.

The study also concluded that plastic pollution is "increasing exponentially and at a faster rate than in surrounding waters." Others are not as confident that the conclusion indicates a dramatic change in distribution of marine debris. Much of the world's marine debris is believed to lie in the coastal regions, not in the middle of oceans.

Leonard says he was impressed with the scope of the study. "It's strong science," he says. "But at the same time, in this field, the harder we look, the more plastic we find."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Isn't What You Think it Is

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the world's largest collection of floating trash-and the most famous. It lies between Hawaii and California and is often described as "larger than Texas," even though it contains not a square foot of surface on which to stand. It cannot be seen from space, as is often claimed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Recycling Innovations

Through education, collaboration, new business models, and with the right set of domestic policies, we can continue to develop and scale innovative new technologies that can convert post-use plastics into a wide range of valuable end products.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Through education, collaboration, new business models, and with the right set of domestic policies, we can continue to develop and scale innovative new technologies that can convert post-use plastics into a wide range of valuable end products.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This story is part of Planet or Plastic?-our multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste crisis. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics How did you get into the issue of plastic pollution We have a lot of photographers who work under water, and they always say the same thing: that it's literally that people don't see what's going on What are some actionable things people can do? . ? Straws are a great idea. What else? , and In the United States, when you're done with your plastic bottle or bag, and you throw it away-or even if you recycle it-you never see it again. But if you live in the Philippines, or China, or Bangladesh, that's where all this stuff goes. For Americans, it's out of sight, out of mind. But other people are our dumping ground. take your pledge Somebody told me you were building a house without using plastics. Is that right? . What else can people do in their daily lives?
Actor and environmental activist Adrian Grenier is perhaps best known for his lead role in the HBO series Entourage. But he has also made a name for himself at the forefront of the international fight to reduce the world's reliance on single-use plastics, in order to decrease harm to the ocean, wildlife, and human health.

Grenier has been working on educating the public about the problems with plastic straws and other throwaway items through his foundation Lonely Whale. He is also a celebrity ambassador for the United Nations World Environment Day, which takes place Tuesday. Grenier is helping the UN spread the word about the impacts of single-use plastic, which is the focus for this year's annual World Environment Day.
It's so hard to avoid plastic products. When you buy something, what do you look at?
I spoke with Grenier about his work on plastic and why he cares so much about it.

I've been doing environmental work for some time, but I was ultimately led to the ocean as my focus when I realized that the ocean is probably the most underserved aspect of the environment; we sometimes forget it's there, and yet, the ocean is 70 percent of our planet.
Where do you think the balance is between individual actions and the actions of businesses?
We really need to get to the root of the problem, and it really does circle back to our relationship to convenience, and our sense that things are disposable, which they aren't.

At Lonely Whale we came up with perhaps the lowest hanging plastic, which is the single-use plastic straw. We say: look, just do one thing; try it on; see how it feels, and see how easy it can be. I think the straw is not only symbolically a great first step, a gateway if you will, but also significant because it is the smaller plastics in particular that we want to prevent.
Can you tell us more about how your mom brought you up with this set of values?
Hear what Adrian Grenier and other conservationists have to say about our responsibility towards our planet in the multimedia "Message in a Bottle" installation at National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey in NYC.

I do not use plastic water bottles. I say they should only be used in the most desperate of situations-and walking through the city and being parched is not a desperate situation. If I'm thirsty, I wait until I find a more conscientious way of drinking water.

I would say you're right, but I would also say there's not a person here in the United States who doesn't encounter plastic pollution, whether it be on the sidewalk, in the street, or on the beach. You may say "Well I didn't throw that away, that's not mine," but the reality is it is all of our responsibility.

I'm at a place in my life where I miss spending more time with my mom, and she lives so far uptown. I decided to invite her to move closer to me in Brooklyn, so I'm building her a home. And of course, if I'm going to build my mom a home, it has to reflect the values she instilled in me.

Find at least one other person to join in this lifestyle change. It inspires new thought, so you can synthesize ideas and come up with new ones together on how you can live a more conscientious lifestyle. You also hold each other accountable. And it's more fun.

I think a lot of times people get a sense of arrogance from environmentalists. I think it's because they believe they can change the world. I do believe that's true, but I also think they somehow believe they are alone in the struggle.

Small changes are the way we get there. I don't beat myself up when I'm imperfect. We want people to feel like it's an accessible opportunity every moment.

The truth is, plastic is a very useful material. It's improved our lives in many ways. The issue isn't plastic. If we start to appreciate how valuable it is, maybe we wouldn't let it disappear into a landfill or go into the ocean.

I don't look at companies as separate entities. They need people to operate, so the values of people should be the same as the values of companies.

At Lonely Whale, we have created a partnership with Dell and a handful of other companies with international footprints to find new ways of dealing with single-use plastic. Called NextWave, we are looking to build infrastructure in developing countries to retrieve discarded plastic and intercept it from going into the ocean, and make use of it again.

My mom taught me to respect myself and my health, to clean my room, and to respect others. Now it's my community, not my room. My neighborhood is the planet.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Actor Adrian Grenier Is Cutting Out Plastic. Here's How You Can, Too.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This story is part of Planet or Plastic? -our multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste crisis. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics How did you get into the issue of plastic pollution We have a lot of photographers who work under water, and they always say the same thing: that it's literally that people don't see what's going on What are some actionable things people can do?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A new form of biodegradable plastic capable of degrading under home-composting conditions has been developed by Irish based scientists.

The material could prove an important development in the struggle to rid the environment of polluting single use plastics.

Less than 15% of the world's plastic is recycled, with much of it ending up in rivers, seas and oceans, landfill or the general environment as litter.

It is estimated that over 80% of Irish coastal areas and inland waterways are polluted with discarded plastic.

Scientists at the BEACON bioeconomy research centre and AMBER materials science research centre have, however, designed a new biodegradable material which could help alleviate the problem.

In research, details of which are published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the team led by BEACON Professor Kevin O'Connor and AMBER scientist Dr Ramesh Babu, 15 biodegradable plastics and mixtures were studied.

They discovered that by blending two different varieties it was possible to make a plastic that would break down completely under home-composting conditions.

They found that by adding polycaprolactone (PCL) to polylactic acid (PLA), which normally on its own requires high temperatures to disintegrate, the material completely broke down in an environment mirroring a home composter.

"Imagine putting your waste plastic packaging into a household composting bin that breaks down the plastic and produces compost for your garden or into your brown bin so waste collection companies are able to mix plastic with unavoidable food waste and produce biogas to run their fleet or power your home," said Professor O'Connor.

"That's the future this study suggests."

The new plastic is just as robust as existing versions, the scientists say.

"We have shown for the first time that you can blend plastics together to make them more biodegradable but still keeping the strength and performance of the plastic," said Dr Babu.

"This opens up huge opportunities to create novel sustainable plastics that perform in multiple positive ways for society."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
New biodegradable plastic developed by scientists

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A new form of biodegradable plastic capable of degrading under home-composting conditions has been developed by Irish based scientists. The material could prove an important development in the struggle to rid the environment of polluting single use plastics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This article was created in partnership with the National Geographic Society.

The moment the modern plastic beverage bottle changed the world's drinking habits is difficult to pinpoint. The day New York supermodels began carrying tall bottles of Evian water as an accessory on fashion show catwalks in the late 1980s surely signaled the future ahead. Billions of bottles were sold on the promise that bottled water is good for hair and skin, healthier than soft drinks and safer than tap water. And it didn't take consumers long to buy into the notion that they needed water within reach virtually everywhere they went.

What sets bottles apart from other plastic products born in the post-World War II rise of consumerism is the sheer speed with which the beverage bottle, now ubiquitous around the world, has shifted from convenience to curse. The transition played out in a single generation.

"The plastic bottle transformed the beverage industry and it changed our habits in many ways," says Peter Gleick, co-founder and president emeritus of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California, and author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water.

"We've become a society that seems to think if we don't have water at hand, terrible things will happen. It's kind of silly. It's not as though anybody died from thirst in the old days," he says.

By 2016, the year sales of bottled water in the United States officially surpassed soft drinks, the world had awakened to the burgeoning crisis of plastic waste. The backlash against the glut of discarded bottles clogging waterways, polluting the oceans and littering the interior has been swift. Suddenly, carrying plastic bottles of water around is uncool.

What is cool is wearing them: Hip fashion translates into designer clothes made of recycled water bottles. There's even a growing market of luxury, stainless steel refillables, including a limited-edition bottle covered with thousands of Swarovski crystals that sells for almost $2,000.

Plastic bottles and bottle caps rank as the third and fourth most collected plastic trash items in the Ocean Conservancy's annual September beach cleanups in more than 100 countries. Activists are zeroing in on the bottle as next in line for banning, after plastic shopping bags. The tiny towns of Concord, Massachusetts and Bundanoon, Australia already have banned bottles, as have numerous public parks, museums, universities, and zoos in Europe and the United States.

The developing world-where 2.2 billion people still do not have access to clean drinking water, according to the United Nations, and bottled water is often the only safe option-is getting out ahead of the problem. In June, Kenya announced a ban on single-use plastics at beaches and in national parks, forests, and conservation areas, effective in June 2020, and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation banned disposable water bottles in all city offices.

Consumers have been drinking bottled beverages for more than a century, first in glass bottles, then in steel and, later, aluminum cans. Early plastic bottles showed promise as a lightweight alternative, but they leached chemicals and failed to contain carbonated drinks. If the bottle didn't explode, the carbonation fizzled. It wasn't until the 1970s when a miracle plastic known as PET came along and changed the game.

Polyethylene terephthalate has been around since 1941. Du Pont chemists developedit while experimenting with polymers to make textiles. In 1973 Nathaniel Wyeth, another Du Pont scientist, patented the first PET bottle. It was lightweight, safe, cheap-and recyclable. In other words, it was the perfect container to set the stage for the bottle binge that followed.

Perrier and Evian crossed the Atlantic at around that time, launching the bottled water craze. PepsiCo finally joined the water business and introduced Aquafina in 1994. Coke followed with Dansani in 1999. Both brands use refiltered tap water. Between 1994 and 2017, water sales in the United States had grown by 284 percent, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. data published by the Wall Street Journal.

Between 1960 and 1970, the average person bought between 200 and 250 packaged drinks ever year, Elizabeth Royte reported in her book Bottlemania, citing data from the Container Recycling Institute. Most of those purchases, she added, involved refillable bottles. As of 2017, on a global scale a million plastic beverage bottles were purchased every minute, according to data from Euromonitor International's global packaging trends report, published in 2017 by The Guardian. Today, plastic bottles and jars represent about 75 percent of all plastic containers, by weight, in the United States, according to the Plastics Industry Association.

Ramani Narayan, a chemical engineering professor at Michigan State University, cautions that to focus entirely on the numbers and overuse of plastic bottles is to miss the essence of the problem.

"There is an overuse of plastic bottles that needs to be curtailed," he says. "But the problem is misuse of bottles at the end of their life. The issue is recovery of the product and incentives to recycle, and the commitment on the part of regulators, as well as brand owners, to only use bottles that contain at least 50 percent recycled plastic. Or 60 percent. They are not making that commitment."

As the public's focus on the plastic waste crisis narrows, the world is awash with solutions for bottles. Generally, they fall into two categories: efforts to reduce the use of plastic bottles and efforts to find new ways to deal with bottles once they're thrown away.

Just in London, efforts to reduce plastic bottles abound. Mayor Sadiq Khan announced plans to build 100 new fountains for refillable bottles. Last spring, runners in the London Marathon were handed edible seaweed pouches at mile 23 containing a sports drink to slake their thirst. And Selfridges, London's century-old department store, has vanquished plastic beverage bottles from its food court in favor of glass bottles, aluminum cans, and refilling stations.

Once bottles have become trash, entrepreneurs around the world are turning them into printer ink cartridges, fence posts, roofing tiles, carpets, flooring, and boats, to name only a few items. Even houses have been constructed from bottles. The latest is a three-story modern on the banks of the Meteghan River in Nova Scotia, promoted as able to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. It only took 612,000 bottles.

In laboratories, new versions of bottles claiming to be biodegradable or compostable appear regularly, and plastic industry chemists are experimenting with "chemical recycling" that returns the polymers to their constituent monomers, enabling them to be remade multiple times into new plastic bottles.

Many of the solutions are not scalable to a level that would make a noticeable difference, and most of them-including biodegradables-still require that the most elemental and least functional part of the bottle's lifespan be performed: Someone needs to pick them all up.

Recycling rates remain low. In 2016 fewer than half the bottles bought worldwide were collected. In the United States, new PET bottles contain only 7 percent recycled content, said Susan Collins, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute. Although consumers of soft drinks dutifully returned glass bottles and collected the refund in the decades before PET was invented, beverage companies have long strongly promoted recycling, and vigorously opposed bottle deposit legislation, arguing bottle bills cost them too much money.

Beverage companies have pledged to use more recycled bottles in manufacturing, a goal that aims to reduce the production of new resin and boosts recycling numbers by adding value to bottle recovery.

PepsiCo pledged to increase recycled content in all its plastic packaging 25 percent by 2025. Nestle Waters vowed to make all of its packaging recyclable by 2025 and increase recycled content in bottles to 35 percent by 2025 globally and to 50 percent in the United States, focusing on Poland Spring. Additionally, recycled content for European brands will increase to 50 percent by 2025.

Coca-Cola pledged to recycle a used bottle or can for every one the company sells by 2030 and increase recycled material in plastic bottles to 50 percent by 2030.

Three things you can do to be part of the solution:

1. Carry a reusable bottle.

2. Choose aluminum cans over plastic when possible.

3. Recycle all plastic bottles.

Make consumers pay?

Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste, says recovery of plastic waste won't improve much until it is given greater value, achieved through additional cost of the product.

"If a company chooses to sell me water in a single-serving container, I should have to pay the full cost of delivering that water in a single-serving container, which includes recovering that container as waste. These voluntary efforts are nice. But the key is getting the pricing right."

Ben Jordan, Coke's senior director of environmental policy, said Coke was reevaluating bottle deposit programs around the world, as well as five major types of recycling systems globally to determine at the local level how to maximize recovery of plastic waste. He noted that Coke's Mexico City operations recycle virtually 100 percent of PET.

"We all agree on the issue," he says. "Are there ways that don't require packaging at all? Are there places where you can bring your own packaging? For all the packages out there, whether a PET bottle or aluminum can, how can we make it more sustainable than it was yesterday?"

Bart Elmore, a professor at Ohio State University and author of Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism, says beverage companies would be wise to take a lesson from their own history. Put a price on a bottle and you'll get it back.

National Geographic is committed to reducing plastics pollution. Learn more about our non-profit activities at natgeo.org/plastics. This story is part ofPlanet or Plastic?-our multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste crisis. Learn what you can do toreduce your own single-use plastics, andtake your pledge.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How the plastic bottle went from miracle container to hated garbage

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article was created in partnership with the National Geographic Society. The moment the modern plastic beverage bottle changed the world's drinking habits is difficult to pinpoint. The day New York supermodels began carrying tall bottles of Evian water as an accessory on fashion show catwalks in the late 1980s surely signaled the future ahead.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Malaysian government says the country has become a dumping ground for rich nations as it announces it will send as much as 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste back to the countries it came from. Malaysia became the world's main destination for plastic waste after China banned its import last year. 'We will fight back,' Malaysia's environment minister, Yeo Bee Yin, said. 'We will fight back. Even though we are a small country, we cannot be bullied by developed countries'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Malaysia cracks down on imported plastic - video - mywaste

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Malaysian government says the country has become a dumping ground for rich nations as it announces it will send as much as 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste back to the countries it came from. Malaysia became the world's main destination for plastic waste after China banned its import last year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When it comes to sustainability, the Netherlands has always been at the forefront. In recent news, Zwolle, one of the country's "greenest cities," implemented the world's first bicycle lane composed of post-consumer waste that would normally be discarded or incinerated.

To create the material, Zwolle used old, plastic bottles, festival beer cups, cosmetic packaging, and plastic furniture. Still, in the pilot phase, the bike path contains 70% recycled plastic in its 30-meter pathway. Although, the city hopes to create a bike path made entirely of recycled plastic in the future.

Although innovative, this is not a unique project. There has been asphalt made of recycled plastic that is 60% tougher than the traditional material. However, what differentiates this bike lane is that it was created with pre-fabricated and lightweight modular parts; thus, it can be installed anywhere in the world in a few days.

Other benefits of the plastic bike lane include storing rainwater, which can help prevent flooding. Also, if the material wears out, it can be recycled continuing the cyclic shelf life.

Named "PlasticRoad," the bike path is the result of a partnership between the company Wavin, which developed the technology, the plastic tube company Mexichem, KWS, and Total energy company.

In the first iteration, sensors measured road performance, temperature, and durability. A second version is due to be installed in November in a town near Zwolle. "In November, a second pilot bike lane will be installed and will test additional PlasticRoad features. With this second project, the results from both will generate enough insights to apply and refine the technology. Meanwhile, partners are looking for new locations to launch the next pilots - to test other applications from PlasticRoad, such as parking lots, train platforms, and sidewalks," Wavin said in a statement.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Netherlands Unveils the World's First Recycled Plastic Bike Lane

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When it comes to sustainability, the Netherlands has always been at the forefront. In recent news, Zwolle, one of the country's "greenest cities," implemented the world's first bicycle lane composed of post-consumer waste that would normally be discarded or incinerated. To create the material, Zwolle used old, plastic bottles, festival beer cups, cosmetic packaging, and plastic furniture.

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.text
Unbelievable! Dominican Republic, July 2018. Video: Mirela Monte

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
Unbelievable! Dominican Republic, July 2018. Video: Mirela Monte https://t.co/8tFQSOF8fF

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Unbelievable! Dominican Republic, July 2018. Video: Mirela Monte pic.twitter.com/8tFQSOF8fF
— severe-weather.EU (@severeweatherEU) September 30, 2018

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
Unbelievable! Dominican Republic, July 2018. Video: Mirela Monte https://t.co/8tFQSOF8fF

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Unbelievable! Dominican Republic, July 2018. Video: Mirela Monte https://t.co/8tFQSOF8fF

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Unbelievable! Dominican Republic, July 2018. Video: Mirela Monte

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What really happens to the plastic you throw away - Emma Bryce

# data[].attributes.body
their website is also worth a look
https://www.e6pr.com/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Eco Six Pack Ring Launch, Beer Handling Alternative #E6PR

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For many, the image that brought the crisis home came when David Attenborough's Blue Planet II documentary showed an albatross unwittingly feeding its chicks plastic.

Making his case unflinchingly, Attenborough called on viewers to help reduce the world's plastic waste. Millions of viewers across the world responded, with palpable concern.

However, seismic changes had happened earlier. The biggest shake-up was the economic grenade thrown into the recycling marketplace by China's decision to refuse to be home to massive quantities of plastic and paper.

Many of the world's major economies had become over reliant on that outlet - unable to deal with their own waste, they had become used to sending it out of sight, out of mind. Unquestionably, it concentrated minds in Europe. In January, the European Union's Plastics Strategy took the radical step of committing to ensuring all plastic in Europe will be recyclable by 2030.

People and businesses across the European Union produce 58 million tonnes of plastic every year; more than 40 per cent of that total comes from packaging alone.

A fifth is produced making consumer and household goods, everything from toothpaste to kitchen items, while nearly a tenth of all the plastic used ends up in cars and trucks.

Just 30 per cent of the EU's plastic is recycled - 39 per cent of it is incinerated, while 31 per cent is in landfills, according to PlasticsEurope. More than 60 per cent of plastic waste still comes from packaging, but only 40 per cent of that packaging is recycled.

In 2015, Ireland generated 282 148 tonnes of plastic packaging waste, according to Eurostat: 60.7kg plastic packaging waste was produced by each person in the country that year - just 34 per cent of it was recycled.

China accepted seven million tonnes of plastic scrap in 2016 -more than half of all the waste plastic exported globally that year. Up to 97 per cent of Irish plastic went to China because of our inability to deal with it at home.

The closure of small plastic processors in China, which processed the most difficult plastic -such as film and soft plastics - signalled a new scenario.

Imported pollution

Beijing is taking a harder line on imported pollution, though it still has its own, and growing plastic problems while it serves the needs of an emerging middle class.

Not everything in Beijing's plan is working seamlessly. There are indications that some Chinese paper mills are already short of stock and there may be some row-back on recyclable high-quality paper.

However, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, which has responsibility for Irish waste policy, believes there will be no going back to the way it was.

The bottom line is that mixed paper and difficult plastics are no longer traded commodities. What's more, significant amounts of money have to be paid for their disposal.

For the consumer, recycling industry figures in Ireland indicate the upheaval caused by the Chinese decision will translate into a small increase in green bin charges.

Recycling only works economically if products can be cleaned and segregated, and some of that work must be done by the householder or business producing the waste.

However, Séamus Clancy, chief executive of Repak recycling company, believes the Chinese market is in effect closed due to unachievable standards on contamination levels.

This has led to a price collapse in the value of plastic. Recycling costs have gone through the roof, exacerbated by next to no infrastructure in Europe for light plastic.

Some outlets are opening up in India, Vietnam and Cambodia, but he warns they too "will go the same route as China" and so do not provide a long-term solution.

Paper may get back into China, but plastics has become "a dirty word", with its positives lost in translation, though PET bottles have retained their value.

However, Clancy argues that now is not the time for panic, or knee-jerk decisions. Ireland needs to have the right rules in place, and the Government is beginning to engage, he believes.

The Attenborough-prompted discussions among the public help, too. The increasing debate has led the European Commission to raise the possibility of a plastics tax.

Clancy, however, does not favour a plastics tax, but he suggests that higher fees to recycle the most difficult types of plastic will have to be considered.

Meanwhile, the recycling industry will have to up its game.

It no longer must be allowed to cherry-pick the most valuable streams. Businesses will have to cut the volume of waste produced. Home-owners will have to do better at segregating waste, he argues.

In December 2017, Irish Waste Management Association director Des Crinion predicted Ireland was about to experience "a six- to 12-month hiccup" until new capacity was built in Europe.

Since then, however, the fallout caused by the Chinese decision has been worse than he had feared. Instead of a hiccup, there has been world-wide market failure, he says now.

The US is dumping plastic, the UK is stockpiling it, while Australia is stockpiling or simply not collecting it. In Ireland, stockpiling is prohibited under EPA fire safety rules.

Crinion sees paper recycling going down the same route, as China has issued import licences for a fraction of what it usually takes - as a consequence prices are crashing.

Opportunities for Ireland

However, there are opportunities for Ireland if it moves agilely, says Crinion, who is managing director of Irish Packaging Recycling - part of Panda Waste.

In 2016, IPR shipped 300,000 tonnes of recyclates. Seventy per cent went to China, reducing to 60 per cent last year. Exports of plastics stopped in January 2017, as it knew restrictions were coming.

It has been improving the quality of exported material at Dublin City Materials Recovery Facility by reducing contamination at source and by improving segregation.

Crinion has visited plastic recycling operators in Europe, who convert plastic film to pellets for use in recycled products such as rubbish bags - "what happens in a proper, circular economy", he says.

He hopes to build a facility to recycle plastic film "in Ireland and/or in England by the end of the year".

Already, Ireland has proven to be "more fleet-footed" than the UK in finding alternatives to China. Partly, this occurred because Ireland has been exporting waste for years, being a small country lacking the scale necessary to process recyclables.

Panda has found new outlets for mixed paper in India, Indonesia and Taiwan, but from this month, Crinion believes it will have zero or negative value "and we will have to pay to move it".

Their approach is to find markets and take lower prices to ensure waste mountains are moved. "Most important is to continue recycling, focus on quality and look for new markets," he says.

Not collecting or dumping recyclates, he says, would send the wrong message. Ireland has done well on recycling rates, while segregation habits among the public are improving

Most Irish people back measures to cut plastic waste: 88 per cent of us say we are worried about its environmental impact, while 81 per cent are worried about the impact plastics can have on their health, according to Eurobarometer.

The same poll showed virtual unanimity on the actions others should take: 98 per cent think products should be easier to recycle; 97 per cent think that shops and industry should cut packaging; 98 per cent think councils should do better.

Nearly a third of us say we avoid buying over-packaged goods, compared with a quarter across the European Union; while 87 per say they avoid single-use cups where possible, compared with a 75 per cent average.

Even more positively, 72 per cent of Irish people polled by Eurobarometer believe they and every other consumer should be charged more for single-use plastic knives and forks.

Sometimes, however, there is a gap between rhetoric and reality. Just 30 per cent of us say we avoid free single-use cutlery, compared with a 34 per cent EU average - even though we say we are willing to pay for it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Chinese ban on plastic that brought the world some good

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For many, the image that brought the crisis home came when David Attenborough's Blue Planet II documentary showed an albatross unwittingly feeding its chicks plastic. Making his case unflinchingly, Attenborough called on viewers to help reduce the world's plastic waste. Millions of viewers across the world responded, with palpable concern.