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Physical and Chemical Changes of Matter 5

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Physical and Chemical Changes of Matter 5

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Physical and Chemical Changes | #aumsum #kids #science #education #children

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Physical and Chemical Changes of Matter 4

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Physical and Chemical Changes of Matter 4

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Physical and Chemical Changes: Chemistry for Kids - FreeSchool

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Physical and Chemical Properties of Matter 3

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Physical and Chemical Properties of Matter 3

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What's My Property: Crash Course Kids #35.2

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Physical VS Chemical Properties of Matter 2

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Physical VS Chemical Properties of Matter 2

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Physical vs Chemical Properties - Explained

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Physical VS Chemical Properties of Matter

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Physical VS Chemical Properties of Matter

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Properties of Matter - Physical and Chemical Properties

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States Of Matter - Solids, Liquids & Gases | Properties of Matter | Chemistry | FuseSchool

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3 States of Matter for Kids (Solid, Liquid, Gas): Science for Children - FreeSchool

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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 toreduce your own single-use plastics, andtake your pledge.

The world of plastic contains many confusing terms, as we discovered while reporting on and researching the topic for our June issue of National Geographic magazine. Even the most well-intentioned plastic consumer may have a hard time sorting out "good" plastics from bad. So we've prepared a short glossary to help demystify some of the terminology.

Chemicals added during the manufacture of plastic products to make them stronger, safer, more or less flexible, and impart a range of other desired characteristics are known as additives. Common additives include water repellents, flame retardants, stiffeners, softeners, pigments, and UV inhibitors. Some of these additives may contain potentially toxic substances.

A biodegradable product should break down into natural raw materials by microorganisms within a reasonable period of time. "Biodegrade" is more thorough than "break down" or "degrade"-when many plastics today are said to "break down," they just become smaller pieces of plastic. There is no widely accepted standard for labeling a product "biodegradable," meaning that there is no clear way to define what it means, and manufacturers apply it inconsistently. Some states are banning the term until a clear standard is agreed upon.

This very flexible term is currently used for a whole spectrum of plastics, encompassing both fossil-fuel- and biologically based plastics that are biodegradable and biologically-based plastics that are not biodegradable. In other words, there is no guarantee that a "bioplastic" will be made from a non-toxic, non-fossil-fuel source, or that it will biodegrade. This graphic from European Bioplastics lists several of the main types of bioplastics.

For an object to be compostable, it must be able to break down into its natural elements (or biodegrade) within a "reasonable composting environment," which is variable. Some plastics are compostable, though most won't compost in a typical backyard compost pile. Instead, they require much higher heat at a specific duration in order to fully biodegrade.

According to Rhodes Yepsen of the Biodegradable Products Institute, "Standards and certifications do exist for compostable plastics (those that biodegrade in a composting environment), but most are only certified for industrial-scale composting, which reaches at least 130 degrees... Compostable plastics are part of residential and commercial food scraps composting programs in major cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, and New York, but these programs are not available everywhere, and some composters accept food only, fearing contamination."

Fishing gear-much of it made of plastic-that has been abandoned, discarded, or lost is often called ghost gear. This includes nets, lines, traps, buoys, and other material. This debris can entangle and kill sea life, including turtles, whales, sharks, dolphins, seals, fish, and seabirds. It can also smother coral. One estimate says that hundreds of thousands of tons of fishing gear are left in the ocean each year.

Microplastics are plastic particles that measure less than five millimeters in their longest dimension. There are two types of microplastics: primary and secondary.

Primary microplastics include resin pellets that are melted down to manufacture plastic products-also known as nurdles-and microbeads added to products such as cosmetics, soaps, and toothpaste as abrasives. Secondary microplastics result from the fragmentation of larger plastic items. Microfibers are individual plastic filaments that are woven together to make fabrics like polyester, nylon, acrylic, and so on. Regular wear-and-tear and laundering release microfibers into the air and water.

Thanks to the action of ocean currents, marine debris often collects within ocean gyres (see below), forming what's known as a garbage "patch." In the largest gyres, these "patches" can span a million square miles. The majority of the material is plastic.

The term patch is a misnomer as it suggests trash so thick it resembles floating islands. Actually, the patches look more like a peppery soup, because most of the debris is microplastics and because the trash is found throughout the water column, rather than just floating on the surface. One of the largest concentrations of marine debris is called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (or Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch) and is located between California and Hawaii in the North Pacific Ocean.

There are five major gyres on Earth, which are large systems of rotating ocean currents created by global winds and tides: the North and South Pacific Gyres, the North and South Atlantic Gyres, and the Indian Ocean Gyre. Gyres collect and concentrate marine debris into large garbage patches. All the major gyres currently have garbage patches, and new patches are frequently being found in smaller gyres.

PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is one of the most widely used polymers, or plastics. It is a clear, strong and lightweight plastic belonging to the polyester family. It is used to make common household items such as fibers, fabrics, beverage bottles, and food jars.

Plastics, also called polymers, are produced by linking together small building blocks, or unit cells. Those building blocks, which chemists call monomers, are made up of groups of atoms that are derived from natural products or by the synthesis of primary chemicals from oil, natural gas, or coal. For some plastics, such as polyethylene, the repeat unit can be just one carbon atom and two hydrogen atoms. For other plastics, such as nylons, the repeat unit can involve 38 or more atoms. Once assembled, the chains of monomers become strong, light, and durable, which makes them so useful-and so problematic when they're disposed of carelessly.

A system in which all recyclables-newspaper, cardboard, plastic, metal, glass-are placed in a single bin for recycling. The recyclables are sorted at the recycling center by machines and by hand rather than by homeowners. This approach has pros and cons. Supporters say it increases participation in recycling by the public, but detractors say it leads to more contamination-causing some recyclables to end up in landfills-and is more expensive to process.

Plastic products designed to be used only once, such as thin grocery bags and the film packaging that seals everything from food to toys, is known as single-use plastic. Some 40 percent of all non-fiber plastics produced are used for packaging. Environmentalists often encourage people to reduce their use of single-use plastics and to instead opt for more durable multi-use items, such as metal water bottles or cotton totes.

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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 toreduce your own single-use plastics, andtake your pledge. The world of plastic contains many confusing terms, as we discovered while reporting on and researching the topic for our June issue of National Geographic magazine.

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An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Competitive Green Technologies' resin for compostable coffee pods contains PHA plastic. In fact, its compostable resin for plastic straws contains PHA plastic, but not its compostable coffee pod resin, although it may in the future. Also, while the coffee pod resin contains a compostable plastic polymer material derived from petroleum, Atul Bali notes that in the industry this is technically called a "compostable substance from petroleum" rather than a plastic.

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Canadian startups take styrofoam recycling to the next level | CBC News

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Styrofoam has been nicknamed "public enemy No. 6" because it's more likely to be landfilled or washed into the ocean than recycled. But three Canadian startups are launching technology that aims to make discarded styrofoam a resource that everyone wants to recycle.

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Although recycling can help reduce the amount of garbage that ends up in landfills, waterways and ecosystems, only a few types of plastics can be recycled by most municipal governments. The fraction that does get recycled still requires a lot of energy and water which just isn't a good proposition when it comes to single-use items. Plastic garbage that ends up in landfills and oceans take hundreds of years to degrade, and there's increasing concern about the toxins they release into the environment.

But in our modern lives, plastic surrounds us and cutting it out can seem daunting. Below are some super easy ways to get started.

1. Bring your own shopping bag

The usefulness of these thin and easily ripped bags is extremely limited, yet according to the Environmental Protection Agency, up to one trillion plastic bags are used each year around the world.﻿﻿ Although free to shoppers, these bags have a high environmental cost and are one of the most ubiquitous forms of garbage. Bringing your own environmental bag is common but good environmental advice, such good advice that some governments implemented policies to encourage people to do it. Disposable shopping bags have been banned in a number of cities, like San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

In addition to bigger carryall bags, you can further reduce waste by bringing your own reusable produce bags or skipping them entirely.

2. Stop buying bottled water

Unless there's some kind of contamination crisis, plastic water bottles are an easy target for reducing waste. Instead, keep a refillable bottle handy.

3. Bring your own thermos to the coffee shop

Speaking of refillable, bringing your own thermos for to-go coffee is another way to reduce your plastic footprint. Disposable coffee cups might look like paper but they're usually lined with polyethylene, a type of plastic resin. In theory these materials can be recycled, but most places lack the infrastructure to do so. Then there are lids, stirrers, and coffee vendors that still use polystyrene foam cups-which can all be avoided with your own mug.

4. Choose cardboard over plastic bottles and bags

Generally speaking, it's easier to recycle cardboard than plastic﻿﻿ , plus paper products tend to biodegrade more easily without adding a lot of weight to the product the way glass or aluminum can.﻿﻿ So, when you have the choice, pick pasta in the box instead of pasta in a bag, or detergent in the box instead of the bottle. Even better would be to check for companies that source their cardboard sustainably or have a strong stance on deforestation.

5. Say no to straws

Whether for home use or when you're ordering a drink at a bar or restaurant, plastic straws are often a single-use item that's just not necessary.

6. Get the plastic off your face

Much of the plastic that's polluting the oceans is microplastics, tiny chunks that are next to impossible to filter out. These plastics can come from bigger items breaking down, but they are also commonly added to consumer products like face wash and toothpaste.﻿﻿ These little beads are intended to be exfoliators, but many wastewater treatment facilities aren't able to stop them.﻿﻿ There are many biodegradable alternatives, so avoid items with "polypropylene" or "polyethylene" on the ingredients list or consider making your own.

7. Skip the disposable razor

Instead of tossing a plastic razor in the trash every month, consider switching to a razor that lets your replace just the blade or even a straight razor.

8. Switch from disposable diapers to cloth

If you've got a young baby, you know how many diapers can end up in the trash each day. TreeHugger writers are pretty big fans of the the reusable cloth option.

9. Make your period waste-free

There are a number of non-disposable options out there to cut down on period waste, from the Diva Cup, to the Ruby Cup to DIY-with-pride reusable pads. All these choices reduce incredible amount of packaging that most pads and tampons are encased in. If you're not in a situation where giving up tampons is an option, consider skipping brands with plastic applicators.

10. Re-think your food storage

Plastic baggies, plastic wrap, and plastic storage containers are worth re-evaluating. Instead of sandwich baggies, why not pack a bento box or a cute tiffin (shown at the top of this post) for lunch? Instead of throwing away plastic zipper bags or wrapping things in Saran wrap, why not use jars or glass containers in the fridge? When it comes to carryout, these types of containers be used instead of disposable ones-although it can definitely take a bit of courage and some explaining to help your local restaurants to understand.

11. Shop in bulk

For many households, the majority of plastic waste is generated in the kitchen. So one of the best ways to reduce the packaging waste madness is to bring your own bags and containers and stock up on bulk foods. Shopping with jars is a great option, and keep your eye out for brands with refilling stations, like Ariston oils and Common Good cleaners.

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11 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Plastic Waste

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Although recycling can help reduce the amount of garbage that ends up in landfills, waterways and ecosystems, only a few types of plastics can be recycled by most municipal governments.

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Kids Take Action

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Kids Take Action Against Ocean Plastic | Short Film Showcase

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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, and take your pledge.

Read this story and more in the June 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine.

If plastic had been invented when the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England, to North America-and the Mayflower had been stocked with bottled water and plastic-wrapped snacks-their plastic trash would likely still be around, four centuries later.

If the Pilgrims had been like many people today and simply tossed their empty bottles and wrappers over the side, Atlantic waves and sunlight would have worn all that plastic into tiny bits. And those bits might still be floating around the world's oceans today, sponging up toxins to add to the ones already in them, waiting to be eaten by some hapless fish or oyster, and ultimately perhaps by one of us.

We should give thanks that the Pilgrims didn't have plastic, I thought recently as I rode a train to Plymouth along England's south coast. I was on my way to see a man who would help me make sense of the whole mess we've made with plastic, especially in the ocean.

Because plastic wasn't invented until the late 19th century, and production really only took off around 1950, we have a mere 9.2 billion tons of the stuff to deal with. Of that, more than 6.9 billion tons have become waste. And of that waste, a staggering 6.3 billion tons never made it to a recycling bin-a figure that stunned the scientists who crunched the numbers in 2017.

No one knows how much unrecycled plastic waste ends up in the ocean, Earth's last sink. In 2015, Jenna Jambeck, a University of Georgia engineering professor, caught everyone's attention with a rough estimate: between 5.3 million and 14 million tons each year just from coastal regions. Most of it isn't thrown off ships, she and her colleagues say, but is dumped carelessly on land or in rivers, mostly in Asia. It's then blown or washed into the sea. Imagine five plastic grocery bags stuffed with plastic trash, Jambeck says, sitting on every foot of coastline around the world-that would correspond to about 8.8 million tons, her middle-of-the-road estimate of what the ocean gets from us annually. It's unclear how long it will take for that plastic to completely biodegrade into its constituent molecules. Estimates range from 450 years to never.

Meanwhile, ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. Some are harmed visibly-strangled by abandoned fishing nets or discarded six-pack rings. Many more are probably harmed invisibly. Marine species of all sizes, from zooplankton to whales, now eat microplastics, the bits smaller than one-fifth of an inch across. On Hawaii's Big Island, on a beach that seemingly should have been pristine-no paved road leads to it-I walked ankle-deep through microplastics. They crunched like Rice Krispies under my feet. After that, I could understand why some people see ocean plastic as a looming catastrophe, worth mentioning in the same breath as climate change. At a global summit in Nairobi last December, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme spoke of an "ocean Armageddon."

And yet there's a key difference: Ocean plastic is not as complicated as climate change. There are no ocean trash deniers, at least so far. To do something about it, we don't have to remake our planet's entire energy system.

"This isn't a problem where we don't know what the solution is," says Ted Siegler, a Vermont resource economist who has spent more than 25 years working with developing nations on garbage. "We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to dispose of it. We know how to recycle." It's a matter of building the necessary institutions and systems, he says-ideally before the ocean turns, irretrievably and for centuries to come, into a thin soup of plastic.

In Plymouth, under the gray gloom of an English autumn, Richard Thompson waited in a yellow slicker outside Plymouth University's Coxside Marine Station, at the edge of the harbor. A lean man of 54, with a smooth pate rimmed with gray hair, Thompson was headed for an ordinary career as a marine ecologist in 1993-he was working on a Ph.D. on limpets and microalgae that grow on coastal rocks-when he participated in his first beach cleanup, on the Isle of Man. While other volunteers zoomed in on the plastic bottles and bags and nets, Thompson focused on the small stuff, the tiny particles that lay underfoot, ignored, at the high tide line. At first he wasn't even sure they were plastic. He had to consult forensic chemists to confirm it.

There was a real mystery to be solved back then, at least in academic circles: Scientists wondered why they weren't finding even more plastic in the sea. World production has increased exponentially-from 2.3 million tons in 1950, it grew to 162 million in 1993 and to 448 million by 2015-but the amount of plastic drifting on the ocean and washing up on beaches, alarming as it was, didn't seem to be rising as fast. "That begs the question: Where is it?" Thompson said. "We can't establish harm to the environment unless we know where it is."

In the years since his first beach cleanup, Thompson has helped provide the beginnings of an answer: The missing plastic is getting broken into pieces so small they're hard to see. In a 2004 paper, Thompson coined the term "microplastics" for these small bits, predicting-accurately, as it turned out-that they had "potential for large-scale accumulation" in the ocean.

When we met in Plymouth last fall, Thompson and two of his students had just completed a study that indicated it's not just waves and sunlight that break down plastic. In lab tests, they'd watched amphipods of the species Orchestia gammarellus -tiny shrimplike crustaceans that are common in European coastal waters-devour pieces of plastic bags and determined they could shred a single bag into 1.75 million microscopic fragments. The little creatures chewed through plastic especially fast, Thompson's team found, when it was coated with the microbial slime that is their normal food. They spat out or eventually excreted the plastic bits.

Microplastics have been found everywhere in the ocean that people have looked, from sediments on the deepest seafloor to ice floating in the Arctic-which, as it melts over the next decade, could release more than a trillion bits of plastic into the water, according to one estimate. On some beaches on the Big Island of Hawaii, as much as 15 percent of the sand is actually grains of microplastic. Kamilo Point Beach, the one I walked on, catches plastic from the North Pacific gyre, the trashiest of five swirling current systems that transport garbage around the ocean basins and concentrate it in great patches. At Kamilo Point the beach is piled with laundry baskets, bottles, and containers with labels in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, and occasionally, Russian. On Henderson Island, an uninhabited coral island in the South Pacific, researchers have found an astonishing volume of plastic from South America, Asia, New Zealand, Russia, and as far away as Scotland.

As Thompson and I talked about all this, a day boat called the Dolphin was carrying us through a light chop in the Sound, off Plymouth. Thompson reeled out a fine-mesh net called a manta trawl, usually used for studying plankton. We were close to the spot where, a few years earlier, other researchers had collected 504 fish of 10 species and given them to Thompson. Dissecting the fish, he was surprised to find microplastics in the guts of more than one-third of them. The finding made international headlines.

After we'd steamed along for a while, Thompson reeled the manta trawl back in. There was a smattering of colored plastic confetti at the bottom. Thompson himself doesn't worry much about microplastics in his fish and chips-there's little evidence yet that they pass from the gut of a fish into the flesh we actually eat. (See We Know Plastic Is Harming Marine Life. What About Us?) He worries more about the things that none of us can see-the chemicals added to plastics to give them desirable properties, such as malleability, and the even tinier nanoplastics that microplastics presumably degrade into. Those might pass into the tissues of fish and humans.

"We do know the concentrations of chemicals at the time of manufacture in some cases are very high," Thompson said. "We don't know how much additive is left in the plastic by the time it becomes bite-size to a fish.

"Nobody has found nanoparticles in the environment-they're below the level of detection for analytical equipment. People think they are out there. They have the potential to be sequestered in tissue, and that could be a game changer."

Thompson is careful not to get ahead of the science on his subject. He's far from an alarmist-but he's also convinced that plastic trash in the ocean is far more than an aesthetic problem. "I don't think we should be waiting for a key finding of whether or not fish are hazardous to eat," he said. "We have enough evidence to act."

How did we get here? When did the dark side of the miracle of plastic first show itself? It's a question that can be asked about many of the marvels of our technological world. Since helping the Allies win World War II-think of nylon parachutes or lightweight airplane parts-plastics have transformed all our lives as few other inventions have, mostly for the better. They've eased travel into space and revolutionized medicine. They lighten every car and jumbo jet today, saving fuel-and pollution. In the form of clingy, light-as-air wraps, they extend the life of fresh food. In airbags, incubators, helmets, or simply by delivering clean drinking water to poor people in those now demonized disposable bottles, plastics save lives daily.

In one of their early applications, they saved wildlife. In the mid-1800s, piano keys, billiard balls, combs, and all manner of trinkets were made of a scarce natural material: elephant ivory. With the elephant population at risk and ivory expensive and scarce, a billiards company in New York City offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could come up with an alternative.

As Susan Freinkel tells the tale in her book, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, an amateur inventor named John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge. His new material, celluloid, was made of cellulose, the polymer found in all plants. Hyatt's company boasted that it would eliminate the need "to ransack the Earth in pursuit of substances which are constantly growing scarcer." Besides sparing at least some elephants, celluloid also helped change billiards from solely an aristocratic pastime to one that working people play in bars.

That's a trivial example of a profound revolution ushered in by plastic-an era of material abundance. The revolution accelerated in the early 20th century, once plastics began to be made from the same stuff that was giving us abundant, cheap energy: petroleum. Oil companies had waste gases like ethylene coming out the stacks of their refineries. Chemists discovered they could use those gases as building blocks, or monomers, to create all sorts of novel polymers-polyethylene terephthalate, for example, or PET-instead of working only with polymers that already existed in nature. A world of possibilities opened up. Anything and everything could be made of plastic, and so it was, because plastics were cheap.

They were so cheap, we began to make things we never intended to keep. In 1955 Life magazine celebrated the liberation of the American housewife from drudgery. Under the headline "Throwaway Living," a photograph showed a family flinging plates, cups, and cutlery into the air. The items would take 40 hours to clean, the text noted-"except that no housewife need bother." When did plastics start to show their dark side? You might say it was when the junk in that photo hit the ground.

Six decades later, roughly 40 percent of the now more than 448 million tons of plastic produced every year is disposable, much of it used as packaging intended to be discarded within minutes after purchase. Production has grown at such a breakneck pace that virtually half the plastic ever manufactured has been made in the past 15 years. Last year the Coca-Cola Company, perhaps the world's largest producer of plastic bottles, acknowledged for the first time just how many it makes: 128 billion a year. Nestlé, PepsiCo, and others also churn out torrents of bottles.

The growth of plastic production has far outstripped the ability of waste management to keep up: That's why the oceans are under assault. "It's not surprising that we broke the system," Jambeck says. "That kind of increase would break any system not prepared for it." In 2013 a group of scientists issued a new assessment of throwaway living. Writing in Nature magazine, they declared that disposable plastic should be classified, not as a housewife's friend, but as a hazardous material.

In recent years the surge in production has been driven largely by the expanded use of disposable plastic packaging in the growing economies of Asia-where garbage collection systems may be underdeveloped or nonexistent. In 2010, according to an estimate by Jambeck, half the world's mismanaged plastic waste was generated by just five Asian countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

"Let's say you recycle 100 percent in all of North America and Europe," says Ramani Narayan, a chemical engineering professor at Michigan State University who also works in his native India. "You still would not make a dent on the plastics released into the oceans. If you want to do something about this, you have to go there, to these countries, and deal with the mismanaged waste."

The Pasig River once flowed majestically through downtown Manila, capital of the Philippines, and emptied into pristine Manila Bay. It was a treasured waterway and civic point of pride. It's now listed among the top 10 rivers in the world that convey plastic waste to the sea. As many as 72,000 tons flow downstream each year, mostly during the monsoon. In 1990 the Pasig was declared biologically dead.

The Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, established in 1999, is working to clean up the river, with some signs of success. Jose Antonio Goitia, the commission's executive director, says he is optimistic that the Pasig could be restored someday, although he acknowledges he has no easy way of doing that. "Maybe the best thing to do is ban plastic bags," he says.

The remaining challenges are clearly visible every day. The river is fed by 51 tributaries, some of them overflowing with plastic waste from squatter settlements that cantilever precariously over creek banks. A tributary near Chinatown, where rickety shanties are wedged between modern buildings, is so choked with plastic debris you can walk across it, forgoing the footbridge. Manila Bay's beaches, once recreational respites for greater Manila's 13 million residents, are littered with garbage, much of it plastic. Last fall Break Free From Plastic, a coalition including Greenpeace and other groups, cleaned a beach on Freedom Island, which is advertised as an ecotourism district; volunteers picked up 54,260 pieces of plastic, from shoes to food containers. By the time I visited a few weeks later, the beach was littered again with bottles, wrappers, and shopping bags.

The scene in Manila is typical of large, overcrowded urban centers across Asia. The Philippines is a densely populated nation of 105 million people that is still struggling with the most basic public health issues, including waterborne diseases such as typhoid and bacterial diarrhea. It's no surprise that it has trouble managing the explosion of plastic garbage. Manila has a metropolitan garbage collection system that stretches across 17 separate local governments-a source of chaos and inefficiency. In 2004 the region was already running out of land to safely dump garbage. The shortage of landfill space, and thus the crisis, continues today.

A small part of the slack is taken up by Manila's informal recycling industry, which consists of thousands of waste pickers. Armando Siena, 34, is one of them. He and his wife, Angie, 31, have lived their entire lives surrounded by trash. They were born on Smokey Mountain, an internationally notorious dump that was officially closed in the 1990s. They now live with their three children near Manila's waterfront in a one-room flat lit by a single bulb, furnished with a pair of plastic chairs, and lacking plumbing, bedding, or refrigeration. The flat is in a garbage-filled slum named Aroma, next to another slum named Happyland.

Every day Siena rides a rickety bicycle beyond Aroma's boundaries, scanning the streets for recyclable rubbish that he can stuff into his sidecar. Plastic soup containers are high-value finds, paying 20 pesos (38 cents) a kilogram. Siena sorts and sells his load to a junk shop owned by his uncle, who trucks the waste to recycling plants on the outskirts of Manila.

Waste pickers like Siena are part of the solution, some activists argue; they just need a living wage. In the Baseco waterfront slum in Manila, a tiny recycling shop operated by the Plastic Bank of Vancouver, British Columbia, pays a premium for bottles and hard plastic collected by waste pickers. It then sells that plastic at a higher price to multinationals, which market their recycled products as socially responsible.

Siegler, the Vermont economist, has worked in enough countries and run enough numbers to be skeptical of such schemes. "There is not enough value in plastics to make that work," he says. "It's cheaper to fund a solid waste management system than to subsidize collecting plastic."

The waste that clogs Manila's beaches and waterways reinforces Siegler's point. Much of it consists of sachets-tear-off packets that once held a single serving of shampoo, toothpaste, coffee, condiments, or other products. They are sold by the millions to poor people like Siena and his family, who can't afford to buy more than one serving at a time. Sachets blow around Manila like leaves falling from trees. They're not recyclable, so no waste picker will retrieve them. Crispian Lao, a member of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, says, "This segment of packaging is growing, and it has become a real challenge for solid waste management."

When Greenpeace cleaned the Freedom Island beach, it posted a tally of the brand names of the sachets its volunteers had collected. Nestlé ranked first, Unilever second. Litterbugs aren't the only ones at fault, says Greenpeace's Abigail Aguilar: "We believe that the ones producing and promoting the use of single-use plastics have a major role in the whole problem." A Unilever spokeswoman in Manila told me the company is developing a recyclable sachet.

After Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from radar screens in March 2014 while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, the search for it extended from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. It captivated a global audience for weeks. No sign of the wreckage appeared. On several occasions, when satellite images revealed collections of objects floating on the sea surface, hopes soared that they would turn out to be aircraft parts. They weren't. It was all trash-pieces of broken shipping containers, abandoned fishing gear, and of course, plastic shopping bags.

Kathleen Dohan, a scientist and the president of Earth and Space Research in Seattle, saw opportunity in the horror: The images from space were pushing a problem into view that had long been neglected. "This is the first time the whole world is watching," she told me at the time. "It's a good time for people to understand that our oceans are garbage dumps." Dohan sensed a tipping point in public awareness-and the events since suggest she may have been right.

The most heartening thing about the plastic waste problem is the recent explosion of attention to it, and even of serious, if scattered, efforts to address it. A partial list of the good news since 2014 would include, in no particular order: Kenya joined a growing list of nations that have banned plastic bags, imposing steep fines and jail time on violators. France said it would ban plastic plates and cups by 2020. Bans on plastic microbeads in cosmetics (they're exfoliants) take effect this year in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and four other countries. The industry is phasing them out.

Corporations are responding to public opinion. Coca-Cola, which also produces Dasani water, announced a goal to "collect and recycle the equivalent of" 100 percent of its packaging by 2030. It and other multinationals, including PepsiCo, Amcor, and Unilever, have pledged to convert to 100 percent reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging by 2025. And Johnson & Johnson is switching from plastic back to paper stems on its cotton swabs.

Individuals are making a difference too. Ellen MacArthur, a British yachtswoman, has created a foundation to promote the vision of a "circular economy," in which all materials, including plastics, are designed to be reused or recycled, not dumped. Actor Adrian Grenier has lent his celebrity to the campaign against the plastic drinking straw. And Boyan Slat, 23, from the Netherlands, is charging ahead with his teenage vow to clean up the largest garbage patch in the North Pacific. His organization has raised more than $30 million to construct an ocean-sweeping machine that is still under development.

All of these measures help at some level-even beach cleanups, futile as they sometimes seem. A beach cleanup hooked Richard Thompson on the plastic problem a quarter century ago. But the real solution, he now thinks, is to stop plastic from entering the ocean in the first place-and then to rethink our whole approach to the amazing stuff. "We've done a lot of work making sure plastic does its job, but very little amount of work on what happens to that product at the end of its lifetime," he says. "I'm not saying plastics are the enemy, but there is a lot the industry can do to help solve the problem."

There are two fundamental ways industry can help, if it wants or is forced to. First, along with academic scientists such as Jambeck, it can design new plastics and new plastic products that are either biodegradable or more recyclable (see You Can Help Turn the Tide on Plastic. Here's How.). New materials and more recycling, along with simply avoiding unnecessary uses of the stuff, are the long-term solutions to the plastic waste problem. But the fastest way to make a big difference, Siegler says, is low tech. It's more garbage trucks and landfills.

"Everyone wants a sexy answer," he says. "The reality is, we need to just collect the trash. Most countries that I work in, you can't even get it off the street. We need garbage trucks and help institutionalizing the fact that this waste needs to be collected on a regular basis and landfilled, recycled, or burned so that it doesn't end up going all over the place."

That's the second way industry could help: It could pony up. Siegler has proposed a worldwide tax of a penny on every pound of plastic resin manufactured. The tax would raise roughly six billion dollars a year that could be used to finance garbage collection systems in developing nations. The idea never caught on. In the fall of 2017, though, a group of scientists revived the concept of a global fund. The group called for an international agreement patterned after the Paris climate accord.

At the Nairobi meeting in December, 193 nations, including the U.S., actually passed one. The United Nations Clean Seas agreement doesn't impose a tax on plastic. It's nonbinding and toothless. It's really just a declaration of a good intention-the intention to end ocean plastic pollution. In that way it's less like the Paris Agreement and more like the Rio de Janeiro treaty, in which the world pledged to combat dangerous climate change-back in 1992. Norway's environment minister, Vidar Helgesen, called this new agreement a strong first step.

Staff writer Laura Parker and photographer Randy Olson last worked together on a feature on the vanishing Ogallala aquifer, which was published in the August 2016 issue.

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We Depend on Plastic. Now We're Drowning in It.

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The miracle material has made modern life possible. But more than 40 percent of it is used just once, and it's choking our waterways.

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Kids and Less Plastic

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Ditch microbeads

Don't use face wash or toothpaste with microbeads. (If the ingredients label lists polyethylene or polypropylene, the item likely contains microbeads.) These tiny plastic beads go down the drain, eventually flowing to rivers, lakes, and the ocean. There they can be mistaken for food by fish and sea turtles-a dish that could be deadly.

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Ditch microbeads Don't use face wash or toothpaste with microbeads. (If the ingredients label lists polyethylene or polypropylene, the item likely contains microbeads.) These tiny plastic beads go down the drain, eventually flowing to rivers, lakes, and the ocean. There they can be mistaken for food by fish and sea turtles-a dish that could be deadly.

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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 toreduce your own single-use plastics, andtake your pledge.

Your family might use plastic straws, water bottles, and bags for just a few minutes, but those items don't disappear when they're thrown out. Single-use items like these account for more than 40 percent of plastic waste, and each year about 8.8 million tons of plastic trash flows into the ocean. This waste endangers wildlife, pollutes the water, and puts human health at risk.

The stats are frightening, but you've got a secret weapon to curb your family's plastic use: your kids.

Many children care deeply about wildlife-they certainly don't want to watch a sea turtle suffocate from a plastic straw-and kids understand they're inheriting an Earth in crisis. But small changes to your family's routine can empower your children to make a real difference in the fight against plastic. Start with these tips below.

The best estimate currently available is that Americans use about 500 million plastic straws each day. Help your kids swap out the disposable straws by allowing them to choose a colorful, reusable straw. Keep it handy for restaurant visits or snack stops.

At the ice-cream shop, always choose a cone over a cup with a plastic spoon. (Waffle versus cake is still your call.) Take it further by helping your kids talk to the shop manager about switching to compostable utensils-your kids just might be cute enough to change someone's mind.

As birthdays approach, rethink the goodie bags. A few days after the party, those plastic yo-yos and other throwaway toys start to look like junk. Work with your kids to choose Earth-friendly, non-plastic giveaways like homemade treats or coupons to a local bakery.

Items shipped to your home often come wrapped in plastic packaging, and toys bought at the store are covered in it. When your kids want something, help them brainstorm ways to avoid the excess plastic. Some things can be bought secondhand, others can be shared or borrowed, and some stuff doesn't need to be purchased at all.

The average 8- to 12-year-old kid throws away about 67 pounds of lunch trash every year. Instead of packing your kids' sandwiches in plastic bags, reach for reusable wrappers made of cloth or beeswax. Kids can even make and decorate their own lunch bags from old jeans. Then toss an apple or a banana in the bag instead of a plastic-wrapped snack.

If you're planning a trip to the beach, make sure those plastic pails, beach balls, and inflatable flamingoes don't float out to sea. Put your kids in charge of tracking these items and making sure the toys are back in the car at the end of the day.

Not all plastics are recyclable, but some items-like beverage bottles and plant pots-are. Learn what your local recycling plant is able to accept, then make it a priority to separate your waste at home. You can even encourage your kids to push for plastic recycling in their classroom.

Let each of your kids select a reusable water bottle, then give them the responsibility of hanging onto it. Look for other bottles in your home that can be nixed. For instance, you can let each child choose their own type of bar soap instead of purchasing a plastic bottle of liquid soap to share.

Purchase items like popcorn kernels, cereal, and pasta in bulk to cut down on packaging waste (ideally with your own containers), then pull out your tote bag to take it all home. Work with your kids to choose and then decorate reusable containers for each of these items and have them sort the food into their respective containers.

If you find yourself with a free Saturday, grab the kids and join a community cleanup. You'll not just be beautifying the neighborhood-you might help change laws. Groups that host the cleanups sometimes weigh the waste, which helps leaders make decisions about laws that encourage people to throw away less trash. No cleanups scheduled? Your kids can plan their own.

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Reducing Plastic as a Family Is Easy. Here's How.

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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 toreduce your own single-use plastics, andtake your pledge. Your family might use plastic straws, water bottles, and bags for just a few minutes, but those items don't disappear when they're thrown out.

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Tips to Use Less Plastic - Green Education Foundation | GEF | Sustainability Education

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As part of the Waste Reduction Challenge, try cutting back on the amount of plastic you use.

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Last year may have been the beginning of the end for plastic. It may have taken a while for the average person to wake up to its dangers, but many were shaken into action by the images and videos of plastic's impact on the natural world that flooded the media in 2018.

A viral video showed a turtle with a straw stuck up its nose. Stories about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch revealed how island-sized trash mounds had collected in the ocean between Hawaii and California. And then there was that National Geographic cover of a plastic bag floating in the water, beneath the scrawled words "Planet or Plastic?" The issue publicized a remarkable statistic: Despite the world's efforts to recycle, 91% ends up in the trash.

You may already be part of the growing number of people who are trying to ditch plastic. I've tried to faithfully bring my reusable Baggu bags ($12) to the grocery store, and carry my own metal straw ($4 for three) with me when I go out to restaurants. I use S'well and BKR bottles ($25 and $45) instead of plastic water bottles. I like to congratulate myself for these small steps, but something weird happened once I began cutting down. I suddenly saw how much other plastic filled my kitchen, bathroom, and closet. I saw it in my toddler's sippy cups and toys, in the cling film enveloping the meat and produce at the grocery store, and in the contents of my medicine cabinet. How could I ever hope to curb plastic, given that it's woven into every part of my life?

As I've begun to explore more ways to cut down, I've realized that the task ahead is not as painful as it might seem. This is partly thanks to a flock of new startups coming up with alternatives to everyday plastic products. I've researched many of these brands and tested many of their products to give you a totally achievable, relatively painless, and very convenient guide to get started curbing your plastic use.

The Kitchen

Let's tackle the hardest part first: your kitchen. If you look around, you'll see that most food comes in plastic. It's the cheapest material on the market, so brands use it to package food and families often use Ziploc bags, Saran wrap, and Tupperware to store it. But there are ways around it.

Buy in bulk: You don't need to buy prepackaged food. Many grocery stores sell rice, pasta, beans, nuts, flour, and many other ingredients in bulk. And skip the plastic bags offered in-store. You can bring your own containers. Some people like to bring glass or stainless steel jars, but I find them heavy and inconvenient. You also need to figure out how much the jars weigh so that you can correctly tally the weight of the bulk food you're buying.

Personally, I prefer carrying some lightweight silicone Stasher (starting at $10) bags with me, then store my food in jars when I get home. The company is launching a large, flat-bottomed bag on March 12 that is ideal for bulk buying.

No more packaged fruit: There's no reason for produce to be packaged in plastic. (I'm looking at you, Trader Joe's.) Most groceries sell their fruit and vegetables by weight, so just buy your items piecemeal if you can. When you get home, you can give your produce a wash when you're preparing it. Eco-friendly brand Full Circle has a very handy veggie scrubber ($5) I keep by the sink.

Stock up on reusable containers and wraps: Clear out your Ziploc and Saran wrap drawer, and fill it with reusable versions. I now pack my daughter's snacks in reusable Lunchskin bags (starting at $5) or paper sandwich bags ($4). They come in cute patterns, which is an extra perk for the toddler set.

I use Abeego food wrap ($15) instead of plastic wrap, and I also have a large number of Pyrex glass food storage containers ($5 to $55) that I use to store all our leftovers.

Replace soap and laundry bottles with glass ones: So what do you do about all your cleaning supplies? This is a tricky one, because almost everything in the cleaning aisle comes in plastic. Here's my solution: I've purchased a set of reusable soap and laundry dispensers ($17) from Grove, an online retail store focusing on eco-friendly home goods. The bottles aren't just better for the environment, they also make my sink look tidier and more beautiful. (Read more about Grove's glass detergent dispenser here.) Then I buy dish soap, counter spray, and laundry detergent in bulk packaging. Often this comes in plastic, but you're still reducing your overall plastic usage-and brands like cleancult are now sell cleaning product refills ($11 for 18 detergent tabs or dishwasher pods) in paper boxes, instead.

For goodness sake's, get a Soda Stream: Okay, so I have to admit that my family has a minor addiction to carbonated water. Is it weird that my daughter could say the world "sparkling" before she could say the word "milk"? Maybe.

While we recycled all these bottles and cans, I learned recently that a large proportion of recycling gets thrown in a landfill because it is contaminated. A few months ago, we got a Sodastream Fizzi ($90), which comes with refillable glass bottles. Now we never have to run to the store in desperation when our last bit of sparkling water runs out. We can just make it ourselves. And our recycling bin is noticeably more empty because we're using far less single-use plastic.

The Bathroom

This is trickier, since most personal care brands rely heavily on plastic in their packaging. Even serious anti-plastic warriors struggle with what products to use, and some have even resorted to making their own toothpaste when they couldn't find a better solution. Look, I'm a new mom. I struggle to get my requisite eight hours of sleep a night. I'm not going to spend hours making my own toothpaste. This entire exercise is about finding reasonable, manageable ways to curb your plastic. So here are my tips.

Marie Kondo your bathroom: Many of us have way too many products in our showers and makeup drawers. (Mea culpa!) After all, the beauty industry thrives on convincing us that we need dozens of different face creams and body scrubs. But most people don't have time to spend on elaborate shower routines and skincare regimes, and we fall back on the same set of items: soap, shampoo, conditioner, facial cleanser. The same goes for makeup. Figure out what core products you use, and resist the urge to buy a new eyeshadow palette and lipstick set every season. Finish off whatever extraneous products you have, and then stop buying them.

Find more sustainable alternatives: Now that you have a simple, minimal routine, you have a couple of alternatives when it comes to products. First, you can buy these items in bulk. Alba Botanica, for instance, sells shower gels in 32 fl. oz. bottles ($10), which should last your family six months, at least. Avalon Organics, Alaffia, and Aveda all sell shampoo in large bottles as well.

Second, find brands that are conscious about their packaging. Seed Phytonutrients, for instance, makes a wide range of products including face wash and shampoo for color-treated hair that all come in compostable paper containers with a small plastic core, which minimizes overall plastic consumption by 60%. There are also several startups working to create more sustainable packaging for products, including Myro, which makes reusable deodorant containers. More of these are likely to pop up in the next few months and years, so keep an eye out.

The Nursery

It's shocking how much environmental waste goes along with having a baby in the modern world. The toy aisles at the store are full of plastic products. Diaper bags and strollers are generally made of plastic. So are most sippy cups, kids' plates, and silverware, and lunchboxes. It's hard to know where to start, but here are some things that have worked for me.

Buy less stuff, and invest in books and wood toys: Kids' toys are often very cheap. When you first see them on the shelf at a store, you likely think that they will provide you hours of peace and quiet, as your kid gets sucked into them. This rarely happens. My daughter loses interest in the item about four hours after we've purchased it, and then it sits in her room forever gathering dust.

These days, I focus on buying her books. She often asks us to read the same book over and over again until it's basically locked in her brain. Over time, the books will continue to be relevant as she learns how to read herself. I've also invested in wood toys, including many made by Melissa and Doug. Often, the simple, versatile toys, like wood blocks, are the most engaging because they encourage kids to use their imagination.

Get child-sized wood or stainless steel dinnerware: Most children's eating utensils are made from plastic because, well, your child is very likely going to throw them on the floor when she doesn't want to eat her peas. But there are other alternatives. A brand called Ekobo creates kids' dining sets including cups and silverware out of bamboo fibers that are certified by the Forestry Sustainability Council ($22). EcoLunchBoxes also make stainless steel plates and lunch boxes (starting at $13).

The Closet

Here's another incredibly difficult part of the house to tackle when it comes to plastic. Plastic-based fibers, like nylon, polyester, and spandex are very cheap to produce, and have been designed to mimic natural materials like cotton and silk. Over the last 50 years, fashion brands have increasingly incorporated these fibers into garments. These synthetic fabrics also have technical features, so they are widely used in outerwear and activewear as well. Since plastic never decomposes, your yoga pants will live forever in a landfill when you're done with them. Your options when it comes to non-plastic clothes and accessories are limited.

Buy investment pieces: Wool, silk, and cotton are relatively expensive compared to most synthetic counterparts. But well-made clothes made from natural fibers tend to be more durable as well. Many brands that pride themselves on quality try to use natural fibers, but their clothes tend to be a little more expensive. So, in some cases, you might have to adjust how you think about clothes. These days, I think about buying investment pieces that I expect to wear repeatedly for years to come.

Consider two brands that I recently wrote about. Ammara, a women's shirting brand, makes blouses in neutral colors from silk and cotton, with the goal of creating pieces women will wear for years. Senza Tempo, which literally means "slow pace," creates women's workwear pieces that the founder hopes will last women their entire careers. The brand recently launched a washable white silk T-shirt that is designed to be more durable and stain-resistant than your average poly-blend T-shirt ($205).

If you have to buy synthetics, go with recycled plastic: But I get it. Sometimes buying plastic-based clothing is inevitable. The good news is that some brands are switching to recycled plastic. Patagonia has been doing it for years, since it specializes in outdoor clothing, which is heavily dependent on synthetics. Everlane currently sells outerwear made from recycled water bottles, and is working to weed virgin plastic out of its supply chain. Adidas has promised to use entirely recycled plastic by 2024, which is an ambitious target, since almost all of its sneakers and activewear rely heavily on synthetics.

And speaking of shoes, Allbirds has found a way to minimize plastic usage in sneakers (starting at $95) by using wool and bamboo for its uppers. And Rothy's, a women's flat brand, creates fashionable women's shoes ($125) using knit uppers made from recycled water bottles.

Recycle what you don't need: Finally, think about where your clothes will go when you're done with them. For years, I sent bundles of clothes to Goodwill, expecting them to find their way to someone who would use them. But in reality, a lot of donated clothes end up in a landfill. Another option is recycling. While clothing recycling is still in its infancy, brands like Patagonia take back old clothes to recycle them, and the T-shirt startup For Days just launched a program where you can send in clothes from any brand to be recycled in exchange for a $4 credit to spend on the site.

So there you have it. While this is far from exhaustive, it's a start. And thankfully, it's becoming ever-easier to cut down because there are so many non-plastic alternatives emerging.

Perhaps more importantly, one person changing their behavior can quickly change the norms of their friends and family; the impact of your actions can multiply through your community. Consider a recent Tuesday morning when my husband was trying to pack up some apple slices in a Ziploc bag for my three-year-old to eat in the car. My daughter scolded him sternly for not using a reusable bag. He was appropriately remorseful. He won't make that mistake again anytime soon.

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A relatively painless guide to cutting plastic out of your life

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Last year may have been the beginning of the end for plastic. It may have taken a while for the average person to wake up to its dangers, but many were shaken into action by the images and videos of plastic's impact on the natural world that flooded the media in 2018.

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Starbucks to test recyclable, compostable cups

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After years of looking for greener alternatives to its paper cup - which is lined with plastic - Starbucks is testing out something new.

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Which Countries Make the Most Plastic Waste?

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China just put the brakes on buying up nearly half of the world's exported plastics, but which country is really to blame for our plastic pollution? Here's what we know. How Seeker Will Collect The Most Extensive Data Set of the Pacific Ocean | The Swim - https://youtu.be/XQqsjfFN2Z4 Learn more about the 'The Swim' here!

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How often do you use plastic? If you compare to the average consumer, you might answer "every day." Yes, items that contain plastic are convenient - and cheap. But, the manmade material is wreaking havoc on our planet. Images captured last year off the Honduran island of Roatan by photographer Caroline Power illuminate this fact.

The photos that follow were taken off an idyllic island that is usually compared to paradise. In the past few years, however, this image has been ruined by a "
sea of plastic. " Once, the waters were clear and icy blue. Now, they are congested and filled with pollution.

Powers and a dive team passed through the floating trash for "
nearly five miles." In one area, the " sea of plastic " was merely two miles wide. Some of the items they found include broken footballs, soda bottles, toothbrushes, an abandoned television, and shoes.

In an email, Powers noted that the country of Honduras is not solely to blame for the river of plastic near its shores. She pointed out that the average person in every country, worldwide, lives unsustainable and has learned to throw out goods which might be reused, sold, recycled, or refurbished. It's a mindset that needs to change, and her photographs are helping consumers re-think their habits.

After snapping the images, Powers posted them to social media along with a plea for help:

"THIS HAS TO STOP. Think about your daily lives," she wrote on Facebook. "How did you take your food to go last time you ate out? How was your last street food served?"

"Chances are it was styrofoam and served with a plastic fork and then put in a plastic bag. Do you still use plastic garbage bags?" Powers continued. "Plastic soda bottles? Ziplock bags? Plastic wrap on your food? Do you buy toilet paper that comes wrapped in plastic instead of paper? Do you put your fruit and veggies in produce bags at the grocery?"

The activist's primary objective is to raise awareness about the world's polluted oceans. It is for this reason that she has foregone payment for the images and, instead, has asked news outlets and publications to donate to the Roatan Marine Park. "
The Roatan Marine Park is our local non-profit organization that runs numerous conservation programs including an anti plastic campaign and environmental education programs," she wrote in an email. Caroline also encourages readers of this story to donate to local non-profit organisations that combat plastic pollution and fight to protect marine life.

"To see something that I care so deeply for being killed, slowly choked to death by human waste was devastating," Powers told TheTelegraph. "This is a developed nation (first world) problem as well."

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'Sea Of Plastic' Discovered In The Caribbean Stretches Miles And Is Choking Wildlife

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How often do you use plastic? If you compare to the average consumer, you might answer "every day." Yes, items that contain plastic are convenient - and cheap. But, the manmade material is wreaking havoc on our planet. Images captured last year off the Honduran island of Roatan by photographer Caroline Power illuminate this fact.