Costing the earth: Plastic
This was a really interesting Documentary i watched on BBC about the problem of plastic waste being dumped in the sea creating 'Floating islands'. The waste is causing especially problems to marine life and there are attempts being made to use microbes to break down the plastics.
The documentary really made me aware of just how much plastic products from food packaging I throw away daily (In fact I threw a milk carton about just before I watched the programme) and one of my food containers could well be floating in a giant lump in the middle of the ocean? I guess I never really thought about it before.
What I found most interesting about the programme is not just the usual "we need to start recycling and be less wasteful or we are all going to die' speech but instead focused on new uses for plastic waste such as an alternative fuel and the technologies we are starting to develop to prevent future waste such as alternative packaging materials which decompose and break down quickly such as plastic created from Algae. Even though it doesn't stop people being wasteful I think this is a better way of tackling the problem of waste so it does just end up 'sitting there' in a landfill or floating around. I don't think the human race will ever really change their habits despite all the threats and fears.
The other problem is not so much preventing further waste but getting rid of all the waste that is already clogging up the planet.
Despite a few nice 'Greenies and middle class people' we are a greedy breed and only really motived by money and personal gain. If we were all paid to recycle I think everyone would do it.
If you look at countries like India where everything is recycled ..why?... not because they care about the world but they get money for it. In American tramps collect cans to exchange for money.
Im still in favour of sending all our rubbish into space..................
The documentary really made me aware of just how much plastic products from food packaging I throw away daily (In fact I threw a milk carton about just before I watched the programme) and one of my food containers could well be floating in a giant lump in the middle of the ocean? I guess I never really thought about it before.
What I found most interesting about the programme is not just the usual "we need to start recycling and be less wasteful or we are all going to die' speech but instead focused on new uses for plastic waste such as an alternative fuel and the technologies we are starting to develop to prevent future waste such as alternative packaging materials which decompose and break down quickly such as plastic created from Algae. Even though it doesn't stop people being wasteful I think this is a better way of tackling the problem of waste so it does just end up 'sitting there' in a landfill or floating around. I don't think the human race will ever really change their habits despite all the threats and fears.
The other problem is not so much preventing further waste but getting rid of all the waste that is already clogging up the planet.
Despite a few nice 'Greenies and middle class people' we are a greedy breed and only really motived by money and personal gain. If we were all paid to recycle I think everyone would do it.
If you look at countries like India where everything is recycled ..why?... not because they care about the world but they get money for it. In American tramps collect cans to exchange for money.
Im still in favour of sending all our rubbish into space..................