Plastic
Plastics are used in nearly every arena of modern life. Unfortunately, this prevalence has led to them becoming a source of many environmental issues, as they do not biodegrade and will remain in the environment almost indefinitely. Some plastics also leak dangerous chemicals (See Polymers Are Forever: Alarming tales of a most prevalent and problematic substance by Alan Weisman (includes how chemicals accumulate in the ocean). ****
Earthfirst! held meetings at College 8 1982, in 1984 demonstrations against plastic packaging staged at McDonalds on Mission Street.
See also Solid Waste, chemicals, Ocean, Consumption, Bottled Water and Sustainability, Marine Mammals
Contents
News/Articles
How a Plastic-Eating Caterpillar Could Help Solve the World’s Waste Crisis 3/20
The Story of Plastic: New Film Exposes the Source of Our Plastic Crisis 10/19.
How Plastic Pollution Is Making Central American Communities Uninhabitable (good history of industry) ** 11/19.
Plastic waste kills half a million hermit crabs on remote islands 12/19.
There's Literally a Million Times More Microplastic in Our Oceans Than We Realized 12/19.
"Ghost gear" Dumped fishing gear is biggest plastic polluter in ocean, finds report 11/19.
Heineken ditches plastic rings and shrink wrap in UK. Cardboard can ‘toppers’ to be rolled out as brewer tries to reduce plastic packaging 11/19.
Ocean cleanup device successfully collects plastic for first time 10/19 see Plastic.
40 Tons of Fishing Nets Pulled From Great Pacific Garbage Patch 7/19.
Dead Baby Turtle Found With 104 Pieces of Plastic in Stomach 10/19.
What’s Worrying the Plastics Industry? Your Reaction to All That Waste, for One 6/19.
We Were Missing Most of the Plastic in the Ocean: The highest levels of microplastics are found more than 650 feet below the surface. UC San Diego research video 6/19.
Historic Agreement on Plastic Pollution Reached by 180+ Countries Without the U.S. 5/19.
WATCH: Inspiring & Easy Way to Make a Huge Difference #LandfillChallenge 2/19.
EU Parliament Bans Plastics Responsible for 70% of Ocean Trash 3/19.
Straws Made of Seaweed Could Replace Their Plastic Nemesis 3/19.
Mushrooms Clean Up Toxic Mess, Including Plastic and Wildfires, So Why Aren’t They Used More? 3/19 see Mushrooms.
Australia Cuts 80% of Plastic Bag Use in 3 Short Months 12/18.
If you recycled all the plastic garbage in the world, you could buy the NFL, Apple and Microsoft 12/18.
100% of Sea Turtles in Global Study Found With Plastics in Their Bellies 12/18 see Turtles .
Scallops Absorb Billions of Microplastics in Just 6 Hours, Corona Becomes First Big Beer Brand to Trial Plastic-Free Rings 12/18.
Microplastics Detected in Human Stool Samples for First Time 10/18. Effects: Sci American.
UCSC chemists develop safe alternatives to phthalates used in plastics: Growing concern over the health effects of phthalates has spurred a search for alternatives that can add flexibility to plastics without leaching out 12/18
Fisherman jumps in to free entangled whale off central California coast 11/18 .
Dirty Diapers Could Be Recycled Into Fabrics, Furniture Under P&G Joint Venture 10/18. see Solid Waste
'Giant Wind-and-Wave-Powered Pac Man' to Gobble Up Great Pacific Garbage Patch 7/18.
12-Year-Old Girl Invents Plastic-Detecting Robot to Save Our Oceans 6/18 many bans on bags and straws.
Ghost nets 5/18.
Michigan Native Develops Visionary Solution for Flint’s Plastic Bottle Problem 5/18 see social entrepreneur.
Earth Day 2018: Ending Plastic Pollution in the Oceans, Land & Our Bodies 4/18. microbeads, Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute, who has led 20 expeditions around the world to research plastic marine pollution, and Priscilla Villa of the #BreakFreeFromPlastics movement. Final Straw is reusable.
UK Inventor Launches Campaign to Get Eco-Friendly, Plastic-Free Bottle Into Stores 5/18.
More Than 40 Companies Sign Onto Historic UK Plastics Pact , a groundbreaking alliance of companies, non-governmental organizations and governments working to transform packaging in the UK by 2025. 4/18
Plastic Bag Bans Actually Work, Study of European Waters Shows 4/18.
The Link Between Fossil Fuels, Single-Use Plastics and Climate Change 5/18.
U.S. McDonald’s Resists Calls for Plastic Straw Ban vs UK.
Scientists Develop 'Infinitely' Recyclable Plastics Replacement.
Scientists Accidentally Develop 'Mutant' Enzyme That Eats Plastic 4/18.
How 5 Large Mega-Gyres Helped Create a “Galaxy of Garbage” in the Pacific 3/18.
Ocean Plastic Projected to Triple Within Seven Years 3/18.
The Last Straw? EU Official Hints Ban on Single-Use Plastic Across Europe 2/18.
Report: 64% of Bottled Water Is Tap Water, Costs 2000x More 2/18.
Overview/ update 11/17.
Taiwan Sets Aggressive Timeline to Ban Straws and Other Single-Use Plastics 2/18.
'Plastic in All Sizes' Found Everywhere in Once Pristine European Arctic 2/18.
America Needs a Plastics Intervention. Now’s the Time. 1/18.
Two Major Food Companies Announce War on Packaging Waste 1/18 see Solid Waste.
14 Notable Climate Influencers of 2017 includes Attenborough who told Greenpeace of the "heartbreaking" footage he recorded of mother birds feeding their babies plastic, an iconic moment for him that pushed him to speak up about plastic pollution in oceans. 12/17.
7 Ways to Launch Your Own Anti-Plastics Movement 12/17.
Oil Giants Invest $180B in Plastics, Propelling Oceans Toward 'Near-Permanent' Pollution 12/17. see dynamic map.
Eat This Food Packaging Instead of Throwing It Away 12/17.
Teflon Phaseout Has Prevented Thousands of Low-Weight Births, Saved Billions in Health Care Costs 12/17 see Chemicals.
3D Printing Turns Plastic Trash Into Public Furniture 11/17.
Ditch Plastic Lunches: Stand Up for Zero-Waste Schools
20 Facts About Our Plastic-Packed Planet and 9 Ways to Help 11/17.
Coca-Cola Produced More Than 110 Billion Plastic Bottles Last Year 10/17.
Plastic Debris Found on One of World's Most Inaccessible Sites 9/17.
2,600-Mile Journey Sparks Rising Tide of Activism to Fight Plastic Pollution 7/17.
38 Million Pieces of Plastic Found on One of World's Most Remote Islands 5/17.
This Tiny Caterpillar Could Help Solve the World's Plastic Crisis 4/17
In Huge Win for Oceans and Wildlife, California Phases Out Plastic Bags 11/16.
Nestlé and Coca-Cola Attempt to Block National Parks From Banning Bottled Water Sales 11/16.
Nestlé Can Keep Piping Water Out of Drought-Stricken California Despite Permit Expiring in 1988 9/16
Watch This Man Walk Around NYC Wearing His Trash
Microplastics Are Killing Baby Fish, New Study Finds 6/16.
First Ever 100% Edible Six-Pack Ring Feeds Marine Animals Instead of Killing Them 5/16
Watch Buoys Dance With the Flow in This Ocean Current Visualization
For 28 years, the U.S. Forest Service allowed Nestlé to pump water out of the San Bernardino National Forest under an expired permit, virtually free of charge, for bottled water.
World’s First Plastic Fishing Company Wants to Rid the Oceans of Plastic Pollution 4/16.
In a new feature-length documentary, A Plastic Ocean, two explorers set out on a four-year global journey to learn about the increasingly devastating crisis of ocean plastic that has polluted our waterways, literally choked aquatic life and could spell major consequences for human health. 1/16.
Toxic Traps: When These 7 Types of Plastic Are Dangerous 3/16.
Two Sisters Convinced Bali to Ban Plastic Bags by 2018.
More plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, warned the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in a report, The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the Future of Plastics 1/16.
Dead Humpback Calf Found Entangled in Illegal Gillnet 12/15. Yogurt Cups, Food Wrappers and a Shoe Found in Stomach of Dead Orca. See Overfishing.
Victory: Obama Signs Bill Banning Plastic Microbeads 12/15 CA bellweather: California Senate Passes Nation’s Strictest Ban on Microbeads see CA.
19-year-old Boyan Slat, president and founder of The Ocean Cleanup and creator of a technology he says can clean half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in a decade 8/14. 4/15 UPDATE.8/15 update San Francisco. However, Science-Based Solutions Reject Boyan Slat’s Approach to Rid the Ocean of Plastic. 11/15 update.
10 Ways Ocean Pollution Makes Us Sick (infographic) 11/15.
Plastic Bags and Fishing Nets Found in Stomach of Dead Whale 10/15 see Whales.
Plastic Trash Found in Arctic Ocean, Likely Forming Sixth Garbage Patch 10/15.
Find Out Who’s Behind Banning Plastic Bag Bans 10/15 disturbing pictures of effect, Top 5 sources.
History of bottled water 10/15.
Whale rescued from plastic 8/15.(video) see whales.
Nice bottle update: Nestlé bottled water is tapping springs in the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California using a permit that expired 27 years ago... company’s CEO Tim Brown "... In fact, if I could increase it, I would.” 9/15.
Fungus eats plastic 5/15.
Styrofoam and recycling explained in less than 4 minutes! 5/15 video.
How the Beverage Industry Brainwashed You to Fear Tap Water and buy bottled, The Most Brazen Rip-Off Ever? see also Solid Waste.
Animals At 'Gunpoint' Posters Will Make You Rethink Your Next Purchase: Surfrider Foundation Europe has a simple message about consumer culture: "You buy, the sea pays." That's the motto behind a new ad campaign to combat the 5.25 trillion plastic particles currently polluting the oceans.
Plastic Smog: Microplastics Invade Our Oceans and other surprising places 3/15.
World's Oceans Clogged By Millions Of Tons Of Plastic Trash scientists estimating that a staggering 8 million metric tones of plastic pollution enter the oceans each year from the world's 192 coastal countries based on 2010 data. Based on rising waste levels, they estimated that more than 9 million tons would end up in the oceans in 2015. Top 20 countries 2/15
It's Official: California Bans Plastic Grocery Bags 10/14 California Bans Plastic Bags . The bill, which passed both houses of the California State Legislature now heads to the Governor’s desk. If signed, California will become the first state in the U.S. to ban what advocates call “the most ubiquitous consumer item on the planet.” 9/14.
BPA Exposure Linked to Rising Rates of Male Infertility 1/15.
Expedition Plastik from 5 Gyres 11/14.
10/14 update(alt link with graphics).
Plastic bottle bridge: After a flood created a dam where one could cross the Nera River by stepping on plastic bottles at the point of Danube where it enters Romania, the cu.podu project was born, explained Radu Rusu of EcoStuff. The goal of the project is to do something big enough to draw attention to the enormous quantities of litter dumped every day in the rivers and oceans around the world, like other organizations are doing including 5 Gyres Institute, which just finished a three-week sail from Bermuda to Iceland and found microplastic particles in every surface sample collected during the trip. 8/14.
Styrene Officially Linked to Cancer see Chemicals 8/14.
World’s Largest Plastic Bottle Structure Draws Attention to Global Plastic Pollution Crisis. See Art.
New study on volume and distribution 6/14.
How a Solar-Powered Water Wheel Can Clean 50,000 Pounds of Trash Per Day From Baltimore’s Inner Harbor 6/14.
Planet Fitness gym campaign 5/14.
New York, California move to ban beauty products containing microbeads 2/14. 8/14 update.
Leatherback turtles in SF Bay affected by bags see Turtles.
Look who’s eating your plastic now: A whole unprecedented ecosystem 11/13.
Plastic kills whales. see whales.
Think Your Plastic Is Being Recycled? Think Again. Mike Biddle 9/13.
Sea Turtles Eating Plastic At Record Rates Amid Surge In Pollution 8/13.
Your mouthwash might soon come in packaging made from potatoes
Tiny Plastic Beads Are Latest Pollution Threat To The Great Lakes 7/13.
16 year old makes plastic out of banana peels, wins Google contest.
China’s plastic-bag ban turns five years old 6/13.
Bottled water doesn’t actually come from where you think it does 3/13.
CA may limit BPA, despite industry counterattack.
Ocean Plastic's Impact on Wild Sea Turtles
New Study Links Plastics Exposure to Breast Cancer 11/12
Plane to fly halfway around the world on recycled plastic 10/12
Designing Sailbo(a)ts to Mop Up Oil Spills that could be adapted for plastic 9/12.
Starbucks' Food Waste Fuels Experimental Biorefinery 9/12.
Delhi India Plastic Bags Ban 9/12.
Method's New Soap Bottle Is Made From Pacific Garbage Patch Trash
A Marine Drone Seeks to Scoop up Plastic 7.12
Polymers Are Forever: Alarming tales of a most prevalent and problematic substance by Alan Weisman (includes how chemicals accumulate in the ocean). ****
Hawaii may be 1st state to ban plastic bag and free paper ones) and uses the money to protect nature. 2/12 Many cities on board 6/12
A group of Yale students, poking around in the jungles of Ecuador, has unearthed a type of fungus that digests otherwise-unkillable plastics. 2/12 See also Mushrooms page and bio-remediation in Appropriate_Technology bio-mimicry.
Mike Biddle of MBA Polymers has developed a technology suite that spins plastic into gold—by separating, sterilizing, melting, pelletizing and remolding plastics recovered from shredded electronics, computers and cars. (See TEDtalk below)
Excellent Overview (some disturbing images).
Dirty Dozen most often found in ocean.
Washing synthetic fibres puts plastic in ocean too.
Greenmuze has interesting stories about plastic, including students design to make chairs from ocean plastic and a music video.
An interesting article about a man who builds private islands on rafts of plastic waste.
Websites
Dynamic map of industry and politics/activism.
My Plastic-Free Life Think we can't live without plastic? Think again. In 2007 I committed to stop buying any new plastic & I've almost succeeded! Won't you join me?
The Royte Stuff blog by author of two great books on plastic, Garbageland and Bottlemania.
Video
The Story of Plastic: New Film Exposes the Source of Our Plastic Crisis 10/19.
The Story of Bottled Water from the people who brought you The Story of Stuff.
In a new feature-length documentary, A Plastic Ocean, two explorers set out on a four-year global journey to learn about the increasingly devastating crisis of ocean plastic that has polluted our waterways, literally choked aquatic life and could spell major consequences for human health. 1/16.
Trashed: Follow Jeremy Irons on an emotional journey that looks closely at the consequences of our ever-growing piles of trash. From vast landscapes in China to a small boat in the North Pacific, Irons guides us through beautiful landscapes that are being ruined by our wasteful habits. At the same time as exposing the consequences of our over-consumption, writer/director Candida Brady has gone in search of solutions. Trashed profiles San Francisco’s rush to zero waste.
Susan Freinkel “Eternal Plastic: A Toxic Love Story”(audio) LongNow.org talk 5/12 video)
Plastic Paradise: Travel with filmmaker Angela Sun to Midway Atoll, a remote island in the Pacific, as she seeks to uncover the mystery behind the island of garbage that everyone has heard of but no one truly understands.
Van Jones talk on EJ aspects alt link at TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch also more videos.
Depressing video proves that seagulls are too dumb not to eat plastic bags.
Peter Gleick, a freshwater expert, is the author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water(video discussion of book) 11/11. (see book below)
Bag It documentary on plastic.
Penn and Teller's humorous take on the subject of bottled water.
Mike Biddle TEDtalk: Discarded plastic, too often, ends up buried or burned, not recycled (it's just too complicated). But Biddle has found a way to close the loop. (more).
Van Jones on Environmental Justice aspects of plastic. (video) 5/11.
Fun mockumentary on the plastic bag. alt link
Are mushrooms the new plastic? (TEDtalk video)
Tapped, a new documentary about the bottled water industry from director Stephanie Soechtig and the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car?, is a pretty damning look at how consumers have been tricked into spending too much money on water packaged in plastic and quite often not as clean as what's available from the faucet.trailer
Where is Away? is a 4 min. film made by a local surfer. Also shown at SC Film Festival Plastic Island. Richard Sowa tied together over 120,000 plastic bottles and built himself a floating island, featuring a garden with a pond and a two-story house.
Tom Szaky visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book "Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle is Redefining Green Business."Green@Google series. (video)
Great Pacific Garbage Patch/Gyre
Pacific Gyre filled with plastic. PBS news segment featuring UCSC folk.
Synthetic Sea Preview from Algalita Foundation on plastic gyre. Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. New CNN video segment7/16 update audio. Google talk video.
Addicted to Plastic 2007 more
Beth Terry TEDtalk Save Our Shores Santa Cruz welcomed Beth Terry, author of "My Life Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too"
UCSC SciCom student Amy E. West published an article Santa Cruz nonprofit hopes to make fuel from ocean-based plastic (also video with links). Solar powered catamaran will make fuel (make your own pyrolysis device). You can help, contact Rita Chaffin partner site,
UCSC's Finkelstein on PBS NewsHour on plastic text and video 11/08
UCSC video of deep sea plastic.
Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash.
Artist Dianna Cohen shares some tough truths about plastic pollution in the ocean and in our lives. TEDtalk video.
Audio
The Future of Plastics (Panel discussion: Jan 30 2014) Keith Christman, Managing Director for Plastics Markets, American Chemistry Council; Co-chair, Global Action Committee on Marine Litter Molly Morse, CEO, Mango Materials Adam Lowry, Co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper, Method Products PBC Bridgett Luther, President, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.
Susan Freinkel “Eternal Plastic: A Toxic Love Story” LongNow.org talk 5/12 video)
In 2007, Oakland's Beth Terry decided to give up plastic after seeing a picture of a dead seabird, its stomach filled with plastic bottle caps. Her decision spawned a blog, a book and a movement to make people aware of how much plastic they consume. TEDtalk video see also art, music and video.
Boat Made of Plastic Bottles to Sail the Pacific. How do you raise awareness about plastic debris floating in the Pacific? You sail a boat.
Books
Peter Gleick, a freshwater expert, is the author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water(video discussion of book) 11/11.
Elizabeth Royte's new book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It (includes Podcast interview) Her previous book Garbage Land(review) is a good read. Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of TrashIntroduction "Amphibious Assault"also "Satan's Resin" on plastics and e-waste (password protected). The Royte Stuff blog
UCSC/College 8's Prof Szasz wrote Shopping Our Way to Safety: How We Changed from Protecting the Environment to Protecting Ourselves, which includes a chapter on bottled water, a method of "inverted quarantine."
Elizabeth Grossman, Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry.
Art/Images/Maps
See here for art and music on plastic also here.
Watch Buoys Dance With the Flow in This Ocean Current Visualization
Maps of gyres 7/14.
Amazing "green room" ocean plastic picture.
Surreal Photos Show Impact of Plastic Pollution on One of the World’s Most Beautiful Places
Eating our own garbage, an infographic from NRDC.
Sea Scavenger is a local DIY effort.
Bird mortality and LA River images
Good use for plastic bottles? (humor).
Excellent Overview (some disturbing and beautiful images).
The stomach contents of a juvenile green turtle accidentally captured off the coast of Argentina.
Plastic Bags With Embarrassing Designs Aim To Discourage Use Of Plastic Bags (viewer discretion advised)
Local Groups/Resources
Sea Scavenger is a Bay Area group you can work with.
Save Our Shores anti-plastic campaign. Save Our Shores in welcomed Beth Terry to Santa Cruz, author of "My Life Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too"
UCSC SciCom student Amy E. West published an article Santa Cruz nonprofit hopes to make fuel from ocean-based plastic (also video with links). Solar powered catamaran will make fuel (make your own pyrolysis device). You can help, contact Rita Chaffin. Amy E. West "left a landlocked state to study the ocean, joined Peace Corps to live among cannibals, moved to New Zealand for graduate school without first being accepted, and racked up research experience worldwide in subjects ranging from sifters (phytoplankton) to drifters (whales) without climbing any career ladder...channeling Sylvia Earle, Jacques Cousteau, and Rachel Carson collectively to publicly demonstrate the relevance of marine science." She interned at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and recently published an article on recycling plastic in the Pacific Gyre.
Plastic Pollution Coalition is offering a prize for disruptive solutions to the global plastic pollution crisis. First place prize is a $50,000 investment! Applications accepted until March 18, 2013. The contest will be juried by leaders in industry and science including Eben Bayer (Ecovative), Mike Biddle (MBA Polymers), Julie Corbett (Ecologic), Adam Lowry (Method), Dr. Ramani Narayan, Mike Velings (A-Spark Good Ventures) and Adam Werbach (Yerdle). The presentation of awards and the final public event will take place at the Think Beyond Plastic annual conference on June 13-14, 2013 in Berkeley, CA, in front of an audience of entrepreneurs, investors, journalists and thought leaders.
Gabi Kirk (Kresge ‘12, environmental studies and history), Office of Sustainability events coordinator, helped start a campaign to end the sales of single-use plastic water bottles on campus. The campaign, “Take Back the Tap,” is now the subject of her senior thesis.
Robin Dunkin, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, LML Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Latex balloons are a major cause of death in marine turtles, birds, dolphins, seals, and sea lions as well as other wildlife. Despite claims to the contrary, there has been very little work to quantify the degradation time of latex in the environment. Open Lab.
Green Chemistry Braslau Lab are trying to eliminate hormone-disrupting chemicals. supports STEM 4/18 and they did: UCSC chemists develop safe alternatives to phthalates used in plastics: Growing concern over the health effects of phthalates has spurred a search for alternatives that can add flexibility to plastics without leaching out 12/18
