Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

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Lisbeth
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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

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Plastic pollution is monstrous – and humans are the monsters

Opinionista • Elaine Mills • 25 April 2019

Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats facing our planet, and single-use plastic is the worst culprit in the toxic soup it produces. It’s time for political parties in South Africa to step up and make combating plastic pollution an active plank in their political platforms.

At first, they thought it was a worm that had lodged in the sea turtle’s brain via its nostril. As the biologists tried to pull it free with pliers, the turtle squirmed with pain and blood started to flow.

It was intolerable to watch, but I just had to. When they finally managed to dislodge it, the relief was indescribable. Like the turtle, we could all breathe freely again.

And what did they find? A bloody plastic straw.

We’ve all seen footage of thousands of birds found dead in remote places with bits of plastic in their innards. People are rightly reacting with outrage and horror to images of birds feeding their young plastic, and whales washed ashore with stomachs full of rubbish bags.

The impact that our plastic pollution is having on our planet is truly monstrous, and we are the monsters.

Every minute, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic enters our oceans. Just think about it – and even before you’ve finished that thought, another truckload has been dumped. By 2050, there will be more plastic by weight in the sea than fish.

Plastic waste isn’t just an eyesore – it is deadly. Marine litter kills one million seabirds, around 100,000 marine mammals and countless fish every year.

Cattle, sheep and goats are also dying from ingesting plastic. Half of camel deaths in the United Arab Emirates are caused by suffocation from plastic bags.

Meanwhile, plastic has entered our food chain – and the impact on human health is still unclear. Nearly all salt brands globally were found to contain microplastic. Scientists have also found plastic in most bottled water, and even beer.

Don’t get me wrong: not all plastic is bad. It helps to curb global warming by improving insulation, creating lighter packaging and vehicles, preserving food and safeguarding hygiene.

The problem is our rampant over-use of throwaway plastic. South Africans use eight billion shopping bags per year. On average, each bag is used for only 15 minutes – but can take up to 500 years to decompose.

The current rate of recycling is not enough to solve the problem. South Africa recycles less than 16% of its plastic – the rest ends up in the ocean or landfill, from where it leaches toxins into the environment. As for single-use plastic, that is per definition not intended to be recycled.

Unless we change our wasteful lifestyles, the next generation will inherit the consequences of our apathy – and they will curse us for it. The worst is that most of this is avoidable, if only we could be bothered to carry our own shopping bag.

Earlier in April, Tanzania joined the ranks of nearly 30 African countries – including Kenya, Rwanda, Morocco and Cameroon – that have banned disposable plastic bags. By comparison, South Africa lags far behind.

But our Parliament discussed a possible ban of certain single-use plastic items as recently as February. So, here too, the tide seems finally to be turning.

At a Two Oceans Aquarium summit in March, Marcus Eriksen from the 5 Gyres Insitute said that the ocean’s equilibrium can be restored, if only we could cut plastic input into the oceans by 20% per year over the next seven years. Now surely that is achievable!

Looking beyond the May elections, we want the next South African government to join growing worldwide action to halt the damage caused by plastic. And so, as the Greenpeace volunteers of Cape Town, we have launched a petition calling for single-use plastic carrier bags, small fruit and vegetable bags, straws, stirrers, cutlery and earbuds to be banned.

It seems we are not alone – people have signed our petition at a rate of around 1,000 per week and we now have more than 10,000 signatures.

A different world and a better future are possible – and you can contribute to it by signing our petition at Vuma.Earth right now. We will deliver the petition on 24 June 2019, so there isn’t much time left.

Second, by refusing plastic carrier bags and instead, bringing your own reusable ones. By avoiding – or at least reducing – the unnecessary use of single-use plastic items, and by re-using wherever you can.

Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. It is time to turn the tide on single-use plastic and reverse the destructive path that we’re on. Join the revolution and be part of the solution – for the sake of our children and their children to come.


"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
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Lisbeth
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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

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NEW YORK STATE is on the verge of banning plastic shopping bags, becoming the second U.S. state, after California, to ban them outright.

The ban, which is part of the state budget bill expected to pass Monday, would forbid retailers from providing shoppers with single-use bags. It would take effect next March.

Shopping bags are one of the most-banned items among single-use plastics and bag bans, which began to be enacted in 2000, continue to spread throughout the world. So far, at least 127 nations have imposed bans or taxes on plastic bags, according to a United Nations tally through July 2018. Europe began phasing out plastic bags 15 years ago. This week, the European Parliament took steps to ban 10 items most commonly found on European beaches, including bags, by 2021.

https://www.cdt.ch/mondo/politica/joe-b ... -LB1131951


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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

Post by Klipspringer »

Parliament is thinking and asking lol


https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/27987/


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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

Post by Lisbeth »

The levy will not decrease the use very much IMO and for the rest why not ask countries which have already been through the whole process, they might learn something useful O**


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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

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Ah, but levy means money for someone! ;-)


Please check Needs Attention pre-booking: https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=322&t=596
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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

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WATCH: Drone footage shows plastic pollution on KZN beaches

2019-04-25 20:19

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Following the deadly floods that hit KwaZulu-Natal, large stretches of the coastline around Durban has been littered with plastic waste that was washed down the Umgeni River. Watch.

Drone footage has laid bare the scale of the plastic pollution on KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) beaches, following the deadly floods that hit the province this week.

The natural disaster has killed at least 70 people and left many homeless.

Swathes of the coastline around the Umgeni River mouth are covered in plastic debris that got washed downstream with the flood waters.

"It's absolute chaos out there," Lindsay Hopkins, project director at Breathe Ocean Conservation, told News24 on Thursday.

Breathe is one of several organisations that are mobilising people to assist in cleanups this weekend.

The first cleanup kicks off at 08:00 at Blue Lagoon on Saturday, with the education centre at the Beachwood Mangrove Nature Reserve as the meeting point.

The second, at Durban Harbour, is scheduled to take place from 09:00 until midday, with volunteers meeting outside the Royal Natal Yacht Club.

According to Hanno Langenhoven, strategic manager for recycling at the Wild Trust, the current situation is just the tip of the iceberg.

"What we're currently facing on the beaches is a result of a much, much bigger waste management and pollution problem upriver, where smaller and poorer communities are not serviced and do not have access to service delivery, hence waste – especially plastic – is literally just dumped everywhere. And during the course of the year it builds up into river systems and when we do have a big weather event the river takes it down to the beach," he said.

"The sad thing is we get all upset when our beaches are all clogged up with plastic, but during the course of the year when the beaches are clean we don't give the pollution two thoughts where it really is a year-round problem upriver from where we see it on the beaches."

Hopkins said people are encouraged to bring gloves, trainers, sunblock and hats to the cleanups on Saturday.

She said she hoped it would help make more people aware of the impacts of the everyday household waste they generate.

"We are looking for the general public to come and get involved and see what is lying on the sand is exactly what they need to avoid buying," she said.

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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

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0/* Signed the Petition - thanks for the link.


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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

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\O ^Q^ ^Q^


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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

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wATCH: Those leftover shells from your lobster meal can be turned into plastic

2019-04-30 22:00

phpBB [video]

Take a look at the plastics of the future

From hemp to lobster, the possibilities are various.

Instead of throwing away the lobster shells from your juicy seafood meal, it could instead be reused to create plastic.


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Re: Plastic and other Environmental Dangerous Waste

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:shock: \O


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