GoingTrueGreen's Blog Postings

Caught Looking! Strike Three!

5/16/2018

The WSJ printed an article on May 13, 2018 with the title:
Recycling, Once Embraced by Businesses and Environmentalists Now Under Siege

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Back on February 17, 2016 I posted on my Going True Green Blog: Is Recycling Striking Out? So just over two years later, we have a serious situation for township's recycling programs. A situation that was rapidly developing when I posted my blog and asked if America's Recycling programs would be caught "Looking" at Home plate for strike three. With the Wall Street Journal's article, I believe we just heard the umpire yell, "You're Out!"

America continued recycling the same easy and cheap way only to now find ourselves sending unwanted recyclable items to Landfills again. I strongly suggest for everyone to read my 2016 Going True Green blog post again, the Link is above in Green, and then look up the WSJ article by Bob Tita. As individual's we need to notify our Town's Recycling Departments that we need to go back to the multi-layer sorting system and that we are not allergic to work. We are all capable of spending a few extra minutes to sort our paper from plastic and glass from cardboard, before putting it to the curb. The bottom line is the fact that, "Three strikes you're out" does not just apply to America's past time called Baseball.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Plastic Water, Air and Food

12/27/2017

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Microplastic Fibers

New studies and reports are now quantifying what has been a growing concern for many years.
Allow me to first present statements that are being considered facts today by many scientists:

We are drinking Plastic Fibers
We are breathing Plastic Fibers
We are eating Plastic Fibers

I am not trying to yell the sky is falling, but we have created a monster. For those of us who don’t eat meat or fish, grow some food, and have counter top water distillers, a sense of brief relief may arise. However, this is an ever growing interconnecting issue, that is rapidly becoming serious for the world. Mainly because we do not know what the end results will be for humankind, animals, and nature!

How we are eating plastic:
Our clothes have more synthetic materials today than any other natural material. That evening dress we will wear this New Year’s Eve, the fleece coat we will use when shoveling snow and our exercise clothes for those workouts. Polyester equals plastic. An analysis was done by Tecnon OrbiChem on the data showing chemical use worldwide. Polyester is the world’s mandated fiber since 2007.

We then wash our clothes. Microplastic fibers that can’t be seen, are washed down the drain. A recent study found each washing machine cycle could release 700,000 fibers.

Also don't forget plastic microbeads in facial scrub products! These plastic fibers end up in our waterways, our oceans, because Water Treatment plants are unable to catch all of them. Dr. Alice Wemaere, EPA Research Manager said, “Consumers can help by checking the product labels for cosmetics and cleaners to see if they are certify microplastic free."

Next these plastic fibers absorb things while in the water. Things like: Oil from spilt motor oil, Pesticides from spraying weeds, Drugs from discarded medicine pills, Bacteria from Sewage and Wastewater Treatment plants, Chemicals from just about anything that went down the street’s sewer drain. To summarize in one word… Toxins.

Plastic Microfiber being ingested, Image by Dr. Kirby

Fish then eat these polluted plastic fibers and we eat the fish. Additionally, Plankton that support the entire marine food chain also eat plastic. The image shown is a still frame from a video done by Dr. Richard Kirby. The footage shows a 3mm long blue plastic microfiber being ingested by a planktonic arrow worm. This is our Food Chain and we may be hanging ourselves with that very chain.

We don’t recycle plastic well and an additional source of plastic for fish to eat also may come from, for example, 38 million pieces of plastic waste that washed up on the sands of an uninhabited South Pacific Island.

If Polyester is the mandated fiber, then the question is… Mandated by who?
Manufacturers, Profits, Consumers? We are all guilty.

How we are breathing plastic:
Studies done in 2015 by SETAC Europe (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) told researchers that microplastic was atmospheric and offering substance to the old adage: The sky is falling. A minimum estimated of three tons of plastic fibers were being deposited each year onto the city of Paris. The question now is: By what means are these microplastic fibers getting into the air?

Professor Frank Kelly led research done in London and reported to the 2016 UK Parliamentary Inquiry the following:
“If we breathe them [microplastic] in, they could potentially deliver chemicals to the lower parts of our lungs and maybe even across into our circulation.”

How we are drinking plastic:
Plastic fibers have been found in our tap water around the world and I don’t mean a small sample. Plastic particles are found in 83% of the samples taken. The United States of America leads the way with the highest contamination rate at a staggering 94%. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found plastic fibers in the drinking water of their Headquarters and buildings used by Congress.

India and Lebanon came in second and third with the next highest rates. The UK, Germany and France had a 72% contamination rate. An independent study done in the Republic of Ireland by Dr. Anne Marie Mahon at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology also found microplastic particles in well water and tap water.

“We don’t know what the [health] impact is and for that reason we should follow the precautionary principle and put enough effort into it now, immediately, so we can find out what the real risks are,” said Dr. Mahon.

Another statement made by Dr. Mahon causing consternation was, “If the fibers are there, it is possible that the nanoparticles are there too that we can’t measure. Once they are in the nanometre range they can really penetrate a cell and that means they can penetrate organs, and that would be worrying.”

Compound that statement with microplastics absorbing bacteria found in sewage, because some studies have shown harmful pathogens on microplastic downstream from wastewater treatment plants, now the world's population has a bigger problem.

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Plastic with your Beer?

We now know of several sources on how microplastics can arrive into our water. Water is used to make everything, even Beer. Studies in Germany found plastic fibers in all of the 24 beer brands they tested. They also found plastic in honey and sugar.

Therefore if we are drinking plastic polluted water, then so are the animals. We then consume the chickens, cows, turkeys and pigs.

We are our own worst enemy.

We have no idea what the long term results will be for babies, children, and adults, when we consume years of microplastics with toxins. How our organs, muscle tissues, and overall health will be altered is still a quagmire.

I teach Outdoor Education part time at BOCES. I tell my students that everything is connected and there are consequences to all our actions. Our world’s ecosystems are being suffocated by plastic as these fibers become ubiquitous in the world. We are risking adverse consequences, but as I also tell my students, “There is always another way.” The last pull-over shirt I received as a gift, was 70% cotton. Much better than a few years ago, but still not the same as my 100% cotton shirts, T-shirts and jeans.

God’s green earth is becoming a plastic earth. I am sorry to say that I can’t find a Happy New Year in that possible indomitable issue.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

TELOMERE, by L. J. Williams "Telling The Untold Stories™ BBV Publishing

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Toilet Paper Progression

11/27/2017

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Cardboard Tube Free

Toilet paper, aka TP, is a product that is considered very useful to say the least. Yet, perhaps we can do better to save Money, Energy, and help our Environment.

Most rolls of toilet paper come with a cardboard tube in the center that creates a great deal of waste, especially because a small percentage of cardboard tubes are being recycled. Recent statistics present that each year in America we use enough cardboard tubes to fill the entire square footage of the Empire State building in New York.

We are paying more money per roll for that cardboard tube, while manufacturers are using more energy to produce and use them. Additionally, the negative impact on our environment each year is probably unmeasurable.

Thankfully another TP roll has been developed and we can all consider taking action to help move toward true green. As shown in the photograph, toilet paper rolls are available without a cardboard tube. The rolling curves of paper in the center function as the tube of cardboard. The only slight draw back I experienced is with one of our toilet paper dispensers. This dispenser has a wide mounting pin or dowel to hold the roll of toilet paper. These wider center mounting pins or dowels, are on various toilet paper dispensers. When restocking this dispenser with a new roll of toilet paper without the cardboard tube, I need to expand and widen the center curves of toilet paper at the center of the roll. This then facilitates an easier installation over the dispenser’s dowel.

Regarding the job positions producing these cardboard tubes, please realize no jobs should be lost with a little creativity. Young children in every American school should be learning about recycling cardboard. They also build, make, and create projects in classes between K to 5 grade and then in art classes. Cardboard and cardboard tubes are a key element with making turkeys for Thanksgiving to telescopes and from bridges to buildings. A simple shift in production to packages of different sized cardboard tubes and sheets, will make ordering and creating much easier for every grade school teacher.

Our hope at Going True Green is to see center cardboard tubes for toilet paper go the way of colored toilet paper. Matching colors in our bathrooms with the same color toilet paper reached tremendous popularity in the 1970s. However, toilet paper in various colors cost us more to buy compared to plain white toilet paper, production was wasting energy in the name of vanity and the dye in colored toilet paper was proven to be harmful to our environment. Finally in 2004, production of toilet paper with colors was stopped.

Unfortunately, some Novelty companies have started production again to meet the demands of certain "celebrities" and others. Red, Black, and Glow in the Dark toilet paper can be found online today with biodegradable and nontoxic claims to help entice the buyer.

Please distinguish between want and need. I certainly do not need to use Glow-in-the-Dark toilet paper that costs Ten Dollars a roll along with a cardboard tube in the center.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Clay Pots & Plastic Buckets

6/30/2017

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5 Gallon Plastic Pails

We all like to save money and improvising another way of doing something is very rewarding. However, we must take the time to evaluate all the details before implementing.

One example can be reusing old 5 gallon plastic buckets to grow food when you don't have enough ground space to plant. This is a great idea under the “Three Rs” rule known as: Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce. You may have also seen some YouTube videos and many different "How To" articles for growing food in 5 gallon buckets. I disagree with all of them.

I strongly suggest against reusing any 5 gallon plastic bucket for growing food. Residue from the original contents may remain in the bucket. Products such as Paint, Sheet Rock Spackle, or a toxic cleaning agent, may still lurk within the cracks and corners. In addition, the plastic will contain BPAs (BisPhenol A ) that can leach into the soil and then into your tomato plant, eggplant, or any food, being grown. Now, this won't kill you tomorrow, but why risk adding contributing factors to issues later on in your life. I see this like cigarette smoking, over time you may have problems.

Personally I avoid eating food grown in any plastic container, served in any plastic container, or stored in any plastic container. Only three (3) things Do Not leach carcinogens into our food and drink. They are Glass, Porcelain and Wax Paper. So instead of 5 gallon plastic buckets, try a good old Clay Pot that is just about the same size of any 5 gallon plastic container. Clay pots have been used for thousands of years and still don’t cost much. They can be reused year after year and are great for growing inside when winter arrives. If you wish to learn more facts on BPAs, please use this LINK to visit my page at EnergyHotwire.com.

We all need to live a more sustainable life and growing some of our own food that we consume is definitely part or that solution.

Bill Lauto, at Going True Green
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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TELOMERE, by L. J. Williams "Telling The Untold Stories™ BBV Publishing

Watch Video Trailer for the Novel Telomere below...

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ReTweak Medicine Cabinets

4/29/2017

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Medicine Cabinet, Going Green, Going True Green, Earth Day, Recycle, prescription drugs, sustainability, environmental problems

How much is your Medicine Cabinet costing?

Yes, I trust you will also "retweet" this information, but I am referring to all of us "tweaking" our Medicine Cabinets. There are multiple reasons for doing so and they are: You will save Money, you will improve your Health, and yes, you will help our world's Environment!

Medicine Cabinets fall into the realm of perpetual status quo. We rarely clean them out, if at all, and they are almost always overlooked by people who do "spring cleaning" around the house.

The FIRST reason to "ReTweak" your medicine cabinet is to save you money and assist with your well being because…
Medicine Cabinets are the worst place to keep your medication!

A bathroom is plagued with wide temperature changes and moisture from hot showers to exhaust fans. From hair dryers to turning up the heat. Every time you open your medication or don't close the bottle tightly, moisture will get in and on your pills. Temperature change and moisture will degrade the life of your medications, causing them to crack, crumble, and lose their potency.

The best location for all medication is in a locked drawer, perhaps your nightstand next to your bed or a drawer behind an out-of-reach cabinet door, such as in the kitchen. Locked drawer and Out-Of-Reach are key for children's safety.

The SECOND reason will again assist with your health and help protect our world's environment because we must…
Properly discard all Expired Medicines!

Medicine Cabinets seem to collect and maintain items from years gone by. From old razor blades to unlabeled items that we don't even remember why they were used. When my Grandfather passed-over, I helped clean out his medicine cabinet. I found a glass bottle with a 1940 pharmaceutical prescription label. There was still liquid inside and the label stated, Methyl Salicylate. What in the world was this? How do I dispose of something I was unfamiliar with and didn't know? After some research, I discovered that the clear liquid was used as an external counter-irritant medication. To soothe a cut or relieve an itch from an insect's bite. The liquid is also known as Winter Green oil, something obtained by distillation from wintergreen plants since 1843. HOWEVER, if ingested this liquid can cause death.

Today methyl salicylate is an ingredient in muscle-pain relief topical products. Over application, especially with children, is very dangerous. A seventeen-year-old student of Notre Dame Academy died in 2007 from her body absorbing methyl salicylate after excessive use of a muscle pain relief cream.

Contact your local S.T.O.P. program or town recycling facility. Ask How, Where, and When, they are collecting expired medications. DO NOT POUR liquids down the drain and DO NOT THROW OUT any pills or creams. One way or another those chemicals and medication will find their way into our Waterways and our Drinking Water supply!
To learn more about this fact, consider our Water Workshop to save Money, Health, and our clean water!

Remove all labels from your medication, tear the paper up and recycle. This must be done today just to help protect yourself from Identity Theft. Then recycle any empty plastic bottles.

After your medicine cabinet has been cleaned out, I am sure you will have extra space inside. So here is another helpful accomplishment…
Place all Toothbrushes inside the Medicine Cabinet!

Every household that keeps their toothbrushes on the sink or countertop should move these toothbrushes into the medicine cabinet for better health. As you know, smells and aromas travel through the air in a room by the process of Diffusion. Bacteria will also travel through the air molecules and land on your toothbrush. The source of this bacteria can be from a sneeze or a flushed toilet when the cover is up. So put the lid down before flushing and keep your toothbrushes in a closed medicine cabinet, because just as the smell of Number 2 travels, so will bacteria.

Bill Lauto, at Going True Green
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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BBV Publishing, Telling The Untold Stories™

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Santa Cruz: Recycle After Consuming

3/23/2017

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Santa Cruz Organic Juice

Dear GTG Readers,

The Santa Cruz company has various comestibles for sale. While this is not an endorsement, I do wish to present a request to them via my blog. The reason is because I had emailed them over two years ago and never received any feedback. So perhaps with all my Going True Green blog readers also submitting this request with social media, we may actually see a response or implementation!

Yes, I like the fact that their juice comes in "glass" bottles, products are Organic and Non GMO verified, 100% of electricity used to make various products is offset with certified renewable energy (verify at Green-e.org) and their California manufacturing facility has a platinum level Zero Waste certification—the highest level offered.

One morning I noticed on one of their labels the need for one additional line of directions, my original email is below:

Hello everyone at the Santa Cruz company,

As an Environmental Scientist, Energy Consultant and the President of GoingTrueGreen.com, I have enjoyed many of your products immensely. One morning while reading your label on the Santa Cruz Organic Orange Mango 100% juice I saw the following in small print by the Bar Code:

Natural separation may occur,
Shake before enjoying.
Refrigerate after opening.

This is excellent, but can you consider adding one more line to your label: " Recycle after consuming ".

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

If any reader agrees with the inclusion of my suggestion and is so incline, please add/share your request for this important addition. Thank you.

Bill Lauto, at Going True Green
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Quarters, Garbage, and Virtue

2/16/2017

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garbage, recycling, dumping, illegal dumping, garbage collection, garbage taxes, going green, going true green, STOP program, Honor System, pay for what you throw away

Quarter Per Can

Stories can teach us a great deal. They are one of the best ways to learn from History, (and Her-story) as long as all the facts are presented. My recent January 2017, GoingTrueGreen Blog called: Quarters On Garbage Cans received an excellent level of attention. Comments and e-mails expressed admiration for my father who taught me appropriate virtues and how we seem to make things so much more complicated today.

I also received a few questions and a serious concern from long-time followers about Illegal Dumping and Littering associated with paying for only what was thrown away. The credence to this topic provoked me to believe that this follow-up GTG Blog Post was warranted. Here is my evaluation and why I favor a system that charges us only for what we throw away:

Several decades ago universal costs for garbage collection was implemented through taxes. One of the reasons for this was the collapse of the “honor” system. In our society more and more malefactors were creating serious issues by illegally dumping their garbage to avoid paying fees. The health and well-being of every adult, child, animal, and nature, was being harmed. The universal tax translated into permission for throwing away anything and everything. Along with no additional costs associated with the amount thrown away, waste became rampant.

Over the years, many rules changed. Many Townships placed limits to how much you can throw away on any given day, along with when to place various items at the curb for collection. Recycling was finally in vogue only because companies developed recycling systems that produced a profit. (Some of those recycling operations are now failing and losing money. See my GTG Blog post entitled: Is Recycling Striking Out?)

Nevertheless, things that once cost too much to throw away and the numerous items that we were not able to put into daily garbage collections are accepted today through numerous recycling programs and specific Township wide collection days for polluting items. Programs such as S.T.O.P. programs, (Stop Throwing Out Pollutants) are now nationwide. Paying a small fee only when we utilize that service will prevent waste and save us money.

Not What We Want

In fact, all astute garbage producers are now being paid to bring various recyclable materials to businesses that will Weigh and Pay. Your old rusted aluminum shed in your backyard may be too much volume to fit in your car trunk, but today you can have a Recycling Company pick it up. The only difference from you carting the pieces to the company address is the amount of money they pay you. For example, carting all the aluminum from a shed to the recycling business may pay you $75.00, if they pick it up at your location you may only receive $50.00. A cost of twenty-five dollars for the pickup.

Perhaps you may have broken up an old cement driveway and no way you want to pay the cost for dumping all those pounds and ounces. You also don’t want to be caught on a surveillance camera or someone’s cell phone showing you illegally dumping, thus giving you a large fine and jail time. Yes, jail time for illegally dumping will need to be the rule nationwide. Reason being that today, you don’t need to dump. Search the web, make a few calls, and you will have a business picking up your broken cement at your door. Some may even pay you for the old cement. They, in turn, will crush the old cement for making various other products that can be resold. There is always another way.

I also realize that I don’t have all the answers and the necessary recycling services may not be available in every Township to make feasible the system of only paying for what you throw away. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t get all the answers and support new recycling businesses to start up so that we can seriously consider implementing systems where we only pay for what we throw away. We the people may need to demand an evaluation of this alternative system, because the Townships may be in fear of losing tax dollars.

Bill Lauto, at Going True Green
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Quarters On Garbage Cans

1/25/2017

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Going Green, Going True Green, bungalow, garbage tax, garbage collection tax, waste not want not, recycling, composting, woods, quarters on garbage cans

Bungalow in the Country

The story you are about to read Did Not take place hundreds of years ago in a land far away where all the people were honest. This is a story from when I was a kid and on vacation with my family.

My family rented a small country bungalow for a week in the summer. This was early in the decade that would close out with the New York Jets winning the Super Bowl, have men walk on the moon, and the New York Mets reaching their impossible dream.

I have so many memories from those special days outside the big city. Many are happy, some are sad. Yet, I treasure all the lessons learned, because today I am a better person for them…

Woods Across Road at Night

One evening, I was helping my father put out one silver metal garbage can to the road. Across the road without any curbs or sidewalks was the woods. Only three other bungalows, to each side, were in view from where we stood. The air was filled with the sounds of more living creatures acclimating to the night than I could name, but I wasn’t scared at all. I was with my Dad.

My listening attention to all of God’s animals and insects was suddenly lost as I witnessed my father take a quarter out of his pocket and put it on top of the garbage can. As he bent down to pick up a good sized rock, I asked, “What’s the quarter for?” After all, a quarter was a lot of money to me.

“To pay the garbage company for picking up our garbage in this can,” answered my father as he placed the rock on top of the quarter. “Everyone has to pay twenty-five cents for each garbage can they put out. So if you don’t have much garbage, you will not have many garbage cans and you don’t have to pay a lot for the garbage to be taken away. That is why we try not to waste anything.”

I then vaguely remember my dad sharing a story about when he was a boy my age during the Great Depression and how everything you owned, had a value. Wasting things was a sin and nobody ever went around the neighborhood to steal everyone’s quarters on top of their garbage cans. That too, was a sin.

I am gratified that I was part of that honor system and the lessons I learned. One lesson I am still acutely aware of, and this is a fact, when you Waste Not, you Want Not.

Today, I put out one garbage can, once a week, while most of my neighbors (there are many more than three in view) will put out two garbage cans, two times a week. Unfortunately the taxes we pay for garbage collection is now much more than a quarter per can.

Therefore, I am in favor of doing away with the yearly flat tax fee for garbage collections and have each household pay for the amount they throw away. Think of this for a few minutes:

We will waste less
We will help our environment
We will pay less and SAVE Money

The best approach to this, is for us to pay by the weight of our garbage that we need to be collected. This is easily accomplished by having RFID Tags on our garbage cans that match the computer data on the garbage truck so the following can be confirmed and used:

The name of the garbage can’s owner
The street and billing addresses
The Account number assigned

Pay Only for what's Thrown Away

The garbage truck picks up the can and records how much the garbage weighs, by subtracting the known weight of the can. This is already being done in European countries and some parts of America. Communities in Buffalo New York have implemented this system.

Allow me to offer just one example of this system helping us all to be better:

Currently:
You sweep up the dirt on your driveway or house floor, put it into a purchased plastic bag, and lug it to the curb. Yearly you pay your garbage collection tax and don’t save anything.

New System:
You sweep up the dirt on your driveway or kitchen floor or basement, place it in a small pail with a handle and toss it out on top of the dirt in your backyard or flowerbed.

You DO NOT spend any money buying a plastic bag.
You DO NOT hurt your back lugging it to the curb.
You DO NOT add another plastic bag to a Land Fill.
You DO NOT pay a yearly garbage collection tax.
You DO NOT bring any dirt to the curb.
You DO NOT have anything recorded or weighed.
You DO NOT pay any MONEY because you didn't throw anything away!

Eliminating our Garbage Collection Tax is one thing, paying only for the garbage we throw out is another. Yet, we all must stop wasting waste! Consider these steps to start throwing out less:
- Composting
- Recycle more than what you are recycling now [STOP buying Bottled Water!]
- Visit my Blog Categories to learn more, the Links are on the right side of this page

Now isn’t this a more sustainable way to live? Save Money, Energy, Health, and our Environment for our grandchildren. All that, without sacrificing anything!

Bill Lauto, at Going True Green
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Bubbles, Bumps and Blisters

8/9/2016

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Recycling, Recycle, Blister Packs, Bubble wrap, clamshells, PET, thermoplastic, resin, polymer, plastic ghosts, thermoformed containers

Food in Plastic

Today products are protected in packages that use plastic in the shape of bubbles, bumps, and blisters. The products being protected range from tooth brushes to LED light bulbs in these, aka, "Clamshells" of protection. The idea is great because of the extra safeguarding offered when you dropped or bang the blister package. The highly significant impact absorbing ratio of these packages prevents most common breakage. Nevertheless, a great idea can be nothing more than Crab Crap if there is a flaw in the overall equation. Here is why this idea is fundamentally flawed:

More than 60% of American Townships Do Not recycle these thermoformed containers, aka clamshells, aka blister packs. So yes, even though you have been putting all your protective plastic packaging from your purchased products into recycle bins, they are not being recycled. They are still going into landfills.

According to the FTC Green Guide, when more than 60% of American Recycling infrastructures Do Not recycle an item, then that item is deemed "Un-Recyclable" because your municipality is removing these items from the recycling conveyor belt or recovery system to bury them in a landfill where they don't breakdown. The Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides are designed to help marketers avoid making environmental claims that mislead consumers. However, in this case, we are misled by the process of omission! When a blister pack has no recycle information on it, we take the sensible option and recycle. We believe we are doing the right thing, but because we are not told that our township does not recycle thermoformed containers we are misled and continue to buy products with these protective packages. Once again, consumers, are being "sold a bill of goods!"

Blister Packs for Medicine

Plastic Protection or Tombs?

The irony to all this is that the demand for post-consumer PET exceeds the supply by a tremendous margin. Polyethylene terephthalate, aka PET, is the thermoplastic polymer resin used for containers that hold liquids, fibers that make up clothing, and containers for food. I Do Not use plastic bottles to drink from and I avoid foods in plastic or cans due to the possible BPA contaminants If you wish to learn more, please consider taking my online workshop on WATER. Classes start September, 2016.

Additionally, Bonnie who is a follower of Going True Green's blog for many years, shared an artist's exhibit created to demonstrate the impact of these blister packs that are not recyclable. You may wish to visit an article with photos on the exhibit at: A Tomb for the Plastic Ghosts We Leave Behind.

Bill Lauto , GTG
Environmental Scientist
 International Sustainability and Energy Consultant 
Contribute your comments!

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Telling the Untold Stories: TELOMERE by L. J. Williams

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Is Recycling Striking Out?

2/17/2016

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recycle, recycling, PET, plastic, plastic bottles, china, aluminum, cans, paper, ISRI, Operation Green Fences, david gelles, new york times, baseball, going green, going true green, efficiency, grass, grass clippings, virgin plastic, oil prices, oil, townships

Alas, springtime is around the corner and baseball's spring training has already started. However, things that are done the same way all the time, do not necessarily remain the same forever. This holds true for recycling. At first we the consumer were asked to sort and recycle. Then townships believed more people would recycle if the consumer didn't have to sort paper from cardboard and plastic from glass. Thus, the Townships only had employees sorting at the receiving end of the line. Efficiency dropped compared to when sorting was being done on both ends.

Next we have manufacturers of items, such as plastic containers, being made more efficiently by using less plastic. Today, plastic bottles are lighter and larger plastic jugs have thinner walls. These facts has thrown two strikes against recycling!

Strike One: Thinner walls means less plastic and less aluminum with bottles and cans. This translates into less profitable operations for recyclers who need more weight to make money.

Unwanted Recycled Products

Strike Two: The lighter weight makes sorting much more difficult at the end of the recycling line when using compressed air to blow papers out of the pile and leave heavier plastic bottles behind. The plastic bottles are now blowing out of the pile with the paper! End result, China is no longer importing low-quality recycled plastics from the United States. That is when plastics have paper or other items mixed within. The wall went up in 2012 with Operation Green Fence, thus leaving many American recyclers in the dugout with no other deal on the table to unload all their recycled product.

Operation Green Fence is China saying NO to contamination in any recyclable scrap. So a bale a plastic with some sheets of paper within, will be rejected because that paper is a contaminant. The same holds true for food waste on aluminum and cardboard or grass clippings within anything else. Since 2012 China has demanded contamination levels to drop from 10% to 1.5 percent. China has forced America's recycling industry to rethink their entire operation of recycling. From the consumers recycling bin at the curb to the bailing of the product. The reason is because China purchased two-thirds of America's recyclable scrap in 2011 according to the Institute of Scrap Recyclers (ISRI).

Strike Three? An article in the New York Times by David Gelles presented that the market for recycled plastic is about to dry up. The reason and possible strike three is due to oil prices dropping to lows that I have not seen since I started driving. Virgin plastic produced from cheap fossil fuels means recycled plastic is only worth half of what it was last year. Townships are paying to cart away their recyclables to be incinerated or dumped in a landfill because it is cheaper!

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Caught Looking!

So springtime of 2016 looks like Strike Three is about to cross over America's Home plate with recycling. Will we just stand there and watch the ball go by? Only to hear the umpire yell, "You're Out!"

I for one, would swing for the Green Fences by stopping the "cutting corners" to make more profit in the short term, thus losing more money in the long term. Also let's not delay the innovations in plastics that are waiting to come up and bat for America. New technologies are helping to transform old plastics back into new high quality plastics. I am tired of the proverbially saying, "That will take another ten years." We went to our moon and back in less than ten years, if we know about a new innovation, lower the profit margin goals and get the technology working!

Also let us go back to multi-layer sorting. American people are not allergic to work and spending a few extra minutes to sort our stuff before putting it to the curb. If anyone is, write them up with a fine after three warnings, because three strikes you are out does not just apply to America's past time called Baseball.

Bill Lauto , GTG
Environmental Scientist
 International Sustainability and Energy Consultant 
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