Ocean plastic

[Dougy]

This season I have decided to collect all plastic (where safe to do so, obviously) floating and ashore on my travels, set up a web site to log where and what was found and recycle it. Hopefully get my local club and sailors involved. I am hoping someone will know of a site or scheme already doing this that I can join. But if not I will try and do it myself. (my son has his own web, tecky, press keys type of business, so should be ok for the IT side)
BUT Recycling seems to be a grey area and most of what we think we recycle just ends up being shipped abroad, buried and makes specialist recycle centres rich. Apparently there are very few recycling centres that deal with plastic. Unless you know different So any info on plastic recycling centres would be great.
Again, any schemes already running I would like to hear about.
Be interesting to see how much one small yacht sailing, mainly round the solent, will collect.

 

[dolabriform]

This is a great idea.
We will try and do the same.
Please post the website address when you have it set up

 

[Bodach na mara]

Sadly, plastic recycling if possible only for clean material and many plastics cannot currently be recycled at all. Many others (eg clean polythene) could be recycled but it is not possible for individuals to get access to the services. Personally, I think that this must change. Of course one thing that will change is the current practise of shipping the stuff to China and letting them worry about it, as the Chinese have announced that they are stopping accepting it.

Following your lead, I will try to join in on the Clyde and remove from the marine environment any plastic that I can and dispose of it responsibly. If everyone picked up the various bits of plastic film that we all see floating about, at least we may prevent some prop fouling or water inlet blocking incidents.

 

[Irish Rover]

We've been doing this for a couple of years picking up plastic and other garbage from beaches we visit that are mainly only accessible from the sea. We also pick up floating plastic, nylon rope etc we meet underway. The big problem is disposing of it. Recycling is in it's infancy here. Our marina has small bins for glass, plastic and paper but every time you open one you're met with kitchen waste or worse despite the fact there are huge general dumpsters 3 meters away. So the plastic we pick from the sea goes to landfill which is only marginally better than leaving it in the sea.

 

[Dougy]

We've been doing this for a couple of years picking up plastic and other garbage from beaches we visit that are mainly only accessible from the sea. We also pick up floating plastic, nylon rope etc we meet underway. The big problem is disposing of it. Recycling is in it's infancy here. Our marina has small bins for glass, plastic and paper but every time you open one you're met with kitchen waste or worse despite the fact there are huge general dumpsters 3 meters away. So the plastic we pick from the sea goes to landfill which is only marginally better than leaving it in the sea.

Yes it does seem to be a losing battle and feels like its simply moving the problem from the seas to shore but I guess it is better ashore than at sea. One step at a time I suppose.

 

[Dougy]

Sadly, plastic recycling if possible only for clean material and many plastics cannot currently be recycled at all. Many others (eg clean polythene) could be recycled but it is not possible for individuals to get access to the services. Personally, I think that this must change. Of course one thing that will change is the current practise of shipping the stuff to China and letting them worry about it, as the Chinese have announced that they are stopping accepting it.

Following your lead, I will try to join in on the Clyde and remove from the marine environment any plastic that I can and dispose of it responsibly. If everyone picked up the various bits of plastic film that we all see floating about, at least we may prevent some prop fouling or water inlet blocking incidents.

Hi Ken many thanks and it seems disposing of it is a major problem, but I guess its better ashore than afloat? Bloody snow stopped me fitting the sumlog! TX again for pics etc.

 

[ghostlymoron]

You could ask your marina to provide better collection facilities. They are probably unaware of the problem.

We've been doing this for a couple of years picking up plastic and other garbage from beaches we visit that are mainly only accessible from the sea. We also pick up floating plastic, nylon rope etc we meet underway. The big problem is disposing of it. Recycling is in it's infancy here. Our marina has small bins for glass, plastic and paper but every time you open one you're met with kitchen waste or worse despite the fact there are huge general dumpsters 3 meters away. So the plastic we pick from the sea goes to landfill which is only marginally better than leaving it in the sea.

 

[ghostlymoron]

After reading this I resolve to carry my landing net on the boat and collect and plastic bits I can (safely).

 

[Dougy]

You could ask your marina to provide better collection facilities. They are probably unaware of the problem.

Thats a good idea, I did offer my services for marine watch duty so maybe time to call in a favour

 

[Dougy]

After reading this I resolve to carry my landing net on the boat and collect and plastic bits I can (safely).

Thank you. Another plus side, it will stop a lot of prop fouling.

 

[Irish Rover]

You could ask your marina to provide better collection facilities. They are probably unaware of the problem.

Recycling is just not on people's radar here yet. Like everything else it will happen in it's own good time. Sometimes when we arrive back with a heap of rubbish on the swim platform marina staff or other boat owners ask if we had some problem and when we say no, we were just collecting rubbish from the sea, they look at each other puzzled and we sometimes hear them muttering under their breaths " yabanciler" meaning foreigners. Having said that I'm a bit puzzled myself when I'm in Ireland and my MIL or my sister give out to me for putting and empty carton or bottle in the bin without washing it.

 

[Robert Wilson]

Above posts hit "my" nail on the head.
For some time now I have been very, very careful at separating various types of "plastic" before disposal. But I don't know which sort goes where; the labels on packaging are inadequate/omitted and I have now idea what to do with polythene, cling-film, alkathene, nylon etc etc.
At present all the obvious/labelled stuff gets properly "binned" but is there a website or authority that definitively lists what can be sent be sent to recycling, or otherwise?

I was taught at Prep School never to drop "sweetie papers" ** which conditioned me to litter of all sorts and quantities ever since. I invariably pick-up/collect litter, be it on land or in the water.

It's what to do with it thereafter which is the bug bear.

** P.S We were given a dose of the gym-shoe if caught littering!!

 

[dolabriform]

After reading this I resolve to carry my landing net on the boat and collect and plastic bits I can (safely).

Thanks, I'm going to get a couple of small landing nets and make it a competition for the kids to see who can collect the most. I think it's a great way to educate the next generation to the problem, and get them used to taking responsibility,

 

[tidclacy]

Have recently done some research into plastic recycling and my findings are enclosed, sorry it is so long.

The Plastic merry-go-round

What happens to our plastic waste
In Britain nearly all local authorities now offer kerbside recycling of plastic bottles and three-quarters of them also collect pots, tubs, and trays.
The waste is then taken to a materials recovery facility. The various types of plastic are then sorted and sold in the post consumer commodities market.
Plastic bottles, for instance, are compressed into huge bales and sent on to recycling plants. In 2016, one million tonnes of plastic packaging-45% of the total-was sent for recycling.

What happens in recycling plants?
In the most advanced plants in Europe, old bottles are ground into flakes in a shredder and submerged in water. The labels and other detritus float to the top of the tank while the heavier plastic flakes sink to the bottom. The flakes are then washed and sorted by colour using infrared sensors and jets of air. After that they’re melted down and turned into molten strings that, once cooled, are cut into pellets and heated again for several hours to strengthen them and remove impurities. The pellets can then be turned back into bottles and other food-grade plastics: Ribena’s bottles, for instance, are made from 100% recycled pellets. The process can in theory be repeated indefinitely, a “closed loop” that eliminates the need to mine fresh materials.
Recycling uses only about 25% of the power needed to create it from petrochemicals in the first place: most of the difficulties arise in the complex sorting process involved.


Why is so much sorting required

Plastic comes in such a large variety of shapes and compounds. Six main kinds of plastic polymer are used in packaging, four of the main ones being polyethylene terephthalate (PET)- used in beverage bottles; high-density polyethylene (HDPE)-milk bottles; polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-used in cling film; and low-density polyethylene (LDPE)-most grocery bags. The different polymers are identified by a number inside the recycling triangle that is stamped on many plastic containers and packages. Thus a “1” stands for PET, a “2” for HDPE, a “4” for LDPE and so on. The different polymers are not compatible: even a small quantity of PVC will degrade recycled PET, for example, and vice versa. And because many consumer items consist of parts made of different plastics-PET bottles, say, usually have poly-propylene (PP) lids-they are hard to separate. In addition, mixing plastics of one colour with another, let alone with foodstuffs or other waste, makes them less valuable. As a result, many plastics are “down cycled” into less pure, weaker forms: PET bottles become fleeces or carpets; HDPE bottles become flower pots; plastics that cannot be separated are turned into black rubbish sacks or “lumber” – slabs for decking and so on.

Is plastic recycling economic?
Not really. There is strong demand in the UK for some recyclables, such as clear HDPE milk bottles. But by and large, the process is driven not by market forces - making new plastic is often cheaper than recycling it, particularly when oil prices are low - but by EU regulation and the desire of companies to be seen as green. Hence, rather than being recycled here, much of our plastic is shipped to Asia, where demand for cheap plastic is far higher. In 2016, only 37% of our plastic recycling was done domestically. Until this year, the vast bulk of it went to China. But in January, as part of a campaign against “foreign garbage”, Beijing banned imports of all but the best-quality recyclables. Overnight, waste disposal sites across Europe have seen a build-up of plastic. Bottlenecks are predicted across the whole of the UK in coming months.
What can be done about Europe’s plastic waste mountain
New markets will be sought in Asia, but undoubtedly some of it will end up in landfill, or in energy-from-waste plants, where rubbish is burnt to create electricity. Indeed, 40% of Europe’s plastic packaging already ends up in such waste plants, and 30% goes to landfill: only 30% is recycled. However, the European Commission is treating China’s decision as an “excellent opportunity” to create a truly “circular economy” in Europe for plastic. It wants the EU to recycle 55% of plastic packaging by 2030.

Can we recycle better?
In its 25-year Environment Plan (See Appendix A), the Government says it wants to work with manufacturers to rationalise packaging into a smaller range of formats, so they can be sorted and recycled more easily. Deposit schemes for plastic bottles have been successful in some EU and US states: Michigan has a ten cent deposit scheme and a bottle recycling rate of 97%. Germany has pioneered “extended producer responsibility”, which holds companies responsible for their environmental costs throughout their products life cycle. Germany recycles about 20% more of its household waste than the UK.

Is the whole process worthwhile?
In Europe, we recycle to save resources - plastic production accounts for 5% of all fossils fuels used- and to stop it being sent to landfill or burnt. These are admirable aims. But once you take account of the energy used in sorting and recycling, the gains are, for now, not that great.



Apendix A
A plastic free world?
Recycling is only one of the “4Rs” invoked in the war on plastic: reduce, reuse, recycle, recover. The Government’s Environment Plan aims to eliminate “all avoidable plastic waste” by 2042, by taking action at each stage of the product life cycle”. Single-use plastic bags are once again in the firing line – they clog up the sorting machines, so few recyclers take them. All shops will be made to charge for bags (the use of bags has dropped by 85% since the supermarket charge was introduced in 2015). Supermarkets will be encouraged to reduce plastic packaging. Iceland announced that it own-brand products would be plastic-free by 2023.
But two things are worth noting. First, the issue of recycling in the UK is largely irrelevant to the most pressing current concern: plastic in the wild, especially the sea. That is a rubbish collection and disposal issue and mostly an Asian one: Europe and the USA account for only 2% of the eight million tonnes of plastic leaking in to the ocean every year; Asia for 82%. And second, plastic-free isn’t always more environmentally friendly. For instance glass, being much heavier, requires more energy to transport. And replacing fossil-fuel plastics with degradable bioplastics – made from corn starch or wood, not petrochemicals – would require using up a vast amount of agricultural land. So, given how cheap and useful it is, plastic packaging will be around for a long time yet. In Europe, much of it will end up having its energy “recovered” in plants that, while relatively efficient and non-polluting, do essentially just burn it.

 

[dolabriform]

Have recently done some research into plastic recycling and my findings are enclosed, sorry it is so long.

The Plastic merry-go-round
.

Thanks for posting, long is good

Unfortunately your research shows that we have a long way to go before recycling really lives up to the hype surrounding it.

One of the things that gets my back up the most is things like the 25 Year Plan. <IMHO> it basically means "pass it on to the next generation to sort out". A 5 year or even 3 year plan would actually make people sit up and do something, especially if there were staged fines for non compliance.
Businesses will find a way to make a profit regardless of regulation.

rant over

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

Dont forget the emergence of more plastic to diesel (and other products) plants. I think there are about 10 or so at the moment and more to come. These take anything (plastic) so will most likely accept the discards from recycling.
I also have plans to build a home version.

Either way up, ignore the cost of recycling and accept what ever revenue there is as a bonus to help tidy up the place.