The story of Plastic continued…
Plastic was initially a waste product…a word that originally meant ” pliable and easily shaped” in recent years it became a name for a category of materials called polymers. The word polymer means “of many parts,”
Although there are natural polymers made from plants synthetic polymers have been found to be very useful…
It started in 1869 when an American Inventor namely John Wesley Hyatt saw an opportunity when a New York company made an offer of 10,000 dollars for anyone who could come up with a substitute for ivory.
Hyatt found that if he treated cellulose derived from cotton fibres with camphor a plastic was created which could be moulded into various shapes and made to imitate tortoiseshell, ivory, horn and linen….the plastic revolution took shape…
Manufacturers were now no longer limited by the availability of natural products…
This was just the beginning…
We now come to today where the chemicals needed to make plastic come predominantly from shale products…Collecting shale products causes pollution at the point of extraction…Shale gas manufacturing has devastating effects on communities.
Sunoco Pipeline, Formosa Plastic, Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobile Chemical, Sabic, Chevron, Shell…just typing these names fills me with horror and looking at the names there is a common theme…
Formosa Plastic was found guilty of dumping 50 million gallons a day into estuaries…pellets were everywhere…
This is a common occurrence wherever there are pipelines, factories…waterways are polluted, there are blowouts, lower life expectancies in these areas, a higher incidence of breathing problems, cancers the risks to public health and wildlife are enormous…
Those plastic pellets, micro and nano plastics that are being dumped in our waterways are being increasingly found in our food and water around the world..fish ingest them and bingo ..no you haven’t won the jackpot you are eating or drinking them…
Although researchers are exploring ways to make bioplastics a more viable option the production of them presents sustainability challenges and of course that includes effective biodegradability…
These companies often ride over peoples rights and often you don’t have the rights you think you have as a homeowner. Check it out before it is too late.
There is so much to think about with plastic as in some areas it is a necessity a lifesaver e.g babies incubators and other medical equipment is often made of plastic…However, we need to make our voices heard and be asking the questions as to what is happening with the waste we put out for collection and also we need to make our voices heard and demand that manufacturers do not produce anything which is not biodegradable…
To me, 83 kinds of separation depending on the plastic product means that some products require separating and different machinery is required in order to recycle it… I understand if it is white goods or electrical but packaging…That has to stop I mean when a little single-use sachet is made from at least 5 different components and maybe 7 which means it cannot be recycled as no one has the equipment… it also isn’t worth it…However if you count the human cost of that waste…That isn’t worth it either!
Production of those should be stopped and replaced by a fully biodegradable product … the manufacturers need to be taking some responsibility.
That’s all for today…Be well and stay safe don’t forego those precautions too quickly as many areas are seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases…It ain’t over yet folks…Better to be safe than sorry…xx
About Carol Taylor:
Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.
I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.
Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.
Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!
Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a fabulous week and stay safe these are troubling times xx
