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Plastic waste in lake Potpec, Serbia

If you have looked at the photograph , it doesnt take much imagination to think about how much plastic is going into rivers and seas on a regular basis , I went to look at my local river , after the heavy rains , and a great deal of new plastic is caught in the riverside tree branches and roots , along with the old plastic from 2020 flooding , and at this time of year it looks like somthing out of dystopian landscape or the river Styx . In my area there are a number of factors , but none more so than the soft drinks bottle , they bust out of full litter bins and blow in the wind , I think the drinks companies are going to have to pay to at least starting to resolve the waste problem , I was hopeful that we were going to get the metallic foils out of waste streams also , pringles have got a new packaging design , and only retailer going plastic free ,product by product is Iceland .

But wow from uk alone somthing like 9,000,000,000 kgs of plastic goes into rivers/seas ... soon be asking for polythene and chips please at the fish and chip shop.
  • mmmm keep forgetting IET doesnt yet mean eco technology , feelin a tumble weed moment on plastics on here ?
  • It's a really difficult problem, and most of us don't have functioning magic wands at the moment.  Most plastics should be recyclable, but getting them recycled is a lot more difficult.
  • Simon Barker:

     Most plastics should be recyclable, but getting them recycled is a lot more difficult.


    Very true, so I think on our side the best we can do is a steady drip feed throughout the engineering profession to think about every plastic component:



    1. is this part / function / feature actually needed at all?

    • if 2 is "yes", can another material be used?

    • if 3 is "no", can parts be combined (e.g. moulding clips into casings rather than using separate clips)?

    • if plastics are "essential", can they be made easily recoverable / recyclable - and from here on we're into the realm of existing legislation and guidance in most countries (e.g. elements of WEEE)


    I've tended to find it's in the first three that when designing new systems we often forget (myself as much as anyone!) to take a step back and think "are we designing it this way just because we've always designed it this way?"


    Any other thoughts? It's rare that subjects come up on this forum that any of us can actually do much about in our day-to-day work, but this actually is one!


    Cheers,


    Andy

  • I would imagine that one of the worse producers of single use plastic waste would be the false deity that everyone seems to worship in ignorance "Our NHS".
  • Surely the first thing to do with regard to plastics getting into the environment is to educate people on how to use a bin? In the UK we have speed awareness courses, why not something similar for people who have no awareness on the correct way to dispose of litter?
  • I dont think it will go recycling , eventually someone will just say , single use plastic bottles are a problem , and we exchange ,stainless steel ones in a machine or somthing , that cleans them and re fills them ,
  • Thats probeby true now , every syringe , facemask , although did see wood tooth brushes the other day , but cant imagine much more can be done for NHS products where everything comes in its own audited and clean package
  • Depends , recycling bins give some plstics uses and easy ride , and given how many tonnes of plastic have beeen sent overseas to errrr be marked as reprocessed (when they are just dumped in places goverments dont look into)   , at least a good point in brexit has been how the waste plastics business has changed .
  • Thanks Andy , thats a good approach , the clips and particulary rawl plugs has been on my list for some time , the aluminium rawl plugs dont work out quite so well either , my guess is that the plastics recyclers will perhaps ,develope ways of using most plastics , Currently working on idea for mastics , and seen some powdered adhevisives (delivered in paper bags ) , that you mix on site (saves having tubs and tubs of pre mix) . 

    basic problem is a lot of small stuff uses plastics , and small stuff one way or another doesnt get to the bin as well as the large stuff.