Midway
Its only 3.56 long, please watch it.
And why the rest of the states out of SA haven't outlawed the use of plastic bags or containter refunds is beyond me.
That's pretty heavy. Thanks for posting.
I read somewhere the other day, that within less than 30yrs, 99% of seabirds will have ingested plastic. 99%!!! I'll try & dig up the source....
ABC TV this Monday night- 4 corners-Oceans of Plastic
Read on a bbc article this week that micro plastics being ingested in the aquatic food chain don't so much come from large plastic waste breaking down in the environment but particles leaching into marine environment. Principally road tire wear, synthetic clothing breaking down in washing machines and microbeads in cosmetics.
Considering that moving to all natural fabrics and avoiding plastic microbeads in toiletries are readily accessible alternatives, there is the chance for us all to make a big difference on this right away.
mk1 - washing machine manufacturers in Europe are starting to pre-install filters on new machines to gather all the micro plastics from all those synthetic clothes we like to wear. All those polo fleece garments are the worse culprits.
Thank God for the Euros
Where's Tony Barbie? Life in plastic, it's fantastic!!
Just a reminder to watch ABC TV 4 corners tonight - Oceans of Plastic.
Rabbits, I think all young shearwaters on the pristine Lord Howe already contain plastic in their guts. This might be the link you were referring to.
http://blankgc.com.au/plastic-fills-tummies-of-natures-flying-legends/
There will have to be some massive crashes in seabird populations to come as it is impossible to see a decrease in plastic pollution occurring any time soon.
As Craig said, why governments can't be more proactive is frustrating, and what happened to the bottle recycling program that was meant to start in NSW?
Governments can do more but especially us surfers have an opportunity to carry rubbish off a beach when we see it.
Personally, picking up rubbish after a surf when walking back to my car is my way of making sense of it all. If I rationalise it too much it just gets me depressed so I don't. I just pick up the rubbish and bin it at home.
Perhaps you might think about giving it a go sometime.
Good reminder
Do they have bottle recycling in other states? In SA we have yellow wheelie bins for bottles & cans or we can save them up and get 10 cents a can back if we do it ourselves.
Heaps of people do it though, and there's recycling depots around the place that seem to make a living out of it too.
The plastic bag initiative in SA was actually pretty good, we pay 15 cents per bag now and they're a lot tougher than those crappy thin ones. You can use them ten times if you like, but if you're like me you always forget to bring your own bags so end up paying an extra 60 cents every shopping trip for new bags.
Here's the 4 Corners episode:
I don't mind using a few shopping bags, I'll reuse them as bin bags later and load them up so I only need 1 or 2. They should carry the full life cycle price of their impact though.
The ones that bug me are the thin fruit and veg bags, you see people with 1 bag for a carrot, 1 for an onion, 1 for bananas. They aren't really reusable later either. Just put the veg in your trolley and bag it all together at the end dumb arses.
Gaz1799, In Vicco, we have council operated recycling bins like you have but no buy back scheme. I think the Greens have tried to get it introduced but its always opposed by the big drink manufacturers and hence it goes nowhere. We used to have it here when I was a kid, not sure why it stopped.
Every action has a cost ... in the case of SA putting a cost on shopping bags also has increased the purchase of bin liners.
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-26/bag-ban-brings-unintended-consequences/4595190
It's pretty lucrative Smiley, the cricket/footy/netball clubs regularly do bottle drives etc each year for the under 16's etc it's a shame it's not nationwide.
TPG, it's a pity there isn't a life cycle tax on all disposable plastic, that was used to clean it up. That way it wouldn't matter what sold more than anything else as the funds to help deal with the issue would still be collected
Yeah I know Gas, I see a guy clearing the bins of aluminium cans from local netball courts. I say all power to him, making a few dollars and doing the world a service. Supporting last night's 4 corners one local ocean beach seems to be a real magnet for rubbish, a lot seems to come from foreign ships that either use or sail by the two major nearby harbours. Lots and lots of plastic containers with Asian language on them. That and bait bags, don't understand that, fishers tossing their rubbish.
Hope a few of you watched 4 corners, really sad what's happening.
We went to Lord Howe last year and they have exactly the same problem over there. Perhaps not on the same scale (yet), but those little shards of plastic are everywhere now; every ocean, every sea, every river. It's horrific.
Surfstarved.... You should see west coast tassie.... Horrific..... Down here too around Robe to Beachport..... It's a freakn disgrace..
This is 'effing heartbreaking.
You should see the piles of plastic floating around here. You could cut the apathy with a knife.
Good news, the NSW container deposit scheme will commence later this year.
http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/waste/container-deposit-scheme.htm
Hopefully that can reduce some input into the coastal waterways.
That is absolutely tragic. Look up 'The Ocean Cleanup' - a real way to deal with the plastic in our oceans.
Hey Check this out, some of you might be interested in this.
A way of getting rid of all those microfibres in your washing that get washed into the ocean ....
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/879498424/cora-ball-microfiber-catc...
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/henderson-island-worlds-most-polluted...
Henderson Island right smack bang in he middle of the Pacific
I saw that article it was heart breaking. The world must be pretty far gone for it to be that bad in a place completely uninhabited.
yep. we're fcked. the change required isn't going to come....there's not much for it, other than...
wait, maybe there is hope....london skies used to be so pollutted you couldn't see, the hudson and east rivers used to be open sewers and now the striped bass have returned, lake erie used to catch fire int he '70s, and even the yarra river used to run brown...
Wax worms, Chook. Wax worms.
waxworms, wow. i had no idea...go little fellows!
But you know we'll breed them in bulk only to find out they have an evil side, like cane toads.