Plastic

I would be happy to see our Corporations put an end to adult-proof packaging. This all started years ago when some nut tampered with a bottle of Tylenol and grocery stores were quizzing our preference for paper or plastic. Since then, packaging has become more human-unfriendly and more difficult to open.

We’ve all seen TV clips of people picking up plastic from the beach, so we believe plastic trash is being dumped in the oceans. We’ve all seen marine biologists wringing their hands over sick turtles who claim that plastic trash is bad for them. I laughed when they came out with plastic bottled water as if it was better than tap water.

I’m sure we are all clueless about what plastics can be recycled and skeptical that any of that ever gets done by the “waste management” folks. We get tons of plastic bags from the stores and end up using them to cover food and that disrupts the plastic recycling we do on the front end at home.

Packaging companies are meeting to see what they can do to reduce their use of plastics or change the plastic they use in their packaging, because the politicians are now wringing their hands over the plastic pollution in the oceans.  I am confident that our governments will spend a lot of money and come up with unnecessary regulations that make this problem worse for a while.

Ready! Fire! Aim! – The internet speaks as follows:

Plastic waste is filling the oceans is the headline now and the internet carries some propaganda with information I’m sure most of us don’t understand.

That's a total of about 19 billion pounds of garbage. And according to one of the best estimates available, that's how much plastic waste ends up in our oceans every year. - Apr 27, 2017

Information About Sea Turtles: Threats from Marine Debris. The Problem: Over 100 million marine animals are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean. Currently, it is estimated that there are 100 million tons of plastic in oceans around the world.

Plastic pollution doesn't just hurt marine species. It's also harmful to people. Asplastic debris floats in the seawater, it absorbs dangerous pollutants like PCBs, DDT and PAH. These chemicals are highly toxic and have a wide range of chronic effects, including endocrine disruption and cancer-causing mutations.

Many kinds of polyethylene can be made from ethylene. Plastic bags typically are made from one of three basic types: high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), or linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). - Sep 20, 2004

These chains are called polymers. This is why many plastics begin with “poly,” such as polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene. Polymers often are made of carbon and hydrogen and sometimes oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, chlorine, fluorine, phosphorous, or silicon. - Jun 10, 2011

BPA is one of many man-made chemicals classified as endocrine disruptors, which alter the function of the endocrine system by mimicking the role of the body's natural hormones. Scott Belcher, PhD, tested polycarbonate plastic bottles like these for Bisphenol A. - Feb 4, 2008

Recyclable Plastics -Plastic #2 – HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) Plastic #2 is typically opaque and picked up by most curbside recycling programs. This plastic is one of the 3 plastics considered to be safe, and has a lower risk of leaching. - Feb 6, 2013

Non-recyclable Plastics - Plastic products made from polyvinyl chloride, such as shower curtains, piping, window frames and some toys, can't be recycled. Don't put the lids of recyclablewater bottles in your recycling bin, and plastic bags cannot be recycled. - .Jun 13, 2017

Plastic waste is also contaminated by materials such as paper and ink. ... Plastics that can be recycled are first sorted, shredded and rid of impurities like paper. The shreds are then melted and formed into pellets, which can be made into other products. - Jan 31, 2012

Plastic beverage bottles are made from PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) polymer. ... From creation to disposal, these bottles contribute to air pollution. And many of the chemicals that go into their production continue to leach out into the air and into the water they hold.

The culprits are clearly the waste disposal companies who dump trash into the ocean. Trump should send the EPA global warming bureaucrats to check this out.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader