Just a waste not want not tip

The many uses of bicycle inner tubes.....and free time

 

Mendel...
Ohhh, are we sporting a new avatar???

 

Ouch I was not expecting an X-Rated photo of two wax bottles.

Well I personally favor trash-to-steam vs. landfills to recover the energy from non-recyclables.

 

Great. Now that additional little piece of polluted inner tube will also need to go into the landfill.

 

Isn't the sad truth that despite what it might say on the bottle, plastic really isn't very recyclable?

 

In the traditional sense, it isn't. But we could use thermal conversion or even pyrolysis to revert it back to a petroleum crude. I dream of 'harvesting' the plastic flotsam in the oceans and doing so on ship.

 

I recently watched "Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch".

Fascinating to see the amount of seemingly ageless plastics floating around the ocean.
Equally fascinating to see some clips from early 50's educational films promoting the wonders of the upcoming "Kingdom Of Plastics".

I think advanced humanity has been guilty as a whole of embracing the manufacture, ease, and convenience of plastics without much or any thought to long term damage.

To be honest? I'm as guilty as anyone. I loves me some durable cheap plastic!
Went to the convenience mart to get a soda. Sure I have a multi-use thermal cup at home...but that's the key, I left it at home. So I get my pop in the convenient plastic cup the store so kindly provides.

Sadly when I go to the grocery store, I often forget my re-usable sacks. Then the groceries end up in "plastic".

If you're even trying to combine bottles and going as far as looking for the number in the recycle symbol, then going further and finding out whether your recycle center "actually" CAN recycle it? I think you're way ahead of most of us.

From my narrow scope and limited knowledge, the sad thing is evidently the whole "Recycle Your Plastic" seems to be more of a feel good myth being promoted by companies trying to make something look green when it really isn't. These numerous products get produced mind boggling quantities with nobody really taking responsibility for what that means to our environment.

 

Wasn't aware of that. The brand we use has ground walnut shells.

 

There is no easy answer here.
Unless we pass laws making manufacturers more directly responsible for the entire life cycle of their products including of course the containers they are sold in. And demand the product be REALLY recyclable.
Right now bags, containers, bottles, all get churned out with no thought or responsibility being taken as to how that impacts the environment or even really how they get removed from the environment after initial use or the end of life cycle viability.

However this answer reduces profitability and probably increases cost. So nobody is going to be too anxious to embrace this. Easier to ignore it, or just put a symbol and number on the plastic and pretend it's great.

 

If I dine in at Tim's they use a ceramic cup.

 

If you found that interesting Google the guy who built an island out of trash in Hawaii iirc. This guy is a genius.
He needs to go to the garbage patch and make it a continent. I think There's a Netflix special movie on it. I can't remember.

 

And it is required at one point in your life to take one ceramic mug home.

Every good Canadian household has at least 1 ceramic Timmy's mug lol