Transition Island Blog

New Scientist, a very proper magazine reporting professionally on scientific matters, got emotional about plastic bags.

happy birthday?

They  noted the birthday of the discovery of plastic back in 1933. Technically they reported it was discovered by “Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson at ICI in Northwich, England when they put a mixture of ethylene and benzaldehyde under very high pressure.”

Plastics have since been improved, as any new invention would be.

not celebrating!

“The reason we’re not celebrating their birthday is the ethylene - it comes from crude oil.

Another reason is the very reason they’ve become so popular: plastics take 1000 years to rot.”

So science doesn’t always produce ‘good stuff’.

Supermarkets, the original source of free plastic carrier bags, are now moving towards a greener approach.

green buildings

ASDA’s latest high efficiency store in Bootle, Merseyside is due to open in November 2008. The timber-framed store has many sustainable features, including recycled bricks, a recycled aluminium roof, rainwater harvesting and natural lighting. All this will help the store become 50% more energy efficient than a typical ASDA store.

Other supermarkets are also going the same route - eg Marks & Spencer’s first eco-store, opened late last year, uses 55% less power and is powered by turbine.

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Banish The Bags:
How the world shames Britain in dealing with ‘plastic poison’ bags

Britain lags behind the rest of the world in dealing with the ‘plastic poison’ caused by the distribution of billions of single-use carrier bags, says the Daily Mail.

Three billion bags given away annually by retailers, creating long-lived litter and life-threatening traps for wildlife.

Consumers, governments and retailers around the globe have moved to banish the bags, a symbol of urban waste.

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County Press shows off VentBag volunteers (8/2/08)

Eco-friendly bags are being snapped up by Ventnorians as the project catches towns imagination.

Sewing bags in a shop window in the High Street, they got attention and praise. The bags are made from recycled fabrics, doubling their positive eco-impact for the good of the Island.

We recently reported that Hawaii is surrounded by plastic bags and other non-biodegradable rubbish - we don’t want the Island to end up like that!

The project aims to make Ventnor the first plastic-bag-free town on the Island. They hope to make enough to deliver one to every household in the town. “People are already ordering bags” said Shiela, project volunteer.

Action: Get involved, help sew bags!

Plastic rubbish in the Pacific Ocean is collecting at an alarming rate.

It now covers an area twice the size of the United States, scientists have said.

The vast expanse of debris is held together by rotating underwater currents. This drifting “soup” stretches across the northern Pacific, around Hawaii, but kept clear of coasts by the current vortex.

About one-fifth of the junk - which includes everything from footballs and kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags - is thrown off ships or oil platforms. The rest comes from land.

Unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable plastics, this soup will double in size over the next decade. This is health hazard for animals and humans alike.

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500 recycled carrier bags donated to the exciting Ventbag project in Ventnor. The aim is to become the first town on the Island to be Plastic Carrier Bag Free.

Why? The problem - 1,000,000 plastic bags are used globally every MINUTE!
The results - drowned dolphins, strangled animals, long-lasting litter…
 

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