Dumpster dive | July 8, 2024

Image source: The Garbage Lady

• I just learned about Plastic Free July®, a global campaign to reduce single-use plastics that was initiated six years ago by the non-profit Plastic Free Foundation. Take the Pesky Plastics Quiz to identify your opportunities reducing single-use plastics and provide input that helps the foundation track trends.

• If only Plastic Free July was aimed not just at consumers but those who created the plastic waste in the first place. An article from Phys.Org asserts that “Plastic Free July is a waste of time if the onus is only on consumers.” The headline is a bit extreme; I believe we are all responsible, and consumer demand drives change. Like if we stopped buying bottled water, they’d stop making it.

• Ah, the alluring aroma of freshly printed cookies. The recipe for µBites (pronounced microbites) is fairly straightforward: Combine waste biomass and plastic to make a slurry, add some special yeast, and send to your 3D printer. The junk food is an attempt by researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale to use plastic pollution to address world hunger. (SIU News)

• It's only a matter of time before we have guidelines for USDRIP, United States Dietary Recommended Intake of Plastic: A new interactive map shows how much plastic is consumed globally per capita, per day, by country. (Newsweek)

• No appetite for negligence: Fortune reports that nearly half of Gen Z and millennial workers are leaving jobs that aren't eco-friendly.

• The exodus might explain why the graphics are so bad in ExxonMobil's annual climate report: Kevin from accounting had to fill in. (Union of Concerned Scientists)

• Speaking of ExxonMobil, their annual climate report is one reason why the company was recently inducted into the GIC Hall of Shame. ICYMI, see "ExxonMobil's strategy for a circular economy: Deny, delay, distract, deceive. Burn. Repeat."

• Greenwashing is a common topic here, but let's not ignore pinkwashing (or rainbow-washing): Popular Information exposes 25 rainbow-flag waving companies that donated $18 million to anti-gay politicians since the last election.

• Balloons are better than bombs, but the ongoing antics between North and South Korea seem so childish: North Korea is sending balloons filled with trash and feces across the border, and South Korea is retaliating with balloons that contain leaflets exposing North Korean propaganda, US dollars, and USB sticks with K-pop and K-dramas. Kids, go to your rooms. (CNN)

• Speaking of balloons, the state of Florida has banned the intentional release of balloons into the environment, unless you're under the age of six. Can't we just let go of balloons altogether though, as in stop making and buying them? (The Hill)

• Colorado will soon begin a free statewide recycling program paid for and managed by companies responsible for single-use packaging waste. The program will extend access to hundreds of thousands of residents and incent companies to use less packaging, since more packaging means higher fees. I can't wait for this "producers pay" model to be the norm. (CBS News)

• Let's go, Colorado! This July the state will ban everyday products that intentionally contain highly toxic PFAS chemicals (aka, forever chemicals). The ban includes a long list of items, including clothes, cookware, menstruation products, cleaning products, dental floss, and ski wax. (The Guardian)

• More PFAS bans, please: A new report from the University of Birmingham found that PFAS chemicals can pass through human skin. (ScienceAlert)

• The world's first ban on plastic straws was introduced by a small South Pacific island nation in 2018. Six years later, the nation of Vanuatu has drastically cut plastic pollution through additional bans on single-use plastics. (The Guardian)

• Farther north, the Ocean Cleanup recently completed its 100th plastic extraction from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Congrats, crew! Watch the livestream highlights on YouTube.