Category Archives: Thought Provoking

Reusable Shopping Bags Not Risk Free

The newest fad: The Reusable bag .




Reusable bags are being greatly pushed against the single use plastic bag and people seem to be latching on to the concept. It sounds like a good enough idea, and with all the design options you can really expressive yourself, but is the reusable bag really risk free? Just like many new products there may be some drawbacks that weren’t discovered before becomingso popular and “savior-esque.” The Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science at the University of Arizona and the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University conducted a study called the Assessment of the Potential for Cross Contamination of Food Products by Reusable Shopping Bags. Now I am going to brief you on the results of this study!

So what is “Cross contamination” ?

Cross contamination occurs when disease-causing microorganisms are transferred from one food to another.

The assessment was divided into 3 Phases

1. Determine the occurrence of bacteria and bacteria of health concern in reusable shopping bags
2. Determine the potential for microbial cross-contamination in reusable shopping bags
3. Evaluate and recommend the washing/bleaching procedures necessary to decontaminate reusable shopping bags

They started off by collecting bags from consumers entering grocery stores in the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and Tucson, Arizona. 84 bags total were collected, 25 from LA, 25 from San Francisco and 34 from Tucson. All but 4 of these bags were woven polypropylene (a little softer than polyester which is what a typical plastic bottle is made out of.) Each bag owner was interviewed on bag usage, storage, and cleaning procedures. (4 unused reusable bags were also purchased and tested)

 

And the Results are in…

Large numbers of bacteria were found in all but 1 bag & coliform bacteria in half.

E-Coli was identified in 12% of the bags & a wide range of enteric bacteria & pathogens.

After meat juices were added to bags & stored in car s for 2 hours, bacteria increased 10-fold.

 

 

How to Clean your bags?

Hand or machine washing was found to reduce the bacteria in bags by >99.9%. So if you clean your bag after every separate use, you should be good! (Don’t forget to think of the water and energy that adds up over time)

 

What were the bag owners habits?

Cleaned bag at home?
97% No
3% Yes

Days bags were used in a Week?
49% 1 day
22% 2 days
18% 3 days
3% 4 days
2% 5 days
3% 6 days
3% 7 days

Bag used Soley for Groceries?
70% Yes
30% No

Other uses of Bag?
57% Other Shopping
19% Clothes
10% Books
9% Snacks
5% Biking Supplies

Separate Bags for Meats & Vegetables?
75% No
25% Yes

Transport in Car?
55% Trunk
45% Backseat

Stored at home?
55% Yes
45% No

 

As you are learning these bags get pretty filthy and are brought back into stores, which is proven to be not at all sanitary. So if reusable bag users do not make the continuous effort to keep their bags clean maybe this isn’t  the cleanest solution to the single-use plastic bag problem, why not explore another option like using Earth friendly  biodegradable and recyclable plastic instead, Like ENSO?

Take a few min to read the rest of the assessment it’s definitely worth your time!
http://www.llu.edu/public-health/news/news-grocery-bags-bacteria.page

 

 

Does Biodegradable Equal Less Recycling?

 

Let’s say that someone hands you two water bottles. One of the bottles is made with biodegradable plastics and the other is not. Which one do you feel is the more environmentally friendly product? You’re probably thinking the biodegradable plastic bottle, right? A majority of people would agree with you including myself. Now, because the bottle is biodegradable do you think that consumers will feel less guilty littering and feel less motivated to recycle? This is something to think about but lets take a look at some statistics. After surveying over 350 people, more than 90% stated that if a plastic bottle was labeled biodegradable that they would not feel comfortable littering the bottle on the ground. Another thing to take into consideration is that 75% of the people that took the survey also believed that it could range from less than a year to 25 years for a biodegradable bottle to biodegrade. It seems that many of these people are aware that biodegrading is not an instant process, whether they have researched the facts or are just going off of what they think. Did you know that in a perfect anaerobic environment ENSO plastics will fully biodegrade in 250 days but in a microbial environment like a landfill it may take longer.

Now back to a question I asked earlier, because the bottle is biodegradable do you think that consumers will feel less guilty littering and feel less motivated to recycle? Think about what choice you would make and then ask yourself why you would take that action.

What it comes down to is that by labeling something biodegradable it doesn’t mean it will result in less recycling or more littering. We all need to be aware of the facts so our choices will actually make a difference.

Do you have blue barrel anxiety?

‘m suffering from “Blue Barrel Anxiety,” and so are a lot of other people around the country. What is BBA you ask? Think of it like this. You are cleaning up after a family picnic, the table is covered with paper plates, an empty pickle jar, a plastic mustard container and lots of other things made from plastic and paper…lots of other things. If you have ever wondered, does this go in the trash or recycle bin, then you have experienced what millions of us have, the dreaded BBA, “Blue Barrel Anxiety.”

I was suffering so badly from BBA that I didn’t know what to toss into my blue bin…Blue Barrrel AnxietyI’d even gotten a letter from my trash collection company warning me that I was about to lose my Blue Barrel privileges. Don’t be disheartened, I’ve discovered the cure for BBA. It turns out that by educating oneself, BBA can be reduced and more importantly for me, no more letters.

I set up a tour to my local recycling center. WARNING and DISCLAIMER: Prepare yourself, seeing firsthand what becomes of the things you put into your recycle bin may shock you. Perhaps you might consider taking a friend or the entire family for moral support. You’re going to need it.

How did my tour go? Well it wasn’t what I expected. The facility I went to gave the tour from an enclosed area where we observed the process through glass windows. We didn’t hear much of the noise or enjoy the smells. The room we were in was equipped with a room deodorizer that periodically shot a mist on the air which covered up any noxious odors. I wondered what was in the deodorizer and why suddenly I was feeling a lot of love for all those recyclers working the picking line, hmmmmm.

Anyway… the thing that got most my attention was the amount of “recycled” items that aren’t recycled. A lot of the stuff…most of the stuff, we put into our recycle bins isn’t recycled, it is disposed of in the landfill. I was a little taken aback and somewhat hurt that all the plastic, cans, and containers that I had rinsed and carefully placed into my recycle bin were being treated like garbage and I was wondering why?

The tour guide must have seen the questions in my eyes…I heard the mister spray again and the love return. The tour guide went on to explain that recycling, while being good for the environment is in the final analysis a business activity. Items we toss that don’t have market value are stored or sent on to the landfill. Most of what I saw being saved was plastic containers and cardboard, so I assumed most of the unwanted material became garbage. The tour guide went on to say, “When something has value or there is a market for a recycled item it is captured, bundled and sold.” I pointed out a bin filled with glass bottles and I asked our tour guide why they weren’t recycled? His answer was that it’s cheaper to make new glass than recycle. I was becoming educated and my BBA was starting to ease. I learned that recycling is about money, at least here in the U.S. it is, and until there is a demand for recycled glass or the price of virgin glass goes up….it’s off to garbage land with used glass.

Reclycing BinsIt turns out that U.S. Recyclers are very picky about what they want and are only willing to spend the time, labor and money on items that can easily and quickly be captured from the recycle stream. In other countries recycling has taken on a whole new meaning. I recently read about another country where even a tennis shoe is dismantled for the metal, leather and rubber. Is that cost effective? Probably not, but those countries are coming closer to a sustainable life style than we are. The tour was an eye opener and it got me to questioning if there was any real value to recycling here in the U.S., or was it all just a way to make money, appearing to be environmental?

Organizations that promote and support recycling here in the U.S. need to do more toward developing new markets for the goods we now toss into our landfills. Most of their efforts are spent on maintaining the status quo of recycling and they don’t take kindly to anyone rocking the garbage boat.

Public awareness and acceptance for environmental programs continues to grow and recycling organizations need to embrace environmentalism and its potential benefits. The U.S. needs to follow the lead of countries that have successful recycling programs, programs that are reclaiming up to 75% of waste materials. Recyclers need to get away from the idea that recycling is just a for-profit business and begin to look at recycling as the anchor for all our environmental programs.

Use, reuse, recycle and reclaiming are all about sustainability; it should become the mantra of all businesses and consumers. We need to rethink how our products and packaging are designed, used and when the life of a product is over how the resource is reclaimed. Sustainability is important for our future and it’s the only way we will be able to ensure a healthy planet and that resources will be available for future generations.

Blue Barrel Anxiety
by
Max Clark

BPI Releases Biodegradation Test Results of Aquamantra Bottles

On Feb 01, 2011 the Biodegradable Products Institute released its biodegradation test results of Aquamantra’s ENSO Biodegradable PET Bottle. BPI which is an industry organization for compostable plastics had the biodegradation tests performed by the highly recognized NSF laboratory.Lab Worker - Testing biodegradation

NSF conducted the biodegradation test of Aquamantra’s biodegradable PET bottle, using ASTM D 5511 Standard Test Method. The ASTM D5511 is a standard test method for determining anaerobic biodegradation of plastic materials under high-solids anaerobic-digestion conditions”.

This ASTM Test Method calculates the amount of carbon dioxide and methane produced during the testing period. The cumulative amount of carbon dioxide and methane evolved from each vessel is calculated and compared to the amount of CO2 and CH4 evolved from blank specimens to determine percent degradation.

After 60 days, the Aquamantra ENSO bottle achieved an overall biodegradation total of 4.47% or 10% of the positive control. As part of the normal biodegradation process with this test method, the biodegradation process drops significantly for both the cellulose and plastic material, shown by the gas generation curve plateauing. Using the test results from this test of 4.47% biodegradation over 60 days and providing an environment with a steady innoculum the test material would fully biodegrade in approximately 3.7 years.

The Aquamantra ENSO bottle utilizes less than half of a percent of active biodegradable ingredients. In other words, the bottle BPI purchased in the market and used for testing was 99.5% PET and .05% biodegradable additive material. Comparing the biodegradation of the Polyethylene material (.37%) the results clearly indicate that biodegradation by microbial assimilation of the ENSO bottle is happening at a rate 8x more than the organic additive within the bottle. By moving the ENSO plastic into a new batch of innoculum biodegradation would continue to happen. There is no indication or scientific reason to imply otherwise.

There were a few notes to keep in mind about this test. The key to performing an effective ASTM D 5511 is in the proper preparation of the innoculum. Many labs are challenged when it comes to preparing a functional innoculum for this test. This is evident when the biodegradation rate of the cellulose material does not reach 70%. In the case of this particular test the cellulose material reached a maximum of 44.31%. Cellulose is a basic material that is normally biodegraded very rapidly and is used as a baseline to validate biodegradation. As stated by NSF, because there was clear biodegradation of the cellulose the the test results are acceptable even though the ASTM D 5511 required minimum of 70% was not obtained.

As a final point; with beginning with a healthy innoculum, biodegradation would have been improved for both the cellulose and ENSO biodegradable bottle; thus resulting in an improved biodegradation timeframe. We recognize that the slower performing innoculum may in someways perform closer to a true landfill environment.

To view the NSF ASTM D 5511 test results please click here.

Debunking the Myths of the Paper vs. Plastic Debate, Part II

Photo by eco-wisdom

Last week, we weighed in on the Paper vs. Plastic Debate, and examined the pros and cons of each where waste, energy, and resources are concerned. This week, we’ll take a look at how the contenders fare when it comes to pollution and recycling.

Pondering Pollution

Myth #3: Plastic is man-made and chemical-based, so it’s better to choose paper.

When it comes to pollution, plastic has become the chosen whipping boy, but in fact, craft paper production requires huge amounts of chemicals, that end up in our rivers each year, and are released into the air contributing to air pollution. Plastic production generates about 60% fewer greenhouse gases than turning wood pulp into paper bags.

Let’s consider PLA. It’s been touted as a panacea for the plastic problem, because it’s compostable, and comes from a renewable resource. But upon closer examination, unless the corn crop is grown organically, it still requires fossil fuel-based fertilizers and chemicals that cause other environmental problems and does not reduce our dependency on oil. In fact, one study found that the production of corn- and other bio-based plastics actually use more fossil fuels than a standard PET plastic. PLA isn’t as eco-friendly as it seems.

When it comes to waste and pollution, the frontrunner so far is the bag made from biodegradable plastic.

Reconsidering Recycling

Myth #4: It’s easier to recycle paper, so it’s the more sustainable choice.

Photo by greennature.com

In reality, it is more efficient to recycle plastic, requiring about 91% less energy pound for pound than paper, but the sad truth is that the recycling track record for either bag isn’t good. Only about 10-15% of paper bags, and just 1-3% of plastic bags are recycled; although paper bags have a higher recycle rate than plastic, every new paper bag is made from virgin pulp instead of recycled fibers for better strength, while many plastic bags are made from once-recycled plastic polymers.

PLA and other bio-plastics get another strike when it comes to recyclability. They cannot be recycled with regular plastics, but so often are, creating an expensive problem of having to sort them from the rest of the plastics.

Plastics that are biodegradable in the landfill and under natural conditions, like ENSO’s products, are recyclable with conventional plastics, and do not contaminate the recycling stream.

The Bottom Line

Choosing paper or plastic is still a tough decision because biodegradable plastics are not yet mainstream. The biodegradable disposable bag is the best solution because it can be recycled if that’s an option, or thrown into the landfill where it will biodegrade in a relatively short amount of time. In addition, the industry is moving toward renewable sources, like algae, for plastic production, improving biodegradable plastics even further. For now, bring your reusable bags, or choose a plastic bag and reuse it or recycle it, and keep up with latest developments on the biodegradable plastics front.