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Plastic to oil machine in action | Drift Surfing
A plastic to oil demonstration took place on February 11th at the Orella Stewardship Institute. The take home is this technology is real and it works! We saw first-hand how you can take normal everyday plastic, from #2 to #7 including thin films wrappers. Put it in this cute little gizmo and voila! Out comes oil!
Plastic doesn’t seem so fantastic these days—more an ecological nightmare that is overflowing our garbage dumps, accumulating in vast, drifting islands, killing wildlife and disrupting the food chain. But Akinori Ito, the CEO of Blest Corporation, wants us to see waste plastic as a resource, especially here in oil-poor Japan. That’s because he has invented a machine that can transform a single kilo of plastic into about one liter of oil and refined into gasoline, diesel or kerosene usable in generators, stoves, cars, boats and motorbikes.
Akinori Ito | TEDxTokyo
Pacific trash vortex showing drift of ocean pollution.
Blog entry by Pat C | March 22, 2012 Water is precious. All living things need it to survive. But we are failing miserably to take care of it. Many struggle to get it while others believe their taps will never run dry. Greenpeace campaigns in many places and...
Marine litter is a global concern, affecting all the oceans of the world. Every year, millions and millions of tons of litter end up in the ocean world wide, turning it into the world's biggest landfill and thus posing environmental, economic, health and aesthetic problems. Sadly, the persistence of marine litter is the result from poor practices of solid waste management, lack of infrastructure and a lack of awareness of the public at large about the consequences of their actions. The European Framework Environment is a key component of the Integrated Maritime Policy ( IMP ) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive ( MSFD ), adopted in 2008.
European Commission - Environment - Water - Marine
As part of their overarching contribution to providing sustainable solutions, representatives of plastics organizations from around the globe have released a “ Declaration for Solutions on Marine Litter .” The declaration was announced at the 5th International Marine Debris Conference in Honolulu. As of January 2012, 54 world plastic organizations in 33 countries signed the pledge, which describes steps that the industries will take, and suggests approaches and platforms for global cooperation and future partnerships. Work with the scientific community and researchers to better understand and evaluate the scope, origins, and impact of and solutions to marine litter. Promote comprehensive science-based policies and enforcement of existing laws to prevent marine litter.
Global Plastics and Plastic Product Producers Take Action on Marine Litter
ScienceDaily (Feb. 9, 2011) — In search of a sustainable alternative to dumping at sea or disposal on land, a Scandinavian consortium blended contaminated sediment with a special mix of binders to produce a safe construction material for use in ports and harbours. Stricter regulations have reduced the use of hazardous chemicals and heavy metals in industrial activities, but their legacy lives on in the environment, notably in polluted soils and sediments. One sector where they present a particular headache is in the shipping and port industry, where dredging routinely turns up sediment contaminated with the likes of carcinogenic PCBs, TBT, cadmium, lead and mercury. Port owners are caught between constraints on dumping sediment at sea, the cheap but polluting option, and removing it to be treated for landfill, an expensive alternative.
The recycled port? An alternative to dumping at sea
Plastic in the ocean may be one of the most alarming of today's environmental stories. Plastic, like diamonds, are forever! Because plastics do NOT biodegrade, no naturally occurring organisms can break these polymers down. Instead, plastic goes through a process called photodegredation, where sunlight breaks down plastic into smaller and smaller pieces until there is only plastic dust. But always plastic remains a polymer. When plastic debris meets the sea it can remain for centuries causing untold havoc in ecosystems.