Microplastics – See Animals Wild

July 30, 2022

Some time, I wrote about the the collective, they might finally be ready to launch

As much as half the particulate emissions from a car, come from they tyres. While electric cars are far cleaner, this particulate emissions is particularly dangerous, to health so this move to do something about it is very good.

The idea is that a device is placed behind each wheel, and is statically charged, allowing it to collect most of the waste. The waste can then be recycled into tyres of into other things. Tyre wear accounts for about 28% of oceanic micro plastics, so it is an area we need to deal with – particularly because with their heavy battery electric vehicles wear down tyres much faster.

Most drivers on petrol engine cars, wouldn’t dream of driving without a catalytic converter – hopefully in the future the same will be said for tyre dust collectors. They should be on the market in the next few years.

May 28, 2022June 28, 2022

The filter in cigarettes is packed with plastic fibres, big tobacco are flooding the world with microplastics

It is hard to believe it, but the most common source of plastic pollution we throw into the environment is cigarette ends. Worldwide 800,000 metric tonnes of cigarettes are burnt each year.

The butts contain 7000 toxic chemicals and take a decade to degrade. Also 70% of seabird stomachs examined and 30% of sea turtle stomachs contained at least one cigarette butt.

Given the quantity of single use plastics in a cigarette, they should be banned like every other type of single use plastic.

Tobacco companies have pledged to stop selling cigarettes yet worldwide 6 trillion are produced every year. It is quite simple – an industry which creates 800,000 tonnes of cigarette butts a year cannot be classed as sustainable.

If governments required tobacco companies to clean up all cigarette butts at the end of life – this would hammer home how difficult it is.

Biodegradable filters already exist, but until these either become legally required or the companies are forced to pay to clean up all their mess they have little reason to do the right thing.

May 28, 2022June 28, 2022

Swedish firm deploy crows to pick up cigarette butts

Sodertailje, a city in Sweden is turning to an unlikely litter picker in an attempt to tidy up after smokers who cant be bothered to dispose of their cigarette ends properly.

What does it say, that we can teach crows to pick up cigarettes butts but cannot teach people to stop dropping them

Wild birds do the clean up, there is a bespoke machine which dispenses a little food for every butt end that it is given. in other words they are voluntarily assisting in the cleanup for payment.