Global solutions to fight plastic pollution

In 2018, the World Environment Day organized in India was mainly focused on the fight against plastic pollution. In particular, the World Bank had invested heavily in improving urban waste management systems.

And since regulatory constraints are tightening, large companies are also getting involved. Nestlé, Coca-Cola or PepsiCo, considered to be some of the biggest plastic polluters on the planet, are now aiming to increase the proportion of recycled material in packaging by up to 35% by 2025. Everywhere across the world, we prefer to attack non-recyclable plastics rather than seek to banish indiscriminately all the variations of this material which is now ubiquitous.

Alabama nature protection

In 2015, the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) divided into a global timetable that each signatory State has committed to respecting. At the heart of the initiative, the guarantee of food and water security for all peoples of the world, the improvement of the balance of ecosystems and the reduction of inequalities perpetuated by plastic pollution by 2030.

Since then, Bangladesh has been the first country in the world to ban plastic bags and around 60 others have adopted measures to curb pollution.

Controlling plastic waste is a major challenge that involves in-depth rethinking of all transformation processes, from the design of products to their recycling, including the use made of them by the consumer. This would already involve improving mapping and research related to the negative effects of plastic in order to offer international aid programs where they are most needed. Especially in developing countries.

There is also talk of modernizing and developing sorting centers and recycling technologies, as well as offering a tax credit to make recyclable plastic a more economical solution. Like the carbon budget mentioned in the early 2010s, others waste management solutions finally mention the need for a plastic budget aimed at limiting the quantity emitted on world markets.

Proposals currently being studied by the various governments of the world and mentioned in part in the WWF report seeking to put an end to plastic pollution in nature by 2030. The reuse, the elimination of toxic additives and the manufacture of Sustainable alternatives made of cellulose fibers in particular also constitute broad pillars of reflection.

Local initiatives in Birmingham

As for the local level like in Birmingham, AL, initiatives are multiplying. In Colombia, a company has chosen to transform waste into plastic bricks from which houses are built for the poorest populations, while in Chile, fishing nets abandoned in ports are recovered, transformed into pellets of plastic then molded into skateboards whose shape is reminiscent of a fish. On the Kenyan side, the Ocean Sole company has been responsible for collecting the hundreds of plastic flip flops strewn on the beaches for a few years to transform them into works of art. 70% of them are now exported all over the world.

Alternatives to traditional plastic

Bioplastic obtained from algae or flax seeds, compostable or biodegradable plastic…Many startups have chosen to put their creativity at the service of plastic materials that are more respectful of the environment. Companies already hampered by certain limits, most of these alternatives cannot be processed in conventional recycling and waste management facilities.

Towards a global plan to limit plastic pollution

In Alabama, as part of the ecological and solidarity transition, the state government made a commitment in 2018 to move towards 100% recycled plastic. Straws, disposable cutlery, polystyrene boxes or inflatable ball rods are starting to gradually disappear from our supermarkets while bulk is progressing on the territory. Eventually, a bonus-malus should be imposed on manufacturers for any plastic over-packaging, while 2022 will see the disappearance of tea bags and plastic toys distributed with children’s menus in fast food chains, i.e. an overall reduction in production of waste by 57% by 2030.

The anti-waste law for a circular economy proposed by the government has set 2040 as the target to put an end to the marketing of single-use plastic packaging. According to Dumpster HQ Birmingham, among its key measures are:

• A state 3R strategy for the Reduction, Reuse and Recycling of plastic packaging. With objectives updated every five years, in collaboration with the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
• The ban on the free distribution of plastic bottles in establishments open to the public.
• The disappearance of plastic toys offered in children’s menus.
• The use of waste management incentives.
• Prohibition of plastic over-packaging of fresh fruits and vegetables weighing less than 1.5 kilograms.
• The development of bulk trade.
• Better consumer awareness.

Recycling services have seen an increase in demand recently as people have come to realise that human waste is a major environmental problem.

Many modern consumer products can be recycled because of how long they last, making this a viable solution to both waste generation and the increasing scarcity of many raw materials.

To mobilise large-scale waste recycling operations, environmental concerns have been critical. Toxic components in human waste could have a devastating impact on the local ecology. People living near a dumping site may be exposed to toxic waste components, which can pose a health risk.

According to the junk disposal experts at St. Louis Dumpster Rental Solutions, manufacturers who use recycled materials can also benefit from incentive programs aimed at encouraging recycling.

Waste recycling is not a profitable process for operators, so government support will be crucial for the market for waste recycling services. The global waste recycling services market is being fuelled by environmental regulations that prohibit the improper disposal of waste. This US recycling waste market has seen an increase in demand as a result of government incentives to encourage waste recycling.

Recycling Companies Benefit From Economic Incentives

Incentives are critical to the rapid expansion of recycling industries. Incentives should encourage customers to change to more environmental friendly products at a lower cost, and tax reductions should be used to encourage the production of environmental friendly products.

Some countries have taken a variety of approaches to economic incentives, depending on needs & circumstances.

Indonesia wants to provide fiscal incentives to the recycling industry, such as a VAT reduction from 10percentage to 5percentage for recycling businesses. Due to this indirect impact on profit, this plan faces a challenge. As a result, recycling businesses will need to increase their sales volume to make up for the added costs of VAT.

However, there is still a low demand for recycled products. The plan isn’t expected to have a major impact on normal business practices. Providing this type of incentive must be paired with other initiatives aimed at doing business, getting a loan, and growing a business easier.

Indonesia has provided additional economic incentives through a variety of programs. It’s the green sukuk, which is similar to a green bond launched in 2008 by the World Bank to increase funds for climate change projects. However, islamic financial concepts were used to create the green sukuk.

Sharia-compliant waste management investments are protected by this certificate, providing sustainability in agriculture and transportation, The market for waste recycling services will be driven by the use of recycled materials.

Through the national budget tagging mechanisms which emphasises performance & outcomes, the government can monitor expenditure in these sectors. Indonesia was the first country in the ASEAN region to issue green bonds, issuing green sukuk worth $1.25 billion in March 2018.
Recycling Has Many Advantages

Decreasing the volume of waste destined for incineration or landfills

The benefits are:

• Conserves wood, water, and minerals, among other things.
• By tapping into a domestic supply of raw materials.
• Reduces the need to gather new raw materials, thus preventing pollution.
• Energy is saved with dumpster rentals.
• Helps American manufacturing and saves valuable resources.

This helps the United States’ recycling & manufacturing industries by generating new employment opportunities
Steps To Reusing And Repurposing Material

There are three steps to recycling, which are depicted by familiar recycling steps below.

Collection And Processing

Curbside collection, drop-off centres, and deposit or refund programmes are just a few options for gathering recyclables.

A recovery facility sorts, cleans, and processes recyclables brought from dumpster rentals into raw materials that could be used in production after they are collected. When it comes to raw materials, recyclables are traded like any other commodity, with prices fluctuating depending on supply & demand.

Manufacturing

Increasingly, today’s products are made from recycled materials. The following common household items are made from recycled materials:

• Paper products, such as newspapers and paper towels, are widely available.
• Soft drink cans made of aluminium, plastic, and glass are all acceptable.
• tin cans
• Laundry detergent in plastic bottles

There are many new ways to use recycled materials including recycled glass asphalt to pave roads and plastic in carpeting for park benches and carpeting.

Buying New Things That Have Been Reused

Purchasing Products made with recycled materials can be found in countless markets. When you’re out shopping, keep an eye out for these items:

• That which is easy to recycle
• Recycling-based merchandise

The Clock is Ticking

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: waste won’t go away. No matter what we do or how fast we do it, waste will always be a part of life.

However, given the fact that waste won’t go away, businesses have to keep on top of their waste before a simple fact of business and life becomes a greater problem

The longer businesses take to realize the importance of waste, the more money they will lose.

The importance of waste

With waste, time is money, and the sooner companies become involved, the sooner they can realize a greater profit. Time spent without effective waste management leads to more waste.

More waste without efficient waste management forces companies to rely on expensive and inefficient disposal methods. We want to help our clients avoid the expense, hassle, and inefficiency that so many companies have felt themselves chained to.

We feel that the constantly looming presence of time works to the advantage of our customers. When it comes to saving money, businesses realize the importance of action. For our clients, this translates into an eagerness to get involved, making it even easier to find and keep clients.

By approaching waste management consulting with the idea that time is of the essence, we have been able to pass on to our clients a sense of how important it is to streamline waste management now.

They have proven that they can save (and make) thousands of dollars for each client. There’s no need to wait, because waste won’t go away. The time is now to make money by saving money.

Waste management efficiency

When it comes to waste management, efficiency is key. In fact, waste is the product of inefficiency. However, most businesses are not wasteful by choice. They are simply unaware of the possibilities that are available to help capitalize on excess materials and waste.

Once waste is created, money has to be spent in order to get rid of it. Not only is this a cost most businesses would like to avoid, but it’s energy spent at a complete loss for every party involved.

Reducing waste reduces the unnecessary consumption of energy. In doing so, both renewable and non renewable resources are preserved – saving money for businesses in the short and long term.

In the short term, businesses can save money when it comes to removing waste. Instead of paying someone too much to haul their waste away, we can help them find a more cost efficient waste management plan that will benefit both the company and the environment on a number of levels.

One such level is recycling. There are a very attractive option for clients due to experience when it comes to recycling. The experience with various forms of recycling has saved companies thousands of dollars that they had no idea they could save.

Additionally, at Minneapolis Dumpster Rental Corp we are capable of becoming a gateway for their clients to profit from their own waste. While it may sound bizarre, it is far from impossible.

The materials exchange program allows for companies to list their waste materials in order to find alternative disposal methods, reduce the cost of transportation and disposal, and locate companies which may be able to use their waste.

By helping companies become even more efficient, we reduce the amount of waste they create. While there will always be some level of waste, less waste allows companies to utilize every resource to its fullest – making us a precious commodity to every company (and the greater community as well).

According to a report from the University of Montreal, air pollution kills more people than viruses – including COVID-19 – and wars combined.

The professor at the Faculty of Medicine at UdeM and environmental cardiology expert François Reeves compared the two problems in his study.
According to Health Canada, 15,000 people die each year in Canada from the direct impact of pollution on the body. Quebec residents represent a quarter of this sample. Specifically, 70% of these deaths are believed to be due to a dysfunction of the cardiovascular system.

Pollution is also estimated to cost $ 114 billion annually in health care and disability benefits worldwide. A large effort in good waste management systems, recycling and improved industrial processes in really needed at this time.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that pollution is the leading cause of death worldwide with around seven million victims annually. As of Thursday, COVID-19 was responsible for 140,000 deaths, comparatively less.

The slowdown in human activity could thus save more lives than the coronavirus will have cut, it is believed at the UdeM. This is a very likely assumption although it will take time to test it according to Dr. Reeves.

Closely linked viruses and pollution

The doctor’s report also shows that the areas most affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus are those that are most exposed to pollution.

Dr. Reeves therefore understands that the lungs of citizens are weakened by poor air quality and that a high level of pollution promotes contamination.

On the other hand, with people leaving their homes less frequently during a pandemic, the effect on perceived smog rates around the world was almost immediate.

Suddenly, we have probably reached the most daring greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets set by international climate conferences according to experts. In India, people have rediscovered the Himalayan summit, which had disappeared in smog for years. Elsewhere, the stars are suddenly visible.

Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), produced mainly by vehicles and thermal power plants, fell 54% in Paris and about 45% in Madrid, Milan and Rome during containment, according to maps released by the European Space Agency.

From March 13 to April 13, 2020, NO2 concentrations decreased by 54% in the French capital, by 49% in Rome, by 48% in Madrid and by 47% in Milan, according to the ASE, compared to the averages recorded in March / April 2019. These data include a margin of error of plus or minus 15%.

The steep declines coincide with the strict quarantine measures in place across Europe. This reduction is remarkable, noted climate experts from the European Space Agency.

The agency initially focused on these cities thanks to satellite data cloudless and in general with less significant climate impacts than in other regions which may have an impact on NO2 measurements.

NO2, a gas causing significant inflammation of the respiratory tract, is a pollutant with a short lifespan, which makes it a good indicator of the intensity of human activities.These maps are based on the work of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, which plans to publish other data for northern European countries.

We are not sure that this will develop in the same way in the northern countries where containment has been managed differently than in France, Spain and Italy. “Clouds and weather can also have a big impact on measurements.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is responsible for 68,000 premature deaths per year in the European Union, including 7,500 in France, according to the latest European Environment Agency air quality report for 2019 .

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the designers of lithium batteries, used in smartphones, computers, electric cars. Rechargeable, they are touted as “clean”. But are they really?

The 2019 Nobel Prize winners were announced in October last year. The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to those who discovered the molecular reaction to variations in oxygen, then that of Physics went to a trio at the origin of the first discoveries of exoplanets. Then it was the Nobel Prize in chemistry’s turn: John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino were awarded this prestigious prize for having designed lithium (or lithium-ion / li-ion) batteries.

This invention revolutionized our lives according to the Nobel Prize winners. And indeed, we find lithium-ion batteries in our everyday technological tools: batteries, smartphones, tablets, computers and even in electric cars. In addition to being the lightest metal in the world, the advantage of the resulting batteries is that they are rechargeable. With their work, the Nobel prize winners laid the foundation for a wireless society and freed from fossil fuels according to the award jury.

But, in addition to too partial or even non-existent recycling, the production of lithium batteries is far from not posing any ecological threat.

Lithium extraction: a water disaster

In the digital age, demand for metal is exponential. If a smartphone contains only a few grams of lithium, an electric car – whose production is only growing – needs it by several kilograms. If 2 million electric vehicles were sold in 2018, that should increase to 10 million in 2025, then 28 million in 2030, according to estimates by Bloomberg.

The price of the product also increases, logically at the same time as demand. In short, a metal like lithium has become the new gold and it’s probably not about to change.

For the lithium mining countries, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, the economic stakes are enormous. This is not without ecological consequences due to the ever higher extraction of this metal. In its February 2019 issue, National Geographic magazine pointed to the “white gold rush” in Bolivia: the world’s largest salt desert is threatened. Since 17% of planetary lithium is found in its depths, mine construction is increasing, in defiance of all ecological regulations.

The fragile ecosystem of this precious desert is threatened. The region is arid and the population suffers from a lack of fresh water. However, the extraction of lithium requires drawing precisely, liters and liters of water.

The process actually involves digging a hole in order to pump brine into the groundwater. The aqueous substance remains in the air for several months in tanks, so that it can evaporate, which forms a mixture which is filtered before recovering the lithium.

The same problem of overexploitation of freshwater occurs in the salt desert of Chile, one of the largest places in the world for lithium production. Not only are populations drying up, especially the surrounding farms which are in difficulty, but the environment is also deteriorating because plants and trees are wasting away.

Politics on the alleged lithium pollution

The depletion of water resources therefore represents a real challenge, quite incontestable in the face of lithium. On the other hand, scientific studies are lacking concerning a possible direct pollution of the production of lithium. It is not possible to arrive at a generic rule establishing whether it is polluting or not, as the extraction methods can vary. However, this issue is swelling more and more through testimonies and alerts from NGOs.

For some years now, Tibetans have been complaining about a lithium mine installed by China in Sichuan province. Locals report leaks of chemicals, polluting water and killing animals. This is said to be the result of the use of hydrochloric acid to facilitate the lithium evaporation process. The transformation of lithium also requires toxic chemicals.

The exploration of lithium has important ecological and social consequences on the places of extraction, in particular because of the pollution and the exhaustion of water resources according to NGO Friends of the Earth. In its report, the organization is concerned that the transformation of lithium also requires toxic chemicals. Communities, ecosystems and the food produced can be dangerously exposed to releases.

If the invention of lithium-ion batteries has indeed revolutionized our lives, and it is not a question of questioning the legitimacy of this Nobel Prize, it is nevertheless necessary to be careful. How many bin rentals will be needed to remove all the hazardous materials generated from lithium mining and transformation?

They can certainly allow us to get out of fossil fuels, but we must have no angelism on an alleged green or clean aspect of these batteries. And by the way interesting alternatives are emerging, such as fluoride batteries.