Plastic

[daletournier]

I know this isn't a new topic. Saw the below today.

If there's something I notice regularly it's the plastic.

The first time it reality hit me hard was in the Caribbean ten years ago. We were anchored off an island near Culebra (can't remember the name) typical tropical island, we walked to the windward side and I was stunned by the rubbish, couldn't see the sand.

I've cruised Asia for several years, plastic is a serious issue. I've dived in the water more than once to free the prop of plastic and ropes.

This year I was at Cocos Keeling, stunning is the only word to describe it, Australian territory in the middle of the Indian ocean with very strict regs regarding rubbish etc. Yet the windward side of Direction island has large amounts of plastic that have drifted from Indonesia.

You don't get much more remote than Chagos archapeligo yet even there plastic is washing up.

Here in the Seychelles they are very plastic conscious, and it's really refreshing to see so little. Yet I've watched Europeans chartering cats throw their cigarettes in the water, and I don't get it, just dumb!

I'll give my own country a plug, Australia (Australians) seem to be doing a great job.

In third world countries I think lack education and infrastructure is most likely the main issue. But we also contribute to the problem. I was anchored in Komodo Indonesia diving paradise , plastic everything floating past us, the two ladies I had onboard commented that the locals here need to get their act together, I pointed out that it's our rubbish we buy the bottles etc!!

At the rate we are going, what will the beaches and oceans be like in 20years?

Shocking photos emerge of 'sea of plastic'

[JPA Cate]

it's easy to stick a bag in your pocket and pick up all the trash it has. Then, you burn it at low tide. It's not perfect, all that carbon still going up, but it is something anyone can do.

Sometimes stuff blows overboard, and you're unaware that it happened. See a lot of this with power boats, more so than sailboats. No idea why.

Ann

[Don C L]

Interesting you bring this up now. My son chose this movie off of Netflix the other night and we all watched, horrified. And I thought I knew something about plastic in the ocean. Not even close.
Very good film if you can get it. "A Plastic Ocean"
Can we ever imagine a world now without plastic in everything?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_2NuK5O-E

And here I am starting a social group called "Plastic Classics." Perhaps I will change the name.

[daletournier]

I've seriously seen a couple of beaches like the above.

[Nicholson58]

We have sailed the last year from Lake Michigan to Trinidad by the Saint Lawrence seaway. We never saw anything like that. CITES worldwide prohibits discharge of all plastics. I can imagine the difficulty,however, for the Caribbean islands to manage a trash stream. Where could you possibly put it. What we found odd is that the typical stores package the same as in the US with lots of individual plastic packages and T-shirt plastic bags. The packaging of water (and food) in single use disposable bottles is a real problem for the islands. We carry our own durable bags and avoid difficult packaging. As much as possible, packaging does not come aboard.

[GordMay]

☞ Corals eat plastic the way humans eat junk food — because it's tasty - Technology & Science - CBC News

[Kenomac]

Nearly all of the plastic comes from inland along the shore. Plastic blows into gutters, streams and waterways via storm drains in coastal cities, then washes into the oceans. So that plastic bag you see blowing down the road or along the wharf in a costal town is what ends up floating in the ocean.

Boaters are not responsible for the bulk of what you see, so I don't understand why so many are so eager to place the blame where it doesn't belong. If anything, most boaters are aware of the issue and take care not to contribute. Land dwellers along with the wind are the problem, and solving this plastic issue will be like discussing it with the wind.

A gust of wind blows along the coast.... the plastic garbage blows into the sea. Good luck solving that one.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Nearly all of the plastic comes from inland along the shore. Plastic blows into gutters, streams and waterways via storm drains in coastal cities, then washes into the oceans. So that plastic bag you see blowing down the road or along the wharf in a costal town is what ends up floating in the ocean...
... A gust of wind blows along the coast.... the plastic garbage blows into the sea. Good luck solving that one.

Stop Emissions at the Source

With better communication of new science, increased attention to improved waste management, and smarter plastic product design, the problem of plastic debris drifting in the furthest reaches of the planet can be controlled.

Microbeads are a great example. During a 2012 expedition, plastic microbeads were found in the Great Lakes. That research started a movement, which culminated in President Obama signing the Microbead Free Waters Act in 2015. The law will go into effect in 2018.
☞ https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-...bill/1321/text

In 2017, the United Nations announced its #CleanSeas initiative to eliminate single-use plastic bags and microplastics in cosmetics by 2022. With better communication of new science, increased attention to improved waste management, and smarter plastic product design, the problem of plastic debris drifting in the furthest reaches of the planet can be controlled.
☞ Home | Cleanseas

[daletournier]

Agree Ken, my example was rubbish floating from thousands of miles away.

[Kenomac]

Most of the trash you see on the beaches, was the same trash seen along the highways a few weeks earlier. Clean up the roadways, and the ocean plastic problem will be solved. But good luck convincing land dwellers who litter highways that it was their discarded bag that floated ashore on some not-so- pristine beach, they’re too removed to connect the dots. The other problem is waste management trucks (garbage/rubbish hauler) which litter the highways with their loads as they make their way to the transfer or dump site.

[Cherod]

interesting, just the other day I found YT ch with couple of young people sailing strange catamaran and doing some studies / research into plastics in the ocean, specifically the Thailand Malaysia coast, very enlightening channel, however I was disappointed to see that they only attract a couple of hundred views per episode , disappointing compared with the multiple thoudsands attracted by wealthy retired / semi retired americans who are now cruising on the proceeds / gains of the industry from the nation which is not only now the leading world polluter but is withdrawing from any further talks on pollution limiting ( Kyoto ) the outlook does not look good, estimated that by the year 2050 the weight of plastic floating in the oceans will outweigh that of fish !!

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Cherod

the outlook does not look good, estimated that by the year 2050 the weight of plastic floating in the oceans will outweigh that of fish !!

More alarmist nonsense.

Even the left-wing, greenie BBC didn't swallow that one.

Will there be more fish or plastic in the sea in 2050? - BBC News


And latest research indicates that there are possibly 10 times as many fish as that alarmist estimate:

Estimate that prediction was based on (2008):
899 million tons

Latest estimates (2014)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4271
"estimates of mesopelagic fishes biomass would range from 6,000–200,000 million tons, with median values between 11,000 and 15,000 million tons (Table 1). These estimates of mesopelagic fishes biomass limited to 40° N and 40° S are one order of magnitude higher than the previous global estimate of 1,000 million tons3,4.?

[Don C L]

I hope everyone will take the time to see the film linked above. The full film is worth watching. It is not about how much there will be so much as how much there is right now and where it is coming from. Southeast Asia is a major contributor, as are all low lying countries where trash typically is washed down the streets and ravines where it was dumped. Even in eco-minded Costa Rica I saw streams flowing with trash that had been thrown in there. But plastic is so prevalent now, it is from all of us.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Don C L

I hope everyone will take the time to see the film linked above. The full film is worth watching. It is not about how much there will be so much as how much there is right now and where it is coming from. Southeast Asia is a major contributor, as are all low lying countries where trash typically is washed down the streets and ravines where it was dumped. Even in eco-minded Costa Rica I saw streams flowing with trash that had been thrown in there. But plastic is so prevalent now, it is from all of us.

I don't think most of us in the west understand that alot of Asia just doesn't have the infrastructure in place to deal with the rubbish.

I had a girl onboard that just assumed rubbish is always dealt with properly. We pulled into a place on the east mindanao coast, Philippines. We had some rubbish she wanted to take to shore, I explained there will be no bins where we were. Anyway she wouldn't listen. We went a shore and she asked a local, he offered to dispose of it for her for a very small fee which she happily paided, we started walking down the road. I knew what was going to happen, I turned around to see him through the bag in the jungle, she was horrified.

Even in places like Bali, the rubbish dump is just up from Serangan harbour, when it pours rain lots of rubbish flows from the tip into the water and out to sea.

We try to have as little plastic onboard as possible, if we can't dispose of it properly we let it stack up until we are in a place that enables proper disposal or we have a fire and burn it.

[Tetepare]

If you're American you'll remember the 1970s commercials with the crying indian who was saddened by the litter. Overall, the push to stop littering and increase awareness worked. And you have to admit, Manila and Bangkok and Asian cities are a lot cleaner as well- not near perfect, but far better.

Third world countries though still have the "throw it on the ground" mindset. Tarawa is probably the most disgusting place, covered in trash. But Tonga, Fiji, Solomons- it's not at all uncommon to see trash just thrown to the ground.

A few years ago my colleague in Taipei took me for a hike in the Yangming mountains. There was trash everywhere. He remarked how terrible it was that people threw trash on the ground in such a beautiful place. Then he finished his soda and threw the can to the ground.