Ecover to turn sea plastic into bottles in pioneering recycling scheme

[dipsydoodle]

Ecover, the green cleaning brand, said on Thursday it will use plastic waste retrieved from the sea to create an entirely new type of sustainable and recyclable plastic bottle.

The Belgian company is working with plastic manufacturer Logoplaste to combine plastic trawled from the sea with a plastic made from sugar cane ('Plant-astic') and recycled plastic, in what it is calling a world-first for packaging. Products made from the packaging will go on sale next year.

But the company was unable to give details of how much plastic would be retrieved or what percentage of "sea plastic" would be used in the packaging.

Ecover chief executive, Philip Malmberg, said: "We won't have a definitive figure on the amount we will retrieve we are just hoping to get as much as is possible and give fishermen an incentive to join the initiative and help clean the seas. We want to get the sea waste in as much of our packaging as possible – it will always depend on the amount and quality of the plastic they have managed to fish."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/07/ecover-sea-plastic-bottles-recycling

[postulater]

1. I have been waiting for someone to start this. Hope it works.

Plastic is killing too many creatures in and on and above the oceans.

[abelenkpe]

2. Cool

The plastic pollution in the ocean is out of control.

[namaste2]

3. Knowing what we know about the size and location of these plastic islands -

is it just the money to clean up that is keeping the plastic choking the sea life and polluting our oceans? I would love to be on a big ship picking up plastic crap out of the Pacific. I would spend vacation days to volunteer. Put me in coach!

[OnlinePoker]

5. It's not like these are actual islands

The gyre is an ocean spanning vortex, with a lot of garbage in it, but not like you can jump on and walk across. Much of the plastic is floating just under the surface and not visible because it blends into the colour of the ocean. On top of that, how much CO2 are you willing to generate taking a ship around the Pacific picking up trash? Most people who have never been there can't fathom the size of the area we're talking about. It takes weeks to cross at 10 to 15 knots and that's in good seas. When you hit 4 or 5 meter waves with reduced visibility from rain or fog, the last thing you'll want to do is look for plastic.

[namaste2]

6. You are right of course

although I have seen video of huge surface swirls, it is impractial. How do you suppose this company plans on collecting their "sea plastic" to use in manufacturing?

[OnlinePoker]

7. It says in the article something about fishermen

I think they're hoping the fisher's, when pulling in their nets, will also pull in trash and bring it in to sell it. I don't know how much the company is paying, but it has to be substantial enough for the fishers to bother doing it (plus where do they store the junk on a boat that was made for catching fish?). Having been on a Canadian frigate that had a screw disabled by a drift net that wrapped around the shaft, I think the nets are more of a danger to nature than the potential garbage they would collect.

[athena]

9. You don't have to travel far. Here is what you can do to help.

Do you have any rivers, canals or parks near where you live? If so, look for trash pickup opportunities. Many environmental groups organize regular cleanups. I participated in one recently, through the presidential day of service. Not only was it satisfying, but I got to meet some really nice people.

The plastic trash that ends up in the ocean gets there through the rivers. A plastic bag flies out of a trash can and ends up in a park, then in a river, and eventually chokes a turtle in the ocean. Any plastic trash you pick up from the streets or parks is plastic trash that would almost certainly have ended up in the ocean.

It's fine for Ecover to use recycled plastic from the ocean, but it's more of a marketing tactic than a real solution to the problem of plastic pollution in the oceans. There is already a company that does this with dish soap bottles (Method), and the amount of actual recycled ocean plastic in their bottles is tiny. The real solution is to reduce the plastic that goes into the oceans in the first place. After all, the plastic trash is distributed so sparsely in the ocean, and so far away from any land, that you can only hope to pick up a tiny amount that washes up on beaches.

If you care about this issue, I highly recommend the book "Plastic Free" by Beth Terry. It provides lots of ideas on things you can do to help.

[marble falls]

4. Its time to mine the waste. Land fills, the Pacific Gyre have to have a financial benefit in ...

being harvested. At least it seems that at least one company has some kind of incentive to do something that might at least have an effect on the crap piling up all around us.

[mopinko]

8. +1