Monthly Archives: October 2021

Peachy Sea Co and It’s Impact (or Lack Thereof) on our Earth

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Although we must still focus on the amount of plastic we consume and use to help reduce pollution, when companies do not promote and practice sustainability, consuming sustainability can be hard.  Things necessary to my life are not always sustainable.  Sometimes, I do not have the option to choose between an eco-friendly product and a non-eco-friendly product.  Products such as medicine are not available in eco-friendly packaging, but are necessary to my life.  Areas that I can make a difference by preserving our Earth is choosing sustainable businesses whenever I can.  Peachy Sea Co is a brand I support that chooses sustainability, and promotes their message.

This company was started by one of my good friends and coworker, Hannah Susane.  The company’s tagline is something that stands out to me.  On the website it says, “Made with all (un)natural ingredients”.  When I first read this, it took me a minute to figure out what it meant.  Soon realizing that all the bikinis are made from collected water bottles found on polluted places such as beaches and parks, it clicked.  All though the bikinis are made to reduce the problem of plastic pollution, sadly, so much pollution has already been done that there needs to be ways to reuse what has already been produced and trashed to extend the plastics life cycle.  Instead of generating more plastic for the bikinis to be made, Hannah uses what has already been generated and polluted to make something that can last a lot longer, and have more purpose than just staying a bottle in a landfill. 

 

Beyond the sustainable measures being taken by cleaning up nature and reusing the plastic found, Hannah also makes every bikini to order.  As a small business, she is able to do this so there is no more energy wasted than necessary.  It also ensures that if the bikini style suddenly goes out of style, or the season changes, there are no bikinis that were made to go to waste in another landfill, right back where the products to make it came from.  Hannah also uses her business to promote other ways to be sustainable through social media.      

Because Peachy Sea Co is a brand new company, the global impact is still very small.  This should not be something to deter small businesses from being sustainable.  At the rate plastic is being consumed and discarded, every reduction helps.  One plastic bottle has much more impact than we can imagine.  Reducing that one plastic bottle makes an equal impact for the better.

I believe for people to change their purchasing habits from buying the cheapest, most convenient, and harmful product, the alternative should be made high quality and competitive with other brands.  Peachy Sea Co has trendy bikinis, at an extremely affordable price, made very high quality.  It is extremely competitive with unsustainable brands such as Shein and Urban Outfitters.  If you really care about our Earth, every little effort to put an end to the production and consumption of unsustainable materials can make waves (and keep the actual waves clean) on our one Earth.     

 

Life Cycle of a Plastic Water Bottle

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Plastic surrounds us everywhere. Almost all of the products we use everyday are made from a form of plastic. As a consumer, the biggest contributor to my plastic footprint is plastic water bottles. I own a hydro flask that I fill up everyday before class, however there are days where I’m running late and will grab a plastic water bottle from the fridge. Plastic water bottles are convenient when I’m crunched for time and need to grab something on the go. Typically plastic water bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate also known as PET. PET is produced from petroleum hydrocarbons. Polyethylene terephthalate is polymerized to create molecular chains. This allows it to produce PET bottles later on. The water bottles are made by melting plastic pellets, and injecting the melted plastic into multiple-cavity molds. They are then shipped to bottling facilities.

The life cycle of a water bottle starts when it is manufactured. After, they are distributed to stores where they are sold. On average a single plastic water bottle lasts me around a few hours. Once it’s empty I try to recycle it, but if that’s not an option I throw it in the trash. If the bottle is recycled it gets shredded down into flakes, and then melted down into pellets. The pellets are then sold to companies that can melt them and turn them into different products. If the bottle doesn’t end up getting recycled it could end up in a few places. The three most common things to happen to the bottles are, they end up in a landfill, the ocean, or they get incinerated. When the bottles end up in a landfill or the ocean, the PET can take up to ten years to break down. When the plastic is in the landfills over time the toxic chemicals leach into the ground, which ultimately could end up in the water we drink. When in the ocean, the plastic affects marine ecosystems and could harm the sea life. Animals mistake the plastic as food and eat it. This is not only harmful for them, but for us too. In addition, when the plastic is incinerated it releases harmful toxins back into the atmosphere.

We are in control of our consumption of plastic. To help prevent the plastic from ending up in landfills or the ocean, it’s important to recycle or refrain from purchasing plastic bottles. There are alternative reusable water bottles that can be used to replace plastic ones.

Citations:

https://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/What_Will_Happen_if_You_Do_Not_Recycle_Plastic

https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/materials-handling/plastic-bottle-manufacturing/

The Ocean Cleanup our future solution in the fight against the plastic pollution?

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More than 5 trillion pieces of plastic currently litter the oceans, and about 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans each year, making up 80% of all marine debris from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. And this amount entering the ocean is expected to nearly triple to 29 million tons annually by 2040, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Meanwhile, there are five giant plastic garbage patches in the ocean, to be exact: the North Atlantic, the South Atlantic, the North Pacific, the South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean garbage patch, which have a significant impact on the ocean. This is because not only are coasts polluted by plastic trash, but the trash also harms marine animals in particular, which can get caught in larger pieces and mistake smaller pieces for food and swallow them. Swallowing plastic particles can prevent them from digesting normal food and cause toxic chemical pollutants to build up in their organisms. Humans also ingest plastic through the food chain. The effects on health are as yet unknown.

"File:Boyan Slat (2018).jpg" by DWDD is licensed under CC BY 3.0

“File: Boyan Slat (2018).jpg” by DWDD is licensed under CC BY 3.0

 

Numerous projects and organizations are committed to combating plastic pollution in our oceans, one project that has been launched to much media attention is The Ocean Cleanup. The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization that develops advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic and was founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, a 19-year-old Dutchman at the time. The goal is to remove 90% of floating plastic from the oceans by 2040.

 

The plastic catcher consists of a long tube-like or hose-like u-shaped construction made of plastic, which is supposed to be up to 600 meters long, depending on the model, and float on the sea like a crescent moon. Below it, a five-meter-long plastic curtain hangs down into the water. The plastic waste is supposed to stick to this curtain. The system should also be able to trap plastic as small as 1mm. To ensure that this floating barrier does not float in front of the garbage, but catches it, it has an anchor that hangs freely in the water at a depth of 600 meters. This slows down the floating body so that the current drive the trash in. Every few weeks, a ship is then supposed to come by and collect the trash and transport it back to shore, where it is recycled or incinerated.

May 2018 saw the first deployment, of the system after several experiments with prototypes since 2016. The system 001, about 120m long, was tested for about two weeks 90km from the Golden Gate Bridge on the open sea. However, there were some problems and the captured plastic could not be held as planned. The system collected 8.2 tons of plastic during the 120-hour deployment this August, which is less than the normal load of a garbage truck equivalent

200127 037 Maritime Museum of San Diego - Pilot boat cruise of San Diego Bay, Maersk Transporter Ocean Cleanup Vessel, designed to remove floating plastic waste from the ocean

“200127 037 Maritime Museum of San Diego – Pilot boat cruise of San Diego Bay, Maersk Transporter Ocean Cleanup Vessel, designed to remove floating plastic waste from the ocean” by cultivar413 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The project has a very ambitious goal and also brings some good points because it proposes a solution to a huge problem. It makes use of the force of the wind, waves, and currents to capture plastic on the open sea, which is almost impossible to do in any other way. It also tries to impact wildlife as little as possible, as larger marine life such as fish or turtles can dive through under the filter. Furthermore, it tries to reverse or reduce the negative effects caused by plastic.

However, there are also many negative sides and problems with the project, because first of all the project is enormously complex and extremely expensive one estimates that, one, to remove approximately 20,000 tons hundreds of million-dollar would need. In addition, the constant transportation of the ships emits a lot of exhaust gases and requires a lot of fossil fuels, which in turn are harmful to our environment. Furthermore, the system can only remove plastic with a density lower than saltwater, plastic located in the deep sea cannot be removed. And finally, recent trials have shown that the systems still have many flaws and problems and are definitely not as effective as hoped.

All in all, The Ocean Cleanup is a good idea from my point of view, but cannot be implemented in reality as it should be. In addition, the project only fights the symptom and not the cause, which gives the feeling that we as a society do not have to change anything and this way of thinking is fatal. To start at the end, when the plastic is already floating in the sea is too late – we have to focus on our general plastic handling in general.

Toxic Plastic Life

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The act of creating art in public spaces is a key way to bring important issues to the attention of large audiences. A good piece of art can be moving, stimulating, even disturbing, but most of all, it should provoke thought. The installation by PPC Artist Ally Alvaro Soler Arpa, Vida Tóxica (Toxic Life), encompasses all of these traits. Millions of travelers will be confronted with the issue of global plastic pollution as they pass through Espai Merce Sala Metro station Diagonal in, Barcelona, Spain, and at Terminals 1 and 2 of the city’s airport, El Prat de Llobregat, 08820 in Barcelona, Spain.

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Throughout Soler Arpa’s universe, there are numerous animal bones, wires, and even our own waste, plastic, and rubbish that are used to create these fictional creatures. An ordinary bone becomes something extraordinary when he joins it with another bone, adds plastic to it and slowly it becomes a work of art. By doing so, he is making a political statement about plastic pollution and climate change. His concept of “contemporary dinosaurs” is inextricably linked to fossil fuels, the common element that links plastic pollution to climate change. In total, he created fourteen sculptures using bones and plastic waste to illustrate how runaway plastic pollution is affecting ecosystems and individual animals. Plastic pollution negatively impacts animals across the food chain, as approximately eight million tons of plastic are discarded each year. Throughout human history, our environment has been destroyed continually, and he represents the state of the world we have created. Ultimately, the materials that Arpa chose for the final work as a whole, directly reflect the overall agenda of the message he was trying to get across.

In order to effectively show how plastic pollution affects our environment and the animals in it, Arpa displays this model to show the audience the dense amounts of waste and plastic pollution within our environment. He also shows the results of society’s irresponsibility and human actions which have damaged our Earth.  The work he produces emphasizes the need for addressing global plastic pollution. Arpa’s purpose is to make people aware of the pollution on our planet, and he does a great job at showing that.

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Despite my belief that it can be easy to agree with an issue of any kind, trying to influence someone cannot be easy, and I feel that Arpa nails all those components trying to influence people who see his work. He uses plastic to make these animals as a way to show how plastic pollution has affected the planet. This work incorporates material that explores the impact plastic has on the environment and lives within it. Arpa’s agenda was very specific, noting that “What I’m aiming for, is to draw people’s attention to the pollution of our planet. We, humans, are so proud of our rationality and have done great things, but for about a century we have also been the dirtiest animal in all the history of creation. The cancer of the Earth is becoming irreversible….”  

In addition to capturing an objective or message, art can also create an impact on society as a whole by serving as a medium for presenting it. It is often art that pushes people that require an improvement in their realities because it shows a new perspective in all economic, cultural, and political aspects in our society. Additionally, I feel like the media can be biased because a lot of the media focuses on certain scenarios and doesn’t show the full scope of the problem of plastic pollution. In addition, I feel like it gives the people what they want to see and does not present the whole picture. Therefore, by showing it through art, we are able to explain what might otherwise be difficult to convey with the media. I also believe that even if people show the horrible impacts of plastic pollution in many different ways, nothing will change unless everyone takes the time to address this problem. It can also be challenging especially with businesses that use plastic materials. So even showing this art, hopefully, makes a difference and helps people even try to find alternatives for plastic. 

As someone who loves to paint and draw it is nice seeing how much an impact someone else’s work can really affect a person. It can show a whole new message to people and I find it fascinating. I really do think it is important to take what you see through art and try and also make a change for a bigger and brighter future. Let’s help make the change.

 

 

 

Plastic Art

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Angela Pozzi, founder, and artistic director of washed ashore, created this nonprofit to save the sea. She directs all the members and volunteers to help grow a following. Angela grew up around art, and ever since she was a child, her art has incorporated recycled and repurposed materials. In 2004 she experienced the loss of her husband. To cope with his death, Angela would go to the ocean to help her. As she took her trips to the beach, she saw all the waste left on the shore. She started to research more and more, which led her to today, making art to save the ocean. Her nonprofit has collected over 35 tons worth of plastic on the Oregon coast, which has turned into over 85 sculptures. These sculptures represent endangered animals and sea life.


As you can see in this picture, the sculpture represents a fish. It is supposed to relay today’s sad reality. Many sea life creatures are ingesting plastic every day or getting suffocated by plastic items. Under the fish, you can see how their fishnet and tangled rope. Fish frequently get caught or tangled in things that are left in the ocean. This is our fault, and we continue to let this happen.


The sculpture pictured above is a bird. As you can tell, it’s not only sea creatures that are affected by plastic. It’s estimated that 99% of sea birds will have ingested some plastic by 2050. That is sad. Many birds see plastic floating on the surface and think it’s food and consume it. These plastic items can quickly kill birds.

Pollution art is when plastics are made into an artistic display. Like I stated earlier, most artworks represent sea life affected by pollution. These sculptures are meant to educate our community on ocean pollution. Seeing these pieces in real life impacts people to make a change rather than just simply hearing about it online. Most of the time, these pieces are placed on the beach, so when people see them, it encourages them to think twice about littering.

Overall, I think pollution art is an excellent concept to help educate people. So many artists are switching to this type of art to not only help save our environment but to educate people on the dangers of pollution. You can help to by participating in beach clean ups and donating your plastic to these artists to use in their next sculpture!!

One Small Step for the World, One Big Step for France

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Fruits and vegetables survive for months outside in all conditions and remain perfectly intact because they typically have an outer layer.  If this is the case, what changes when these foods are plucked from their trees or vines and moved into a store? The answer is nothing except an additional and unnecessary piece of plastic.  In France, 37% of all fruits and vegetables are sold with plastic wrapping but they are now realizing this is a precautionary step everyone purchasing this produce can live without.  Starting with around 30 items in 2022, France is creating a ban on all plastic “waste” wrapping.

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You may be thinking what I first thought when I read this: how much a difference will it really make if only 37% of produce has this packaging in the first place and it is only being taken off 30 items for now.  According to Independent, this ban will help cut more than 1 billion pieces of plastic waste in the year 2022 alone.  This ban is also just the beginning of a plastic packaging ban on fruits and vegetables that will move in phases and conclude in the year 2026.  In January 2021, France imposed a plastic ban on straws, cups, cutlery, and styrofoam takeaway boxes that is still in place.

Cockburn, the author of the Independent article has done a good job with including facts straight from the Environment Ministry in France.  This helps to eliminate some bias and provide readers with accurate knowledge on what will be affected by the ban.  He also mentions two different sides on how people feel about this ban.  The Environment Ministry is ready for this to come into place because they believe in a circular economy and brining a rise to reusable and recyclable packaging.  Francois Roch, the president of the French Fruit Sellers federation, has a different outlook.  Although it is possible, he believes it will be a hard and long process to find sustainable swaps.  He also fears this ban will turn people away from buying unpackaged produce because they may worry about other people touching the produce before they buy it.

Although there are some setbacks, such as accessibility to plastic-free packaging, this hopefully provides some companies the motivation to step up to the plate and create something recyclable so that they can further build up and grow their company, as well as impact the Earth in a more positive way.

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Even though this is a four year plan, there always has to be a starting point before you can get to the finish line.  France is taking a leap of faith into the journey to becoming a plastic free country one step at a time.  With the numerous plastic alternatives out there, such as cardboard packaging or reusable bags, I think every country should try to take the initiative and follow in France’s footsteps. During my lifetime, I am excited to see how this plastic ban in France progresses, as well how many other plastic bans and packaging changes occur so that the Earth can continue thriving for generations to come.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/france-ban-plastic-fruit-vegetables-b1936791.html

Whale in the Plastic Ocean

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While there has been many different artist who have taken on the task of portraying plastic pollution in our world, artist Cod Steaks created a major art instillation that takes the cake in this specific artistic category

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Located in Bristol, United Kingdom this piece features two life-sized whales ‘swimming’ in an ocean of plastic soup, made from over 70,00 plastic bottles. This work is supposed to represent the “beauty and fragility of the ocean” and make a clear and bold representation of the reality of the world we have created through constant human environment degradation. The material choice of this work is the most important aspect overall, as the materials themselves are what truly represents the overall agenda of the artist themselves. Focused on the tumultuous amounts of plastic within our ocean, Steaks makes a specific point to shock and involve the audiences attention by displaying a realistic sized model to fully show the impact of the amount of waste and plastic pollution that fills our oceans on a day to day basis.

The grace of the rolling waves and the simplicity and size of the whale only show to contrast the damages and depletion that our Earth is going though due to the human condition and lack of concern our society as a whole as determined. The message is simple and is not an artistic piece that is difficult to understand by any means, but it values the importance of fixing the plastic pollution problem on a global scale

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The value of art has a major impact on society as whole, using simple materials and symbolism to capture a message and certain agenda and portray it to the audience. I believe that art is often used as a from of expression over major issues within cultures and societies that need a push to have betterment in their realities. Plastic pollution has become a major issue within our economic, societal, political and cultural standards and has continued to push barriers in debate on what to do to better the environment humans have been depleting for so many years.

While I believe its easy to ‘support’ or ‘understand’ an issue, true symbolism, shock, and influence can not just be easily achieved, and I feel like Steaks does an impeccable job nailing all those major structures. The structure itself is amazing and grand in size that would take an audience by surprise and sheer shock when they stood next to it, yet the true impressiveness is the artistic flow and implicitness of the waves that are made from plastic, the truest form of symbolism of plastic pollution. Every aspect of the piece is made from some sort of plastic or metal material that weaves together the influence plastic has on not only the ocean itself but the marine life it surrounds as well. Cod’s agenda was very specific, with his ideology noting that “our sea of recycled plastic bottles represents the detrimental effect of plastic pollution on the ocean, which is something that all of us can act on—today—by reducing our consumption of single use plastics.” https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/s/see-whales-swimming-ocean-70-000-plastic-water-212729228.html

Art is a perfect way to symbolize bigger issues with a simple message to capture an audience’s attention and influence them beyond what any research study or article understanding could do. I will always have a major appreciation for the artistic field for the true impressiveness of symbolism and activism weaved within.

The Art of Destroying the Planet

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The creative artist Tan Zi Xi, created a work of art depicting the mass devastation that could be our world in a beautiful project that shows the amount of nondegradable in our oceans. “Plastic Ocean” which is the name of the art piece is now currently on display at the Sassoon Dock art Project in Mumbai. People visiting the display are able to walk through hundreds of pounds of levitating plastic in order to get the full picture of what our world may look like in a few years. From plastic bags and bottles to containers and packaging it’s all there to see in this art installation.

India Singapore Weekender ignites passion for art with St+art: - Estrade | India Business News, Financial News, Indian Stock Market, SENSEX, NIFTY, IPOs

I do believe that she has a personal bias against plastic and plastic pollution. Tan Zi Xi is also an environmental artist, which means she focuses mainly on showing art that depicts world changes in the environment and creates art to provoke feelings about those issues. She has done many other works to show her disdain for the way people treat the environment as well as also posting many posts on social media sharing her views with her audience and staying true to her brand.
Tan Zi Xi had this to say about her recent display
“Experience the infinity of Plastic Ocean, and be immersed in this man-made tragedy.
The installation reflects an ocean that is highly cluttered with plastic that takes 1,000 years to degrade. Yes, every thoughtless flick of plastic into your dustbin may contribute to the swirling mass of plastic drifting across our oceans. If we humans have already produced more plastic within the past ten years than the whole of the last century, will this plastic ocean be a microcosm of the future state of our waters?”
11 Tan Zi Xi, “Plastic Ocean” - Stage 3 ideas | trash art, plastic art, installation art
The agenda of this is to show people the magnitude of the problem and how we need to act now and be able to visualize the issue at hand in order to change the way society has been handling the pollution problem. Being able to actually see the problem firsthand is a great way to get people to wake up to the current problem. Tan Zi Xi is very aware that people are visual learners and issues that are out of sight are out of mind. Out of sight out of mind, is the motto for most plastic pollution, and the idea that being able to ship off tons of plastic is an unhealthy mindset to have when the problem is not going away. I also think that tan Zi Xi is also a strong supporter due to the fact she is from Asia and a huge amount of the plastic is shipped off to their shores when they already have an issue with the pollution. Being from Asia, it would definitely affect how she views the world as well as how she sees how bad plastic pollution is when Asia is the number 1 contributor and holder of pollution with plastic. Overall this piece of art is a strong message to the problem of plastic and is a good way to bring awareness.

Saltwater Sensitive Brewery

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Today major polluters of plastics today are from major corporations such as Coca Cola, Shell, and Nestle. Each year over 300 million tons of plastic are produced and more than half of that is used by corporations to produce single use plastics that often get thrown into the environment rather than recycled. However some corporations have taken the initiative and began to find more sustainable and eco friendly alternatives. We have all heard of compostable products such as bags, bottles, etc. Although you have probably not heard of edible beer can rings.

Meet Saltwater Brewery; they are a Florida based Brewery that was founded in 2013 with the goal to give back to charities that are working to preserve our oceans, alongside providing a refreshing drink to Floridians. These rings are made out of the byproducts produced during the brewery process, and are hundred percent edible by marine creatures (such as Sea Turtles). In 2016 their company hit the headlines when they became the first brewery to implement Eco Six Pack Rings. In 5 days they were able to obtain 3.5 billion global impressions without investing any money into the media. These rings became available to purchase with their beers in all of their tasting rooms alongside many stores throughout Florida.

Analyzing Saltwater Brewery’s website they claim that their goal is to produce a tasteful beer while giving back to the community and protecting Florida’s natural wonders. They give some of their profits to many environmentally based organizations such as CCA Florida, Surfrider Foundation, The Ocean Foundation, and MOTE Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and Billfish Foundation. Alongside this they claim to produce their edible beer can rings with the byproducts produced from the production of their beer. Overall all of these claims seem to be honest and true, and there seems to be no deception or greenwashing whatsoever on the side of Saltwater Brewery.

Regarding the media coverage of the brewery they all seem to be having a rather positive outlook upon the brewery. These articles help provide some extra information on the product that was not provided on the company’s website. The edible rings are primarily made out of wheat and barley which forms an equally as strong ring compared to the plastic rings, however they do mention that these rings are rather expensive to produce, so the cost of their beers have gone up due to this fact with the company hoping that “customers will be willing to pay a bit extra for the environment.” The company is doing good, but it does seem like some of that good will be reduced due to the fact they won’t be selling as much due to their high cost.

Overall in the end Saltwater Brewery seems to be a genuinely honest company when it comes to their concerns of the environment. Ever since their founding they have been donating to charities to help preserve Florida’s oceans. All throughout their website they have themes of conservation, green, and ocean imagery. All in all the company is honest and genuine when it comes to the topics of conservation and plastics.

Consumer Product Analysis- Plastic Utensils

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Sakshi Kaikini

Throughout my days, I use a lot of plastic. I use plastic all day everyday and a lot of it is disposable so after I use it once, I throw it away. The main focus I’m going to talk about today is plastic utensils. Being at college, the dining hall food isn’t the best. My roommates and I go to the grocery store about two times a month and we use plastic utensils in our dorm room because it’s the most convenient thing to do for us. Plastic utensils are usually made out of two different types of plastic, polypropylene and polystyrene. All plastics are made out of monomers and they go through a process called polymerization.

Plastic utensils are then usually put into big packs of spoons, knives, and forks and put into plastic boxes and distributed to grocery stores and such. I use the plastic utensils only to eat once so I’ll use them for about 15 minutes and then throw them away. There’s no other energy or maintenance needed to use this product other than eating food with it. Plastic utensils are usually not recyclable because of what they’re made out of which really is terrible for the environment. Even if you recycle them, they usually can’t be turned into anything else so you might as well throw them into the garbage. I throw them in the garbage anyways because in our room we only have a trash can and no recycling bin. Plastic utensils usually end up in landfills or in waterways so they’re extremely toxic towards the environment. They also can’t be recycled because they’re too contaminated, too lightweight, and just too small in general. There are some simple ways to lower the toxicity of plastic utensils. Simply don’t use them. Although it sounds so simple, plastic utensils are so convenient it takes a lot to not use them. When you’re eating on the go or simply don’t want to do dishes. There has been a trend going on for a while now about either bringing your own water bottle everywhere (ie. Hydroflask) or carrying your own metal straws every tp better the environment. I’m hoping it will because a trend to start taking your own metal cutlery everywhere but it is a big hassle and I don’t see it happening anytime soon.

We are in control of it and it’s ultimately our decision if we want to usr plastic utensils or not. Some assumptions I made before looking more deeply into plastic utensils is that they are recyclable. They are in fact not recyclable and I will not be using them anymore. We do dishes sometimes and although they’re a hassle just knowing that they simply cannot be recycled is a big turnoff. Some uncertainties I still have is why haven’t we made plastic utensils that are easy to recycle? Plastic utensils are so prevalent in todays society and I’m surprised we haven’t found a better alternative.

Plastic Knives, Plastic Spoons, Plastic Forks in Stock - ULINE

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauratenenbaum/2019/07/16/plastic-cutlery-is-terrible-for-the-environment-and-we-dont-need-to-have-it-delivered/?sh=61e4bc654019

https://sites.google.com/a/pvlearners.net/sustainability/a-life-cycle-analysis-a-plastic-fork

https://stocktonrecycles.com/plastic-utensils-go-in-the-trash/

https://thisisplastics.com/plastics-101/how-are-plastics-made/