One small guy was addicted to kurkure and Lays chips for long time that we need to put him into therapy for skipping it.
He is in 7th standard and already had considerable liver functionality harmed because of these fastfoods.He had to undergo a liver operation also.
Doctors easily diagnosed this by observing his diet strictly for 1 week.

The plastic in it is not starightforward. It is some kind of solidified stuff.
Also they add a addictive to this,so that you tend to take more of it.

Doctors dont say much about avoiding this because these junk things are coming out of the Pepsico Gaints factory...

Hi Friends, PLZ DONT EAT "KURKURE" because it contains highamount of"PLASTIC" if you dont believe then burn the "KURKURE" and see the "PLASTIC MELTING"

wat!!!

hey pls tell me abt ur meeting wid asha maam and y didnt the whole greengang met???

we introduced compressed recyclable bags!!!!!!!

ON A RECENT SCHOOL EVENT , THE HEADMISTRESS INTRODUCED US TO compressed recyclable bags WHICH WERE TO BE MADE FROM THE PLASTIC JUNK COLLECTED FROM OUR SCHOOL.
WELL NOW ,WE COULD FURTHER ESCALATE THE PROCESS BY COLLECTING PLASTIC JUNK FROM OUR QUARTERS AND GIVING THEM OUR SPECIAL BAGS FOR A PRICE.

ps: i am sorry for not staying contact . but now you can count me in.
yours GREENFULLY
neil dave

Respected sir
yes as we had said we couldn't have a presentation yet but we just gave the senior section an idea about what we are doing.
we told them about the advantages as well as the disadvantages of the bags. i feel that it has given them an idea about our project and i am sure it would be succesful. with Kanika's help we even showed them the recycled plastic bags and they were all mesmerised to see them.
i feel our project is going at a good pace.
we'll let u know about the next step soon.
devyani bahl

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown looks at one of our bags

Every so often a pleasant surprise arrives in your mailbox.

This morning it was a friend and customer in England Simon Hawthorne sending us a picture of him showing one of our bags to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

“He’s very supportive of the reusable bag campaign” wrote Simon “and with all that’s happening – Zimbabwe, petrol and food prices, the credit crunch, he was very kind to give us the time”.

Though just substituting reusable cloth bags for plastic bags happens slowly, it is, I am glad to note, happening steadily too.

Five years ago, when we were starting this business, I had an uphill task even discussing this subject with people. Folks would look at me as if I were some radical greenie who was pushing an irrelevant agenda (Plastic bags for heavens sake, the world’s got so many problems, that kind of thing) but now I’m happy to note that everyone around the world is acknowledging that this is one of the world’s bigger problems and one that is easy to solve.
Its happening all over the world; awareness is growing and people are beginning to do something about it. The issue has now become a mainstream political one, corporate entities are now adopting green marketing as a necessary part of their existence and school kids all over the world are leading their communities pushing for change.

Its taken a while to happen and I am sure we can, working together, make it happen here also!

hey!!!!!!

y dont u guys write anything on d blog now

soorrrrry

sorry kanika i was in a bad mood on thursday

reply to rajiv sir

reply to rajiv sir

sir the price money is just fine and enough to motivate the students but sir we are organising a play on wednesday for the primary section and on thursday for the secondary section..........then we can put this competition...the price of the plastic bag can be 59 rs i suppose.why not we have a poll on the price on our blog.........


rashi

Thanks for the great ideas. Some more thoughts:

Hi Green Gang!

I congratulate you on your thoughts. Great ideas.

From your suggestions and some thought I gave it, here is my list:

1. Let’s start small. With 2 small objectives.
2. Each member of the Green Gang must first practice convincing at least one person, and their own families. Each one of you must aspire to create one plastic bag free home – yours! Is this agreed?
3. Next, pick a friend and try convincing him to make his / her home plastic bag free. Is this agreed?
4. With those 2 learnings, we are all equipped a little better to convince our immediate circle of influence – your classmates. Here, even if we can convince just 25%, we will have achieved something.
5. Then, we could aim for the whole school. For this, we will need 2 tools. One, a presentation for everyone to be shown. This could be followed with an essay writing competition – the subject of it is “Why I shouldn’t use plastic bags, and how would I convince others to also avoid using plastic bags?”
6. We, Norquest Brands Private Limited will be happy to offer a prize of Rs.500 to the best essay from each class. From these winning essays we can select the best, second best and third best essays of the whole school. We will reward Rs.1500 to the best essay, Rs.1000 to the second best, and Rs. 750 to the third best essay from the whole school. I will not judge the essays. Each class must elect a group of 5 people who will read the class essays and select the winner. Similarly the school must select a group of 5 who will judge which is the best, second best and third best essays. This group of final selectors could be headed by/guided by Ms.Madhumita Pujari.

Tell me, are these prize amounts enough to motivate students to write?

Then we can start an all Ahmedabad, inter-school essay competition. And maybe by then we will have made some presentations together and maybe some other material which we can use when we spread the message outside DPS.

Okay, one question: Is there a place at DPS where we can make the folding pouch bags available for all students? And, I need your advise: What shall we price it at? Rs.50 or Rs.99?

I await your responses/comments.

Rajiv Badlani

I tried making a small video. Any of you know how to do this?

reply to the questions

sir , this was something i was waiting for ..............sir our first objective should be as decided to make our school a zero plastic school. for the same we first need to make the students aware abou this zero plastic mission ....before telling them about the negative side of plastic,we should first tell them about the positive side of plastic but how this can affect us....we have aldready discussed this with madhumita maam...when the school will statr we are going to present a speech on plastic ....sir it will be great if even you come.

notice

pls check your comment box rashi

SOME IDEAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1- convince all class 9 students by the means of assembly
2-the task of reusable bags
3-strictly implementing rules about no plastics in school
4-approaching people who can help us to spread this message to rest of the people
5-turning our school in 0 plastic school
6-spreading this to other schools

How many articles have you all collected for the collage we are supposed to make when the school re-opens???

Some Suggestions!

Let me start off by saying,"I'm desperately waiting for school to start!!!".I know this may be a common emotion for nearly all of you and now that the Green Gang has picked up speed, going back to school is even more exciting! Coming back to the point I have thought of a few things we can do once school starts.....
1. Apart from doing the play we can make a short presentation or film that really hits the students to how plastic is choking the earth.
2. We can divide work amongst ourselves and we can do things that we find the easiest for example: a person who is good at writing can give in articles on the harmful effects of plastic to our school magazine as well as the NIE.
3. We can each pick up a student who we KNOW will not listen to us and try to convince him/her and we can all report our progress in a week.
These are some suggestions that popped up in my mind and I'm sure there are tons of ideas that'll come flooding in when school starts...

Questions

Hey Green Gang -Time to discuss this question??????????

It would be lovely if each one of you could try and answer them.

What shall we do to achieve our objective when school starts? It would be nice to discuss a strategy so that we can then break up tasks and have each person take charge of one activity. Please list your thoughts.

Once we have a list of thoughts (right now, let’s aim for quantity. The more thoughts and the more points of action we write down, the better off we are.

At the next step we’ll try and filter them to figure out which are the most practical and actionable.

At this stage let’s compete with each other to see how many thoughts and items of action we can list. The one who lists the maximum is the winner!

I look forward to reading your thoughts, folks and folksettes.

Rajiv

dont be shy to do something gooooood

Don’t use plastic produce bags.


If you’re committed to Tip #1 (bringing your own bag), which more and more people are, then isn’t it ironic (and counter productive) to put your oranges, and bananas and other produce in plastic produce bags, then stick your plastic bags in a cotton or canvas bag – especially one emblazoned with the words ‘Stop using plastic bags’. Think about it…How many people have touched that apple on its journey from the tree to the shelf before YOU pick it up. Lots!!! So of course you’re only going to wash it when you get home, aren’t you? So just plunk it in your shopping cart and say no to the plastic produce bag.

Now some of you are probably protesting…'Yuck, but there are germs on the checkout conveyer belt!' Hey – guess what – there are germs EVERYWHERE!!!! Wash your stuff when you're home and get over it!

Take it from someone who knows - if you like to flaunt your green lifestyle (as a way to lead by example) this is a great plastic to give up.

Because people will notice.

When you’re at the checkout counter and your apples, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, celery and potatoes are sitting on the conveyer belt, exposed for all to see, instead of shrouded in plastic produce bags – people can’t help notice that what you’re doing is different. >
<>>And it makes them think

.Bonus points - If you have a handy wire basket like mine, and carry all the stuff out of the store bare to the world, sans plastic, people notice even more and sometimes will ask 'Where'd you get the basket?’ >
And when they look at you, it’s with that look that says ‘Great idea’ not with the look that says ‘WhackedOutEcoFreak

’.Ya Gotta Love That

And now, it's time for another EnviroWoman RANT!It really bugs me when I walk into our local organic food stores and see people putting their produce in plastic bags.I'm assuming these people buy organic because they are health conscious and don't want to fill their bodies with chemicals/hormones. Maybe even some of them also don't want to support farmers/factory farms that fill the environment with chemicals/hormones.

Then why oh why are they putting their stuff into plastic produce bags, that eventually make there way to a landfill or worse yet wild places or the ocean – and there - fill the environment with chemicals and hormones.Oh I know, none of us are perfect. Especially not EnviroWoman. And it’s easy to microscopically criticize the behaviour of others while holding ourselves up on some chaste EcoPedestal, turning a blind eye to our own transgressions.

But it still bugs me!

Paper vs. Plastic - The Shopping Bag Debate

You step up to the register, the cashier asks if you've found everything ok and then the inevitable question is asked: "Will it be paper or plastic?"
What decision did you make? Was it an informed choice? Was it the best ecological choice? Well, to answer that, we need to start at the beginning and review each option and its impact on the environment.
The Origin of Paper Bags:
Paper comes from trees - and lots of them. The logging industry is huge and the process to get that paper bag to the grocery store is long and environmentally taxing. First, the trees are found, marked and felled. Machinery is then used to remove the logs from the forest floor- whether it by logging trucks or, in more remote areas, helicopters.
Machinery requires fossil fuel and roads (which destroys habitat) thereby creating stress on the forests' inhabitants (Even logging a small area has a large impact on the entire ecological chain in surrounding areas).
Trees must dry at least three years before they can be used. Machinery is used to strip the bark, which is then chipped into one-inch squares and cooked under tremendous heat and pressure. This wood stew is then "digested" with a limestone and sulphurous acid for eight hours. The steam and moisture is vented to the outside atmosphere, and the original wood becomes pulp. It takes approximately three tons of wood chips to make one ton of pulp.
The pulp is then washed and bleached, both stages requiring thousands of gallons of clean water. Coloring is added to more water, and is then combined in a ratio of 1 part pulp to 400 parts water to make paper. The pulp/water mixture is dumped into a web of bronze wires, the water showers through, leaving the pulp, which, in turn, is rolled into paper.
Whew! And that's just to make the paper. We must include all of the chemicals, electricity, and fossil fuels used in the shipment of this raw material and in the production and shipment of a finished paper bag.
Where does a paper bag end its useful life?
Paper, when thrown away, can either be recycled or end up in the landfill. If it ends up in the landfill, over time (and usually many,many years) it will break down. If it ends up in the recycling center, the following process occurs:
First the paper must be returned to pulp. This is done by the use of several different chemicals including sodium hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium silicate. These chemicals bleach and spread out the pulp fibers. These fibers are then run through cleaning and screening sequences that remove any contaminants. The pulp must then be washed with clean water to remove ink particles that were removed from the paper by the chemical process.
Flotation is a common method to remove ink. The pulp is submerged in clean water and heated. The ink attaches to air bubbles, which must then be removed before they break and let the ink float back to the pulp.
Most recycling centers treat the water they use to remove contaminants. Screens and mechanical cleaners are the typical methods used. Another, more environmentally friendly method is called 'sludge handling'. Sludge is composed of water, inks, pigments and small particles of waste. The materials are separated and cleaned. By including this process, it reduces any waste that may have to be taken to the landfill. These waste materials can be used in bricks, fertilizers and other useful products.
Other uses for paper bags:
If well packed a single grocery size paper bag can hold the same volume of up to 4 plastic bags. Reuse them as trash can liners and for craft projects. They also make great weed barriers and eventually break down and naturally compost.
It is also important to note that paper bags can be composted (provided they don't have a lot of printing on them). You can throw them straight into the compost pile, or fill with yard waste. Simply pitch the whole bag, green waste and all, into the compost pile.
Where does that plastic bag come from?
Plastic is a petroleum product - it comes from oil. As we all know, the oil industry is no small potatoes and is the cause of worldwide financial and political turmoil.
Traps of oil are located around the planet. Once a trap is located, a hole is drilled and a pipe is rammed into the oil deposit. The oil is forced to the top of the surface due to both the pressure inside the chamber and the weight of the earth above. Once a pump is in place, the whole operation is fairly simple and little oil is lost. The pumped oil is either piped or trucked to a refining facility where plastic is made.
Plastic is a by-product of oil refining and accounts for 4% of the worlds total oil production. It is a 'biogeochemical' manipulation of certain properties of oil, into polymers. Plastic polymers are manufactured into five main types; plastic bags are made from polyethylene. Polyethylene, as a raw material, can be manipulated into any shape, size, form or color. It is watertight and can be made UV resistant. Anything can be printed on it and it can be reused.
For the most part, the whole process of making plastic bags requires only electricity (minus the large, fuel burning heavy machinery required to acquire the oil). The electricity used in the actual production and manufacturing of plastic bags comes from coal fire power plants, which, it is interesting to note, 50% of that electricity is generated from the burning of old tires (made from rubber which is essentially, plastic).
Where does plastic go when thrown away?
Like paper, plastic bags can end up in two places: the landfill or the recycling center. If a plastic bag ends up in a landfill, it will stay intact for thousands of years. Plastic does not compost. With plastic products in the mix, garbage does not have a chance to break down over time. Landfills are considered airtight, which explains why after 20 years you can find a hot dog that is still fully intact and a newspaper with articles clearly legible.
Plastic is fabulous in that it is recyclable. All you have to do is basically re-melt and re-form. The re-melting process also sterilizes the plastic thus allowing any recycled plastic to be made into hospital grade products. Plastic can be recycled many times before it becomes brittle - then it can be made into something as functional as a mousepad or a doormat. Please note that not all plastic bags can be recycled and many stores that collect them, simply send them to the landfill for lack of another alternative.
Plastic's Impact:
Plastic impacts the environment two ways. The first is through the use of electricity during manufacturing. More than half of the electricity needed to make plastic bags is generated by nuclear fission. Nuclear energy has its arguments (that's a whole other issue) that it doesn't directly harm the environment. The main drawback is the disposal of radioactive waste. So far this has been done in deep underground caves or in deep sea trenches where the nuclear waste is sub-ducted into the earths mantle and incinerated.
Plastic not being recycled can be burned yielding from 10,000 to 20,000 btu per pound (60% of which can be recovered) creating electricity. This can reduce the overall sulphur emissions from coal.
The burning of plastics has its cons. Inks and additives found in plastic can create dioxins when burned as well as emit heavy metals. The ash itself is toxic and needs to be disposed of in toxic waste dumps. And then, does this use justify the continued use of limited natural resources?
Plastic also impacts the environment through landfills. Plastic does not break down - your yogurt container will always be there. And biodegradable plastic is really non-existent. What happens here is that wood fibers are mixed with plastic fibers. When the bag is disposed of, the wood fibers break down leaving millions of tiny plastic pieces to mix in the earth.
An argument can be made that plastic decreases landfill mass. Plastics as a whole make up 18% of waste by volume and 7% by weight (plastic bags themselves are light and take up very little space). If plastic were to be replaced by other materials, trash weight would increase by 150%, packaging would weigh 300% more and energy consumed by the industry would increase by 100%.
Plastic has other benefits. Reduction in aircraft weight saves an average of 10,000 gallons of fuel per plane, per annum, the world over. Since 1970, plastic has been responsible for doubling automobile fuel economy.
Conclusion:
Both paper and plastic bags consume large amounts of natural resources and the majority will eventually end up in the landfill. Both bags can be recycled to some extent and can be utilized around the house. We've read several studies comparing the two choices and none of them agree. Some feel plastic is the better overall choice, others paper. It's really tough to say. Paper may consume more resources to produce, however, it is also more recyclable than plastic if you include the fact that paper can be composted and plastic bags cannot.
In our opinion, neither one is the winner. The best choice overall, is a reusable bag. They're made from renewable resources, take minimal energy, are light, durable (each holds up to 40 lbs) and last for years. Some can be machine-washed and are great to keep in the trunk of the car. Use them at the beach, farmers market and, of course, supermarket. Plus, many supermarkets will give you up to 5 cents per bag credit. Typically, a bag will pay for itself in a year and a half if you buy groceries once a week. We have, just this week, heard rumblings that in some countries, supermarkets are beginning to charge customers for every bag at checkout. If this practice makes its way to the U.S., then string bags are an even smarter financial choice.
Taking all the above information into consideration, feel confident that you are making an informed decision the next time you're at the supermarket. The most important thing to remember is to utilize every possible use for both the plastic and paper bags to lengthen their life and minimize the impact on both the environment and our natural resources.

The Problem With....Plastic

According to the UK group Waste Online the annual global production of plastic is around 100 million tonnes per year. When combined with the energy required to extract and process the oil to make raw plastic pellets this is equivalent to about 200 million tonnes of oil; or about 4% of the world’s annual oil production. Although this is a large amount of raw material, when compared to aluminium, a product with many of the more useful properties of plastic – durability, lightness, flexibility – it is a mere stripling. Aluminium requires 4 tonnes of bauxite to produce one tonne of base metal, and vastly more energy than plastics require. It is also worth bearing in mind that for every tonne of oil required to make the plastic, only half of that will be emitted as carbon dioxide; the rest is locked away in the plastic for hundreds of years.
So that doesn’t seem to be the problem with plastic.
The durability of plastic, though, leads to another issue. Litter is a nuisance; it clogs up streets and waterways, it spreads itself around wild areas, it can trap wildlife, causing pain and death, notably through choking and garrotting. Because plastic is so durable it persists far longer than most other forms of litter. A thin plastic carrier bag will last for anything from 20 to 1000 years; a drainpipe or child’s toy, probably longer – and we will not know exactly how long until far in the future, by which time much of our planet will surely be choking on plastic waste. But plastic is also inert and can be easily tidied up and contained. Heavy metals, toxic chemical sludge, fertilisers, all of which poison soil and water, cannot be so easily contained as plastic. Even simple kitchen and garden waste will break down quickly to form carbon dioxide and methane. Plastic does none of this so quickly and so damagingly. And most types of plastic can be recycled with great efficiency, reducing the use of raw materials in the long run.
So that doesn’t seem to be the problem with plastic.
When the British supermarket chain Sainsburys announced that they would be cutting their use of oil based plastics and promoting compostable materials instead, Sainsburys were rightly given praise for their efforts in reducing landfill. What they failed to do was point out that, rather than significantly reduce the amount of packaging used on their goods, some would be replaced by biodegradable materials, and the majority would be untouched by this policy. In both of the previous “problems” with plastic it is not the nature of plastic that is the real issue, but the sheer quantity of, and the dependency we have on, the plastics we use.
The Problem With Plastic is that is has made the disposable economy possible. Much of the modern world is addicted to the very things that plastic is good at being, and as a consequence we are just consuming too much of everything that is related to plastic.
Take a conventional television, for example. The tube is made from glass – it has to be – and there are a large number of micro-electronic components within it, but the majority of what makes up the television itself is plastic. In 2000 there were 243 million televisions in the USA, 1 for every 1.2 people.

ENCINITAS: Plastic bag petition drive

ENCINITAS --- A citizen-led petition drive to encourage the city of Encinitas to impose a ban on single-use plastic bags will be unveiled Sunday at the Encinitas Environment Day in Cottonwood Creek Park.The San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation will hold a press conference at noon Sunday to announce the petition drive and to bring attention to the increasing reliance on disposable plastic bags, which has led to a large and growing litter problem.The Surfrider Foundation is involved in the issue because shopping bag litter poses special dangers to marine life.Local environmentalists say a ban on plastic shopping bags is the most effective way to prevent the bags from becoming litter and harming the environment.Other California cities ---- including San Francisco, Oakland, Malibu and Fairfax ---- have passed ordinances banning single-use plastic bags.[xcomponent:paragraphs:3]-->ENCINITAS --- A citizen-led petition drive to encourage the city of Encinitas to impose a ban on single-use plastic bags will be unveiled Sunday at the Encinitas Environment Day in Cottonwood Creek Park.The San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation will hold a press conference at noon Sunday to announce the petition drive and to bring attention to the increasing reliance on disposable plastic bags, which has led to a large and growing litter problem.The Surfrider Foundation is involved in the issue because shopping bag litter poses special dangers to marine life.Local environmentalists say a ban on plastic shopping bags is the most effective way to prevent the bags from becoming litter and harming the environment.Other California cities ---- including San Francisco, Oakland, Malibu and Fairfax ---- have passed ordinances banning single-use plastic bags.

recycling plastic

The confusion over what we can and cannot recycle continues to confound consumers. Plastics are especially troublesome, as different types of plastic require different processing to be reformulated and re-used as raw material. Some municipalities accept all types of plastic for recycling, while others only accept jugs, containers and bottles with certain numbers stamped on their bottoms.
Recycling by the NumbersThe symbol code we’re familiar with—a single digit ranging from 1 to 7 and surrounded by a triangle of arrows—was designed by The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) in 1988 to allow consumers and recyclers to differentiate types of plastics while providing a uniform coding system for manufacturers.
The numbers, which 39 U.S. states now require to be molded or imprinted on all eight-ounce to five-gallon containers that can accept the half-inch minimum-size symbol, identify the type of plastic. According to the American Plastics Council, an industry trade group, the symbols also help recyclers do their jobs more effectively.
Easy Plastics to RecycleThe easiest and most common plastics to recycle are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) and are assigned the number 1. Examples include soda and water bottles, medicine containers, and many other common consumer product containers. Once it has been processed by a recycling facility, PETE can become fiberfill for winter coats, sleeping bags and life jackets. It can also be used to make bean bags, rope, car bumpers, tennis ball felt, combs, cassette tapes, sails for boats, furniture and, of course, other plastic bottles.
Number 2 is reserved for high-density polyethylene plastics. These include heavier containers that hold laundry detergents and bleaches as well as milk, shampoo and motor oil. Plastic labeled with the number 2 is often recycled into toys, piping, plastic lumber and rope. Like plastic designated number 1, it is widely accepted at recycling centers.
Plastics Less Commonly RecycledPolyvinyl chloride, commonly used in plastic pipes, shower curtains, medical tubing, vinyl dashboards, and even some baby bottle nipples, gets number 3. Like numbers 4 (wrapping films, grocery and sandwich bags, and other containers made of low-density polyethylene) and 5 (polypropylene containers used in Tupperware, among other products), few municipal recycling centers will accept it due to its very low rate of recyclability.
Another Useful Plastic to RecycleNumber 6 goes on polystyrene (Styrofoam) items such as coffee cups, disposable cutlery, meat trays, packing “peanuts” and insulation. It is widely accepted because it can be reprocessed into many items, including cassette tapes and rigid foam insulation.
Hardest Plastics to RecycleLast, but far from least, are items crafted from various combinations of the aforementioned plastics or from unique plastic formulations not commonly used. Usually imprinted with a number 7 or nothing at all, these plastics are the most difficult to recycle and, as such, are seldom collected or recycled. More ambitious consumers can feel free to return such items to the product manufacturers to avoid contributing to the local waste stream, and instead put the burden on the makers to recycle or dispose of the items properly.

plastic's remedy

Stop! Before you throw away that empty plastic bottle, think about recycling it.
When it comes to embracing environmentally friendly technologies, recycling may not be as exciting as solar panels or hybrid cars, but it’s one area where consumers can make a huge difference.
Since the early days of recycling back in the 1970s, the nation’s recycling infrastructure has grown considerably. Surveys suggest that, today, approximately 80 percent of Americans have access to a local recycling program1, be it residential curbside collection or a community drop-off center.
Through these programs, specific types of post-consumer plastics are collected, processed for recycling, and used to create an array of second-generation products – everything from fleece jackets and bottles for beverages and detergents to carpeting and even high-end composite lumber for outdoor decking2.
Message in a BottleTake bottles. The number of bottles collected in the United States has increased every year since plastic bottle recycling was first calculated in 1990. In 2005, that number jumped to over 2.1 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic bottles, and the overall plastic bottle recycling rate climbed to 24.3 percent. While this is all good news, it’s clear that there’s a tremendous opportunity to recycle even more – namely, the remaining 75.7 percent of plastic bottles used in this country annually.
Consider this: In most areas, the demand for recycled plastics exceeds (sometimes far exceeds) the available supply. The message to consumers, especially those of us with access to community recycling, is that we can all work a little harder to make sure that our bottles and other recyclable plastics make it into the recycling bin when we’re finished using them.
The following tips can help make it easier to maximize the plastics you recycle:
Learn what items and materials are accepted for recycling in your community.On the one hand, all major types of plastics (#1 through #7) are recyclable, meaning that technologies to recycle these materials have been developed and are in use in some areas. Community recycling programs often collect plastic bottles made from PET (#1) and HDPE (#2), which, together represent approximately 96 percent of all plastic bottles produced in the United States. Although a growing number of communities have started to collect other types of plastic containers, such as tubs, trays, lids, buckets and so on, opportunities to recycle plastics vary widely. The only way to know what materials are accepted in your area is to check with your local recycling or solid waste facility.How to check: One way to get started is to search the Web. Using your favorite search engine, enter the name of your municipality (usually a county, city or township) and the word “recycling.” Many municipalities list the types of materials they do and don’t accept on their websites, and some provide the names of locations of where residents can drop off specific items for reuse or recycling. Even if this information isn’t available on your municipality’s website, you should be able to locate a phone number so you can call and ask.
Recycle often and recycle right.In other words, once you know the rules, follow them. There are two keys to making any recycling system functionally and economically viable: (1) a continuous and dependable supply of incoming material, and (2) the ability to control the quality of the materials being recycled. Consumers are absolutely essential to making both parts work.In addition to making sure that plastic recyclables end up in the recycling bin, consumers can help keep out potential contaminants. Mixing the wrong types of materials (even other types of plastics) with recyclable plastics can lower the quality of recycled material. This is why it’s so important to learn which types of plastics are – and are not – recycled in your area, and to sort things accordingly.
Deposit bottles in the bin – not the trash.A “bottle” is a container that has a neck or an opening that is smaller than the base3. Plastic bottles are among the most readily recycled plastics, but there’s still a lot we can do to recycle more of them. Here’s the problem: Lightweight, shatterproof plastic beverage bottles are ideal to take on the go – to work, to school, to the gym, on errands, and just about anywhere. But because more beverages are being consumed away from home, a smaller percentage of empty beverage bottles are making it into our recycling bins. One remedy: Place the cap back on and temporarily store the empty bottle in your briefcase or backpack or simply leave it in your car until you get home. This will prevent any residual liquid from leaking out until you can properly recycle the bottle. Below is a list of suggested “dos and don’ts” to help you maximize the bottles you recycle while avoiding mistakes that can contaminate the material collected.
Did You Know?
Recycling a ton of plastic bottles can save about 3.8 barrels of oil.
It takes one quarter pound of plastic to deliver one gallon of soda.
It takes about fourteen 20-ounce beverage bottles to make an extra large T-Shirt.
One Adirondack chair can be made from approximately 240 recycled milk jugs

Ten Ways to Reduce Waste

1. No more paper towels- Ditching paper towels will help you save a lot of paper, not to mention money. So bid those rolls of towels goodbye, and start using cloth and sponges in the kitchen and when cleaning the house.

2. Take reusable bags to the store- Almost every supermarket sells them now, and some will even give you a small discount on your groceries if you use them instead of plastic bags. Why not keep them in the trunk of your car so they’re always handy? If you’re going on a shopping spree, take a backpack with you and skip the plastic bags—it’ll be easier on your arms, too.

3. Buy in bulk- Avoid buying food that is packaged in individual servings. Also, you know you’ll always need toilet paper, so why not buy an extra big package once a month, instead of a small one once a week? You’ll be eliminating the use of a lot of plastic wrapping.

4. Pack a smart lunch- Instead of packing your sandwich in a plastic bag that you’ll throw out afterwards, why not bring it in a reusable container you can wash and make use of again the next day? Plastic juice containers can be used to pack drinks. And forget those brown bags—invest in a lunch box for your kids, as well as yourself.

5. Get reusable coffee filters- Are you a big coffee drinker? Buy a reusable coffee filter to use at home and one for work if you can. You’ll be saving paper by eliminating the need for the regular kind.

6. Make your own notepads- Computer printouts, outdated forms, and various kinds of old stationary can be cut up and stapled together to make notepads. You’ll produce less waste if you use paper more than once.

7. Start sending eCards- It’s the thought that counts, and people nowadays should understand that an eCard can be just as personal as a traditional card, especially if it was sent electronically in an effort to save paper.

8. Buy a travel mug- Treat yourself to a nice travel mug from your favourite coffee shop, and bring it with you to fill up every time you buy coffee—that’s five less paper cups you’ll have wasted in a work week.

9. Switch to rechargeable batteries- You may have to change them more often than if you were using their one-time use counterparts, but it’s worth it when you think about how much less of them you’ll be wasting in the end. You’ll also save money on buying batteries overall.10. Purchase durable productsSaving money is important, especially if you are on a budget. But in the end, purchasing a product that costs a little more, but that can be repaired and will last you longer will help you save money, and reduce your overall waste production.

10. Purchase durable products- Saving money is important, especially if you are on a budget. But in the end, purchasing a product that costs a little more, but that can be repaired and will last you longer will help you save money, and reduce your overall waste production.

East Helena students honored

More than 500 elementary students in East Helena received a big surprise Thursday for their hard work and commitment to the environment.

Radley Elementary School was named the state-wide winner in the Wal-Mart Kid's Recycling Challenge. As part of the challenge, students collected plastic bags all year long to be recycled.

Helena Wal-Mart Co-Manager, Frank Day: "During this process the kids learn about land fills and keeping trash out of land fills and using renewable resources. That's what these bags do. These bags actually go to a recycling center to be recycled and keeps all this stuff out of land fills."

Radley Elementary collected two tons of plastic bags and was rewarded with a three thousand dollar grant for the school as well as a pizza party for the kids.

In addition to the grant, Wal-Mart also awarded an additional $5.00 for every bag, which totaled almost $1,300.

PLASTIC BAGS A MENACE

AS much as 224 tonnes of plastic are disposed off every day in Bahrain, according to an environment expert.
Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife senior environmental specialist Engineer Rehan Ahmed wants people to switch to biodegradable bags instead of plastic.
He highlighted the plastic menace during a presentation entitled Say No to Plastic organised by the Public Commission at the Sheraton Hotel yesterday to mark World Environment Day.
Mr Ahmed said 90 per cent of marine litter was plastic bags, "...they leach into groundwater and surface water and affect our resources."
"Some plastics produce poisonous fumes when burned. They are not sufficiently tested for their toxicological impact on humans and animals," he said.

MINISTRY PREPARES WAR ON PLATIC BAGS

The Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs (MOEW) is preparing legislative bills aimed at limiting the usage of the plastic bags in Bulgaria. The plastic bags are not being recycled and therefore represent a huge source of pollution, private broadcaster bTV reported on June 5.
The plastic bags in Bulgaria can be recycled in the factories for recycling plastic but collecting is difficult, environment consultant Todor Nedkov told The Sofia Echo on June 5. He said that the packaging waste recovery organisations are recycling the thicker bags, but was not that easy to collect the wide-spread thin plastic bags used by most Bulgarian shops.
Plastic bags are very cheap and thin, which means that there was too little material, that being the reason why the recycling factories were not interested in buying them, one industry source told The Sofia Echo. Only a few factories in Bulgaria can recycle plastic bags, even counting the plastic bag producers.
On June 3, Environment Minister Djevdet Chakurov officially announced the start of preparation of the legislative initiatives to restrict usage of plastic bags during a meeting on the occasion of World Environment Day, June 5. Currently MOEW experts are studying practices used in other countries to limit the usage of plastic bags.
“In any case, usage of paper packaging and packaging from materials that are easy to recycle has to be anticipated, as the plastic bags take hundreds of years to decompose once in the environment,” Chakurov said

12 steps to being bag-free

12 STEPS TO MAKING YOURSELF BAG-FREE

Step 1:Admit to yourself you are a bag-addict - and had better do something about it before you stuff up your country, your kids’ future and a whole lot of innocent wildlife.

Step 2:Come to believe that you have the power to reject plastic shopping bags. That you can truly live without them. That this power will set you free!

Step 3:Make a firm decision to reject plastic shopping bags, now and forever. Take part in the Plastic Bag Famine and always carry a reusable bag wherever you go.

Step 4:Find out about the mess plastic bags are making of the world. The waste, the choked landfills, the polluted rivers and estuaries, the dead animals, the litter, the greenhouse emissions. Ask yourself: why did I ever become a bag-addict?

Step 5:Confess your addiction to others. Go into your home, workplace or the pub and cry in a loud, proud voice “I am a bag addict”. Be absolutely honest about your addiction to unrecyclable rubbish.

Step 6:Reflect on your bag-crimes. The 25,000 plastic bags you will use in your lifetime were each used for minutes – but they will still be here when your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren inhabit the place. And their descendents. What kind of ancestor are you?

Step 7:Reflect on whether it was ignorance, laziness or stupidity that made you use plastic bags in the first place. Take a vow to correct these character defects in other aspects of your life as a consumer.

Step 8:Make a list of all the harms which your prodigal and unthinking use of plastic bags has caused.

Step 9:Take some action, small or great, to make amends in each case.

Step 10:Lay the foundation for a bag-free future. Beware of the habits that could cause you to lapse back into your old, polluting ways. Always carry a re-useable bag as a symbol of your freedom.

Step 11:Having purged yourself of evil ways, go forth and give some other ugly polluter a serve. Harangue your family, your friends, the shop assistant, the people in the checkout queue and your local politician without drawing breath and without mercy. Never give up until they do.

Step 12:Reflect proudly that, if you never do another damn thing in your life, in giving up plastic bags you have done something worthwhile for the world. You deserve a bloody medal.

Environment-friendly grocery bags save energy

Many folks in Enid who are concerned about the environment and want to do “something” to help alleviate some environmental problems need to look no further than their local grocery store.

Many local grocery stores are now offering fabric green reuseable bags shoppers can purchase for less than $1 each.

These green bags have handles and generally are larger than the paper or plastic bags you might normally be hauling home from the grocery store. They are also more durable and you can get more items into a single bag.The bags can sometimes have the name of the grocery store on them or other imprints on them, but they usually have the recycling symbol along with the words “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”

An added bonus in stores usually offers some kind of reimbursement for each reusable bag you bring in.Many shoppers may not understand the hidden costs plastic and paper bags add, both to environmental problems and their own pocketooks.

The familiar plastic polyethylene bags are manufactured from petroleum. It’s estimated nearly12 million barrels of oil are required to make 100 billion plastic shopping bags Americans go through annually. As we all suffer through higher oil prices, it makes sense to reduce the use of petroleum for products like grocery bags.

Whether paper or plastic, both kinds of bags end up as waste or to be recycled. Some people are vigilant about recycling their paper or plastic bags, but most aren’t. So, they end up in the landfill.

While the reusable bags do cost money up front, they can end up saving quite a bit in the longrun. According to some environmental experts, each reusable bag has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime.

Reusable grocery bags are a small step towards having a more positive impact on the environment, but it’s a small step just about everyone can afford to make.

The plastic bag challenge
Help reduce the use of plastic bags!
Step 1: Count your bagsCount the number of plastic bags you currently use on a weekly basis and see how many of these you can refuse, reduce, reuse or recycle. Fill out the survey sheet at the beginning of the month and then again at the end. You can use this information to determine whether you have successfully met the plastic bag challenge.
Step 2: Reduce your use and recycle your plastic bagsTips to help:
Refuse (avoid)
If you're only buying a couple of items, consider carrying them When shopping, take alternatives to plastic bags with you such as calico bags, string bags, baskets or boxes. Keep them in the car so they're handy. Reduce
Decline heavy, non-recyclable plastic bags (LDPE) offered by retailers. If you have no other option than to accept plastic bags at the checkout, make sure at least eight items are in each bag - depending of course on the weight of the items. Avoid putting items with carry handles into bags (dog food, milk containers, nappies, etc) Avoid double-bagging Recycle
Find a local supermarket, which offers recycling facilities for plastic supermarket bags, such as Coles or Woolworths. Take your old plastic supermarket bags back for recycling the next time you go shopping. If you can't find the recycling bin, suggest to the store manager that it's put in a more prominent place. If you can't find the recycling bin, or the store doesn't have recycling facilities, ask the store manager about their recycling policy. Be careful to check which plastic bags are accepted at the recycling bins - it is only possible to recycle HDPE supermarket plastic bags, not the heavier bags used by other retailers (LDPE). Make sure your bags are clean and empty - don't forget to take the docket or receipt out Reuse
There are many ways to reuse plastic bags at home including: freezing food; packing children's school lunches; storage of clothing and other household items; to clean up after your dog when out walking; to name just a few।
Step 3 Remember…In order to change the way we use plastic bags we need to:
remember to take alternate bags shopping; remember to take them out of the car; and remember to take the bags you do use back for recycling

PP -PLASTIC PROBLEM

PLASTIC Problems

Taken in a place with no name (See more photos or videos here)

Waste disposal is a problem these days, especially plastic waste. In the 70's Newari street cleaners did a good job with baskets and bison rib bones. I do not like posting photos like this one, but it is a part of reality today.

PLASTIC , its PROBLEM ,its REMEDY...

By discarding plastic thoughtlessly, especially fishing gear and packaging, people are accidentally causing the deaths of millions of mammals, birds, reptiles and fish every year.
THE PROBLEM OF PLASTIC
Since the development of plastic earlier this century, it has become a popular material used in a wide variety of ways.
Today plastic is used to make, or wrap around, many of the items we buy or use. The problem comes when we no longer want these items and how we dispose of them, particularly the throwaway plastic material used in wrapping or packaging. Plastics are used because they are easy and cheap to make and they can last a long time. Unfortunately these same useful qualities can make plastic a huge pollution problem. The cheapness means plastic gets discarded easily and its long life means it survives in the environment for long periods where it can do great harm. Because plastic does not decompose, and requires high energy ultra-violet light to break down, the amount of plastic waste in our oceans is steadily increasing.
Studies done locally show about 3 500 particles of plastic per square kilometre of sea off the southern African coast. Surveys of 50 South African beaches from the Eastern Cape to Cape Town show that in five years to 1989 plastic pollution has increased by 190%. More than 90% of the articles found on these beaches contained plastic. Plastic is now found on virtually all South African beaches, even the most remote, and researchers are now also finding plastic rubbish in Antarctic regions.
The plastic rubbish found on beaches near urban areas tends to originate from use on land, such as packaging material used to wrap around other goods. On remote rural beaches the rubbish tends to have come from ships, such as fishing equipment used in the fishing industry.


THE THREAT TO WILDLIFE
This plastic can affect marine wildlife in two important ways: by entangling creatures, and by being eaten.

Turtles: Turtles are particularly badly affected by plastic pollution, and all seven of the world's turtle species are already either endangered or threatened for a number of reasons. Turtles get entangled in fishing nets, and many sea turtles have been found dead with plastic bags in their stomachs. It is believed they mistake these floating semi-transparent bags for jellyfish and eat them. The turtles die from choking or from being unable to eat. One dead turtle found off Hawaii in the Pacific was found to have more than 1000 pieces of plastic in its stomach including part of a comb, a toy truck wheel and nylon rope.

Marine Mammals: There is great concern about the effect of plastic rubbish on marine mammals in particular, because many of these creatures are already under threat for a variety of other reasons e.g. whale populations have been decimated by uncontrolled hunting. A recent US report concluded that 100 000 marine mammals die each year in the world's oceans by eating or becoming entangled in plastic rubbish, and the position is worsening.When a marine mammal such as a Cape fur seal gets caught up in a large piece of plastic, it may simply drown, or become exhausted and die of starvation due to the greater effort needed to swim, or the plastic may kill slowly over a period of months or years as it bites into the animal causing wounds, loss of blood and/or severing of limbs.

"Ghost Nets": A large number of marine creatures become trapped and killed in "ghost nets". These are pieces of gill nets which have been lost by fishing vessels. Other pieces of fishing equipment such as lobster pots may also keep trapping creatures.

Marine Birds: World-wide, 75 marine bird species are known to eat plastic articles. This includes 36 species found off South Africa. A recent study of blue petrel chicks at South Africa's remote Marion Island showed that 90% of chicks examined had plastic in their stomachs apparently fed to them accidentally by their parents. South African seabirds are among the worst affected in the world. Plastics may remain in the stomachs, blocking digestion and possibly causing starvation. As particular species seem to be badly affected this may be a threat to whole populations of these birds.


CONSERVATION ACTION
The problem of plastic pollution is serious and requires further urgent study. Immediate action is also required such as :
Reduction of the amount of plastic used in packaging which is usually immediately thrown away. Re-use of plastics should be encouraged.
Plastic wrapping and bags should carry a warning label stating the dangers of plastic pollution, and shoppers should be encouraged to use their own bags, or recycled paper bags.


WHAT YOU CAN DO
Buy products with less Plastic packaging and tell store Personnel why you are doing so. Shoppers should use their own bags or recycled paper bags.

Support recycling schemes and promote support for one in your local area.

Fishermen throughout South Africa should not throw away waste line, net or plastic litter - this causes huge suffering and many deaths.

Practice and promote proper disposal of plastics in your home and at the beach.

Always remember that litter generates litter.

Never dispose of plastics in the sewage system.

At the beach dispose of plastics and other litter in the bins provided.

If these facilities are inadequate, contact the local authority responsible and lodge a complaint.

Take your litter back home with you if there are no receptacles on the beach.

Pick up any plastic litter you may see on the beach or in rock pools in the vicinity in which you are sitting or walking.

Encourage young children to do likewise.

In the street never throw plastic or other litter out of your car or drop it on the pavement or in the gutter.

Set an example to others and encourage them to help.

Plastics are not themselves a problem.


They are useful and popular materials which can be produced with relatively little damage to the environment.

The problem is the excessive use of plastics in one-off applications together with careless disposal.

dpsgreengang

people are completely becoming unaware of the cause fo plastic.................. i have got an idea ...................we canb make aware the politicians about this and i hope with their help a lot can happen ............i know a website called as www.kidscall.info here we can write to the influensive people and raise our voice even high

Bangalore, Apr 02: City's schoolchildren will guard all entrance points of Lalbagh to check the bags of visitors and replace the plastic ones with cloth bags.The students will also perform street plays and even help in cleaning the garden. This initiative is a part of a month-long campaign undertaken by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and Department of Horticulture to make Lalbagh plastic-free."Though this is not the first initiative to prohibit the use of plastics inside Lalbagh we are hopeful that people would pay heed to children's advice," said H C Sharat Chandra, KSPCB chairman. There are only 20 guards to monitor the 240-acre Lalbagh.While around 3,000 visitors come to Lalbagh, the number increases to 8,000 on weekends and touches around 30,000 on special occasions. Since 2002, the authorities have made efforts to enforce 'No to plastic bags' campaign for Lalbagh, through various initiatives but have not been very successful.When asked what would be the next step if this programme too fails G S Vasanth Kumar, horticulture directorate, replied, "We will start fining visitors from April 15 onwards." The fine will start from Rs 50 to Rs 500.

Sukanya

Using Microbes To Eat Plastic Bags

A Canadian student has hacked nature and figured out a way to compress a 1,000 year process down to 3 months. As a science fair project, 16-year-old Daniel Burd used a special blend of microbes to speed up the decomposition of polyethelene plastic bags. The inspiration for the project was borne out of his frustration with the rapidly accumulating bags in his house. The process is very simple, has little waste product and is expected to scale up.

Industrial application should be easy, said Burd. “All you need is a fermenter . . . your growth medium, your microbes and your plastic bags.”

The inputs are cheap, maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because microbes produce heat as they work, and the only outputs are water and tiny levels of carbon dioxide — each microbe produces only 0.01 per cent of its own infinitesimal weight in carbon dioxide, said Burd.

“This is a huge, huge step forward . . . We’re using nature to solve a man-made problem.”