Add that to the pollution we are causing with what we flush away and bury in the ground and one way or another it should have caused a lot more damage than it currently appears, but that is a long and far too deep a subject matter for on here.
Be a mensch, don't wear fleece
- Thread starter big_swede
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I've worked at several sewage works over the years and would be fairly surprised if all this plastic is escaping the sewage works with the possible exception of the one at Beckton treatment works by the Thames.
That one is in the process of being upgraded so it doesn't have to discharge into the river every time it rains hard.
In general though, I'm calling bull**** on the fibres getting to the sea from washing in most of the UK.
That one is in the process of being upgraded so it doesn't have to discharge into the river every time it rains hard.
In general though, I'm calling bull**** on the fibres getting to the sea from washing in most of the UK.
We are not just talking about the UK though.
I for one don't have much in the way of clothing made from natural fibres. I rely on a couple of fleeces that get washed regularly. I love my man made fibre clothes as they are lightweight and cheap to replace in comparison. However, I recycle as much as I can, I tend to try to shy away from products with excessive packaging, I go for glass, card and wood instead of plastic and I would love to find a supplier of affordable wool and cotton garments in my size. I will keep on looking but a shirt for £80 is out of my price range.
I for one don't have much in the way of clothing made from natural fibres. I rely on a couple of fleeces that get washed regularly. I love my man made fibre clothes as they are lightweight and cheap to replace in comparison. However, I recycle as much as I can, I tend to try to shy away from products with excessive packaging, I go for glass, card and wood instead of plastic and I would love to find a supplier of affordable wool and cotton garments in my size. I will keep on looking but a shirt for £80 is out of my price range.
I have done a couple of threads on recycling (upcycling?) old wool jumpers. I had intended to do one on old fleeces. Hats, mitts, pouches, that kind of thing.
I'll maybe best no' bother
atb,
M
I'll maybe best no' bother
atb,
M
Fire away Mary. I'm always up for learning new tricks.
Incidentally, I don't suppose you have a copy of the Bush Shirt pattern in XXXL do you?
Incidentally, I don't suppose you have a copy of the Bush Shirt pattern in XXXL do you?
Down here for home waste the council issue clear plastic bags. Use one for paper, another for metal and glass then we have a lock lid green bin for food waste and a thumping great big regular bin for who knows what. I've often wondered how much of what we 'recycle' just ends up in a landfill regardless of what bag it was put out in.
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I have done a couple of threads on recycling (upcycling?) old wool jumpers. I had intended to do one on old fleeces. Hats, mitts, pouches, that kind of thing.
I'll maybe best no' bother
atb,
M
I am in the process of sewing together a blanket made of tatty jumpers, half made things and odd ends of wool crocheted into squares. Like most crafty people I have ended up a large hord of stuff that only exists because it might be used some day, or I might finish the job. Well I decided to cut the whole lot into 15cm squares and sew them together. Going by the pace used on previous items the blanket should be finish by the time I need to go and live in old peoples home.
I am deeply suspect of our local councils recycling methods too.
Funny though, as the US, UK and other developed countries does not simply dump sewage waste in to the ocean according to some people here. Oh, might they be wrong? Could it be that some micrparticles escape sewage filtration? Gee whiz
There was something on BBC the other night about sewage - the reporter was stood on the raw sewage and storm water pipe that went into the sea not far from Blackpool tower. Only used at times of 'high demand' though.
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Sent from my GT-I9505 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2
Talk to Surfers Against Sewage on that one. There are literally thousands of outfalls around the coast which are theoretically only used in exceptional circumstances but which actually empty raw sewage into the sea frequently during spells of heavy rain. SAS has a useful phone app which you can set up to tell you if a specific outfall is active. And then there are places like Guernsey which pours all of its sewage out to sea. During this winter it was astonishing how often the outfalls were operating at several of the Bristol Channel sites that I frequent.
Gee whiz, those are two different questions. One is whether countries like the US and UK dump sewage water directly into the ocean; the other is if they filter the sewage water, whether any specific particles can get through.
I don't know how it is in the UK, but most places in the US have two different systems for rain water and sewage. The overflow dumps you see are for rain water, not sewage, at least for the places with which I am familiar.
As far as whether any particles can get through during filtering, sure they can. It depends on the filtering process and the type of particles.
Different particles big_swede. That's why actually reading the stuff helps in discussions.
Florida goes even further. It requires all new construction (within the last 15020 years or so) to also catch the rain runoff into "retainment ponds" where it will be absorbed into the ground and naturally filtered before it reaches the estuaries. That said, I can't really comment on just how successful this is or isn't.
To get back to the original post, I wonder if anyone else has actually been round a wool scouring plant,where they treat the original fleeces? I have been round two - in SA and Oz - and they use extremely harsh chemicals to clean and bleach the wool. Just pointing out that, pesticides from dipping aside, wool is by no means harmless to the environment.
Interestingly - to me anyway - it appears that death adders in Oz are particularly attracted to scouring plants in Oz. I saw literally dozens heading towards - and inside - the plant near Fremantle, with more squashed on the road approaching it. Dunno if it was the lanolin byproduct or something else, but I have never been more wary about a factory visit in my life!
Interestingly - to me anyway - it appears that death adders in Oz are particularly attracted to scouring plants in Oz. I saw literally dozens heading towards - and inside - the plant near Fremantle, with more squashed on the road approaching it. Dunno if it was the lanolin byproduct or something else, but I have never been more wary about a factory visit in my life!
Problem is journalists NEED to fill media space, on a slow news day that'll mean someone scouring through published documents and/or research data until they find something they can "report" on.
They'll only report the items they feel are sensational enough to get them media space from the editor.
You also have to think that when people publish their research data they are often thinking about funding and grants.
Most will not lie, but many will stretch the data and word it in such a way as it seems more sensationalist than it really is.
The reporters then turn up the volume even more on the sensationalism.
So you get a report that's gone from say 3 on the sensationalism chart to 6.
You'll then get someone reading it and posting it further a belief or justify a decision, so they'll then up the anti to 9 on the sensationalism chart.
So what starts out as a decent, independent, non biased and useful piece of research, gets soundbit and compressed into a small paragraph of sensationalist, inaccurate hyperbole that folks then use to misquote or fill in the gaps with their own agenda.
I'm still calling bull**** on these huge quantities of plastic fleece in the drainage systems though. I've had fairly thin fleeces for yonks and they last well.
If I were to point a finger at tiny particles getting into the water (apart from that used in exfolioating creams as I linked to) I would suspect that much of it comes from the clear plastic strips that farmers are currently covering their seedlings with. I would think its biodegradable but that just means it breaks down to small particles.
If I were to point a finger at tiny particles getting into the water (apart from that used in exfolioating creams as I linked to) I would suspect that much of it comes from the clear plastic strips that farmers are currently covering their seedlings with. I would think its biodegradable but that just means it breaks down to small particles.
No. Actually biodegradable means it "decomposes" by "biological" agents. In other words, it's eaten by small living organisms; usually bacteria.