FloWater’s Post

Happy Plastic Free July! This is... Quiz Time! With your host, SustainablyManaged! Plastic Free July is all about raising awareness about plastic waste and reducing the plastic we use in our daily lives, but how much do you actually know about it? Test your knowledge in the comments, or let us know how you did!

Following our #PlasticFreeJuly post last week, we are sharing the insightful tips and tricks from Giki's latest newsletter. Thank you for sharing, Giki! ☕ "Only use a reusable coffee (or tea) cup at work, to cut plastic waste. Disposable cups are normally made from paper with a plastic lining making them very hard to recycle." 🍴 "Have (or ask for) reusables in kitchens and canteens, such as cutlery, cups and plates. And filtered water rather than bottled water, to avoid needing plastic water bottles." 🍶 "Reduce plastic in your office tea and coffee. This could be milk in glass bottles, no individually wrapped sugar, tea bags without plastic in them or coffee in plastic free containers." ♻ "Recycle all the plastic you can, from soft plastic bags, bottles, packaging or containers. Find out what can be recycled at work and where, then make sure it is well labelled for others." 🍎 "Avoid unnecessary plastic packaging from snacks and food by bringing your own in reusable containers. They're often plastic with an inner liner, meaning they can’t be recycled." 🚮 "Organise a litter pick or beach clean with your team in your local area. The most common items of litter often contain plastic such as cigarette butts, bottles and snack wrappers." 📽 "Arrange a lunchtime screening of an inspirational film, or have a lunch-and-learn about the planet. This increases awareness and helps to motivate people to take action." 🤔 "Ask your team to share ideas to cut plastic in their roles, this could be having plastic-free swag, or asking suppliers to use less plastic packaging, or just using their influence at work." 🌟 "Share your successes and inspire your colleagues to act too. This could be by sharing a Giki step you’ve taken, or just starting a conversation with others about climate change." #GikiZero #PlasticFreeJuly #CollectiveAction #PeopleAndPlanet

A A Word Alchemist states: Let me see, 18 BILLION cigarettes are smoked DAILY,? The source for countless toxins, various cancers, emphysema, and more, is turned to 18 BILLION TIMES DAILY? This suggests that homo sapiens (thinking man?) can either be characterized as incontrovertibly suicidal or, utterly without an ounce of sense and discernment in his brain whatsoever. If we were as clever in avoiding such harmful habits as dealing with the disposable detritus from our folly, the need to made us of such forms of toxic rubbish would not exist in the first place. Headhunterzz.com..Use your Brain for a Change! #investing#energy#sustainable#eco#globalwarming#climatechange#carbonneutral#shareholderactivism#finance#parisagreement#banking#Risk#chemicals#pollution#solution#alternative#solution

The correct way of doing things...... Doing the right thing!

Are our #roads becoming the #dumpingground for the #cigarette industry? I have seen the same news in other media channels and so far I was unable to find a single link to any serious scientific paper where the developers behind this technology explain the process in detail. The only information available seems to come from the website of the companies (e.g. Ecobutt) where vague statements are given, such as “fibres made from recycled cigarette filters represent a unique ecological option in the production of asphalt mixtures such as SMA (mastic carpet), PA (porous asphalt) and other mixtures with a high binder content”. For decades, the #asphalt industry has been using sustainable fibres, such as those made of plant-based cellulose. As I understand it, the new fibres from #cigarettebutts, are not aiming at anything but replacing these by a similar material but containing toxins, tar and other noxious substances coming from cigarettes, which unfortunately do not simply disappear after putting them into asphalt. In the best of cases, these chemicals will remain inside asphalt until the end of its service life, converting our roads in simple dumps for the cigarette industry. In worse case scenarios, these may be released airborne by the wearing action of traffic, leached into aquatic ecosystems by the action of rainfall, converted into noxious fumes for workers when heated in asphalt plants or making more difficult the re-usability of asphalt, a material that in normal conditions could be 100% re-used or recycled for several life-cycles. How can this be aligned with the principles of #circulareconomy and #sustainability? Is there any LCA study on this technology proving reduction of carbon footprint compared to the existing process? Wouldn’t it be better to tackle the problem from it source and reduce the production of a harmful and non-essential product like cigarettes, instead of trying to find solutions for the waste they generate? Asphalt is the material that paves more than 90% of roads in Europe, an extremely valuable asset for our society that we need to care and preserve. As long as we continue considering it as “trash-phalt”, we will not be able to meet the real objectives of a sustainable society. If I have missed any available information and someone can direct me to specific studies on how this technology can deal with the above-mentioned concerns, I will be glad to learn more about it. Until then, it will just seem to me like another attempt of getting rid of waste from other sectors by simply sweeping them under the black carpet of asphalt. Here is the link to a publication of the European Asphalt Pavement Association (EAPA), which established the minimum criteria that should always be checked before considering the inclusion of any waste material into asphalt. Definitely a must-read for companies and media communicating on these topics! https://lnkd.in/d5gCn3fw

More and more ideas on how things can be recycled and given some value addition. Material Recycling Association of India some member can definitely look into this

A resourceful way to reuse cigarette butts and do something useful. Apart from individual #responsibility, we need #governments and #businesses to start becoming more #resourceful and thus more #sustainable.

Innovative solutions can handle even the most pervasive materials into usable products, while cleansing the environment

Slovakia on the World Economic Form page 👏♻️🚬

"Cigarette butts are the most pervasive human-made contaminant on the planet” This is an important environmental issue associated with tobacco cigarette smoking that is often unrecognised. While it is great to see effective strategies to recycle cigarette butts, one long-term strategy would be to move towards a tobacco cigarette free future. To see our thoughts on how tobacco smoking cessation could be expedited globally, read Cambridge Design Partnerships white paper: https://lnkd.in/eqX4nJAY #TobaccoFreeFuture #SmokingCessation