Materials and Waste

Do reusable grocery bags spread the virus? And are they banned? – Daily Democrat

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Coronavirus: Do reusable grocery bags spread the virus? And are they banned? – Daily Democrat

“So far, evidence suggests that the virus does not survive as well on a soft surface (such as fabric) as it does on frequently touched hard surfaces like elevator buttons and door handles,” wrote Dr. Lisa Lockerd Maragakis, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, in a recent article.

She noted that the 72-hour life of the virus on plastic has received a lot of attention, but the scientists who made that discovery found that by 72 hours less than 0.1% of the starting virus material remains, meaning infection is unlikely.

Even though that study didn’t expressly answer the question about reusable bags, it can inform decisions about them, some experts say.

“When I think about what the things are that we can do to reduce pandemic risk, do I think this is the most important thing? No,” said Dr. Stephen Luby, an epidemiologist and professor of medicine at Stanford University. “Is there some evidence to support it? Yes. I guess I would say I don’t find it unreasonable.”

Why I Think the Food Waste Ban Was Ignored.

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Many of the greenies pushed hard for the plastic bag ban. At the same time, commercial food waste landfill ban got very little attention, although one could argue that will save a lot more waste out of landfills, and do more to reduce carbon emissions then banning single-use plastic bans. Donating more unsold food to charities and composting food waste, is really a good idea, but it didn’t excite liberals because it wasn’t as much about social control and will be largely invisible to ordinary consumers.

Compost Pile

Landfill fridges still leaching CFCs

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Landfill fridges still leaching CFCs

Old equipment such as building insulation foam, refrigerators, cooling systems, and foam insulation are still leaking ozone-destroying gases into the atmosphere, scientists have said.

Researchers have found "unexpectedly high" levels of man-made chemicals known as CFC-11 and CFC-12, which belong to a group compounds responsible for creating a hole in Earth's ozone layer known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), despite a worldwide ban on the production of these gases.

The team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US traced the source of these CFCs to "large banks" of old equipment which were manufactured before the global phase-out, which began in 20

All Landfills Leak, and Our Health and Environment Pay the Toxic Price | Conservation Law Foundation

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All Landfills Leak, and Our Health and Environment Pay the Toxic Price | Conservation Law Foundation

The theory behind landfills is that once waste is buried, the contamination remains inert in landfill “cells.” To keep the waste dry and contained, landfill cells today are required to have two plastic liners, each backed with synthetic clay, putting a few inches between decomposing trash and the soil beneath it. Once the landfill cell is full, gravel, a flexible plastic cap, and some sod are then built on top of the cell.

This should be a nice, tidy end to that waste, but in reality, it is impossible to keep landfill cells dry. Rain and snow get into them while they’re open and accepting waste (which can be for years). And even after the cell is sealed, the plastic caps develop holes over time, letting in more rain and snow.

The water that gets into landfill cells picks up contaminants from the waste and becomes “leachate.” What’s in the leachate depends on what’s in the landfill, but some chemicals can be counted on, such as volatile organic compounds, chloride, nitrogen, solvents, phenols, and heavy metals.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS):Incineration to Manage PFAS Waste Stream

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EPA Technical Brief: Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS):Incineration to Manage PFAS Waste Stream

The effectiveness of incineration to destroy PFAS compounds and the tendency for formation of fluorinated or mixed halogenated organic byproducts is not well understood. Few experiments have been conducted under oxidative and temperature conditions representative of field-scale incineration. Limited studies on the thermal destructibility of fluorotelomer-based polymers found no detectable levels of perfluorooctanoic acid after 2 secondresidence time and 1,000oC (Yamada et al., 2005; Taylor et al., 2014). Emission studies, particularly for PICs, have been incomplete due to lack of necessary measurement methods suitable for the comprehensive characterization of fluorinated and mixed halogenated organic compounds.

The extent to which PFAS-containing waste material in the United States is incinerated is not fully documented or understood. PFAS compounds are not listed as hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) nor as hazardous air pollutants under Clean Air Act regulations, so they are not subject to the tracking systems associated with these regulations.

New coalition aims to advance polypropylene recycling despite viability questions | Waste Dive

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New coalition aims to advance polypropylene recycling despite viability questions | Waste Dive

The Recycling Partnership and others are calling for more investment in sorting #5 plastics and some buyers say they can't get enough. Booming virgin production makes this an expensive proposition.

Many MRFs aren’t investing in robotic or optical sorting fit for pulling out polypropylene (among other materials) or they aren’t connected to buyers interested in the material, according to Harrison. That's why the nonprofit plans to launch a Polypropylene Recycling Coalition (originally called the Polypropylene Industry Council) representing local government members, MRF operators and manufacturers to address the problem.

“You can’t solve this from just a design point of view and you can’t just label your way out of this," said Harrison.

Recent research by Closed Loop Partners also notes how many MRFs lack the necessary technology to sort polypropylene. Their work concluded that, based on calculations using a five-year trailing average for PP prices, it takes two to five years to see a return on investment for the appropriate equipment.​

But Greenpeace and Dell question whether this kind of investment is worthwhile without stronger pricing and a larger-scale investment in the entire system. Last month, Greenpeace reported how much of the plastic actually gets recycled and pointed to a wide gap in changing that situation.