Where are they now...... what to do with the trash???

[Lost Lake]

Dan, I don't think I miss your point.  What I miss is the point of your posting what I said again, and adding tangential information that only confuses the issue.

Can he use a word like TANGENTIAL on this forum??? :o

Isn't 'tan' meaning touch and 'genital' meaning, well you know... Oh, it's gential

I need to get out my dictionary... Sounds dirty  ;D

[s/v Faith]

FWIW,

  I saw Capt K express a great deal of remorse as he was pouring the used motor oil into the sewer drain during our last visit...


;D

 

[CapnK]

FWIW,

  I saw Capt K express a great deal of remorse as he was pouring the used motor oil into the sewer drain during our last visit...

Crikey.


You saw that?




I thought you were too busy throwing your old 12V house batteries in the Bay to notice...




;D

[CapnK]

Oh, it's gential

I need to get out my dictionary... Sounds dirty  ;D

LOL! Good one. :)

It's hard to keep up with Smollett when he starts usin' them thar 50-cent words.  ;D :D

[CapnK]

On a more serious note:

CJ - good links you posted a few back. I'd heard the rubber ducky story before, those things are washing up all over the world now. I saw a story not too long ago that some were found in Ireland...

Dave - re: packaging - Yep, I've seen that package-opening device advertised. I wonder how much packaging *it* comes in...?

Y'all remember those toys from the 60's that you could make molds from things by heating a plastic sheet over the object you wanted to mold? Too bad that some company doesn't create a plastic with that kind of capability after it's been moulded once already. Just iron it flat, heat to remold. While they're at it, they should make it to where you can melt it in a pan with other plastic of the same type, so if you want to make something *really* big...  ;)

It's a crazy mixed up world.

[AdriftAtSea]

I think CapnK wants to make a home molded boat... :)

Y'all remember those toys from the 60's that you could make molds from things by heating a plastic sheet over the object you wanted to mold? Too bad that some company doesn't create a plastic with that kind of capability after it's been moulded once already. Just iron it flat, heat to remold. While they're at it, they should make it to where you can melt it in a pan with other plastic of the same type, so if you want to make something *really* big...  ;)

It's a crazy mixed up world.

[Auspicious]

First off, grog to Kurt for being non-defensive as he learned, and then for calmly outlining where he stands. We all can learn -- when we stop learning we start dying.

Like Kurt I have and won't reproduce. I do however have a nagging feeling that the wrong people are reproducing in this world. Nonetheless, about the only thing we don't have a shortage of on this planet is people. Soylent Green ring any bells? <grin> {note: this is a joke, morbid perhaps, but a joke}

Like Kurt I live aboard and keep my footprint light. My trash production is about the same. I do choose to buy things new on the basis of a philosophy of taking good care of them and keeping them until they die at the end of long and productive lives. As an example, today I retired a 20 MHz 386 computer I bought new when it was on the cover of PC Magazine as the "fastest desktop computer ever." It has served me well as a desktop (going from DOS to Windows 3.1 to 98, then NOSNet as a packet radio controller, then Linux as a firewall and router. After 20 years or more (a long life for a computer) it finally failed unfixably. (Is that a word?) I think I'm doing my part to keep my footprint light.

Giving forward, I work on composting projects, am signed up for oyster farming on the Chesapeake, and recycle aggressively. None of this takes much time, provides entertainment, and is quite social.

If you don't do something for your community on a local, regional, national, or global basis you can, and you can do it without having to devote all your free time to it.

Now let's go sailing!

[Zen]

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/12/are-there-reall.html

[Bubba the Pirate]

Y'all remember those toys from the 60's that you could make molds from things by heating a plastic sheet over the object you wanted to mold? Too bad that some company doesn't create a plastic with that kind of capability after it's been moulded once already. Just iron it flat, heat to remold. While they're at it, they should make it to where you can melt it in a pan with other plastic of the same type, so if you want to make something *really* big...  ;)

The 60's toy was a vacuum former.  I was in that business actually; a while ago.  FYI, plastics _can_ be melted in the same type and reused.  Gradually, however, the quality goes down.   Glass and Aluminum can be recycled without losing quality, but glass recycling is very expensive - energywise.  Aluminum is actually easier to recycle than to make new.

I did some work in plastics recycling years ago.   The biggest issue is that the incoming stream of same type plastics has to be PURE.   Only one type.   This is a problem in municipal recycling, etc.   

Another mistake, I think, was we killed the making of plastic grocery bags biodegradable.   The argument 15 years ago was that we could recycle the bags if they were pure, but additives that would allow biodegradable makes it not recyclable. 

Now, I see bags flying, floating, and hanging EVERYWHERE!!!   It is depressing.   

Happily, I'm not a plastics guy anymore.

Todd

[vinegarj]

not to be picky, but as a kid i loved my "vac-u-form."   can still recall the smell as those little sheets of plastic melted over the various forms and faces that you could make.  here's one on ebay:::
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-MATTEL-VAC-U-FORM-VACUFORM-TOY-W-BOX_W0QQitemZ160203560922QQihZ006QQcategoryZ30QQcmdZViewItem

also, about the plastic bags....as oil prices go off the charts, bio-bags become competitive and these bags are biodegradeable (made from vegetable oils, i believe).  maybe too little, too late, but gotta keep hoping. 

[saxon]

I was told by an old long term voyager that if you heat an empty can before you throw it overside when far out to sea, the heat helps to destroy the 'finish' on the metal and it consequently rusts and breaks down very much quicker in the salt water. He also said to break any glass bottles before ditching them.

So now any empty cans I usually hold in the flame of the galley stove (with a pair of pliers)when I'm making tea.  I know, I know..bloody daft Englishman but I hate to see rubbish in the ocean.

Cruising the coast of mainland Greece in the area of the Gulf of Kolpos, I promise you I sailed through Thousands of plastic bags, I can only assume they blew out to sea from some landfill site.

I don't care if people laugh when I eventually reach port and they see a couple of large black plastic rubbish sacks lashed to the rail, I won't dump plastic or non bio-degradeable stuff at sea, the sea creatures were there before us, it's their home.

[Zen]

Thank you!

I was told by an old long term voyager that if you heat an empty can before you throw it overside when far out to sea, the heat helps to destroy the 'finish' on the metal and it consequently rusts and breaks down very much quicker in the salt water. He also said to break any glass bottles before ditching them.

So now any empty cans I usually hold in the flame of the galley stove (with a pair of pliers)when I'm making tea.  I know, I know..bloody daft Englishman but I hate to see rubbish in the ocean.

Cruising the coast of mainland Greece in the area of the Gulf of Kolpos, I promise you I sailed through Thousands of plastic bags, I can only assume they blew out to sea from some landfill site.

I don't care if people laugh when I eventually reach port and they see a couple of large black plastic rubbish sacks lashed to the rail, I won't dump plastic or non bio-degradeable stuff at sea, the sea creatures were there before us, it's their home.

[s/v Faith]

  I merged this thread into one Eric had posted about the trash he jettisoned overboard on his cruise back from Hawaii.  For any who may not know about that trip, he did it in 1985 in a Pearson Ariel.  I am not going to say that we did not know not to throw plastics overboard but I will say the awareness level was much lower then it is today.

  While we were in the Bahamas, we really enjoyed our stops at many 'unspoiled' beaches as we took our own route and got away from some of the more traveled / developed areas.  We were continually amazed at the quantity of plastic flotsam that we found on the beaches.  I will say that I think the life of many plastics may well be exaggerated somewhat though, as much of the plastic had been degraded by UV to the point it was brittle and crumbling.  I don't point this out to encourage throwing it over the side, just the opposite.  I now believe the hazards to wildlife may well be greater then I previously appreciated them to be.  The small pieces of plastic seem perfect for wildlife to ingest and I wonder what the real damage is.

  For years on ships we threw all our trash over the side.  While plastics were not supposed to go into the bags, it often did.  Like Eric, I too wonder where this ended up. 

  As for me, I no longer do this.  I also try to pick up what I can... which BTW, can be a good way to work on boat handling for man overboard recovery.  ;)

 

[s/v Faith]

10 miles out, maybe 15 miles NW of  Florida Bay sometime around 3am.

  Steering by a wonderfully bright planet, clear night with a slightly confused lumpy sea.


I see something glimmer on the water, I steer off a couple degrees.... it gets closer.

Finally I sail right up to it, and if I had the boat hook I might have snagged the silver plastic wrapper from the sea.

  I could not believe just how far away I could see this thing.


If I ever fall over, please don't throw me a ring, don't need an EPIRB.....  Just give me a handful of those
shiny plastic wrappers.