One word … Pyrolysis.
Crews don’t get rest in bad weather.
Ask the cook.
A yes that is true. After first getting 8-10 hrs. of sleep people want to eat and watch movies. No rest for the Cooks and Catering personnel.
Why would I, a marine scientist and mariner, have had to make suggestions to be able to give my opinion? Isn’t that a bit arbitrary? I’m not a butcher either but I sure have an opinion on steak.
I gave a talk a few years ago on cost-benefit analysis of gene-line biosecurity regulations for Atlantic Salmon farming in the EU, despite not being a citizen of the EU. Or a salmon.
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As far as trapping plastics in the river is concerned, the horse is already out in the fields.
I think many changes need to occur at design level first and foremost. Plastics are designed by chemistry specialists. Products are designed with certain purposes in mind and when they are done, they are simply discarded. A container of detergent is not used twice by the end consumer, and that is done purposefully, as retail businesses make money from the sale of measured products. Though there are markets where you can bring your own container and buy in bulk, most do not.
Petrochemical companies who produce and supply these products should be made to pay and pick up that trash, and supermarkets should also be made responsible in minimizing the garbage heap, they make money from pollution.
Governments should also consider that legislating certain products to be wrapped in ungodly layers of plastic is against their own best interests, as the ensuing trash is a cost governments have to bear in maintaining landfills and environmental clean-ups. There are no more labels on one pair of jeans: they are now books full of legal notifications. Pages and pages of polyester strips sewn on by exploited labor in the East.
That’s the consequence of design.
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Living in Singapore you should be familiar with the barriers that is installed across many of canals and storm drains to collect plastic and other debris that flows towards the sea, or reservoirs. Many have been in place for decades:
Here is one that is also serving as a handy lookout point for a heron:
There is also the collection boats that operate on the rivers and major canals:
And the larger ones that operated in Marina Bay and around shipyard and wharfs in the port area:
PS> There is also regular pickup of garbage from ships at the anchorages.
(I couldn’t find a picture of any of those, though)
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What has the Dutch ‘inventor’ Boyan Slat actually invented?
It doesn’t seem like he has actually invented anything, he is just using existing inventions to clean up plastic.
It is better to make an effort, rather than no effort. Many don’t call the plumber until a problem affects them personally. My hat is off to those that give a shit now, not later. Am I a “Greenie”? Aw hell No, but I do realize their could be changes in our own behavior being responsible regarding disposing of products and thier containers can help a bit… Not referring to the large or small commercial companies which have a large hand in this, and weather events. Just us regular/irregular people taking a bit of responsibility for our simple actions. Ain’t that hard.
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Yes all good but they have a new problem with the barrages on most rivers during a huge storm and they open they dump massive amounts of plastic.
A fixable problem
I have seen Pongol marina completely filled with plastic after a storm, lots complaining
I believe he tried to make that system wind powered and automated but was not successful so eventually he began using ships.
They also have a designer sunglasses company based in Italy that uses the recycled plastic.
I rest my case. On all fronts.
I have been involved in beach cleaning and the vast majority of plastic found washed up was from the fishing industry, I would perhaps to go as far and say almost all plastic found washed up was from the fishing industry. Obviously that won’t be the case in developing countries where people throw their garbage into rivers.
As shown in the below video a lot of the garbage the found during the ocean cleanup operations was also from the fishing industry. You have these big fleets of fishing boats (mostly Chinese and Russia) that go around the world staying at sea for months or years at a time, they resupply and transfer their fish to a mother ship, these boats are not that big, as they don’t have much space I find it highly unlikely that they will be storing their garbage and transferring it to the mother ship, they just be throwing it over the side.
These days I think very little plastic in the water will be coming from cargo ships, commerical seafarers are well educated in proper garbage disposal and there is usually lots of space to store it or they have incinerators. But the great pacific garbage patch will keep growing as long as the fishing boats keep throwing their rubbish over the side, it is very hard to police and stop them doing it, they don’t have much space on their boats and they don’t have incinerators so practically they they couldn’t keep it onboard if they wanted to.
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And you know where most of that plastic originated from, I presume?
About the storm or the plastic??
BTW; did anybody try to do something about it, or just complain?
And who did they complain to, each other??
The gov dumped the plastic from the rivers into the sea by opening the barrages.
Which all came from people that dropped it in Singapore.
There are HDB flats close by no so lots of public will see it, hopefully enough complaints the gov will trap the plastic before it gets dumped back into the sea.
The entire plastic debate to me is silly. Example; I bought 4 bottles of water, plastic of course and the store attendant put them in a paper bag. I asked for a plastic bag because the paper bag would disintegrate within a few minutes of being outside. She said plastic bags were not allowed due to environmental protocol from the government. This is beyond ridiculous. If people are serious about eliminating plastics they could require a deposit or put the liquid in a container such as I get milk. Every time I buy some item I spend an inordinate amount of time cutting the damn plastic off it. Just sell me what I want and put either in my hand or a paper bag dammit!! I know of no one who buys something, takes it home and tells to the family, “Look at all this beautiful plastic they put around it, gosh I hope I don’t destroy your gift while extracting it from this damn plastic, be aware it has happened before.”
Except me
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No plastic drink bottles would eliminate a huge amount of plastic in the sea.
Thanks for modifying your insults.
Have you been across the causeway lately and seen the rivers that flow into Johor Strait? They are full of garbage, plastic included.
Since there is only one way for that to go, east along the Strait, a lot of it ends up on the Singapore side of the Strait. (Especially on Pongol Point)
BTW; Have you got any proof of your accusations and conspiracy theories about this awful Singapore Government that dump garbage and keep the truth of everything bad they do from the ignorant population that live in HDB flats?
If I haven’t said it before I’ll repeat it now:
You should get out of there while you can.
Why live in a place like that, when there are flights to just about anywhere in the world leaving from Changi Airport every day. Be on one!!
Oz is open again and the surf is up at Bondi. Heaven awaits you Down under!!