While working with these materials, we have frequently run into the limits of our knowledge. Or, as we have gained more information on the lifecycle and health effects of materials, we find ourselves at a loss to understand how there could not be a more immediate and robust response to the dangers we are facing. Or we, as I suppose many of you, don’t know what individual response would be helpful. I open the first of two blogs that are not reports but questions.
If you have special knowledge, or a suggestion/solution, please do join the conversation. For our more open-ended or rhetorical musings, you are welcome to contribute your thoughts as well.
Petros asks:
What is the insulation material on the inside of tomato/ or other food cans? How can we know? Should companies be required to label this material? Is BPA still used to coat some cans in Europe?
For an overview on can coatings, see https://www.foodpackagingforum.org/food-packaging-health/can-coatings
Why is Aluminum often coupled with a plastic film of LDPE to form soft bags or packets? These combination containers cannot easily be recycled…Are there also other combinations of materials? What alternatives are there?
Nori asks:
Where does the Greek paper industry get its pulp from?
Given the bleaching process’ negative effects on aquatic life and ground water, why do we need to bleach toilet paper? Tissues? Paper towels?
Is tree-free paper more sustainable? If yes, why is it not more widely used?
Nadia asks:
Is it possible for the average individual to make significant change in the ways they shop and provide for their families?
Is it moral to expect the average individual to carry the responsibility for change?
What is the cost to the individual to make this change vs placing this responsibility on larger industries?
Vaggi asks:
Why do we use type 6 plastic (Polystyrene) for take-out food containers, cups etc. when styrene is considered a health hazard, and how toxic is it?
How is it possible that we continue to make and buy toys from type 7 plastic and pvc which are both known to be dangerous for our health?
Jennifer asks:
Greece is the major European source for bauxite, used in aluminum production. What are the environmental consequences of bauxite mining in Greece?
How can we learn about the inks used in packaging and their environmental effects on waste water?
I have learned that biodegradable bags may or may not be an environmentally useful solution. Why isn’t there clearer information about biodegradable bags? Are bags labeled “OK compost” truly compostable–meaning they leave no toxic chemicals or particles?
After sitting for a year in garbage bags in my garden, with the slight moisture of that environment, some materials began to come apart. I noticed that materials I thought were only cardboard, paper or aluminum in fact had a very thin film of something meant to water-proof the material. I wondered if this was made from BPA. Should food take-out packaging be required to make known the types of lining used to water-proof the cardboard, paper, or aluminum?
As I sorted my trash and tried to understand what the materials were, I noticed many bags without any printed declarations of the type of plastic / recycling code. Is that legal, or should we demand that companies declare their materials?
Why are we not required to separate our recycled materials in the blue bins (like in some other countries)? It took me months to sort my own trash. How is this separation process achieved on a mass scale? Is it achieved?
How much of the materials placed in recycling bins is actually recycled? There are many urban accounts of recycling bins being picked up by regular garbage trucks. Is this true? Who oversees and verifies this procedure?
Given electronics and appliances’ reliance on finite raw metals and other materials that are often procured with extreme damage to the environment, extensive water use, danger to the health of workers, or conducted under illegal working conditions like child labor; and being also aware of the unnecessary economic cost to consumers citizens, when will we make planned obsolescence of electronics and appliances illegal?