Wouldn't it be terrific if this kid can actual both do it and make the solution marketable?!


(Quote) "Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Ontario high school student develops way to decompose plastic bags in months

Kristine Owram, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - As jurisdictions across Canada take action to ban the use of landfill-clogging plastic bags, which can take up to 1,000 years to decompose, an Ontario high school student has discovered a way to break down the pesky plastic in a matter of months.

Source and full story: http://www.mytelus.com/ncp_news/article.en...ticleID=2948578

"Plastic bag eating bacteria"!



Works for me.

I certainly hope that his discovery will provoke the technology needed to dispose of 500 BILLION bags used each year. Until then, I will just continue to recycle mine as much as possible.
Z

They have started charging up to 10 pence a bag over here,to make people recycle more.

I cannot find the item now, but there was a company here (or in Canada) making bags from a cellulose base that degraded after being wet down in about two weeks?

For many years I used newspaper sheets in my gardens as a weed preventitive, sheet mulch. Some I even shredded paper for bulk incorporation.

Yes, and whatever happened to that invention, I wonder?

And for a while (at least here in Canada) so many of us paid extra for large garbage bags that were supposed to rot in the ground/garbage dumps. Apparently they did - but only after 1/2 the normal hundreds of years the others would. Drat.

Really do hope this student is 'onto something' as local stores stare at me a tad odd when I ask if they have paper bags to use for my groceries, etc. (Do have a bunch of fabric ones but I never seem to remember to have them in the right place at the right time - or simply not enough of them).

Newspaper shredded works as mulch? All by itself or do you mix it with something else as mulch for plants? Someone told me to use Peat Moss and I have been - but suspect it's sucking moisture out of the soil. Hmmm, I appear to be highjacking my own topic - grin! Must wander on over and post in Gardening

My son just informed me last night that the company he's working for makes a container for soiled diapers. (can't remember the name of the thing) Apparently the diapers are place into the container and the container does something like a compacter would. When full you simply dispose of the contents. Yuke, who wants a container full of dirty diapers hanging around!!
After hearing about this gizmo I remembered that there has been complaints that disposable diapers, like plastic (since a large part of them have an outer layer of plastic) don't decompose any better than just plastic bags. Everyone is on the ecological bandwagon and are encouraged to do what they can to recycle and try to do as little polluting as possible. Wouldn't it make sense to encourage mothers to go back to using good oldfasioned cloth diapers instead of disposables? No disposable diapers, no extra plastic that won't decompose for a 1000 years and less room taken up at landfills. Makes sense to me but then when I had my boys I used cloth diapers rather than the more expensive disposables. People have become so lazy that they would rather pay a bundle each year for disposable diapers rather than wash cloth ones that for the most part would be a one time investment and that make great cleaning rags after they've served their original purpose.
Convenience seems to overule conservation and not polluting anymore than necessary.

We used eco-friendly degradable nappies [US: diaper] with my little pumpkin, they only cost a little more than the ones you talk of, Iodine.

Wanted to use Terys, but to be honest, far too much hassle. We'll have to start using the eco-friendlies again by the end of the month, for another little one will be here.....

Strange how things come about.

Although this item is a few years old, I was sent the link in an email today.
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...EDIA02/80505016

We've used canvas tote bags for many years now, except for when we need cardboard boxes (which we reuse a number of times before recycling them.).

Doesn't it just burn your bum when people dump trash into the ocean! We watched a sad show awhile ago - turtles, hundreds upon hundreds of turtles that die from that plus people leaving plastic garbage on beaches. We humans do leave a tad to be desired - drat.

If it turns out this newest invention actually works, think the government should pay him a small fortune - and then ensure his idea gets into production quickly.

Good link Conundrum. Good points Mara. A ban will be inforced into the Colonel's household forthwith!

Good for you!

I'm guilty of using both 'saran wrap' and plastic zip-lock bags ... I find them essential. Use the plastic wrap to wrap individual portions of meat when we get home from the store and then pop them into zip lock bags but, in order to ease my conscience, I use them over and over and over again.

Blast! Did not think of those, maybe we'll introduce a ban on them too. Have to convince the Minister for War though.....

Oh thanks Mara, I'm glad to learn I'm not the only one who re-uses ziplock bags. I've had people look at me like I was from another planet when I've mentioned doing this. Come to think of it, you really don't know where I am actually from do you, but I still do my best to recylce those bags!!

Any prize for guessing which planet.

Undoubtedly the prize is a huge bag of recycled zip-lock bags!! - bet Iodine has hundreds of them - huge smile!

Thinking about the bags ... it helps to cross off the name of the meat wrapped inside the bag before re-using it - otherwise when one takes it out of the freezer later, we have what my husband calls "mystery meat" until it thaws out!

Hey!! You have mystery meals too??!!! I thought I was the only one!! Now about that prize, you guess the planet D. and I'll give you 250 reusable zip-lock bags and 140 recycled trash bags!! Now that last one is a real prize, you should see me wrestle the garbage man to get them back from him!!