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In our final blog post we are going to take some time to discuss a topic that might not seem obviously connected to waste issues, but is actually a major problem, and that is Fast Fashion. Fast fashion is a term used to describe the quick production and turnover of new fashion styles and trends, often at the expense of quality, sustainability, and ethics. This model of fast fashion has become increasingly popular in recent years, with many clothing companies releasing new styles on a weekly to even sometimes daily basis in order to keep up with the latest trends and consumer demand. These quickly changing trends, poor quality, and often dirt cheap prices encourage people to buy ever increasing amounts of clothing. In the past, people often had only a handful of outfits, and even as recently as the 90s people bought on average 20 garments a year. In 2021 that number was up to 68. This number doesn’t include all the returned or unsold stock that companies purposefully destroy rather than donate, which is estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars each year. All that clothing has a real impact on the environment, and on people.

Water pollution: The production of clothing requires large amounts of water, and the toxic chemicals used in the production process often end up contaminating local water supplies.

Chemical pollution: The production of clothing involves the use of numerous chemicals, including dyes, pesticides, and other toxic substances. These chemicals can harm local ecosystems and wildlife, and also contribute to air and water pollution.

Waste and Landfill: Fast fashion encourages consumers to purchase clothing that is worn only a few times before being thrown away. The culture of free returns online are also a contributor. While you might think returned clothes are re-sold they are often just destroyed due to damage, being out of season, or simply pose a logistical problem. Similarly unsold stock, which is up to 30% of clothing produced, is destroyed and disposed of, all leading to a significant increase in textile waste. This waste often ends up in landfills, where it can release harmful chemicals into the environment. Many fabrics made today are plastic, or plastic blends which will last indefinitely in the environment, and shed microplastic fibers.a You may also think donating unwanted clothing solves this problem, but the vast majority of donated items are not sold and are landfilled or turned into rags. Much is also shipped overseas as aid, but there is so much excess clothing that even in these poverty stricken areas it is burned to make space. It is so bad some countries are looking to ban used clothing imports.

Energy consumption: The production of clothing requires a great deal of energy, including energy for growing the crops used to make fabric, energy for manufacturing, and energy for transportation. This energy consumption contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

Deforestation: The production of crops like cotton and the harvesting of materials like leather also contribute to deforestation and the loss of wildlife habitat.

Human Rights: All clothing is made by people. Many people imagine that their clothes are manufactured by machines, but in reality all clothes are made at least in part by a person. Fast fashion can only maintain its cheap prices by abusing their workers. Workers in garment factories are most often severely underpaid, overworked, and are in extremely dangerous working conditions. Many are also children.

Choosing to buy fewer, higher quality items from ethical and sustainable retailers can go a long way to helping both people and planet.

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Welcome back to the 5th installation of our plastic waste series. This week we will be discussing proactive ways you can get out in nature and help the environment at the same time.

One of the major ways we do that at FBR is trail and beach cleanups, which we have been conducting as part of our Trash Talks program. While beach cleanups may seem like a very simple action, and it is, it also can make a real difference in an ecosystem. Cleanups and removal of litter from beaches is important for several reasons:

Environmental Protection: Litter on beaches can harm wildlife, damage ecosystems, and pollute waterways. Removing litter helps to protect the environment and maintain a healthy balance of marine life.

Aesthetics: Litter on beaches can detract from their natural beauty, making them less enjoyable for visitors and residents alike.

Health and Safety: Litter on beaches can pose health hazards to people, animals, and the environment. For example, discarded fishing line can entangle wildlife, and discarded syringes can pose a serious health risk to beachgoers.

Economic Benefits: Clean beaches can attract tourists, providing an economic boost to local communities.

By conducting beach cleanups and removing litter, communities can help protect the environment, promote public health and safety, and boost local economies. It's a simple yet effective way for individuals and groups to make a positive impact on their community and the world.

Organizing a trip with your friends to clean up a beach might be a bit of an undertaking, so if you are looking for something easier that you can do solo is plogging. Plogging is a unique hobby that combines physical activity with environmental activism. It involves going for a walk or run while picking up litter along the way; the term is a combination of plastic and jogging. Participants collect trash they find in parks, along streets, or on beaches, and dispose of it properly. Picking up just a couple of pieces of garbage on your daily walk can do wonders for keeping your neighbourhood or trail system clean and beautiful. On top of helping the environment plogging can boost your workout. The action of bending down to retrieve the garbage and standing several times over the course of a walk will strengthen your legs and core, while burning a few extra calories.

Plogging has become popular in recent years as a way for individuals to make a positive impact on the environment. It’s a simple and easy way to clean up your community and help preserve the beauty of nature. Additionally, plogging is a great way to stay active and get exercise, as participants are walking or running while picking up trash.

In summary, plogging is a hobby that benefits both the environment and personal health. Beach cleanups, plogging or anything else you do to remove garbage from the environment can be a fun and easy way to make a positive impact on your community and help preserve the beauty of nature. While it would be best to keep garbage from getting into the environment, that is not always possible, so there will always need to be those willing to cleanup the mess.

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In our last blog we covered the basics of recycling, and this week we will be diving into a more niche topic of “hard-to-recycle” plastics. As we know from last time plastic recycling is the process of collecting and processing plastic waste into new products. It is an important way to reduce plastic pollution and conserve resources, as it allows plastic materials to be reused rather than being discarded and sent to landfills or the ocean.

The first step in the plastic recycling process is the collection and sorting of plastic waste. This can be done at a recycling facility or at the point of disposal (such as at a recycling bin in a public area). Plastic waste is sorted by type and cleaned to remove contaminants such as food residue or labels.

Once the plastic waste is sorted and cleaned, it is processed into small plastic flakes or pellets. These flakes or pellets can then be melted and molded into new products, such as plastic bottles, containers, or even clothing.

The process of plastic recycling can vary depending on the type of plastic being recycled and the end product being produced. Some plastic types are easier to recycle than others, and some products are more in demand than others. Today we will be discussing harder-to-recycle plastics. As you likely know, recyclable plastic comes with a number embossed on the bottom that tells you if and how it should be recycled. You probably also know that your local facility takes some numbers and not others. This is because different kinds of plastic have different properties like hardness, colour, or melting point, which means they need separate machinery to process it. This can be too costly for many facilities, so at least some percentage of recyclable plastic is always being landfilled. Similarly some plastics make for a less expensive output, meaning it is not profitable to create that recycled plastic, which also results in recyclables in the landfill.

Z22, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

There are also plastics most people would deem non-recyclable, like wrappers, face masks, or makeup applicators. These are often considered non-recyclable not because they cannot physically be recycled, but because the cost of processing is too high to make a profit.

However, there are people working to change that balance. For example, the company Terracycle is focused on recycling these hard to recycle products. They do this by partnering with large corporations to create recycling programs for their products. For example, Terracylce and Crest have partnered to accept all forms of dental care waste like toothpaste tubes, flossers, and toothbrushes of any brand. This is a great example of a corporation taking some responsibility for their impact, and working to make their product more sustainable. Terracycle also provides services for small scale business and community groups to pay to subsidize the cost of recycling their personal waste.

Fundy Biosphere worked with the Salisbury Elementary school to give that program a try. FBR purchased a box from Terracycle for candy wrappers, and left it with the students for the month of November to collect up their Halloween waste. Together we were able to divert hundreds of wrappers from the landfill, and teach the students about how their plastic use can affect the environment. We will soon be giving some boxes to elementary schools in the area to collect their valentines day garbage.

People at home can improve recycling by cleaning and correctly sorting their waste, and by reducing the amount of non-recyclable plastic they use.

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Welcome back to the fourth installation of our Plastics Series! We hope that you’ve been enjoying the journey of recognizing the problems that come with the overconsumption of plastic, and are challenging yourself to reduce your impact. Now that we’ve talked about what happens to plastic once it’s been disposed of, we want to shed light on an important and increasingly alarming side effect of improper waste management: microplastics.

What are microplastics? Exactly like it sounds, they are small pieces of plastic. Officially, microplastics are defined as any piece of plastic smaller than 5mm, or about the size of a grain of rice. Common types of microplastics include:

Fragments: which are small pieces of larger plastic objects,
Fibers: found in plastic strands of clothing,
Foam: such as pieces of food containers & coffee cups,
Nurdles: plastic pellets commonly used in manufacturing for a wide variety of products, and
Microbeads: beads used in soaps & cosmetics.

Microplastics are currently categorized into two main groups: primary and secondary.

Primary microplastics are types of plastic that were manufactured to be small, like glitter, or those microbeads and nurdles mentioned above.

Inkwina, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Secondary microplastics are essentially the leftovers of other kinds of plastic items.They are initially made to be larger, but are broken down in the environment, like styrofoam falling apart into little balls or a plastic bottle breaking apart in the sea. This happens because of a process called mechanical erosion, wherein the waves of the ocean currents repeatedly wear down the weak spots in larger pieces of plastic and eventually tear them apart.

Oof.cc, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Microplastics have been identified just about everywhere, from our fresh and saltwater, to the food we eat, and the air we breathe. Major sources of microplastics include: Agricultural runoff, Aquaculture, Cruise ships, Ocean dumping, Stormwater, Fishing & shipping industries, Urban runoff, and Waste management. All of these sources contribute to large amounts of plastic being swept up in our oceans.

As you can probably imagine, this can be damaging to animals as it is common for them to eat plastics. It is hypothesized that microplastics can affect the physiological functioning of animals in multiple ways like: blocking their digestive system, leaching harmful chemicals into their bodies, and making them feel less hungry because their stomachs are full of it. Microplastics both absorb and give off chemicals and harmful pollutants, and this creates the potential for adverse effects on humans through bioaccumulation. Many animals that have microplastics in their bodies are used as food by people. This is concerning for sure, especially for the one-fifth of the world’s population that relies on seafood as their primary source of food.

National Marine Sanctuaries, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

As of yet the health impacts of microplastics are not well understood because the problem has only been acknowledged recently, but that doesn’t mean that the issue isn’t being taken seriously. Microplastics are now listed as a toxic substance under schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

Long-term solutions to the problem are still in development, but luckily there’s ways that you can help today. It’s obviously impossible to eliminate all sources of plastic in your everyday life, but there’s no denying the fact that reducing the amount you use can make a difference. Some other options to help are to switch out products with microbeads, choose organic clothing or use a mesh washing bag to catch microfibers, and avoid styrofoam where possible.

This blog is part of our Trash Talks project, funded through the NB Environmental Trust Fund

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Last time we learned what plastic is, and some of the pros and cons. This week we will be talking about where plastic goes once you throw it away.

Littered

Litter is the careless or intentional disposal of waste in a public place rather than in a designated trash receptacle. Litter is not only unsightly and can reduce the aesthetic appeal of an area, but it can also have serious negative impacts on the environment and wildlife.

Kate Ter Haar from Cedarville, MI, USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Litter can clog waterways and harm or kill aquatic animals, as well as create breeding grounds for pests and diseases. It can also be harmful to humans, as it can contain sharp or hazardous materials that can cause injury or illness. In addition, litter is a costly problem for communities, as it requires resources to clean up and can decrease property values.

Once in the environment litter can travel all over the world on the air and through waterways, and usually ends in the ocean. In the environment plastic will be degraded by the elements. Sunlight and weathering will cause the plastic to break into ever-smaller pieces called micro-plastics. These small plastic particles can then be ingested by animals, and by humans from our food, water and air. The health risks microplastics can hold to humans is not yet well understood, but some potential risks include leaching chemicals, and accumulation of particles in the body. Microplastics pose a direct risk to wildlife, as they can mistake the plastic for food, but since they cannot digest the plastic it will accumulate in their stomachs until there is no room for food, causing them to perish.

In order to protect the environment and improve our communities, it is important that we properly dispose of our waste and take steps to prevent litter.

Landfilled

A landfill is a designated area where waste is deposited and then covered with soil or other material. Landfills are used to dispose of solid waste, such as household trash, construction debris, and municipal solid waste.

Ashley Felton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Here is a brief overview of how a landfill works:

Waste is delivered to the landfill and unloaded onto the site. The waste is spread out and compacted to create a stable surface for the next layer of waste. Each layer of waste is covered with a layer of soil or other material to contain the waste and prevent it from spreading.

Landfills are carefully designed to minimize the impact on the environment. They are lined with a layer of impermeable material, such as clay or plastic, to prevent the waste from leaching into the ground. Landfills are also equipped with systems to collect and treat any leachate (liquid that has come into contact with the waste) that may be produced. They are monitored and regulated by government agencies to ensure that they are operated safely and in compliance with environmental laws.

Landfilled plastic is any plastic that was thrown into the garbage, and includes both non-recyclable plastic and recyclable material that was not properly sorted. Since many places do not have recycling programs available, and many people do not always properly sort their waste when recycling is available, the majority of the plastic in the world is landfilled.

While landfilling is better for the environment than littering, there are still some environmental concerns. Some kinds of plastic can leach harmful chemicals under prolonged exposure, so landfills must take costly measures to prevent the chemicals from leaking into the environment. The other major issue is the plastic itself leaking back into the ecosystem. Plastic in open landfills and dumps can easily be caught by the wind and carried just about anywhere, and pose the same risks as littered plastic, as outlined below.

Overall, the goal of a landfill is to safely contain and manage waste in a way that minimizes any negative impacts on the environment and public health. While landfilling is often the only option for disposing of plastic waste, it can still be damaging to the environment so as always the focus must be on reducing use of plastics.

Recycled

Plastic recycling is the process of collecting and processing plastic waste into new products. It is an important way to reduce plastic pollution and conserve resources, as it allows plastic materials to be reused rather than being discarded and sent to landfills or the ocean.

University of Scranton Weinberg Memorial Library from Scranton, Pennsylvania, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

SOOATSIMC 223 Tsaueng TTPMRA, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The process of plastic recycling can vary depending on the type of plastic being recycled and the end product being produced. Some plastic types are easier to recycle than others, and some products are more in demand than others. Overall, plastic recycling is an important way to reduce plastic pollution and conserve resources, and it is important to continue to improve and expand plastic recycling efforts to address the growing problem of plastic pollution.

However recycling is not the cure to the plastics problem. At present new plastic is always less expensive than recycled plastic, which means companies are incentivized to choose new. This is especially concerning for lower income countries that receive recycling waste. Countries like Canada, the US and many in Europe ship our waste to these countries under the pretense that it will be recycled. However the sheer amount of waste combined with the lack of financial incentive makes it so that this waste is regularly burned, landfilled, or loose in the environment instead of being recycled. Burning plastic is now a major health concern in some places because of this practice. Recycling is an important tool to combating the plastic problem, but reducing the amount of new plastic created is the most important step.

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