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Some Interesting Approaches to Cleaning Up Plastic Pollution

We have seen some interesting approaches to cleaning up and otherwise dealing with the issues of plastic pollution over the years, from the fanciful to the grandiose to the simply quirky.

We're not big fans of generic 'fishing' for plastic. Partly because it tends to be ineffective and inefficient, but mostly because it typically expends fossil fuels in significant quantities for questionable overall benefit; more trading one problem for another than solving a problem. And where we perceive the nearly invisible micro- and nano-pollution as the biggest threat in real terms (a fish or seabird is not going to eat a giant glass fishing net float), most of these approaches don't even acknowledge the existence of micro- and nano-plastics, lot alone remove them from the environment.

Still, if people are having fun or making a business of removing any plastic from our wild environment, we have to commend their efforts. Including keeping plastic out of the waste stream. And let's keep in mind, not all the plastic packaging you acquire is recyclable, so some creativity in dealing with that lot would be welcomed by a lot of people.

A New Wave of Gadgets Hits the Water to Clean up Plastic Trash

Turning Ocean Garbage Into Gold
Notes that plastic water bottles and their caps are different plastic types (1-PET and 5-PP), and recyclers want them separated, not with the cap screwed back on.

Fishing for plastic: the Amsterdam canal tour with a difference

Trawling for Trash

6 awesome programs tackling ocean plastics

Collecting and Transforming Ocean Plastic

Plastic bags collected by students transformed into benches

Packaging - More Than Meets The Eye

How to reuse / recycle old cds

FROM THE HUMBLE MILK BAG TO THE TREASURED BED…OR THE FASHION BAG…

50 Garden Solutions You’ll Find In Your Trash

Waste-to-toys: the growing market for eco-friendly, high-quality toys

How to Make a USB Fan From Plastic Bottle

BOTTLES UP! Fiji’s First Recycled Plastic Bottle Boat
I think a competition between classes of students or between schools to build a boat from waste plastic products, and then have a fun-day competition with them would be blast, if a suitable waterbody is nearby.

Plastiki: sailing the seven seas on a boat made from 12,500 plastic bottles

Donating Plastics That Can’t Be Recycled

From waste to circular economy – ecoBirdy: A European Toy Story

[dead link: https://inhabitat.com/recycled-cd-spindle-bagel-holder/] Recycled CD Spindle Bagel Holder

Fun with plastic bottles (don't tell your kids it might be educational)

20 Ways to Reuse and Recycle Empty Plastic Bottles

23 Creative Ways To Reuse Old Plastic Bottles

31 Creative Ways to Reuse Plastic Bottles

Green Living: 20 Ingenious Ways to Reuse Plastic Bottles Instead of Trashing Them

17 Ingenious Ideas to Reuse Plastic Bottles

How to Make an Airsoft Rocket Out of Plastic Bottle (Water Rocket) - Tutorial (4-minute video)

[link times out: http://www.fabdiy.com/diy-plastic-bottle-wind-spinner/] DIY Plastic Bottle Wind Spinner

Well, there's a selection to get you started. Search the Web to find more, or come up with your own.

Types of Plastic
The Science of Plastic Pollution
Media Items on Plastic Pollution
RESTCo's Plastic Pollution Solution Path
Some Interesting Approaches
Things That Don't Work
Things That Do Work
De-plasticizing the Ocean (2017 RESTCo 3-pager)
Removing microplastic from shoreline/beach (demo)
RESTCo Plastic Pollution Solution
Capturing Micro- and Nano-plastics from the Waste Stream
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