Tag: plastic

Less plastic with Carte d’Or eco trays – Italian Cuisine

How much is the plastic that infests the oceans of our planet? And how much do we spend each year in the (seemingly) endless expanses of water that surround us? And the Mediterranean? What plastic is there among the waste that spoils our sea? How long does a plastic object take to disperse in the environment?

No. They are not the questions of a painful beach quiz. These are the questions we can no longer elude, especially when – as everyone – as always – we use plastic containers for food and drinks on a daily basis. The most urgent and effective answers, even before the numbers, are in the solutions. Personal, daily, diligent, burdensome and sometimes a bit pedantic, where it is the responsibility of us consumers. Structural and innovative when companies come up with them.

All the inhabitants of this generous and offended planet have the duty to buy more streamlined packaging (when and where possible) and of to recycle: more and better than what we do. Suffice it to say that worldwide only 14% of plastic packaging arrives at recycling plants and only 8% is actually recycled, while a third ends up in ecosystems. Companies are responsible for investing in research to create new consumption patterns. A virtuous example is the new Carte d’Or (Unilever) ice cream tubs. Made of paper coupled with a layer of bioplastic (which allows it to be waterproof and therefore suitable for ice cream), they are compostable (therefore they can be eliminated in the damp) or, according to local regulations, recyclable (with the card).

The operation, as stated in their slogan "No, Better, Less Plastic", aims to contain the use of plastic in packaging: from 2010 to today the impact of Carte d’Or packs on waste has decreased by one third and by 2020 should be reduced by half. Unilever pilot project in Italy, is realized in collaboration with WWF Italy.

The presence of plastic in our waters is now aworldwide emergency: the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has included it among the 6 most serious (together with climate change, ocean acidification and loss of biodiversity). Sea turtles, birds, fish, birds and mammals are at risk: the larger pieces injure or strangle the animals, while the smaller ones are ingested (up to 170 fragments have been found in the stomach of a sea turtle), often causing the death. The Mediterranean is then very dense with microplastics, small and insidious fragments, which also have concentrations of 1.25 million fragments per square kilometer, almost 4 times those of the infamous plastic island of the North Pacific. It is expected that, without interventions, by 2050 in the oceans there will be, in terms of weight, more plastic than fish. Mask, fin and snorkel could therefore become obsolete.

To cope with this disaster you can (indeed we can, must) first of all sign for the #PLASTICFREE campaign that WWF Italy launched on change.org. Participate in the Plastic Free Beaches tour: always supported by WWF with Carte d’Or main partnership, starts on June 3 (in preparation for World Oceans Day, 8) for clean the Italian coasts. On the first date, WWF volunteers and Unilever Italia employees will dedicate themselves to a beach on the Roman coast. Last summer, in a similar WWF initiative, 20 kilometers of coasts were sieved and, from the Romagna coast to the coves of Sardinia, over 1,000 volunteers collected the most varied objects: cotton buds (in a beach you find 4,000), envelopes of plastic, bottles and caps, polystyrene, nets, syringes, remains of buoys, but also car bumpers, tires, water heaters and mattresses.

For the lazy, the beach test remains. That if nothing else, provides the measure of the problem. How much plastic in the oceans? Over 150 million tons with an annual increase of 8. Is the percentage of plastic compared to the total waste in the Mediterranean? 95% between sea, seabed and beaches (from Turkey and Spain, followed by -ahinoi from Italy, Egypt and France). And tourists generate a 40% increase in summer plastic pollution in the Mediterranean. In our sea they are at risk well 134 species, between marine animals and birds. The survival of plastic in the environment? Years, centuries, but even more. At sea a glass 50 years, a fishing line 600. Most do not biodegrade in any way and will remain in nature for hundreds or thousands of years. How much it is recycled plastic from the market in the very civilized Europe? Stop at 6%! Recycling helps. But avoid plastic replacing it with other materials is much better. To still earn so many magical baths in the sea. Maybe enjoying ice creams (and other foods produced by sensitive companies) that do not require the use of plastic.

Livia Fagetti
6 May 2019

How many times can a plastic bottle be reused? – Italian Cuisine

Health and environment: how many times is it advisable to reuse a plastic bottle?

A plastic water bottle is comfortable and light. We can take it with us and fill it several times, when we are around for a walk, but also in the daily workday. The question, however, arises: how many times can a plastic bottle be reused?

Are plastic bottles safe?

Plastic bottles are produced with raw materials for food use, so from this point of view there is no fear. Once this is established, however, a false myth is born: many believe that the number that is at the bottom of the bottles or plastic cups represent the number of reusables allowed. In reality that number represents the type of material of which the container is made and it is necessary for the collection centers to properly dispose of the waste.

What we see on the plastic water bottles is the number 1, which identifies the PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the lightest and most flexible type of plastic, which is used for most disposable containers. Although this plastic does not release substances that are harmful to health, the products packaged with it are nevertheless identified as single use. Consequently, by reusing them over the long term, they may lose their characteristics and be targeted by germs and bacteria more easily.

… and the environment?

After having taken into consideration the aspects concerning the safety of plastic bottles, the most important issue, that linked to theenvironmental pollution.
PET plastic it is not biodegradable: the average life of these bottles is estimated at a good 1000 years. A very long period to spend on our planet, considering that most of the bottles are not collected for recycling and end up polluting the environment, from the soil to the waters of the seas and rivers.
The plastic emergency is becoming more and more current and this is why many companies have taken a path plastic free, like NaturaSì, which eliminated plastic bottles from its offer, in favor of water dispensers and loose glass bottles.

How many times can a plastic bottle be reused?

So let's go back to the initial question: how many times can we reuse a plastic bottle? The answer at this point should be: never. Better to prefer other types of materials, such as the glass or the metal, washing them regularly, and maybe using water bottles to prune water around with us.

Did you happen to have no other choice? Reuse the plastic bottle so creative and give him one new life. Some idea?

Cut the bottle in half: the upper part can become a funnel, while the lower one a penholder to decorate. There are also those who use them to create mini greenhouses for the cultivation of small plants, palette for gardening or mangers for birds. The top for a plastic bottle? Help us recycle and dispose of other waste: a plastic bottle can in fact also be used for recovery of used oil, for example that of a frying or preservation of canned food, to transport it to the disposal center.

A cloth bag for life … plastic free! – Italian Cuisine

Every year about 100 million tons of plastic are dispersed in nature. It is not too late for each of us to be responsible starting with the use of the cloth bag … but one for life

They are many, they are colorful, they are eco – really? Choose to use a cloth bag it is often the first conscientious gesture we make to feel involved in the battle against environmental pollution in the direction plastic free. From the cosmopolitan architect to the university student to the provincial housewife, the cloth bag is the cross accessory that brings everyone together in the battle against plastic. And yet, perhaps there is a detail that escapes: use one for life.

First, the numbers

How much plastic did you use today? It is enough to do a quick review of everyday actions to discover that our daily life is marked by objects that unfortunately will remain long after us – unfortunately. The WWF has issued appalling figures: the 95% is the percentage of plastic contained in the waste from the Mediterranean Sea that suffocates habitats and species; 1.25 million of fragments per km2 is the record concentration of microplastics in the Mare nostrum, almost 4 times higher than those recorded on the plastic island of the northern Pacific; over 90% of the damage caused by our waste to wildlife is due to plastic; 134 are the species victims of plastic ingestion in the Mediterranean (including all species of sea turtle, which exchange plastic bags for prey); Europe is the second plastic manufacturer in the world; 2.1 are the millions of tons of plastic packaging consumed by the Italians each year.

With these numbers worthy of the worst horror film, the environmental association has launched a worldwide petition to urgently request an international treaty to stop plastic pollution. After the EU signed the single-item farewell by 2021, the request is directed to the governments of the world to stipulate a Global Deal legally binding with the aim of blocking the dispersion of plastic in nature by 2030.

Maybe not everyone knows that …

Bearing in mind the numbers pitted by WWF, our intervention is more than desirable. The infamous plastic bag patented in 1965 by a Swedish engineer, it has been banned in Italy since 2011 in favor of the biodegradable version. In the last decade, the cloth bag has entered common use as a practical eco-sustainable solution, becoming the accessory smart to keep in your bag when you go shopping or to use for the household order in the closet as in the pantry, to be the preferred gift of businesses or large and small companies. But…

Make your mind local: how many cloth shoppers do you have at home? The probability of having accumulated a collector's number is very high. Just think of the Italian population, which for 2019 was estimated by Istat at around 60 million inhabitants. With a quick hypothetical calculation, the number of fabric bags is decidedly high. The point lies in the environmental impact necessary for its production, which the UK environmental protection agency (Uk Environment Agency, or Ukea) had calculated to be superior to that of a high density polyethylene bag. The undeniable positive side is that the fabric bag is anyway reusable, although to compensate for the environmental impact it must be reused more than 130 times. In practice, to make the choice of the cloth bag truly ecological it is necessary to use it for a year and a half at least once a week. So, if we really want to help the environment, it is important to use a single bag of fabric without accumulating.

Smart choice

Another element to be reckoned with is the material with which the cloth bag is made. One must keep in mind in the choice that i eco-sustainable or environmentally friendly fabrics they are of animal origin, derived from organic or animal fibers such as wool, cotton, silk, jute, for example – even milk! Not only their origin is important to verify, but also the production process must have a low environmental impact, of course. Also look at the printing and dyeing, which must contain absolutely no oil or chemical derivatives. In short, the choice of the cloth bag must be made carefully to really help the planet.

Browse the gallery for eco tote bags eco 100% proposals!

Cover from Esturirafi