Finally, A Study on Plastic From Rivers to Gyres!

It's been a while since I have posted. Life gets busy. I still try to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink, and Refuse Plastic.

I ran across an Article titled

These 10 Rivers Are Responsible for 90 Percent of the Plastic in the Oceans

https://www.seeker.com/earth/conservation/these-ten-rivers-are-responsible-for-90-percent-of-the-plastic-in-the-oceans 

Finally there is a study out there that concludes what I have been saying for years! #FromRiver2Gyre.  This article discusses a study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Titled 

Export of Plastic Debris by Rivers into the Sea

 The study claims that "The 10 top-ranked rivers transport 88–95% of the global load into the sea."

They go on to say "Using MMPW (mismanaged plastic waste) as a predictor we calculate the global plastic debris inputs form rivers into the sea to range between 0.41 and 4 × 10⁶ t/y."

The Top Ten Rivers are the Yangtze River, Indus River, Yellow River, Hai He River, Nile River, Ganges River, Pearl River, Amur River, Niger River, and the Mekong River.

Neither article mentions anything about plastic from rivers in North or South America because they did not make the top ten list of Rivers. The U.S. has better waste management, but a lot more slips through than we would think. 

The predictors used in the study, or the lack of data to study I think under estimates how much plastic actually flows from rivers in developed countries like the United States.

The article in admits, "Due to the limited amount of data high uncertainties were expected and ultimately confirmed." but then says "The empirical analysis to quantify plastic loads in rivers can be extended easily by additional potential predictors other than MMPW, for example, hydrological conditions."Thus cuncluding more research needs to be done and other factors need to be considered. For example;
 We also need to consider plastic flowing down rivers because of flooding caused by climate change.

Vermont Green Up Day 2017

We Celebrated Vermont Green Up Day a week early this year. We picked up 4 bags of bottles, cans, wrappers, random plastic pieces and a whole lot of cigarette butts along the road near the Church in Ascutney. Also a lot of members and friends helped clean up the Church grounds. Thanks everyone who helped.

The Art of 3D Printing

So it might seem Ironic that a blog about plastic in the oceans is posting about 3D Printing because 3D printing, like many technological advances has it's pros and cons when concerned with the environment. 3D Printing creates a new market for plastic production, and a new stream of plastic waste, with every failed print.

But If used in a smart way, it can help reduce the amount of plastic that normally gets tossed into the waste stream. With the Filabot and Filabot Reclaimer it is possible to recycle plastic right from home. You can make your own filament from the right kinds of plastics, including all those failed print jobs, that would otherwise be tossed!


3d printing is an art. It takes a bit of trial and error to get prints to turn out the way you want and there are little tricks you learn along the way. For instance, I have found that it helps to heat the bed to 50 degrees Celsius. This helps the plastic from hardening too quickly and curling at the edges.

I have been using my 3D printer to fix things around the house instead of going to buy a new one.


I have a filabot, but I need the reclaimer or some way to shred the plastic so I can start recycling all the failed print jobs I have been saving.

Green Up Day 2014

This year I wasn't sure if I would be in town for Green Up Day and the forecast  looked like rain so I wasn't able to organize a group to help pick up Riverside. But the weather held out so I took my kids to help contribute some time for the annual clean up.

We filled up four bags of litter. Then the kids took a break and played on the playground before we took our bags to add to the collection down town. They were serving hot dogs chips and refreshments. I ran into some high school students I recognized who just dropped off bags from around town. It turned out to be a nice event. 

Thanks to All Who Voted

Thanks to all who voted for my video on the 5Gyres contest. Unfortunatly I did not win, but there are other ways I can get the footage I need. I ended up with around 165 votes. There were some good videos.

Check back on this blog for more posts, and remember to Reduce Reuse Recycle, and keep looking for ways to reduce the amount of plastic that is consumed.

5Gyres Contest

This is too good of an opportunity to pass up. 5Gyres is having a video contest which starts today. The winner will get to go on an expedition to the north Atlantic Gyre to research plastic polution. A $10,000.00 dollar value. If I win, I will be able to get the footage to finish my documentary! There are a lot of dedicated people who I know would love to be part of this voyage. It won't be easy. Please vote for my video. I can use all the votes I can get.

Click on this link to vote.http://woobox.com/bt8ew8/vote/for/2214920

Moore's Garbage Law and the Soon to be Obsolete USB Connector

Did you hear there is going to be a faster USB coming out soon? It will have a nifty new plug. Now I will need to go out and buy all new peripherals. The USBIF has been taking lessons from Apple and Intel. It's called planned obsolescence. http://news.yahoo.com/future-usb-charger-reversible-141933870.html?bcmt=comments-postbox 

This is an example of Moore's law in action. 

Moore's law was a self serving prediction made by Intel's co-founder Gorden E Moore. His prediction was that the number of transistors or circuits, or the capacity of computing doubles every two years. Moore set the bar for the advancement of computer technology, and for the most part the computer industry has met that challenge. It has fueled the fast advancement in computer technology since the Apple II computer went on the market in 1977. It had a 1 MHz processor and 4 kb of memory. Today computers have 3GHz processors and 8GBs of memory.

There is a downside to all of this push in technological advancement: E Waste. If new computer capacity doubles every two years, that means within four years of buying a computer it becomes relatively obsolete, unless you can upgrade it. So what happens? It is thrown in the trash and replaced with a new computer.
"Rapid changes in technology, changes in media (tapes, software, MP3), falling prices, and planned obsolescence have resulted in a fast-growing surplus of electronic waste around the globe. Dave Kruch, CEO of Cash For Laptops, regards electronic waste as a "rapidly expanding" issue." An estimated 50 million tons of E-waste are produced each year.^[1] (Sthiannopkao S, Wong MH. (2012) Handling e-waste in developed and developing countries: Initiatives, practices, and consequences. Sci Total Environ.)

Since 1995 USB standard plug has not changed. USB 3.0 and 2.0 fit into the original USB 1.0 slot. This has made USB the most widely used form of connecting peripherals like Harddrives, keyboards,  Mice, Phones etc to a computer. It has outlived Apple's firewire, and it could outlive Apple's new lightning if they just stuck to their standard. But by changing their connection they are taking away the one advantage they had, compatibility. The USB-IF should stick to their standard and show Apple that Planned Obsolescence will be Busisness Taboo.

Moore's law is the law of garbage. It is time to come up with a new law, a new standard for technology where connectors don't change every couple years, and when they are changed, they are backwards compatible, where new hardware is made backwards compatible and old hardware is supported for at least 8 years, and made to be upgradable.