World's most plastic producing countries -- Fighting Plastic at source

[Anonymous]

This is great clarification of how some countries are less aware of plastic pollution then others @Fahid. It would be great to have, on the same map, the best examples as well with countries that have least pollution, so that we can easily compare! 🙄

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@Fahid wrote:

Five countries—China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam—contribute more than half of the total ocean plastics

Plastic Sources to Ocean across the world

[ErmesT]

Thanks for posting @Fahid

your map make me sad, but this is what we have to fight, and this is the reason to fight. We are a small drop, there is a behavior that need to change everywere in the planet, but our activity can help, is up to us to generate the echo in the community, the thin idea that something can be different, that is possible to do it.

Thanks for sharing

Ermes

[DavidTito]

@Fahid WoW oh my gosh are you sure we are allowed to point the finger, Oh my dose look bad tho who can we get on to this? do we know any LocalGuides in these areas?

@ErmesT @Anonymous

[Anonymous]

@DavidTito, as much as I can see on the map the biggest pollutant is China, which is to be expected, given their strong industry.

China is already suffering great pressure from the global public that it must reduce environmental pollution!

[Fahid]

Yes @ErmesT @Anonymous @DavidTito @FaridTDF Its sad to see. I was not that much conscious of plastic waste before...But after coming here, reading all these in details makes me scary. We are acting on right things. Lets make big efforts at our regions. Also if we could find some LGs in the top sea pollutant source countries, make them act too will be of great help!! Small drops can be turned big!!! May be in the LG get-together at various regions, there can be a mandatory discussion request on reducing the plastics & other wastes especially to sea and cleaning the beaches!!!

Regards,

Fahid K.A.

[FaridTDF]

Comparto lo que indicas @Fahid, es verdad que pequeñas gotas, hacen mares. En mi caso estoy tratando de conocer a nivel local cuales sin las normativas del gobierno local o Municipal de mi ciudad (Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina), para que en función de eso, tener herramientas concretas, para ver qué falta en caso que falte algo (estoy seguro que falta, no tenemos separación ni pre selección de basura) y la otra que plan de publicidad en relación al tratamiento de la basura tenemos en nuestro municipio, ya les contaré detalles al respecto cuando tenga noticias de esto que comento.

Saludos. Farid

[راضي]

Thanks @ErmesT

Great connect moderator, great idea  great local guides.

Cheers

Saudi local guide 

[DavidTito]

@Anonymous that scale is we cant even chart bro

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@Anonymous wrote:

@DavidTito, as much as I can see on the map the biggest pollutant is China, which is to be expected, given their strong industry.

China is already suffering great pressure from the global public that it must reduce environmental pollution!

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[DavidTito]

@Fahid you know what we need? We need a Big fishing trawler that has those big nets and cranes With Trawler painted in Google Colours ok and its trawler name  would be

Local Guides Clean the World 42 and we will have Media Wow @ErmesT @FaridTDF @Anonymous

According to Google 42 Are the meaning of life and the universe mentioned 1:15 seconds into this video 

[Fahid]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/16/plastic-eating-protein-created-british-laboratory-could-...

16 APRIL 2018 • 9:23PM

Aplastic-eating protein grown in a British laboratory could revolutionise recycling and prevent thousands of tonnes of non-biodegradable waste clogging up landfill sites and the world’s oceans.

The enzyme, created by accident during tests by researchers from Portsmouth University, is the first known protein capable of digesting polyethylene, one of the most commonly used plastics for consumer goods.

The breakthrough was made inadvertently when tests were conducted on a naturally occurring bacteria found in a Japanese recycling centre, with the X-ray experiments causing it to mutate into a more powerful enzyme.

Tests showed that the lab-made mutant had a supercharged ability to break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most popular forms of plastic employed by the food and drinks industry.

British researchers created the plastic-digesting protein accidentally while investigating its natural counterpart

Bottles made from PET are used to package 70 per cent of soft drinks, fruit juices and mineral waters sold in shops and supermarkets, according to the British Plastics Federation.

Although it is said to be highly recyclable, discarded PET persists for hundreds of years in the environment before it degrades.

The new research sprang from the discovery of bacteria in a Japanese waste recycling centre that had evolved the ability to feed on plastic.The bugs used a natural enzyme called PETase to digest bottles and containers. 

Tonnes of plastic waste cover river in southern Mexico

While probing the bacteria’s molecular structure, the British team inadvertently created a powerful new version of the protein.

Lead scientist Professor John McGeehan, from the University of Portsmouth, said: "Serendipity often plays a significant role in fundamental scientific research, and our discovery here is no exception.

"Although the improvement is modest, this unanticipated discovery suggests that there is room to further improve these enzymes, moving us closer to a recycling solution for the ever-growing mountain of discarded plastics.

"The technology exists and it's well within the possibility that in the coming years we will see an industrially viable process to turn PET and potentially other (plastic) substrates back to their original building blocks, so that they can be sustainably recycled."

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Great News -- @ErmesT @DavidTito @FaridTDF @Anonymous @Julien44 @Golam @Ravisawane @AlejandraMaria @LucioV