Ironic support there Packie considering your sig!

These fellas are sailing a boat made from plastic bottles and other junk to draw attention to the gyre problem.. good blog about it here...http://junkraft.blogspot.com/

I take my hat off to you big PB,
530am and your reading about plastic boats.

and if I read correctly "other fellas junk"

I was dreaming about, never mind what I was dreaming about.

plastic boats would keep me outta trouble with the wifey .

Ill put it on my must do list.


morning
scott

This thread really wakes you up about "what we are doing to this planet of ours"

and it sucks.

The boat link"Junk" has some great quotes.

"We have, in half a century, transformed 2/3rds of the ocean surface into a plastic soup."

That was better than coffee, I see said the blind man.

Some of you might be interested in this:

The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) has released a discussion paper titled Waste Minimisation in New Zealand.

The Ministry is seeking feedback on:
• the revision of the targets in the New Zealand Waste Strategy
• identifying products that are priorities for product stewardship
• identifying funding criteria for the Waste Minimisation Fund
• monitoring waste in New Zealand
• improving the operation of the waste levy.

The discussion document is available on the MfE web site at www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/consultation.html or
you can request a copy by emailing publications@mfe.govt.nz or calling 04 439 7400.

To assist potential submitters, MfE is hosting a series of consultation workshops which give attendees the
opportunity to question MfE officials about the discussion document.

When and Where: 30 March – Rotorua
31 March – North Shore
31 March – Dunedin
1 April – Manukau
1 April – Christchurch
2 April – Nelson
2 April – Blenheim
2 April – New Plymouth
3 April – Wellington
6 April – Napier

The morning session on each date is a general open session for all attendees and the afternoon session is a
specialist session for local authorities and landfill operators. If you are interested in attending please see the MfE
web site which has more information on times and venues.

Submissions on the discussion document close on Friday 15 May 2009.

So now we have the Nats trying to muster support for a 5c charge to be put on all plastic tote bags..

What a frickin crock of poos! This is no more than an opportunistic grab over a serious environmental problem, this is a reach around for "the boys".

"Our" Government is wanting to bring in legislation that will further increase profits for big business. It's yet more foolish "the market will decide" bunkum.

Instead of doing something about it they have dismissed altogether a ban on tote bags and of course, because it would hurt their buddies, will never entertain forcing a shift in packaging materials.

Time to get an apartment near the Beehive and start voting from the rooftop..

Nice to know my efforts up here in the North have met with complete 100% success. We aren't on the list so we obviously have no issues up here. Prolly cos everyone is too busy growing dope.

I was entirely wrong that it was the supermarkets and other retailers the Nats were bolstering...

Seems they're worried about the profits of the plastic bag manufacturers so aren't going to to do anything at all about reducing usage of them. That is worse than what was being tabled IMHO, as even if they were going to bolster profits with the 5c charge at least there would've been some reduction in waste.

Once again the well and truly proven fallacy of reaganomics is coming to the fore with Key trotting out the old lie of allowing the industry to self regulate...

see this also, if you're interested in cleaning up some rubbish:
http://sods.freeforums.org/help-clean-up-great-barrier-island-t917.html

Mahalo to all in this forum who have chimed in on this subject. I will be going to the Trash Vortex in June to shoot a documentary.
www.trashvoyage.com

Also there is an Aussie based group with an NZ section devoted to beach clean-ups and debris analysis.
http://www.oceancare.org.au/index.php
Heidi, the co-founder is a friend of mine and always is looking for people that care.
Mahalo again,
Drew

Hi Drew and welcome to the SODS forum.

Further details on the Pacific Gyres can be found here.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/good-causes-petitions-solicitations/282271-help-scuba-drew-get-evidence-pacific-trash-vortex.html

And If you'd like you can donate here.
http://trashvoyage.com/

is it possible that this vortex could actually be used as a funnel?
with all the rubish ending up in one location so it can be collected and put in a better location.

i certainly think it's better than having rubbish absolutely everywhere?

Two things spring to mind with that. (bearing in mind I am not an expert)
Firstly the size of the area that this trash accumulates in is enormous so would be very inefficient

The only method of picking up the trash is non selective (trawling) so would result in everything living in the area being killed.

i agree, i guess stoping people putting crap into the sea is the first step anyway then people can find some way of cleaning up what's been deposited by the 'tex.