Kickstart: Texas plastic pollution on Mexican beaches

A new study says plastic pellets from Texas pollute the Mexican coastline, but not so much the other way around.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): A new study says plastic pellets from Texas pollute the Mexican coastline, but not so much the other way around.

The October research from the University of Texas Marine Science Institute examined several years of data, looking at color changes and chemical degradation of plastic — along with water and wind currents — to track pellets along the U.S. and Mexican gulf coasts.

It focused on lentil-sized preproduction resin pellets, not waste from finished products like plastic bottles.

'Results indicated that in the western Gulf of Mexico, Texas is likely a source of plastic pollution to Mexican coasts and not the other way around,' UTMSI said in a news release. 'The movement along the coast is relatively rapid, with several hundred miles in a time scale of several months.'

I think there's a person-bites-dog angle to the study.

A lack of waste management in developing nations can be a major source of ocean plastic pollution. Some people focus heavily on that, such as President Donald Trump when he signed the first Save Our Seas law in 2018: 'As president, I will continue to do everything I can to stop other nations from making our oceans into their landfills.'

But when it comes to plastic pellet pollution from Texas's sizable resin industry, this study suggests there's some homegrown responsibility.

Smart recycling

Digitalization and AI aren't just buzzwords. And they aren't just a vital part of making new products.

During last week's Sustainable Plastics Live webcast, Karen Laird and Beatriz Santos from our sister publication Sustainable Plastics said they encountered companies promoting the values of artificial intelligence for every element of the industry.

That includes recycling.

'AI and digitalization were literally everywhere at the K show,' said Beatriz. 'Every company I spoke with had something or other to launch.'

For recyclers, that included sensors, data analytics and other tools to recover more materials.

'This is nothing new, but what companies were trying to highlight at the show, is that when it comes to optimizing production and other processes, the promise is that AI is going to deliver much more,' she said. 'Whether we are there yet is another matter, but there was definitely the feeling that this is the future, and you have to get in on it.'

A seat belt memory

The latest Society of Plastics Engineers automotive awards included the sort of innovations you'd expect, like a compression molded midgate replacing a steel component on the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra EV truck.

But it was the Hall of Fame award that brought back memories for me — SPE honored the first OEM use of seat belts, on a 1949 car.

It brought back memories of being a kid in the back seat of the family car, listening to Dad talking with an older family member about the need for seat belts.

Dad, who taught driver education as an add-on to high school history, was pro-seat belt.

The family member from one generation older than my father was arguing that you didn't need them, that you could just stiffen your arms and protect yourself that way.

My memory of that moment was thinking, that's crazy, seat belts seemed fine, as Dad tried to communicate that your arms might as well be spaghetti in an accident.

So it was interesting to see that 1949 marked the first seat belt as a standard item in a U.S. car. Thanks for highlighting that, SPE.

 Courtesy: www.plasticsnews.com