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What are "oxo-biodegradable plastic" shopping bags?

20 Mar 2017

Polyethylene shopping bags are a big convenience but they also present a big problem. While they can be recycled, many just get carelessly discarded and end up in the environment not only as an...

How an Asian Bug Led to the First Synthetic Plastic

20 Mar 2017

During the first years of the twentieth century the demand for shellac outstripped the supply. People did not develop a sudden penchant for shiny furniture, but electricity was starting to take the...

Tempest in a K cup

20 Mar 2017

A question came up about the risks of chemicals leaching out of those convenient coffee K cups. Yes, chemicals do leach out. That of course is the idea, you want to leach out the hundreds of...

Plastic Cheese and Fake Mayo

20 Mar 2017

On a recent trip to the U.S. I perused the menu and decided on a cheese sandwich. When I queried the waitress about the kind of cheese involved, I was told, “American!” I replied I was interested...

Small beads can make for a large problem

20 Mar 2017

Science can make for a strange bedfellow. I had just finished recording a video showing off one of my favourite sweaters and expounding on the ingenuity and the environmental benefit of it being...

Witches Knickers: the plastic bag crisis

20 Mar 2017

Plastic bags that have been carelessly discarded and get caught up on tree branches. Polyethylene bags fluttering in the wind, desecrating our beaches and piling up in cabinets under our sinks,...

Plastic Wine Bottles?

20 Mar 2017

While PET has a very low permeability when it comes to carbon dioxide, it readily allows oxygen to pass through. And oxygen is the enemy of wine! When we talk about storing soft drinks,...

Plastics in the Kitchen

20 Mar 2017

Oh, those analytical chemists. They do cause problems don’t they? With their ability to find the presence of chemicals at parts per trillion, they can not only find the needle in the proverbial...

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