In this episode we will learn about funny costumes, what’s up with plastic recycling, how to optimize routes in GIS to save time, fuel, and emissions, and how to recycle those odd items in your area if you can’t reduce your consumption in the first place.

Before we get into the meat of the episode, we wanted to remind everyone that February 2nd is World Wetlands Day. Okay, that was two days before this episode dropped, but there’s good news! There are events all month long to help celebrate. If you can’t make it to an event listed below, you can always find a wetland near you and visit or learn more about it!

February 6 - Talk on Wetland Carbon Storage - Newport, OR

February 15 - Wetland Day & Treatment Plant Tour - Olympia, WA (HIGHLY RECOMMEND!)

February 20 - WTA Oaks to Wetlands Work Parties - Ridgefield, WA

February 23 - Oregon Wetlands Half - Eugene, OR

February 26 - Wetlands Exploration Days - Hillsboro, OR

This episode is Part 1 in our series on Plastic. Amy starts out by dropping a bunch of plastic facts. She had tons of sources, so I’ll just list them at the bottom. Once she tells us a bit about plastic, she then lays out the 6 types. I learned that Amy has a problem saying the word “synthetic,” and after a 2 minute long laugh-cry session while Amy repeatedly tries to say it (which I’m sure she edited out), we get on with things. Some day we’ll release a blooper reel…

Speaking of which, there’s a cool drinking game you can play while listening to this episode. You need two teams/players. One drinks every time Amy bonks her new microphone and the other one drinks every time Jen says, “Interesting”…It makes the episode way less depressing and way more fun!!!

We then learn all about plastic recycling. Amy is a nurdle… I mean she tells us about nurdles, which are little plastic pellets that are melted down and made into things. We mentioned a ship container full of nurdles (not a whole ship!), fell into the ocean, causing a little environmental havoc. We also learn about some products made from recycled plastics, and find out that we’re not that great at recycling compared to other countries.

Amy then tells us some other problems with plastic recycling. We get into China’s ban on our dirty plastics, and how this has affected other countries in SE Asia, as well as the worldwide recycling market. Not to be completely depressing all the time, Amy talks about some innovations in plastic recycling. She mentions a map of states that have recycling bans vs states that have bans against recycling bans (yes, you read that right.) There have been a few million dollars in grants awarded to private companies in Portland to improve the recycling infrastructure in that city. There are also a couple of trials of curbside plastic film recycling happening in the US, and one is in Washington! Speaking of bans, the European Union is banning several single-use plastic items and China plans to reduce all single use plastic by 2025. She ends the segment with some actions we can all take. Like knowing where and what to recycle. Here’s where you can find a plastic bag or plastic film drop off locations near you for recycling.

In the GIS segment, I talk about routing and how optimizing a route for a recycling collection truck could save time, fuel, emissions, and more. For more on that, see the GIS Tools blog.

If you want to find out what you can recycle in your area and where you should take it, try out the iRecycle app. Better yet, try reducing your consumption! I briefly mentioned a couple of ways I reduce consumption, but we’d love to hear your ideas! Please mention them in the comments, or share them on our Facebook page.

Depressing fact sources and other “interesting” recycle tidbits:

Plastics at a glance from the EPA.

How were’s actually getting (a lil) worse at recycling plastic bottles.

How Much Plastic Trash is Littering the Earth?

All the depressing facts on plastic bags

Making Plastic Recycling Easier with science.

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