Milk tops and the environmental consequences

Now this post is a little different to previous ones, it still has strong undertones of the environmental factors, but instead I am going to talk about something more plain and every day, milk tops to be precise.
You may wonder what the relevance of milk tops is to environment, but there is a reason I am blogging about this, there is an environmental consequence! Basically, it is the green colour of the tops of the milk cartons that is the issue, there has been pressure to change the colour because "it is because the green pigment of semi-skimmed milk bottle tops affects the ability of the plastic to be recycled", I won’t go into too many details regarding the HDPE and electron microscope that shows the molecules and their resistance to being recycled, but to put it simply the green colour does not separate from the plastic through the recycling process. So what comes out is a "green-tinged recycled HDPE lentils that no one wants to make into new milk bottles." The problem here is that if they could persuade the supermarkets to make the tops white, there would be no issue in recycling but " the supermarkets wouldn't budge, saying the colours are too useful for shoppers to distinguish different types of milk", the colours have been toned down to make the process easier but there is still the issue of recycling today. This is a relatively simple issue that should not need so much debate and argument in my opinion. To make every milk top white, would be a simple task and although it would make it slightly harder to spot which type of milk you want, that is what the labels are for. They could for instance, change the colour of the labels to match, which would be big enough and noticeable for the customer. The impact is larger than just thinking that it is a small issue, the wider consequences mean that we cannot recycle these tops properly and have to waste more finite resources creating new plastics, where the old green tops inevitably go into landfill.

Paving the way through progress is the Japanese. As they "have already done it. They passed a law in 1995, phasing out coloured drinks bottles, and now have recycling rates of 75%." This is compared to our 30% recycling rate of coloured drinks bottles, shows a remarkable difference that would make a significant impact on the wider issue of recycling and sustainability.  A small change today, can make a large change in the future, it is about looking at the wider picture here, not just simple colours on the tops of your milk in the fridge.
Here is the link to the article, as always, if anyone is interested to read further:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/13/why-green-milk-bottle-tops-not-green-option

The Media's relationship on the environment

Through my other side of my University degree I have studied the media, its affects on the audience and the different processes that all revolve around perception and transmission. I recently read another’s blog post about the media and the representation to the environment and thought I would try to enlighten this a little and throw in my own opinions on the subject. 

There is a theory we had to learn many years ago in A level I believe is defined as a moral panic which was first established by Stanley Cohen in 1972. Basically this in its most simple form is where a controversy, disaster or threat has been established in the media and then blown out of proportion by either misstated facts, or the way the facts are transmitted to the public which then causes mass hysteria, or an overblown response. With these subjects, sometimes simply reporting the facts can be enough to generate concern, anxiety or panic. In Stanley Cohen’s book the most quoted and relevant phrase is that a moral panic is defined as a “condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests.” Looking at this it is easy to see how this can relate to specific organisations and environmental issues that have arisen over the previous years. The Daily Mail is a key organisation to reflect on here, they often over exaggerate situations and push things out of proportion, with the environment, nearly every week there is an article in the paper saying that there is no turning back and that the ice caps will melt, and that will be the end. Although I am exaggerating here, my point has come across; we need to look at articles with a pinch of salt as the expression goes, and to not follow the hysteria associated with articles on the environment. You can never trust one source; even hard facts can be skewed to show issues in a worse light, and never trust the Daily Mail.

You can look up the theory: Moral Panic, online or in Stanley Cohens book Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972)