Over the past several years, microplastic particles have repeatedly been detected in seawater, drinking water, and even in animals. But these minute particles are also transported by the atmosphere and subsequently washed out of the air, especially by snow—and even in such remote regions as the Arctic and the Alps. This was demonstrated in a study conducted by experts at the Alfred Wegener Institute and a Swiss colleague, recently published in the journal Science Advances.
The fact that the oceans are full of plastic litter has by now become common knowledge: Year after year, several million tonnes ofplastic litterfind their way into rivers, coastal waters, and even the Arctic deep sea. Thanks to the motion of waves, and even more to UV radiation from the sun, the litter is gradually broken down into smaller and smaller fragments—referred to as microplastic. This microplastic can be found in marine sediment, in seawater, and in marine organisms that inadvertently ingest it. In comparison, there has been little research to date on whether, and if so, to what extent, microplastic particles are transported by the atmosphere. Only a handful of works are available, e.g. from researchers who were able to confirm the particles' presence in the Pyrenees and near major urban centers in France and China.
A team of experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) has now found that microplastic particles can apparently be transported over tremendous distances by the atmosphere and are later washed out of the air by precipitation, particularly snow. As the team led by Dr. Melanie Bergmann and Dr. Gunnar Gerdts report in the journal Science Advances, the analyses they conducted on snow samples from Helgo-land, Bavaria, Bremen, the Swiss Alps and the Arctic confirm that the snow at all sites contained high concentrations of microplastic—even in remote reaches of the Arctic, on the is-land Svalbard, and in snow on drifting ice floes. "It's readily apparent that the majority of the microplastic in the snow comes from the air," says Melanie Bergmann. Her hypothesis is supported by past research conducted on grains of pollen, in which experts confirmed that pollen from the middle latitudes is transported by the air to the Arctic. These grains are roughly the same size as the microplastic particles; similarly, dust from the Sahara can cover distances of 3,500 km or more, reaching the northeast Atlantic.
Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute analyse the content of microsplastics in the samples. Credit: Alfred-Wegener-Institut / Melanie Bergmann
The AWI researchers found the highest concentration in samples gathered near a rural road in Bavaria—154,000 particles per litre. Even the snow in the Arctic contained up to 14,400 particles per liter. The types of plastic found also varied greatly between sampling sites: in the Arctic, the researchers chiefly found nitrile rubber, acrylates and paint, which are used in a host of applications. Given its resistance to various types of fuel and broad temperature range, nitrile rubber is often used in gaskets and hoses. Paints containing plastic are used in several different areas, e.g. to coat the surfaces of buildings, ships, cars and offshore oil rigs. Near the rural road in Bavaria, the samples especially contained various types of rubber, which is used in countless applications, such as automotive tires.
One intriguing aspect of the AWI study: the microplastic concentrations found are considerably higher than those in studies conducted by other researchers, e.g. on dust deposits. According to Gunnar Gerdts, this could be due to one of two reasons: "First of all, snow is extremely efficient when it comes to washing microplastic out of the atmosphere. Secondly, it could be due to the infrared spectroscopy we used, which allowed us to detect even the smallest particles—down to a size of only 11 micrometers." Gerdts and his colleagues melt the snow and pour the meltwater through a filter; the residue trapped in the filter is then examined with an infrared microscope. Depending on the type of plastic, different wavelengths of the infrared light are absorbed and reflected; in this way, an optical fingerprint can be used to determine what type of plastic they've found.
Fresh snow is filled with a chrome steel towel to lockable galss containers. Later the samples are analysed for microplastic concentrations in the lab. The whole sampling takes place without the use of any plastics to prevent the samples from contamination. Credit: Alfred-Wegener-Institut / Jürg Trachsel, WSL-Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung SLF
Whereas other experts sort out microplastic from their samples by hand under the micro-scope, which can easily cause some particles to be overlooked, Gerdts uses his infrared microscope to test all of the residue, ensuring that he and his team hardly miss a thing. "We've automated and standardized the technique so as to rule out the errors that can creep in when manual analysis is used." As such, it's hardly surprising that the analyses conducted at the AWI yielded especially high particle concentrations.
In light of the meteorological realities, the AWI experts are convinced that a major portion of the microplastic in Europe, and even more so in the Arctic, comes from the atmosphere and snow. According to Melanie Bergmann: "This additional transport route could also explain the high amounts of microplastic that we've found in the Arctic sea ice and the deep sea in previous studies."
Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute use the board helicopter from the icebreaking research vessel Polarstern to collect snow samples. Even in the Arctic the snow is polluted with microplastics. Credit: Mine Tekman, Alfred-Wegener-Institut
Lastly, there's another key question that motivates her work. "To date there are virtually no studies investigating the extent to which human beings are subject to microplastic contamination." In addition, most research has focused on how animals or human beings absorb microplastic from what they eat. As Bergmann explains: "But once we've determined that large quantities of microplastic can also be transported by the air, it naturally raises the question as to whether and how much plastic we're inhaling. Older findings from medical research offer promising points of departure for work in this direction." Yet another aspect that warrants a closer look in the future.
More information: M. Bergmann el al., "White and wonderful? Microplastics prevail in snow from the Alps to the Arctic," Science Advances (2019). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax1157 , https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/8/eaax1157
What’s
1.6 million square kilometers, weighs 80,000 metric tons, and is
three times the size of continental France?
That
would be the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—the enormous collection of
detritus that floats in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and
California. Also known as the “GPGP,” the patch’s sprawl has
made it notoriously difficult to measure. But a new study published
last Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports has gathered the most
comprehensive measurement yet. After three years of data collection,
researchers from the Ocean Cleanup—a Dutch nonprofit that works on
developing technologies to scrub the oceans—have calculated that
the patch is four to sixteen times larger than ever before
determined—and it’s growing.
“This
plastic accumulation rate inside the GPGP, which was greater than in
the surrounding waters, indicates that the inflow of plastic into the
patch continues to exceed the outflow,” Laurent Lebreton, the lead
author of the study, told Science Daily.
Since
scientists started measuring the patch in the 1970s, they have
typically used fine-meshed nets to trawl the accumulation zone. But
these nets are not large enough to capture clusters of bigger
garbage. To overcome this problem, the researchers outfitted a C-130
Hercules aircraft with LiDAR sensors—the same kind used by
self-driving cars—to take 3D scans of the garbage, allowing them to
capture images of both floating and submerged trash, as well as very
large pieces of plastic, such as meters-wide fishing nets. Using this
method, the researchers counted 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic
floating in the accumulation zone, and collected 1.2 million plastic
samples that they brought back to the lab to study, one by one.
When
they did, they learned something new about the makeup of the patch.
The GPGP it is neither a giant floating island of garbage—as was
widely believed back in the 90s—nor a massive swirl of
confetti-sized pieces of plastic, as has been widely reported since.
Instead, it’s what Mother Nature Network’s Russell McLendon has
called a “galaxy of garbage,” composed of a network of plastic,
large and small. A full 92 percent of the mass is comprised of larger
objects, while only 8 percent is made up of “microplastics”—fragments
smaller than 5 millimeters.
“We
were surprised by the amount of large plastic objects we
encountered,” Julia Reisser, chief scientist of the expeditions,
told Science Daily. “We used to think most of the debris consists
of small fragments, but this new analysis shines a new light on the
scope of the debris.”
But
how did the patch get here in the first place, and why is it getting
bigger? In short: human thoughtlessness and fluid mechanics. Over the
years, five large mega-gyres—that is, great whirlpools where
currents collide—in the North and South Atlantic, the North and
South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean have become filled with garbage.
A plastic cup tossed on a San Francisco street will wend its way to
the sea via storm drain, and then journey to the nearest gyre, where
it will join trillions of other artifacts of human civilization.
This
plastic pollution isn’t just unsightly: It poses threats to marine
life and it has health and economic implications for humans as well.
According to the Ocean Cleanup, oceanic plastics enter the human food
chain through a process called bioaccumulation, in which the
chemicals in plastic can enter the bodies of sea life like fish and
then later, the bodies of the predators who consume those fish.
There’s a significant economic impact, too: The UN has reported
that ocean plastic pollution costs $13 billion every year through the
likes of beach cleanups and financial loss incurred by fisheries.
Dead
whale found in Thailand with 17 pounds of plastic in its stomach
Volunteers
and marine veterinarians from Department of Marine and Coastal
Resources attempted to rescue a sick male pilot whale in the coastal
area of southern Thailand near the Malaysian border, 28 May 2018.
Photo: ThaiWhales / AFP / Getty Images
BANGKOK,
3 June 2018 (Reuters) – Some 80 pieces of plastic rubbish weighing
17 pounds were found in the stomach of a whale that died in Thailand
after a five-day effort to save it, a marine official said on Sunday.
The
pilot whale was discovered on Monday in a canal in the southern
province of Songkhla and received treatment from a team of
veterinarians.
The
whale spit out five plastic bags on Friday and later died, the Marine
and Coastal Resources Department said on its website.
An
autopsy found another 80 bags and other plastic items weighing more
than 17 pounds (8 kg) in the whale’s stomach.
“This
plastic rubbish made the whale sick and unable to hunt for food,”
the department said.
Jatuporn
Buruspat, head of the department, said the whale probably thought the
floating plastic bags were food. […]
A
government marine veterinarian is being helped by volunteers to
remove plastics from the stomach of dead male pilot whale at the
Marine and Coastal Resource Research and Development Center in
Songkla province, Thailand, 1 June 2018. Photo: ThaiWhales / AFP /
Getty Images
Globally,
eight million tons of plastic — bottles, packaging and other waste
— are dumped into the ocean every year, killing marine life and
entering the human food chain, the United Nations Environment
Programme said in December. [more]
Just
south of Thames is this mind bogglingly massive city of plastic -- a
sprawling wasteland growing daily, after China decided it would no
longer be the world's dumping ground. "To be honest, we don't
know what to do," says boss Grahame Christian
China's
plastic ban: Exports to other parts of Asia soar
China's
ban on importing plastic has caused the amount of waste New Zealand
sends to other parts of Asia to skyrocket.
Plastic
rubbish at sea.Plastic rubbish at sea. Photo: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Cesar
Harada
China
stopped accepting 24 different types of waste, including plastic and
paper, at the start of this year because it said contaminants were
polluting its environment.
In
the first three months of 2017 New Zealand exported $1.7 million
dollars worth of plastic to China - during the same period this year
that dropped to $100,000.
But
other countries are willing to take the rubbish that China won't -
New Zealand's exports to Malaysia so far this year are up 500 percent
on the same time last year, from $56,000 to $345,000.
Exports
to Indonesia are also up, jumping 150 percent from $320,000 to
$812,000.
Thailand's
imports from New Zealand have doubled, from $269,000 to 549,000 and
Vietnam's are up 75 percent, from $43,000 to $75,000.
China
previously took more than half of the world's waste exports and
plastic prices have plummeted since the ban came into effect.
While
some businesses are willing to sell at the lower price, one of New
Zealand's largest waste companies is stockpiling while it waits for
the market to improve.
Smart
Environmental managing director Grahame Christian said it had around
1000 tonnes of plastic stored at warehouses around the country.
"We
are sitting on a massive amount of paper and plastics, we are aware
of new markets opening up but they are not mature, to our knowledge,
so right now we've got the double whammy of very low prices and very
high levels of stock."
Mr
Christian's company deals with waste from 14 councils, representing
around 20 percent of the country's plastic.
He
said New Zealand's plastic exports were of a very high standard and
it was contaminated products from other countries that were causing
problems in China
"I
would still think that provided the product meets the quality
standard, that China will open back up," he said.
WasteMINZ
chief executive Paul Evans said Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and
Vietnam were expected to pick up the lion's share of imports when
China's ban came into effect, but there were concerns about the
processes in those countries.
"Some
of those countries don't have the greatest track records when it
comes to environmental protections and particularly when compared to
somewhere like New Zealand.
"We
need to ensure that when we are sending materials overseas that they
are being processed in an appropriate way," he said.
Associate
Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said more money for the Waste
Minimisation Fund, which could fund onshore processing, could be
boosted if levies to landfills were expanded.
But
she said the government had ruled out any new taxes in this term -
including a plastic tax.
"However,
that's why the fund needs to be increased to assist progressive
companies.
"And
that whole notion that we take from nature and we throw-away, that's
got to change, so that we take, we use and reuse and reuse," she
said.
Sustainable
Coastlines co-founder Camden Howitt said recycling was not the answer
in dealing with New Zealand's waste.
"It
does seem a bit crazy to import materials from the other side of the
world, bring them here, use them once and send them round the other
side of the world just to recycle them into something else," he
said.
Mr
Howitt said it was an example of transferring one environmental
problem to another, in a different location and the solution needed
to focus on not creating the waste in the first place.
Recycling,
once embraced by businesses and environmentalists, now under siege –
“Recycling as we know it isn’t working”
(The
Wall Street Journal) – The U.S. recycling industry is breaking
down.
Prices
for scrap paper and plastic have collapsed, leading local officials
across the country to charge residents more to collect recyclables
and send some to landfills. Used newspapers, cardboard boxes and
plastic bottles are piling up at plants that can’t make a profit
processing them for export or domestic markets.
“Recycling
as we know it isn’t working,” said James Warner, chief executive
of the Solid Waste Management Authority in Lancaster County, Pa.
“There’s always been ups and downs in the market, but this is
biggest disruption that I can recall.”
U.S.
recycling programs took off in the 1990s as calls to bury less trash
in landfills coincided with China’s demand for materials like
corrugated cardboard to feed its economic boom. Ship lines eagerly
filled containers that had brought manufactured goods to the U.S.
with paper, scrap metal and plastic bottles for the return trip to
China.
As
cities aggressively expanded recycling programs to keep more
discarded household items out of landfills, the purity of U.S. scrap
deteriorated as more trash infiltrated the recyclables. Discarded
food, liquid-soaked paper and other contaminants recently accounted
for as much as 20% of the material shipped to China, according to
Waste Management Inc.’s estimates, double from five years ago.
The
tedious and sometimes dangerous work of separating out that detritus
at processing plants in China prompted officials there to slash the
contaminants limit this year to 0.5%. China last week suspended all
imports of U.S. recycled materials until June 4, regardless of the
quality. The recycling industry interpreted the move as part of the
growing rift between the U.S. and China over trade policies and
tariffs.
The
changes have effectively cut off exports from the U.S., the world’s
largest generator of scrap paper and plastic. Collectors, processors
and the municipal governments that hire them are reconsidering what
they will accept to recycle and how much homeowners pay for that
service. Many trash haulers and city agencies that paid for curbside
collection by selling scrap said they are now losing money on almost
every ton they handle.
The
upended economics are likely to permanently change the U.S. recycling
business, said William Moore, president of Moore & Associates, a
recycled paper consultancy in Atlanta.
“It’s
going to take domestic demand to replace what China was buying,” he
said. “It’s not going to be a quick turnaround. It’s going to
be a long-term issue.” [more]
Single-use
plastic has reached the world’s deepest ocean trench
18
April 2018 (UNEP) – A new article, Human footprint in the abyss: 30
year records of deep-sea plastic debris, reveals human activities are
affecting the deepest part of the ocean, more than 1000km from the
mainland.
Plastic
pollution is emerging as one of the most serious threats to ocean
ecosystems. World leaders, scientists and communities recognise the
urgent need for action, but the impacts of plastic pollution are not
well understood.
To
raise awareness of the far-reaching effects of plastic pollution,
ocean scientists used information from the Deep-sea Debris Database.
The Global Oceanographic Data Centre of the Japan Agency for
Marine-Earth Science and Technology launched this database for public
use in 2017. It contains over 30 years of photos and videos of debris
that have been collected by deep-sea submersibles and remotely
operated vehicles.
The
data revealed that, from 5010 dives, more than 3000 pieces of
man-made debris – including plastic, metal, rubber and fishing gear
– were counted. Over a third of debris found was macro-plastic, 89%
of which was single-use products. In areas deeper than 6000m, over
half of debris was plastic, almost all of which was single-use.
The
article also reveals that single-use plastic has reached the world’s
deepest ocean trench - a plastic bag was found in the Mariana Trench,
10,898m below the surface. The ubiquitous distribution of single-use
plastic, even to the greatest depths of the ocean, reveal a clear
link between daily human activities and the remotest of environments.
Once
in the deep-sea, plastic can persist for thousands of years. Deep-sea
ecosystems are highly endemic and have a very slow growth rate, so
the potential threats from plastic pollution are concerning. There is
growing concern that deep-sea ecosystems are already being damaged by
direct exploitation of both biological and non-biological resources –
through deep-sea trawling, mining and infrastructure development, for
example. The results of this study show that deep-sea ecosystems are
also being affected indirectly by human activities.
Reducing
the production of plastic waste seems to be the only solution to the
problem of deep-sea plastic pollution. A global monitoring network is
needed to share the limited data on deep-sea plastic pollution, and
impact assessment surveys should be prioritised for biologically and
ecologically important areas with high concentrations of plastic
debris, and to use ocean circulation models to identify how plastic
is travelling from land to the deep-sea.
How
did that get there? Plastic chunks on Arctic ice show how far
pollution has spread
Discovery
by UK scientists prompts fear that melting ice will allow more
plastic to be released into the central Arctic Ocean – with huge
effects on wildlife
A
British-led expedition has discovered sizeable chunks of polystyrene
lying on remote frozen ice floes in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.
The
depressing find, only 1,000 miles from the north pole, is the first
made in an area that was previously inaccessible to scientists
because of sea ice. It is one of the most northerly sightings of such
detritus in the world’s oceans, which are increasingly polluted by
plastics.
A
team of scientists drawn from the UK, US, Norway and Hong Kong,
headed by marine biologist Tim Gordon of Exeter University, said the
discovery confirmed just how far plastic pollution has spread. It has
prompted fears that plastic waste is flowing into the Arctic as the
ice melts because of climate change. The thaw is simultaneously
releasing plastic that has long been trapped in the ice.
The
scientists, who were on the explorer Pen Hadow’s Arctic Mission
attempt to sail to the north pole, were surprised to discover the
blocks of polystyrene many hundreds of miles from land in areas that
were, until recently, covered by ice all year round. They found two
large pieces on the edge of ice floes between 77° and 80° north, in
the middle of the international waters of the central Arctic Ocean.
“For
the 25 years I have been exploring the Arctic I have never seen such
large and very visible items of rubbish,” said Hadow, the only
person to have trekked solo, without resupply, from Canada to the
geographic north pole. “The blocks of polystyrene were just sitting
on top of the ice.”
“Finding
pieces of rubbish like this is a worrying sign that melting ice may
be allowing high levels of pollution to drift into these areas,”
Gordon said. “This is potentially very dangerous for the Arctic’s
wildlife.”
The
pioneering expedition – using two yachts – sailed further into
the international waters of the Central Arctic Ocean than any
previous navigation attempt without icebreakers. Rates of ice melt
have increased dramatically due to climate change, with 40% of the
central Arctic Ocean now navigable in summer.
Estimates
suggest that there are more than 5 trillion pieces of plastic
floating on the surface of the world’s oceans. It has been claimed
that there is now enough plastic to form a permanent layer in the
fossil record. Dr Ceri Lewis, scientific adviser to the expedition
based at the University of Exeter, has previously warned that people
produce around 300 million tons of plastic a year, roughly the same
weight as all the humans on the planet. Around half of all plastic
produced is used once and then thrown away.
A
significant concern is that large plastic pieces can break down into
“microplastics” – tiny particles that are accidentally consumed
by filter-feeding animals. The particles remain in animals’ bodies
and are passed up the food chain, threatening wildlife at all levels
from zooplankton to apex predators such as polar bears. In an attempt
to gauge the presence of microplastics in Arctic waters, the
scientists intend to test samples of seawater they collected in nets
with holes smaller than a millimetre across.
“Many
rivers that are often a source of plastic pollution lead into the
Arctic Ocean, but plastic pollution has been literally trapped into
the ice,” Lewis said. “Now the ice is melting we believe
microplastics are being released into the Arctic. The Arctic is
thought to be a hot spot of microplastics accumulation due to the
number of rivers that empty into the Arctic basin, yet we have very
little data to support this idea in the more northerly parts of the
Arctic Ocean.” She added that the data the expedition was
collecting was important because the Arctic supports many fisheries
which could be affected by microplastics.
Some
projections indicate that the entire Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in
summer by 2050. This will allow human exploitation of the newly
opened waters and bring a range of fresh threats to Arctic wildlife.
“The
Arctic Ocean’s wildlife used to be protected by a layer of sea ice
all year round,” Gordon said.
“Now
that is melting away, this environment will be exposed to commercial
fishing, shipping and industry for the first time in history. We need
to seriously consider how best to protect the Arctic’s animals from
these new threats. By doing so, we will give them a fighting chance
of adapting and responding to their rapidly changing habitat.”
The
team is also investigating the impact of human-made noise pollution
on Arctic marine life and mammals, using underwater loudspeakers and
microphones to understand how sound travels through the polar seas,
and how this might be affected by ice loss. Arctic cod, beluga
whales, ringed seals and walruses use a range of sounds to
communicate in the underwater darkness. Narwhals hunt for fish a mile
below the surface using biosonar, emitting 1,000 high-pitched clicks
every second and listening to their reflected echoes – much the
same way that bats do.
“It
is critical that we establish baseline natural recordings in this
newly exposed oceanic environment,” said Professor Steve Simpson,
an expert in bioacoustics and noise pollution at Exeter University.
“These recordings will allow us to understand how human activities
are changing the soundscape of the summer Arctic, and assess the
success of future noise management in this unique acoustic world.”
On-board
wildlife biologist Heather Bauscher said increasing ice melt could
have serious consequences for the whole Arctic ecosystem. “Quality
research and the development of sound management strategies are
necessary to protect the Arctic’s wildlife: this is crucial at a
time of such dramatic change,” she said.
An
untold amount of plastic pollution finds its way into the ocean every
year. No one knows for sure what becomes of all that garbage. Much of
it most likely erodes into microplastic, tiny flecks smaller than
five millimeters in diameter, which can take up pollutants and are
often ingested by marine animals, including fish and crustaceans.
Unexpectedly,
trillions of those particles end up in Arctic sea ice, according to a
paper published in May in the scientific journal Earth’s Future.
The study found that sea ice contains up to 240 microplastic
particles per cubic meter—as much as 2,000 times the density of the
particles that are estimated to float in the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch. “We know that microplastic is found in oceans worldwide, but
it is surprising that it’s found in such an abundance in Arctic sea
ice,” says Rachel Obbard, a materials scientist and engineer at
Dartmouth College and lead researcher of the study. When ice forms at
the surface of the ocean, it traps anything that happens to be
floating there. The freezing process, she says, seems to be
concentrating the trapped particles, which otherwise would eventually
sink to the seafloor.
Obbard
did not set out to examine sea ice for plastic. Instead she and a
student were looking for algae in four ice cores collected from
remote locations in the Arctic Ocean. When she melted and filtered
the samples, however, she found blue, red, green and black bits.
“These brightly colored things,” she says, “just jumped right
out at me.”
Extrapolating
from the samples, Obbard and her colleagues estimate that up to seven
trillion pieces of microplastic in total could be released as Arctic
sea ice melts because of climate change. Some researchers say summer
in the Arctic may be ice-free around 2100. Others project it could
happen within the next decade.
Most
people think this is just about plastic bags. It is not. It
encompasses just about everything that is used by modern
civilisation.
It is a major nail in the coffin of industrial civilisation along with other damage to the oil industry and the insurance industry.
If
you do not understand this you should watch Mike Ruppert’s film,
‘Collapse’
"The
destruction of ethylene capacity, covered by Bloomberg but which this
article does NOT touch on, is a HUGE nail the coffin of industrial
civilization, as Robin said and Wendy elaborates. In light of that,
the problem with this article is it overfocuses on plastic bags,
tarps and moulding. The elephant in the living room, however, is the
loss of ethylene in the supply chain."
At
plastics plants near Houston and along the Gulf Coast, managers are
taking note of damage and making plans to bring production fully back
on line.
Cloeren
Inc.’s headquarters site in Orange, Texas, was filled with more
than 4 feet of standing water and lost power. Co-owner Alicia Cloeren
said her own house was spared but she was among those evacuated to
safety.
“Harvey
has been catastrophic for my small town. Tuesday morning we were
rescued by the Cajun Navy,” she said in an Instagram post showing
her with a toddler in a small motor boat.
Cloeren’s
two other Orange facilities, which make extrusion feedblocks and
dies, were dry but without electricity. Power isn’t expected to be
restored for seven to10 days, according to an Aug. 31 update by
Cloeren and her father, Peter Cloeren, who asked customers for
patience.
“We
are experiencing the most catastrophic storm of our lifetime.
Hurricane Harvey targeted Orange, Texas, with full force Tuesday
night, causing mass destruction,” according to the update. “As
things develop, we will update you with further information on our
recovery process.”
Finding
a way in
Production
at American Bag Manufacturing Inc. in Houston is expected to resume
early in the week of Sept. 4 following repairs to a damaged roof that
let in the pounding rains. Sam Trevino, who works in sales, was the
first employee to make it to the facility.
“I
live nearby and I’m the only one who could find routes to drive
around the water and get here,” Trevino said in a phone interview.
“I’m tearing out carpet, taking orders and answering some
emails.”
The
operation closed Aug, 24, he said, as Hurricane Harvey gained
strength and took aim at the Texas coast. It made landfall a day
later as a Category 4 storm. The business makes plastic bags for
grocery baked goods and deli items.
“We
have inventory in stock and that will get us through until we’re up
again,” Trevino said. “It’ll be tight until we catch up but we
should be OK.”
Similar
scenarios played out at many plastics processors coping with the
aftermath of Harvey. Nearly 700 businesses in the state sustained
damage, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Texas
ranks third in the United States for plastics employment and first in
plastics shipments, according to the Plastics Industry Association.
The association has 49 members in Texas, including 16 in hard-hit
Houston. Companies reached by Plastics News were eager to get back to
normal.
After
pumping out a couple inches of flood water, Integrated Molding
Solutions Inc. reopened in Houston, but with a skeleton crew.
“We’re
better off than some businesses. That’s for sure,” Production
Manager Bob Berndt said. “We were shut down about three days and
we’ve called back employees. Some have made it in but others have
problems. Their neighborhoods are flooded and they just can’t get
out.”
The
injection molder serves customers including Baker Hughes, Hewlett
Packard, Jabil and Foxconn, and the limited staff is trying to catch
up.
“We
were pretty busy,” Berndt said. “Being down for three days puts
us significantly behind.”
Offering
extra capacity
All-Plastics
LLC in Addison, Texas, has extra capacity and is offering to help any
businesses dealing with building damage.
“It’s
a tragedy to see everything that has unfolded with this storm,”
Marketing Manager Jennifer Latiolais said. “We’re here to support
the businesses that need our help due to the tragedy of Harvey. We’ve
been very lucky. We haven’t been affected at all. If any Texas
injection molders need help, they can call us. They’re local to us
and if they reach out, we can talk directly.”
However,
a lot of businesses were plagued with phone issues. The staff at
Providence, R.I.-based Tarnell Co. LLC, which provides support
services to the plastics industry and focuses on the secondary supply
chain, has been contacting companies to assess damage and needs. They
attempted to reach about 335 of the more than 400 companies they deal
with in Texas as of Aug. 31.
“Of
these attempts, 55 companies confirmed moderate or more significant
storm-related interruptions and 73 said they didn’t have much
impact if any at all,” owner Stephen Tarnell said. “But, more
significantly, the majority were unreachable. So you don’t how
severe it is other than they have interrupted phone service.”
Tarnell
said the 335 companies purchased about $134 million of resin in the
first quarter of 2017. Their status, and the availability of resin,
could affect end markets ranging from pipe to packaging.
“This
has turned out to be a likely, very scary perfect ugly storm,”
Tarnell said.
GSE
Environmental Inc., which extrudes geosynthetic liners in Houston,
weathered the storm, thanks in part to preparations made during a
controlled shutdown Aug. 25-26 that included pumping down some storm
water ponds at the site.
“I’m
sure it helped. We had some place for the excess water to go. When
the rain came it was bands that produced 5 inches an hour, then it
slowed and you’d be hit hard again. For a couple days it didn’t
stop,” said Steve Eckhart, vice president of marketing. Most of the
200 employees returned to work.
Harris
County Sheriff's Department A Harris County Sheriff's Department
deputy helps a toddler during evacuations from Hurricane
Harvey-related flooding.
Helping
out employees
Two
GSE employees, however, had to evacuate their homes. The business put
them up in a hotel. One woman, who is 7½ months pregnant, will be
able to return to her house, but not the other employee.
“One
had 6 feet of water in her house. That’ll be a loss,” Eckhart
said.
Vicky
Despeaux, human resources manager at SemaSys Inc., which makes
point-of-purchase products, also said some of its 60 employees in
Houston are facing personal losses while the corporate office and
plant were spared water and wind damage.
“They’re
dealing with flooding and had to evacuate,” Despeaux said. “One
had water to the ceiling and will have to completely rebuild. Another
had 20 inches of water in the house. We’ve reached out to them and
we’re trying to put plans in place to help get them through this
disaster. It’s pretty frightening. I’ve lived through it. A
number of years ago I lost my home to Tropical Storm Allison.”
Despeaux
volunteered at a shelter Aug. 29 and was assigned to collect bedding
and towels for displaced residents.
“People
waited in line to drop off donations,” she said. “It was pretty
amazing. About 7 p.m., probably a thousand people were brought in to
sleep. Lots of universities and churches have opened their doors.
People are working to make others as comfortable as they can be. The
wonderful thing is how people have come together.”
Parker
Hannifin Corp., which specializes in seals for motion and control
technologies, has a disaster relief fund to provide money directly to
personnel coping with damage and flooding. The Cleveland-based
company has 11 facilities and 356 employees in the greater Houston
area.
Berry
Plastics Global Group Inc. closed two plants indefinitely to assess
damage — in Victoria and Beaumont — while Inteplast Group
expected to reopen its Lolita operations on Aug. 30.
Berry
extrudes institutional can liners and retail trash bags in Victoria
while the Beaumont facility reprocesses resins. Inteplast extrudes
PVC products, such as decking, molding, siding and reusable shopping
bags, at its 575-acre Lolita campus, which has numerous buildings.
“Although
our Lolita site sustained roof and other structural damages, thank
God we were largely spared and thus we should be able to recover
quickly for the sake of all our employees as well as customers,”
Inteplast Group President John Young said.
Some
employees worked around the clock to minimize damage at the facility
“despite outages and losses at home,” Young added.
Although
manufacturing at the site will ramp up again, shipping and receiving
could remain a problem. Inteplast plans to use “the fully
functioning roads” in San Antonio and Austin as alternative
transportation routes.
Hurricane
Harvey battered the Houston area for six days, dropping more than 50
inches of rain and setting a record for total rainfall from a single
tropical storm, according to the National Weather Service.
Local
officials reported more than 40 storm-related deaths in Texas before
the storm moved east toward Louisiana.
Making
donations
The
Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors contacted dozens of
its members in Texas to see if any need help.
“We
have a response network on our website. It’s our member forum and
you can reach out for help,” MAPP Marketing Director Marcella Kates
said. “We have an emergency alert system to quickly email other
members in an instant, if for example, their machine is down and they
need something ASAP.”
The
American Red Cross also is collecting products to help with disaster
relief and the Plastics Industry Association is asking its members to
contribute. The relief agency is seeking donations of 17,000 tarps,
19,000 storage totes and 3,000 coolers.
The
Red Cross needs:
Mold-resistant
high density polyethylene tarps that have been UV-treated on both
sides and have rope-reinforced hemmed edges.
20-to-30-gallon
plastic totes with lids for storing and transporting items.
Coolers
that hold 28 to 36 quarts.
“They
anticipate needing these items throughout the next several weeks, so
please consider giving even if you need to ship the items in
September,” an association letter says. To donate, contact Tim
Wahlers, a regional philanthropy officer at the American Red Cross,
at 703-638-2906 or tim.wahlers@redcross.org.
KL
Outdoor, a Muskegon, Mich.-based company and the world's biggest
kayak maker, donated 2,000 kayaks for rescue and relief efforts after
getting a call from Walmart’s disaster response team. The company
also sent a truckload of flat-bottomed boats to a Houston sporting
goods chain.
The
International Association of Plastics Distribution has partnered with
the Atlanta Plastics Charity Golf Tournament to raise money, for both
member company employees and nonmembers in the plastics industry.
IAPD
CEO Susan Avery said “knowing we have many colleagues who have lost
everything, it is vital to IAPD to help aid in their recovery.” The
deadline to both make a donation and apply for assistance is Nov. 1.
Donors can help at www.atlantaplasticscharity.org.
KraussMaffei
Group is collecting money, too, and thanking those who contribute
$1,000 with a $1,000 credit for spare parts. The company will donate
the money to the American Red Cross. Barb Farrell is handling credit
card donations at bfarrell@krauss-maffeicorp.com or checks written to
the Krauss-Maffei Corp. Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Fund and
mailed to Farrell at 7095 Industrial Road, Florence, KY 41042.
In
addition, employees of tooling component supplier Progressive
Components Inc. are collecting items and coordinating delivery to the
hardest hit areas. The Wauconda, Ill.-based company also is providing
a monetary match to what is collected, and will offer Texas customers
extended payment terms and expedited orders.
“The
devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey and the unprecedented
flooding that is happening in Houston and the surrounding areas is
beyond comprehension,” owners Don Starkey and Glenn Starkey said in
a letter. “As image after image comes across the media, our hearts
are breaking a little more for you and all our friends in the
region.” See this also about supply chains
Harvey
Has Made the World’s Most Important Chemical a Rare Commodity
Ethylene
used to make cars, milk jugs, paint and mattresses
More
than half of U.S. production has been knocked out
Few
Americans care about ethylene. Many have probably never heard of it.
As
it turns out, this colorless, flammable gas is arguably the most
important petrochemical on the planet -- and much of it comes from
the hurricane-stricken Gulf Coast. Ethylene is one of the big reasons
the damage wrought by Hurricane Harvey in the chemical communities
along the Gulf of Mexico is likely to ripple through U.S.
manufacturing of essential items from milk jugs to mattresses.
“Ethylene
really is the major petrochemical that impacts the entire industry,”
said Chirag Kothari, an analyst at consultant Nexant.
Texas
alone produces nearly three-quarters of the country’s supply of one
of the most basic chemical building blocks. Ethylene is the
foundation for making plastics essential to U.S. consumer and
industrial goods, feeding into car parts used by Detroit and diapers
sold by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
With
Harvey’s floods shutting down almost all the state’s plants, 61
percent of U.S. ethylene capacity has been closed, according to
PetroChemWire. Production may not return to pre-storm levels until
November, according to Jefferies.
Ethylene
occurs naturally -- it’s the gas given off by fruit as it ripens.
But it also lies at the heart of the $3.5 trillion global chemical
industry, with factories pumping out 146 million tons last year,
Kothari said Thursday.
Processing
plants turn the chemical into polyethylene, the world’s most common
plastic that’s used in garbage bags and food packaging. When
transformed into ethylene glycol, it’s the antifreeze that keeps
engines and airplane wings from freezing in winter, and it becomes
the polyester used in textiles and water bottles.
Ethylene
is an ingredient in vinyl products such as PVC pipes used to bring
water to homes, life-saving medical devices and cushy sneaker soles.
It helps combat global warming with polystyrene foam insulation and
lighter, fuel-saving plastic auto parts. It helps commuters get to
work safely when made into synthetic rubber found in tires. It’s
even an ingredient in house paints and chewing gum.
Man
makes the chemical by starting with oil or natural gas, then steam
heating it to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit (816 Celsius) inside massive
furnaces that crack apart the molecular bonds. The resulting ethylene
gas is separated from co-products such as propylene, and then piped
to other production units for conversion to a vast array of products.
Ethylene
and its derivatives account for about 40 percent of global chemical
sales, said Hassan Ahmed, an analyst at Alembic Global Advisors. The
U.S. accounts for one of every five tons on the market, and ethylene
plants globally were running nearly full out to meet rising demand
before Harvey, he said.
“So
any little hiccup -- and this is much beyond a hiccup -- will
dramatically tighten supply-demand balances,’’ Ahmed said
Thursday.
While
Gulf Coast chemical plants are designed to withstand hurricane-force
winds and floods, Harvey has thrust the industry into uncharted
territory. Ethylene producers hit by the storm along the Texas Gulf
Coast include LyondellBasell Industries NV at the southern end in
Corpus Christi, Exxon Mobil Corp. in Baytown outside Houston, and
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. in Port Arthur by the Louisiana border.
Market
Havoc
“The
combination of Harvey’s path, duration and rainfall total is
wreaking havoc with the supply side of the U.S. chemicals industry on
an unprecedented scale,” said Kevin McCarthy, an equity analyst at
Vertical Research Partners. “We certainly haven’t seen anything
quite like it in our 18 years of following chemical stocks on Wall
Street.”
The
sudden dearth of ethylene and other materials is being felt up and
down the supply chain. More than half of the country’s capacity for
making polyethylene plastic has been shut down in the past week. More
than 60 percent of production of polypropylene -- another plastic,
has been curtailed.
Chemical
and plastics buyers can operate about only two weeks before
exhausting their inventories, Jefferies analyst Laurence Alexander
said in a note. Many producers are already telling customers that
they won’t be able to meet their contractual supply obligations
because of the storm.
Missing
Commitments
Formosa
Plastics Corp., which shut its Point Comfort, Texas, ethylene and
plastics plants ahead of the storm, said Aug. 30 that it won’t be
able to meet commitments for polyethylene, polypropylene and PVC.
With
so much chemical production in the region out of commission, demand
for natural gas has plummeted. Producers such as Dow Chemical Co. use
gas as a raw material for ethylene and also to power their massive
cracking furnaces and other equipment. Added to the impact from
widespread electricity outages, demand for gas fell by more than 5
billion cubic feet a day, according to Citigroup Inc. That’s equal
to nearly 8 percent of the country’s normal consumption this time
of year.
Demand
for other key raw materials used to make ethylene, such as ethane and
butane, have fallen about 90 percent because of plant closures,
according to PetroChemWire.
Given
the complexity of the ethylene manufacturing process, and the need to
carefully assess damages to ensure safe restarts, it may take many
more weeks for production to reach pre-Harvey levels, IHS Markit said
in a report Thursday. Jefferies analysts expect much of the lost
petrochemical production will return in October with the remainder
starting up the following month.
Restart
Surprises
Companies
won’t know for sure whether their plants were damaged until they
try to restart them, perhaps only then finding that flood waters have
ruined a key piece of equipment, Ahmed said.
“No
one right now has a very good handle on the full extent of the
damage,” Ahmed said.
Even
if most of the chemical industry gets back on its feet in the coming
weeks, logistical challenges could still stymie the flow of supplies
to customers and create supply chain bottlenecks. Rail shipping has
been constrained by train tracks damaged by flooding or still under
water.
Polypropylene
producers could face an average delay of two weeks to ship their
product via rail because of the storm, according to IHS. Some resin
buyers are seeking supplies outside the U.S. in case of an extended
disruption, the consultancy said.
Prices
for ethylene-derived products, meanwhile, have begun to show signs of
the looming shortage. Polyethylene prices globally have begun to
climb on the expectation that U.S. exports will be slashed, IHS said. Bloomberg is obliged to be optimistic. Optimism is the absence of realism
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