Can crunch talks bring the Paris climate treaty to life?

Yahoo – AFP, September 2, 2018

As the pace of global warming races ahead of efforts to tame it, diplomats from more 

than 190 nations begin crunch UN climate talks in Bangkok Tuesday to breathe life 

into the Paris Agreement. (AFP Photo/JOEL SAGET)

Paris (AFP) - As the pace of global warming races ahead of efforts to tame it, diplomats from more than 190 nations begin crunch UN climate talks in Bangkok Tuesday to breathe life into the Paris Agreement.

This year is the deadline to finalise the "rule book" for the 2015 treaty, which calls for capping the rise in global temperatures at "well below" two degrees Celsius, and 1.5 C if possible.

The pact also promises $100 billion annually from 2020 to poor nations already coping with floods, heatwaves, rising seas and superstorms made worse by climate change.

"The Paris Agreement was like a letter of intent," said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University.

Unless detailed rules of implementation covering dozens of contentious and unresolved issues are agreed upon, he and other experts said, the landmark treaty could run aground.

Lamenting "uneven progress" to date, co-chairs of UN talks last month urged rank-and-file negotiators to produce "clear and streamlined options" that ministers and heads of state can push across the finish line at the December UN climate summit in Poland.

"If Parties do not achieve this in Bangkok, a satisfactory outcome in Katowice will be in jeopardy," they wrote in the unusual appeal.

The most persistent sticking points in the UN talks revolve around money.

Developing countries favour outright grants from public sources, demand visibility on how donor nations intend to scale up this largesse, and object to under-investment in adapting to climate impacts.

Rich countries want more private capital in the mix, prefer projects with profit potential, and have been reluctant to make hard-and-fast long-term commitments.

This tension flared spectacularly in July when the UN's flagship climate finance initiative, the Green Climate Fund, suffered a boardroom meltdown after members could not agree on funding priorities.

Symptom and cause

The executive director quit, and the paralysed fund -- hampered by US President Donald Trump's refusal to honour a US $2 billion pledge -- is facing a cash crunch.

The Fund's woes are both symptom and cause, and will complicate the broader talks on finance, experts say.

An even more daunting -- and arguably urgent -- task facing diplomats in Bangkok and Katowice is ratcheting up voluntary national commitments to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Taken together, current pledges would allow average global temperatures to climb more than 3 C (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The mercury has gone up 1 C so far.

Under the Paris accord, countries are not required to revisit these commitments until 2023.

But waiting that long could doom the planet to runaway global warming, scientists warn in a UN special report obtained by AFP, to be officially unveiled in October.

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1.5 C report will show the need for increased ambition if we want to have a functional human civilisation in the future," said Wael Hmaidan, executive director of Climate Action Network, which groups hundreds of climate NGOs.

Debilitating heatwaves and deadly fires across the northern hemisphere this summer may be a mild foretaste of what a climate addled future would look like.

"We need to see announcements of increased ambition from some of the big countries that put out 2030 commitments -- China, India, Brazil, the European Union, Japan," said Alden Meyer, policy and strategy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington.

Bottleneck is governments

A handful of nations, including the United States, submitted plans running out to 2025.

Meanwhile, dozens of developing countries in the Climate Vulnerable Forum, an informal bloc, are announcing ambitious timetables for energy sectors run entirely with renewables.

"They are saying, 'if we -- the poorest, most climate impacted countries in the world -- are able to be in line with the 1.5 C goal, there is no excuse for bigger, richer countries not to do the same'," said Hmaidan.

Sub-national governments, regions, cities and businesses gathering in San Francisco in mid-September at the Global Climate Action Summit are also poised to unveil initiatives and commitments to speed the transition to a low- or no-carbon global economy.

But the full-throttle response needed tackle global warming has yet to materialise, as each sector looks to the other to take the lead.

"Businesses are looking to countries to build on the commitments they made in Paris," said Jennifer Austin, policy director for We Mean Business.

"Strong, clear policies are what give businesses clarity and confidence."

At the same time, even nations instrumental in forging the Paris pact have failed to redouble their efforts, said Hmaidan.

"The bottleneck for a real transformation is political will at the national level -- heads of state," he said.

France's environment minister Nicolas Hulot quit his post suddenly last week, citing among other reasons lack of progress on climate change.

Pope urges clean up of plastic waste from oceans

Yahoo – AFP, 1 September 2018

Pope Francis said access to water was a basic right

Pope Francis on Saturday issued a call to clear up oceans threatened by plastic waste and underscored the need to provide drinking water to all as a basic right.

"We cannot allow our seas and oceans to be littered by endless fields of floating plastic," the pontiff said in a message on the fourth World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

"Sadly, all too many efforts fail due to the lack of effective regulation and means of control, particularly with regard to the protection of marine areas beyond national confines."

The pope also said that access "to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right" and deplored that for many it was "difficult if not impossible.

"Our world owes a great social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity," he said.

Paris, Tokyo, New York and others pledge to slash waste

Yahoo – AFP, August 28, 2018

A reclaimer wades through the waste at Robinson Deep landfill, Johannesburg's
largest landfill on June 29, 2018. (AFP Photo/GULSHAN KHAN)

New York (AFP) - By slashing food waste and improving waste management and recycling, 23 global cities and regions representing 150 million people pledged Tuesday to significantly cut the pollution-causing garbage they generate by 2030.

Places like New York, Tokyo, London, Paris and Sydney vowed to "cut the amount of waste generated by each citizen 15 percent by 2030," said a statement from C40 Cities, a global network dedicated to fighting climate change.

They will also "reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incineration by 50 percent and increase the diversion rate to 70 percent by 2030," according to the declaration.

The goal of the "Advancing Towards Zero Waste Declaration" is to avoid the disposal of at least 87 million tons of waste by 2030.

Waste is becoming one of the leading threats to the environment, increasing faster than any other pollutant.

Each year, 1.3 billion tons of wasted food is sent to landfills where rotting scraps send the potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere.

Improving waste and material management around the world globally could reduce global emissions by 20 percent, and are "essential" to delivering on the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accords and keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 Celsius, said the C40 Cities statement.

The announcement was released ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco in mid-September.

Signatories include Auckland, Copenhagen, Dubai, London, Milan, Montreal, New York City, Newburyport, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, Rotterdam, San Jose, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Toronto, Vancouver Washington DC, and the regions of Navarra and Catalonia.

Specific steps include reducing food waste and facilitating safe food donation.

Participating areas may encourage separate collection of food scraps that could be used for compost, and supporting local policies like sustainable procurement and boosting awareness and use of recycling for construction and demolition materials.

Areas may also support reductions or bans on single-use and non-recyclable plastics.

The signatories pledged to publicly report their progress every two years.

"Dramatically reducing waste will help curb carbon emissions while helping us build a fairer, cleaner and more livable city for all New Yorkers," said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

"We're proud to stand alongside other leading cities worldwide in taking ambitious steps to cut down on waste."

'Trash is gold' as Benin community turns waste into biogas

Yahoo – AFP, Josué MEHOUENOU, August 22, 2018

The facility processes around six tonnes of organic waste every week, turning it
into 200 cubic metres of biogas (AFP Photo/Yanick FOLLY)

Houegbo (Bénin) (AFP) - Garbage has never smelled so sweet for a small village in southern Benin since it opened a pilot waste treatment centre to turn household rubbish into gas -- and cash.

"Our trash has become gold. We no longer throw it into the bush. We use it to make money," beams Alphonse Ago, who lives next to the centre in Houegbo village.

ReBin, a Swiss foundation for sustainable development, built the 1.3-hectare (3.2-acre) facility, which every week turns around six tonnes of organic waste into 200 cubic metres of biogas -- saving some 164 tonnes of wood from being used to make charcoal.

The centre, which opened late last year, also plans to produce around 400 tonnes of organic fertiliser per year.

So far, around 100 households in the area have signed up to the scheme to deposit their waste at the centre on a daily basis.

Every 10 kilogrammes (22 pounds) of waste fetches 250 CFA francs (around 50 euro cents, 57 US cents), paid either in cash or credit -- to buy biogas.

The fuel is a precious commodity in a rural region where electricity remains scarce.

Agnes Avoce, a shopkeeper and mother of five, proudly straps a large plastic bag of the gas onto her back.

So far, around 100 households in the area have signed up to the scheme. Every 

10 kilogrammes of waste fetches 250 CFA francs (around 50 euro cents), paid 

either in cash or credit -- to buy biogas (AFP Photo/Yanick FOLLY)

Biogas, she says, is much cleaner and more efficient for cooking than charcoal -- which "darkens the pots and makes me sick" -- and she is more than happy to make the switch.

Avoce is not alone; five other women are waiting to pick up gas.

"There are queues here since we opted for biogas," another customer says.

'Goldmine'

Symphorien Adonon, 35, drops off a week's worth of carefully sorted waste, smiling as he pockets his cash payment.

"Now I have enough to do the shopping for dinner," says Adonon, who drives a motorcycle taxi.

ReBin Benin Foundation chief Mark Giannelli was inspired to launch the project 

after noticing mountains of discarded pineapple skins in Benin, Africa's fourth-biggest 

exporter of the fruit (AFP Photo/Yanick FOLLY)

The centre has treated more than 20 tonnes of waste since it began operations late last year.

In addition to the customers' household waste, there is also rubbish collected by a local non-government organisation, Astome.

The NGO's chief, Florent Gbegnon, says he used to collect it on a push cart, but he now uses a tricycle provided by the centre.

"It's a huge relief," he says as he dumps a load of pineapple skins. "Pushing the cart was a real burden."

It was the massive amounts of waste such as pineapple skins that originally caught the attention of ReBin's founder, Mark Giannelli, and inspired him to set up the treatment centre in Houegbo.

"I saw this not as a problem, but as an opportunity, and I thought it was a goldmine," Giannelli told AFP.

Benin is Africa's fourth-biggest exporter of pineapples. And in Houegbo, which has one of the busiest markets in the region, local sources estimate that more than a tonne of waste is generated every day from that fruit alone.

Giannelli told AFP that he had been searching for a potential site for his project in Benin's West African neighbours Ghana and Togo.

Sewai Mardochee, director of the Toffo facility, says it should be duplicated across 

Benin. 'We can then create jobs and clean up our living environment by reducing

the use of firewood and coal' (AFP Photo/Yanick FOLLY)

But it was the enthusiasm with which the locals embraced his idea that finally convinced him to set up the waste treatment centre here, he said.

'Source of happiness'

The goal is to establish "a real economy that serves the population and protects the environment," he says. "We have to take the problems locally and adapt them to local solutions."

Once the necessary expertise has become more firmly established in Houegbo, Giannelli hopes to extend the project to larger municipalities and let local entrepreneurs run it.

The centre's director, Sewai Mardochee, suggests duplicating it in all of Benin's 77 municipalities.

"We can then create jobs and clean up our living environment by reducing the use of firewood and coal," he said.

Nicolas Hounje, a retired official, has put himself forward to take over the company.

"We did not know here that garbage can become a source of happiness," he says.

VIDEO: Garbage has never smelled so sweet for a small village in southern Benin since it opened a pilot waste treatment centre to turn household rubbish into gas -- and cash pic.twitter.com/HqvKadsl6w

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 22, 2018

New Zealand to ban single-use plastic bags

Yahoo – AFP, August 10, 2018

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand uses "hundreds of millions" of
single-use plastic bags each year, many of which end up harming marine life
 (AFP Photo/Marty MELVILLE)

Wellington (AFP) - New Zealand became the latest country Friday to outlaw single-use plastic shopping bags, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying they will be phased out over the next year as a "meaningful step" towards reducing pollution.

New Zealand uses "hundreds of millions" of single-use plastic bags each year, many of which end up harming marine life, Ardern said.

"We need to be far smarter in the way we manage waste and this is a good start," she said.

"We're phasing-out single-use plastic bags so we can better look after our environment and safeguard New Zealand's clean, green reputation."

Ardern said her coalition government, which includes the Green Party, was facing up to environmental challenges and "just like climate change, we're taking meaningful steps to reduce plastics pollution so we don't pass this problem to future generations."

Single-use plastic bags are among the most common items found in coastal litter in New Zealand and the environmental group Greenpeace welcomed the decision to outlaw them.

"This could be a major leap forward in turning the tide on ocean plastic pollution and an important first step in protecting marine life such as sea turtles and whales, from the growing plastic waste epidemic," Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner Emily Hunter said.

A United Nations report in June said up to five trillion grocery bags are used globally each year, which is nearly 10 million plastic bags per minute.

"If tied together, all these plastic bags could be wrapped around the world seven times every hour" and like most plastic garbage barely any is recycled, said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment.

The UN said more than 60 countries had introduced bans and levies on single-use plastic items like bags.

But better waste management, financial incentives to change consumers' buying habits and research into alternative materials were needed to make any real change, it added.

Europe sizzles in heatwave as wildfire hits Portugal

Yahoo – AFP, August 5, 2018

Saturday was the hottest day in France since the infamous heatwave of 2003
(AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)

Madrid (AFP) - Europe sweltered through an intense heatwave on Sunday, with soaring temperatures contributing to forest fires, the closure of nuclear plants and even a threat to the Netherlands' supply of potato fries, although some countries experienced a slight respite.

Here is a roundup:

Spain: Fire under control

A top temperature of 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) was forecast in the southwest region of Extremadura on Sunday, where a wildfire in San Vicente de Alcantara has been brought under control by firefighters, the local fire service said.

The mercury had reached 44 C in the country's south on Saturday, the Spanish Meteorological Agency said.

The rise in temperatures has already claimed the lives of three people who died of heatstroke this week.

A female orangutan hides from the blazing sun in Madrid, Spain 

(AFP Photo/PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU)

Portugal: 45 C forecast

The mercury was expected to hit 45 C in some parts of Portugal on Sunday, a day after weather records in several cities were broken on Saturday, the hottest day for 18 years according to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA)

A temperature of 46.8 C was recorded north of Lisbon on Saturday, although nowhere reached the nationwide record of 47.3 C registered in the southern village of Amareleja in 2003.

Faced with the heatwave the national rail company admitted that there had been air conditioning problems on some trains and halted the sale of tickets for certain routes, especially those which cross areas where the temperatures are most ferocious.

A forest fire continued to rage on two fronts in Monchique in the country's south on Sunday, with 800 firefighters, supported by 12 water-dropping planes and helicopters were working to put it out.

Another forest fire, in central Estremoz, has left six people wounded, two in serious condition.

A woman pulls two horses as smoke columns rise from a wildfire raging in 

Alvega, Portugal (AFP Photo/CARLOS COSTA)

France: 'Recklessness' warning

In France, 67 out of 101 departments were on heatwave alert with temperatures in the south of the country expected to again peak near 40 C.

Saturday was the hottest day in the country since the infamous heatwave of 2003, in which thousands of mainly elderly people died.

The emergency services complained that, despite public health warnings about keeping cool and hydrated, there was "still quite a lot of recklessness" -- citing the example of an elderly man in Lyon who suffered heart problems while mowing his lawn under the merciless afternoon sun.

The heat has also caused air pollution levels to soar. To try to clear the air, the city of Paris has banned owners of the most polluting categories of vehicles from using their cars on Monday. In the east of the country, authorities have lowered the speed limit by 20 kilometres/hour to try dispel the smog.

French emergency services complained that, despite public health warnings about 

keeping cool and hydrated, there was "still quite a lot of recklessness" (AFP Photo/

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)

Italy: Tornado spotted

Several thunderstorms flooded streets in Sicily and Sardinia in the south of Italy on Sunday, cooling down a the heatwave that has caused traffic problems on the country's busiest summer weekend on the roads.

Tourists on the Italian island of Pantelleria, near Tunisia, said they had seen a tornado off the coast on Saturday.

Media had previously reported on Saturday that a woman had died from apparent heatstroke on a beach in the northwestern Liguria region.

A woman cools herself in a fountain near the Ara Pacis monument in central
Rome (AFP Photo/Andreas SOLARO)

Germany: Rain brings relief

Isolated showers and thunderstorms brought some relief from the heat in parts of Germany this weekend, particularly in the south. However temperatures are expected to climb again to as high as 39 C in the east on Wednesday.

Sweltering Germans have been flocking to open air swimming pools across the country, and many pools are expecting record visitor numbers this summer, DPA news agency reported.

People walk in a fountain in front of the Berlin Cathedral as the heatwave in Europe 

continues (AFP Photo/John MACDOUGALL)

Britain: Hot until Tuesday

The heat also slightly abated in Britain on Sunday, with the high of just over 30 degrees expected in the south of England, according to the Met Office, which predicted the heatwave would continue until Tuesday.

Public Health England told those in the southeast to stay in the shade and drink lots of water.

Netherlands: Shortage of fries?

While the temperature was down to a near-seasonal 25 C in the Netherlands on Sunday, the country's drought continues to wreak havoc on crops.

Farmers are working night and day to save what they can, the Dutch broadcaster NOS reported, with potato and corn yields hit particularly hard.

Producers have warned that a potato shortage could affect the supply of fries, a Dutch favourite.

Europe swelters with intense heat as temperatures hit near-record highs of 46 degrees Celsius in Portugal, while elsewhere the high temperatures exacerbate fires and melt the asphalt on highwayshttps://t.co/1kxcPnk2ZS pic.twitter.com/nB5qkKUZpG

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 5, 2018

Related Articles:

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

Tennet invests heavily to add green energy to grid

DutchNews, July 26, 2018

Photo: DutchNews.nl

Tennet, owner of the Dutch national grid and another covering large parts of Germany, spent €904m in the first half of 2018 upgrading its infrastructure as part of the energy transition, the Financieele Dagblad said on Thursday. 

The power grid operator said the expenditure was the first part of a 10-year, €30bn investment in cables and other infrastructure as well as software and hardware to smooth the transition away from gas and towards green energy.  

Tennet, which is owned by the Dutch government, said total revenues were unchanged at €2bn while gross operating profit fell to €699 (796)m as regulations were adjusted in the Netherlands. Tennet provides no net earnings figures. 

Unlike fossil fuels, green energy – wind and solar – generate variable amounts of power. ‘This presents us with a new situation as end-users cannot handle variable electricity generated by weather dependent sources,’ said Mel Kroon, outgoing head of Tennet. 

‘This involves not only developing new infrastructure to connect the offshore wind farms with the land-based grid, but also in designing new software and hardware to operate it,’ Kroon said.

Amsterdam introduces ‘bread bins’ as weapon against plague of rats

DutchNews, July 16, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Some 20 special waste bins are to be placed across parts of Amsterdam in an effort to stop people feeding stale bread to birds – and inadvertently boosting the number of rats. 

The bins will be placed outside primary schools, mosques and neighbourhood centres, the Parool reported on Monday. The bread and other food left in the bins will be used to produce biogas, the paper said. 

In April, the Amsterdam district of New West and Zuidoost introduced a ban on feeding stale bread to birds in some parts of the boroughs, with fines of €70 for doing so. 

City officials have also produced information leaflets and a video to explain the importance of not leaving old bread on the streets. In addition ‘changes’ are being made to green spaces – although the Parool does not say what this will involve. 

The Hague, Haarlem and Utrecht earlier introduced the special bread bins to stop food waste. 

Over 2,500 reports of rats were made to Amsterdam health department officials in 2016, the most recent year figures have been available. That was a rise of 27% on 2015.

‘It’s very attractive for rats to live on food provided by humans. A major reason for the problems with rats is the overabundance of food in public spaces,’ a spokesman said last year.

Starbucks to phase out plastic straws by 2020

Yahoo - AFP, July 9, 2018

Starbucks has announced that it plans on phasing out all plastic straws from
its 28,000 stores worldwide by 2020 (AFP Photo/JOE RAEDLE)

Washington (AFP) - Global coffee giant Starbucks announced Monday it is to eliminate all plastic straws from its 28,000 stores by 2020, becoming the latest corporate giant to take steps to combat pollution from disposable plastic.

After months of tests, many of them carried out in Britain, the firm announced the news on Twitter.

The plastic straws will be replaced by recyclable lids that have a small raised opening allowing consumers to sip their drink, a model that has already been road tested on some of the company's cold beverages in the US and Canada.

Plastic straws have proven difficult to recycle, not because of the material they are made from but because they are too slim for recycling production lines to effectively sort through. The new lids, made of polypropylene, will be big enough for machines to recycle, Starbucks said.

"Starbucks is finally drawing a line in the sand and creating a mold for other large brands to follow," said Chris Milne, director of packaging sourcing. "We are raising the water line for what's acceptable and inspiring our peers to follow suit."

The store will automatically offer cold drinks with the new sipping lid, but for "frappuccinos," a coffee mixed with ice, the store will offer paper straws or ones made of a compostable plastic based on fermented plant starch. Customers who prefer a straw with their drink can ask for one.

By not automatically offering straws with drinks, Starbucks estimates it will save a billion straws a year.

Numerous advocacy groups, including Ocean Conservancy, welcomed the move. Several European countries and cities in the United States are mulling restrictions on the use of plastic straws, although outright bans are still rare. In the US, Seattle -- hometown of Starbucks -- is the only major city to have so far banned the use of plastic straws in its eateries.

Pressure from consumers is driving many companies to tackle waste from packaging. McDonald's is road testing the use of biodegradable straws for its drinks.

Plastic is light, versatile and here to stay -- for now

Yahoo – AFP, Etienne BALMER, Marie HEUCLIN, July 8, 2018

A huge array of goods and packaging we use in our everyday lives is made
of plastic (AFP Photo/JEAN-MICHEL ANDRE)

But the resilient, supple, light and malleable materials play a key role in our lives and, according to experts, will remain crucial for a long time to come.

Here are a few things to know about the world of plastic.

How it's made

The classic production process involves the distillation and refining of fuel or natural gas, breaking down hydrocarbons.

Various raw materials make up the building blocks of the resulting plastic. Monomers build more complex molecules called polymers -- the scientific name for plastics.

There are two families of polymers.

Thermoplastics, accounting for some 80 percent of global plastics consumption, melt when they are heated and then harden when cooled.

Then there are thermosets, which do not soften after moulding.

How it's used

Five polymers account for the majority -- 71 percent -- of global plastics consumption.

Plastic plays a huge role in our lives (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

First, there is polyethylene, found above all in single-use packaging, then polypropylene, used in car bumpers, dashboards and drinking straws.

Next up is polystyrene, used for packaging, insulation panels and yoghurt pots.

There is also polyvinyl chloride -- better known as PVC -- used in windows and drains -- and then polyethylene terephthalate (PET), commonly used for synthetic fibres or bottles.

Lighter is better

There is much innovation in conventional plastics, with new properties being added to maximise performance.

Lighter is better, and slimming the volume of plastic is a constant challenge, not least to reduce the amount of plastic clogging the oceans and to wage war on waste.

But lighter plastic also means lighter finished products, including in transport.

"The need for (greater) lightness in auto transport is a massive innovation factor," Christophe Cabarry, founder and president of SpecialChem, an online platform connecting sellers and buyers of chemicals and materials, told AFP.

A few grams a year are being shaved down, even on products as mundane as plastic bottles.

Despite the war on plastic bags, they are still a huge problem for the 

environment (AFP Photo/Munir UZ ZAMAN)

What about the environment?

The wait is on for the breakthrough of bioplastics -- plastics made using biodegradable materials or natural recyclable materials.

"There is much innovation in the sector," says Cabarry.

But of the 2.05 million tonnes of bioplastics produced worldwide last year less than half was actually biodegradable, according to European Bioplastics, an industry association.

The association put their market penetration at barely 0.75 percent in 2017, owing to bioplastic's much higher costs.

But we recycle, right?

Europe managed to re-use around 31 percent of 26 million tonnes of plastics waste in 2016.

"Europe has initiated a transition from a linear towards a circular and resource efficient society", says the PlasticsEurope association of manufacturers.

But the rate in the United States is much lower, at 10 percent, and across the world, only 9 percent of the nine billion tonnes of plastic produced to date has been recycled, a recent UN report said.

Some 12 million tonnes per year, mostly in the form of single-use packaging, are dumped into the world's oceans, creating an ecological nightmare, according to Greenpeace.