Last week I
got a private message from somebody who read my blog where I wrote about
pollution. He sent me a link (You will find it at the end of this blog. I added
a second one) about this Man from Japan who invented the machine to turn plastic
back into oil. The converter shown in his movie is actually a small machine.
Looking at it I was amazed. My first thought was that this could be a perfect
solution to get rid of all the plastic. Then I learned he invented it years ago
already. How come we never read about it in the newspaper? Well if you think
long enough about it you can come up with a few reasons. First and foremost I
don’t think the industry world was waiting for this. Second and that is what
kind of concerns me; One kilo of plastic can be converted to 800 grams of oil.
I see big problems there because how many empty bottles for soft drinks would
it take to get 1 kilo? Who will collect all the plastic and how will they
transport it? On the other hand, if it can be done and people have to pay a deposit they will return the bottles to the stores. I know in the Netherlands
the deposit is common but there are countries where it is not. And all bits
together can become a great help in solving the ‘trash’ problem.
Last night I
told my friend how funny it is that here in the Philippines we do dishes and
laundry with ‘cold’ water. Back in the Netherlands, we used hot tap water for
the dishes and for laundry we could choose how warm the water should be. 40, 60
of even 90 degrees. Heating up those machines consumes a lot of energy of course.
That talk last night brought me back to my youth when we simply did not have
washing machines that could heat up the water. I remembered how my mother used
a huge pan on the stove to wash sheets, pillow covers and…. handkerchiefs. That
water was almost boiling hot! With a big wooden rod, she put the sheets, etc. in
and out. Get everything spin-dry? No way, that only came later. No, in those
days a wringer was used and it was done by hand. I can still see how all came
out straight like a wooden shelf. I guess tons of starches were used in those
years. Ironing was done with an electrical iron but you could not choose the
temperature.
Now that I
am going back in time I also remember how we bought milk back then. The milkman
used to come by and we used to bring a saucepan in which he poured the milk,
coming out of a huge tank. Not even glass bottles then.
Was Mary
Hopkins even serious when she sang “Those were the days”?
Love the ones you’re with and be
loved in return.
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