Documentary Planet Garbage

Virtual Office?

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Thousands of old railroad cross ties removed from service and awaiting disposal; an ecological nightmare.

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How so? If they were still trees, they'd die, then simply rot away, they're going to do exactly the same now. I fail to see any disaster. Now, if we were talking fiberglass & Carbon fiber wind turbine blades -then that's a disaster that's going to explode exponentially.
 
How so? If they were still trees, they'd die, then simply rot away, they're going to do exactly the same now. I fail to see any disaster. Now, if we were talking fiberglass & Carbon fiber wind turbine blades -then that's a disaster that's going to explode exponentially.
The reason the ties pose a problem is that they are impregnated with toxic creosote as a preservative. They can't be burned, or just be randomly dumped to rot. They must be disposed of as toxic waste in an appropriate way in a process I don't know.
 
The reason the ties pose a problem is that they are impregnated with toxic creosote as a preservative. They can't be burned, or just be randomly dumped to rot. They must be disposed of as toxic waste in an appropriate way in a process I don't know.
Is that a different treatment to what they use in the building/construction industry? You're not supposed to burn treated timber here either, as I'm pretty sure they use Arsenic and a few other nasties in the treatment process. But they're quite happy to build houses etc with it. You could make quite a tidy little profit selling the sleepers here, for retaining walls, driveway/garden edging and that sort of thing. Very highly sought after here.
 
Creosote note the bit about 'carcinogenic properties' ...

Creosote stopped being widely used in Australia by about the late 1960s.

It is pretty nasty stuff, even compared with CCA pine.

The latter is actually fairly benign because the concentration of heavy metals is very low. You need to eat the equivalent of a 100mm diameter X 2 metre to get even a slightly toxic quantity.

DO NOT consider the above any kind of recommendation to treat any heavy metals without having due regard to their toxicity.
 
Walter is your country that garbage strewn? JK
Unfortunately it is, Lucien. And this to a degree that a good amount of the money we taxpayers provide is spent on special cleaning cars and persons who have to clear this several times a week throughout town. Outside in the outskirts of town stuff sometimes keeps lying for months.

This has been driving me nuts for the last half century. Because it's utter carelessness. I experience the difference every time I'm in Switzerland. There the kids are already trained for not throwing away things. Although the Swiss gradually adapt to us Germans in that respect ... but it's still not that extreme.

When I asked a nice worker of Greek origin driving around with his little special vehicle and getting waste out of bushes and flower beds with special long-handed tongs if he does not dispair of mankind when things look the same alredy two days later his response was "as you can see it earns me a living."
 
View attachment 341223It took me quite some time to overcome my hesitation of posting this. But I was really appalled when I came over it ... just next to the swings, seesaws, slides and climbing structures on the children's playground near the town hall.
Not only is that hygienically revolting, but it displays disgusting personal habits.
Sad to say, yes... we have found several in the street as well.

More commonly though we find these things :rolleyes:
The latter two packages found on the beach. Oddly we see these on the beach every time we go for a walk by the sea. There are no dunes... I suspect they are washed up by the ocean

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Not only is that hygienically revolting, but it displays disgusting personal habits.
Sad to say, yes... we have found several in the street as well.

More commonly though we find these things :rolleyes:
The latter two packages found on the beach. Oddly we see these on the beach every time we go for a walk by the sea. There are no dunes... I suspect they are washed up by the ocean

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On the plus side, at least they're being used.
 
Creosote note the bit about 'carcinogenic properties' ...
You mean "probably" It's still used today in some medications, as well as timber treatment. Doesn't sound any worse than current timber treatments used here. So I'm still not seeing this environmental armageddon. All I'm seeing is a huge, missed opportunity. Let me at it
Creosote stopped being widely used in Australia by about the late 1960s.

It is pretty nasty stuff, even compared with CCA pine.

The latter is actually fairly benign because the concentration of heavy metals is very low. You need to eat the equivalent of a 100mm diameter X 2 metre to get even a slightly toxic quantity.

DO NOT consider the above any kind of recommendation to treat any heavy metals without having due regard to their toxicity.
 
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