Toxic tofu, burning plastic waste in Indonesia to heat up (your) tofu.

[William Gaatjes]

This is a real problem. Plastics waste is used as a fuel to heat ovens, furnaces and boilers where tofu is made.
No filters, nothing, just black smoke leaving the chimneys. Toxic to breathe, toxic to eat...

The tofu and anything else has extremely high levels of toxic chemicals in it. And the local people are not aware about this toxic situation which is very bad for the health of the local people.

 

[Indus]

It's just not an indonesia problem.. it's all over Asia..

Look at this.. hot, very hot food poured into plastic bags.. ready to go, ready to eat with free cancer because of the bags..

 

[KMFJD]

It's just not an indonesia problem.. it's all over Asia..

Look at this.. hot, very hot food poured into plastic bags.. ready to go, ready to eat with free cancer because of the bags..

View attachment 123582

yeah order takeout coffee along with breakfast roti in singapore and it came in a plastic baggie...that was different

 

[Indus]

yeah order takeout coffee along with breakfast roti in singapore and it came in a plastic baggie...that was different

Oh you've been there!

I enjoyed the sliced and salted hot dogs on a stick that you find as streetfood there. Probably not good for my blood pressure but they were delicious.

Chicken Satay too. Some times that'd be my dinner alone if I wasn't in the mood for something else.. but there are so many choices.

I wasn't a fan of the duck though!

 

[William Gaatjes]

It's just not an indonesia problem.. it's all over Asia..

Look at this.. hot, very hot food poured into plastic bags.. ready to go, ready to eat with free cancer because of the bags..

View attachment 123582

Yes, the dumping of plastic waste in nature is in those countries quite the problem. Steps are taken for recycling plastic and make for example plastic tables and chairs. Why, every time a poor country has the chance to become "First world" , has to go through an enourmous polluting stage. If we see India, Pakistan and lots of other asian countries, China even, although China is catching up fast to live in a clean and green environment. Why do they always start like the western world did in the 1910s through 1970s. Even the steamengine era can still be found today in some cities of "third world" countries. It is as if the western world never came up with the ideas for a clean society and provided this to developing countries. Why is it that those poor countries do not start immediately with solar panels and solar furnaces instead ? Or with windturbines. Or with CO2 scrub technology. I am a dreamer i guess...

 

[manly]

Yes, the dumping of plastic waste in nature is in those countries quite the problem. Steps are taken for recycling plastic and make for example plastic tables and chairs. Why, every time a poor country has the chance to become "First world" , has to go through an enourmous polluting stage. If we see India, Pakistan and lots of other asian countries, China even, although China is catching up fast to live in a clean and green environment. Why do they always start like the western world did in the 1910s through 1970s. Even the steamengine era can still be found today in some cities of "third world" countries. It is as if the western world never came up with the ideas for a clean society and provided this to developing countries. Why is it that those poor countries do not start immediately with solar panels and solar furnaces instead ? Or with windturbines. Or with CO2 scrub technology. I am a dreamer i guess...

Health considerations aside, very little plastic is recycled in the U.S. or in the west. The best thing we as consumers can do is to avoid single-use plastics as much as possible. Unfortunately a lot of processed or prepared food is packaged in plastic, so there's really no way out of the mess we're in.

I could be wrong, but burning plastics as cooking fuel is probably even worse than selling hot food in plastic bags.

Beijing's air quality was apocalyptic about a decade ago before they started the rapid transition to EVs. I'm sure they have a long way to go, but AFAIK it's a livable city again and they didn't take decades to make major progress (note that Los Angeles has been the smog capital of the U.S. for a very long time.)

 

[nickqt]

Go take a walk through your living space. Every piece of plastic is breaking down into microplastics, whether because of air, light, etc. It's in your clothes, your food, your drinks, and in your air. Every breath you takes has plastic in it. It's in your cells and bloodstream. And it carries with it other chemicals besides plastic that are toxic.

It's easy to look at this gross tofu, but go take a walk through your living space. It's everywhere, even though you can't taste or smell it...especially because you can't taste or smell it.

 

[balloonshark]

They sell Azumaya brand around here and it says it's a product of the USA. It's also non-gmo. I also have Lighlife brand tempeh in my fridge but it doesn't say where it was made.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Go take a walk through your living space. Every piece of plastic is breaking down into microplastics, whether because of air, light, etc. It's in your clothes, your food, your drinks, and in your air. Every breath you takes has plastic in it. It's in your cells and bloodstream. And it carries with it other chemicals besides plastic that are toxic.

It's easy to look at this gross tofu, but go take a walk through your living space. It's everywhere, even though you can't taste or smell it...especially because you can't taste or smell it.

There are many different kind of plastics.
PFAS like PFOA for example is not even a plastic but a material to process and utilize other materials like for example teflon (PTFE) in a factory.

I do not fully agree that those microplastics arise from plastics in the home. It is usually the byproduct or waste product during the manufacturing of plastics or the burning and incineration of the plastics, without using any kind of smoke filter in the chimney. And dumped in open sewers and in open air.
See post #73 of this thread i made explaining PFAS dumping, C8 dumping, GenX dumping and PFOA dumping:

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Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

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The plastics in your home and my home can degrade when there is for example not a material added to the plastic to make it UV resistant. If such materials are not added, the plastic will breakdown, become brittle and fall apart, pulverizing in tiny specs. That is true, but that is the result of a bad manufacturing process. UV resistant plastics are very common these days.

There are Thermoplastic materials like PVC, PE, PA ,PS ,PP ,PMMA , and UHMWPE (Dyneema plastic). And there are Thermosetting materials like, UP ,EP ,SI, UF, kevlar.

What is not well known is that there exist bacteria on land but mainly exist in the sea that happily break down plastics. Also those microplastics. These are the same kind of family of bacteria that breakdown oil in the sea and the same bacteria consuming oil, methane(CH4) or carbondioxde(CO2).
Even from man made oil spills are consumed by these oil consuming bacteria, like in the vicinity of deepwater horizon is happening, a couple of years ago discovered by researchers.

 

[nickqt]

There are many different kind of plastics.
PFAS like PFOA for example is not even a plastic but a material to process and utilize other materials like for example teflon (PTFE) in a factory.

I do not fully agree that those microplastics arise from plastics in the home. It is usually the byproduct or waste product during the manufacturing of plastics or the burning and incineration of the plastics, without using any kind of smoke filter in the chimney. And dumped in open sewers and in open air.
See post #73 of this thread i made explaining PFAS dumping, C8 dumping, GenX dumping and PFOA dumping:

Page 3 - Ways to clean up pollution and live in a good climate.

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

forums.anandtech.com

The plastics in your home and my home can degrade when there is for example not a material added to the plastic to make it UV resistant. If such materials are not added, the plastic will breakdown, become brittle and fall apart, pulverizing in tiny specs. That is true, but that is the result of a bad manufacturing process. UV resistant plastics are very common these days.

There are Thermoplastic materials like PVC, PE, PA ,PS ,PP ,PMMA , and UHMWPE (Dyneema plastic). Kevlar. And there are Thermosetting materials like, UP ,EP ,SI, UF.

What is not well known is that there exist bacteria on land but mainly exist in the sea that happily break down plastics. Also those microplastics. These are the same kind of family of bacteria that breakdown oil in the sea and the same bacteria consuming oil, methane(CH4) or carbondioxde(CO2).
Even from man made oil spills are consumed by these oil consuming bacteria, like in the vicinity of deepwater horizon is happening.

Plastic and microplastics are everywhere on the planet, including our bodies.

What is your point? That everything is fine?

 

[William Gaatjes]

Plastic and microplastics are everywhere on the planet, including our bodies.

What is your point? That everything is fine?

No, but there is a difference with getting plastics in your system from home appliances, which i doubt especially where proper UV resistant plastics are used.
And breathing in and consuming precipitated microplastics that were released during manufacturing or incineration of plastic waste.

It is the way manufacturers dump their waste what is the problem. And just incinerating plastics without smoke scrubbers , well, for example dioxin walhalla.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Health considerations aside, very little plastic is recycled in the U.S. or in the west. The best thing we as consumers can do is to avoid single-use plastics as much as possible. Unfortunately a lot of processed or prepared food is packaged in plastic, so there's really no way out of the mess we're in.

I could be wrong, but burning plastics as cooking fuel is probably even worse than selling hot food in plastic bags.

Beijing's air quality was apocalyptic about a decade ago before they started the rapid transition to EVs. I'm sure they have a long way to go, but AFAIK it's a livable city again and they didn't take decades to make major progress (note that Los Angeles has been the smog capital of the U.S. for a very long time.)

That is so weird in the west. We can produce plastics but we cannot safely process plastic waste. Because then we get those naggers again : "It is too expensive to safely process, better ship it of to developing countries" .

I remember i saw a documentary how old pc systems and consumer electronics devices, were shipped of to third world countries in asia were people unknowingly boil of in superhot furnaces old printed circuit boards (pcb) and old chips to extract the rare earth metals and expensive metals like gold , silver. And more.
These people wore shirts as gasmasks. Super hot furnaces with glassfiber pcb or laminated paper pcb. Hot enough to melt metal. And they breath it in and stand there with open sandals...

 

[nickqt]

No, but there is a difference with getting plastics in your system from home appliances, which i doubt especially where proper UV resistant plastics are used.
And breathing in and consuming precipitated microplastics that were released during manufacturing or incineration of plastic waste.

It is the way manufacturers dump their waste what is the problem. And just incinerating plastics without smoke scrubbers , well, for example dioxin walhalla.

Your entire living space is covered with plastics.

Go open your refrigerator and check where your food is stored. Do the same for your pantry. Check what you're wearing. What you're driving.

Use a phone? A keyboard? A remote for your TV?

You could be in Anchorage or Atlanta, there is literally plastic everywhere.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Your entire living space is covered with plastics.

Go open your refrigerator and check where your food is stored. Do the same for your pantry. Check what you're wearing. What you're driving.

Use a phone? A keyboard? A remote for your TV?

You could be in Anchorage or Atlanta, there is literally plastic everywhere.

There may be plastics everywhere but that does not mean that these plastics dissolve into microplastic where you stand. Plastics age and resistance against the suns UV light is one way to let plastics age very slow.

Besides UV resistance, another thing to worry about is the plasticizer.
Plasticizers keep the material pliable and flexible. In the past , people would buy plastic cups with way too much plasticizers in the plastic cups. A group of cheap baby toys from China, about 20 years ago is another good example of a plastic product with too much and the wrong kind of plastizicers.
When the plastizicer can seep out the plastic. Wrong use of usually thermoplastics is the main problem. Using the wrong kind of plastics as a base for a product.

Burning plastics and breathing in the smoke, is very lethal for the health.