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Old 04-14-2013, 02:40 AM
 
44 posts, read 130,294 times
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Learned the other day that plastic mulch has been widely used on farms and fields for over 60yrs and has never been disposed of but simply left in the ground over the years to decompose. This why you will see a lot small pieces of black plastic on the ground and embedded in the dirt on many places in Maui.

With so much evidence proving that toxic chemicals leach from plastic as it breaks down, especially while being exposed to heat, why does the state of Hawaii continue to allow plastic mulch to be used?

It sort of defeats the purpose of living in paradise while being constantly exposed to toxic chemicals leeching into the ground and water supply.
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Old 04-14-2013, 02:45 AM
 
Location: Kahala
12,120 posts, read 17,789,553 times
Reputation: 6175
If you care so much - why not write to a legislator - odd to post here, nothing can be done here.
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Old 04-14-2013, 04:49 AM
 
Location: Volcano
12,969 posts, read 28,320,377 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nemrut View Post
It sort of defeats the purpose of living in paradise while being constantly exposed to toxic chemicals leeching into the ground and water supply.
On the list of environmental concerns in Hawai'i, that one is way down the list, so the priority is very low to do anything.

The really big concerns start with waste disposal and wastewater contamination of ground and shore water. This has been a growing problem and is the subject of a number od EPA consent decrees. Buildup and unintentional spread of agricultural chemicals, including fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides are also major concerns.

Counter intuitively, black plastic mulch reduces the use of chemicals, and of water where that's an issue, so it's a "lesser evil" kind of thing. And despite years of research, there's still no biodegradeable mulch film that is very useful in the tropics.

If you want to worry about stuff, anyplace where sugar cane was grown has arsenic residues from years of putting out poison to combat the cane rats, and the cane field burns on Maui create a lot of really toxic smoke. At least with that last one there are volunteer groups trying to do something about the problem, so you can donate your time and money to trying to do something.
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