Not such great news via the New York Times:
...More than 30 commercial kitchens in Tropodo, a village on the eastern side of Indonesia’s main island, Java, fuel their tofu production by burning a mix of paper and plastic waste, some of it shipped from the United States after Americans dumped it in their recycling bins.
The backyard kitchens produce much of the area’s tofu, an inexpensive and high-protein food made from soy that is an important part of the local diet. But the smoke and ash produced by the burning plastic has far-reaching and toxic consequences.
Testing of eggs laid by chickens in Tropodo, a village of 5,000 people, found high levels of several hazardous chemicals including dioxin — a pollutant known to cause cancer, birth defects and Parkinson’s disease — according to a report released this week by an alliance of Indonesian and international environmental groups.If you read the article further, it sounds like a lot of this plastic waste comes from recycling in the United States that was diverted into the paper streams. That's not good news for anyone, especially the people eating this tofu.
If you've never watched Squidbillies, allow me to put in a plug... the show's resident businessman and possible confederate of Satan, Dan Halen, powers both his factory and his industrial-strength hair dryer with "clean-burning styrofoam."
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