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Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

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Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#91

Post by NeedMoreTea »

robotkdick wrote: post #36
WalterBright wrote: post #8

Plastics should be taxed.

Because plastic is so cheap, producers will pay the tax, continue using plastic, and pass the costs onto consumers. Given the higher cost of other materials, changing consumer behavior (which is not easy, but it's happening right now, and achievable through further exposure and education) may be the only way to change producers' behavior. While a tax seems like an easy fix, it may also cause the government to come to…

Simple. Raise the tax to a point that glass bottles, perhaps with deposit-return schemes, or cotton clothing is cheaper for the consumer than the synthetic equivalents.

Consumers will buy far more of the now cheaper and more sustainable products and producers who continue using plastic will declare profit warnings and some will become insolvent.

Isn't that's how it's supposed to work?

Governments survived losing income from cigarette taxation thanks to e-cigarettes.

Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#92

Post by mjevans »

Aloha wrote: post #9

I strongly suspect that within about 50-100 years something will evolve that can digest all of this plastic. Which will probably cause us as a society to move back to glass and metal as storage components.

Dwindling oil reserves might actually cause us to switch to plant based plastics (hopefully engineering (slowly) bio degradable ones) or the above mentioned 100% recyclable streams sooner.

Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#93

Post by thaumaturgy »

AdamN wrote: post #86
asteli wrote: post #79

Re: microfibers making it into water systems: This is a con to synthetic fibers that I hadn't been considering before. Recently I learned that cotton has a pretty high environmental footprint (land use, highest pesticide use of any crop, high water consumption) [1], and thus started moving some of my clothing purchases toward polyester-blends (trades the cons of cotton for petrochemical and energy use). Does anyone h…

Have you examined organic cotton?

Organic isn't always better for the environment. I can sort of accept people's motivations for organic produce when it's a food product, but for textiles it really doesn't make much sense. Organic cotton requires more water, more land, and more energy than conventional or GMO cotton: https://qz.com/990178/your-organic-cotton-t-shirt-might-be-w...

A better answer in any case is to buy less stuff.

Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#94

Post by bamboozled »

asteli wrote: post #79

Re: microfibers making it into water systems: This is a con to synthetic fibers that I hadn't been considering before. Recently I learned that cotton has a pretty high environmental footprint (land use, highest pesticide use of any crop, high water consumption) [1], and thus started moving some of my clothing purchases toward polyester-blends (trades the cons of cotton for petrochemical and energy use). Does anyone h…

Checkout organic cotton and hemp. Much lower environmental footprint.

You can get some really durable, long lasting, organic cotton and hemp blended clothing which is way more durable, breathable and comfortable than you might imagine.

Patagonia (brand) is an easy place to buy organic cotton Tshirts and pants.

Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#95

Post by olkid »

asteli wrote: post #79

Re: microfibers making it into water systems: This is a con to synthetic fibers that I hadn't been considering before. Recently I learned that cotton has a pretty high environmental footprint (land use, highest pesticide use of any crop, high water consumption) [1], and thus started moving some of my clothing purchases toward polyester-blends (trades the cons of cotton for petrochemical and energy use). Does anyone h…

I wonder why hemp fiber didn't get compared independently. From a quick internet search: it is one fiber used in Tencel blend. I think hemp scores better on land usage, but not necessarily in the other categories. Is that your take?

Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#96

Post by joejerryronnie »

WalterBright wrote: post #65
robotkdick wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because plastic is so cheap, producers will pay the tax, continue using plastic, and pass the costs onto consumers. Given the higher cost of other materials, changing consumer behavior (which is not easy, but it's happening right now, and achievable through further exposure and education) may be the only way to change producers' behavior. While a tax seems like an easy fix, it may also cause the government to come to…

Producers use plastic because it is the cheapest material that works for their use. Raise the price of plastic, and that equation changes.

Weight is also a major consideration in many applications.

Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#97

Post by fenwick67 »

bamboozled wrote: post #94
asteli wrote: post #79

Re: microfibers making it into water systems: This is a con to synthetic fibers that I hadn't been considering before. Recently I learned that cotton has a pretty high environmental footprint (land use, highest pesticide use of any crop, high water consumption) [1], and thus started moving some of my clothing purchases toward polyester-blends (trades the cons of cotton for petrochemical and energy use). Does anyone h…

Checkout organic cotton and hemp. Much lower environmental footprint. You can get some really durable, long lasting, organic cotton and hemp blended clothing which is way more durable, breathable and comfortable than you might imagine. Patagonia (brand) is an easy place to buy organic cotton Tshirts and pants.

Does it really have a smaller footprint? I'd love to see numbers

Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#98

Post by joejerryronnie »

dmritard96 wrote: post #27
WalterBright wrote: post #8

Plastics should be taxed.

Agreed. There should be a mitigation cost associated with all plastics. Nothing more frustrating than buying a container for some food that will last for millennia meanwhile the food was consumed in a couple minutes... More generally, I hope more will push for taxes on all things we want to discourage as means of weening off. Oil, coal, plastic, high impact animal products. All of them have huge external costs, none…

We should be taxing cryptocurrency mining as well.

Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#99

Post by logicallee »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #93
AdamN wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you examined organic cotton?

Organic isn't always better for the environment. I can sort of accept people's motivations for organic produce when it's a food product, but for textiles it really doesn't make much sense. Organic cotton requires more water, more land, and more energy than conventional or GMO cotton: https://qz.com/990178/your-organic-cotton-t-shirt-might-be-w... A better answer in any case is to buy less stuff.

(You might want to add that you're not OP i.e. asteli, the person AdamN directly asked. you have the same writing style, I was almost confused.

If you do edit I'll delete this comment.)

Re: Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere

#100

Post by Xylakant »

wellboy wrote: post #24
HiroshiSan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you strongly suspect this?

He kind of has a point. There are mutations in microbes all the time that allow plastic digestion, probably millions every day. Only needs one that really punches through.

And then spreads to eat all the plastic food containers in my kitchen.
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