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India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

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Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#111

Post by sushid »

paulstovell wrote: post #105

As I read this I was reminded of how trees in prehistoric times piled up because no bacteria had evolved to eat them yet: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2016/01... We don’t feel so bad about using paper or wood because it now biodegrades, but if those organisms hadn’t evolved, we’d be worried about wood and paper the same way we worry about plastic. This article suggests there are some bacteria…

To me, that's the equivalent of not doing anything about global warming because future technology may be able to trivially solve the issue. Sure, that may be a possibility, but what happens to humanity if that's not the case?

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#112

Post by Pristina »

akudha wrote: post #109
PaulHoule wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the problem is that markets for commodities are always volatile. That is, recycling plastic X might be very profitable in 2015 and not at all be profitable in 2019. It is the same problem that producers of oil, aluminum and everything else have from time to time. Prices go up and prices go down.

I understand commerce makes the world go around, but why is anything and everything always measured in terms of profit and loss? We know plastic sucks and we know we need to reduce its usage, and yet we are still primarily talking about these things in terms of profit and loss, instead of talking about these problems in terms of welfare/sustainability/survival of this planet?

Why don't we just sit around a campfire and sing koombayah and hopefully everybody's problems will go away?

If you don't care about money, then just give it all to me. If you do, then these people do too, which is why it's about profit and loss.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#113

Post by DangitBobby »

Pristina wrote: post #110
andrewstuart wrote: post #4

The dumping of "recycling" onto other countries just goes to show what a lie recycling actually is. It's not recycling, it's just garbage, but the word recycling makes us feel good about sending it to some other country to be dumped. With India and China refusing it, look to the "recycling" companies to make deals with countries that don't have the political will to say no to accepting the worlds plastic and paper ga…

What annoys me is the consistent blaming on the 'industry' and 'profit' when industries only make thins people buy. So why do people use single-use plastic? Because they are lazy, and it's convenient.

And because it's often the only option. Here's a question for you, which one happened first? A) someone packaged a good in plastic or B) someone bought a good packaged in plastic?

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#114

Post by mikekchar »

madengr wrote: post #83
andrewstuart wrote: post #4

The dumping of "recycling" onto other countries just goes to show what a lie recycling actually is. It's not recycling, it's just garbage, but the word recycling makes us feel good about sending it to some other country to be dumped. With India and China refusing it, look to the "recycling" companies to make deals with countries that don't have the political will to say no to accepting the worlds plastic and paper ga…

China is also a big exporter of plastic shit. Maybe there ought to be a law that requires plastic shit to be retured to the country of origin.

Alternatively there could be a law that countries that import plastic shit have a plan for dealing with it before they import it.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#115

Post by dbg31415 »

I thought these were just depressing... but yeah, likely more truthful.

Pick one, they're all just as depressing as the next.

* Adam Ruins Everything - The Corporate Conspiracy to Blame You for Their Trash - YouTube || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koqNm_TgOZk

* Penn & Teller - Recycling - YouTube || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jac96QNtRmU

* Debunking recycling paper (P&T segment) - YouTube || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7czKngCUASM

* The shocking scale of our waste - and the myth of recycling | Irene Rompa | TEDxMidAtlantic - YouTube || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTgTWLYCeOU

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#116

Post by 00N8 »

sagartewari01 wrote: post #89
gotocake wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, or maybe it would be unprofitable.

I don't think it will be even fractionally unprofitable compared to billions of us dying. I just realized I'm making an argument for socialism. Anyone up for it?

ever since I heard Noam Chomsky describe himself as a libertarian socialist, I thought, that's the non mainstream political affiliation for me!

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#117

Post by noufalibrahim »

djsumdog wrote: post #84
quakeguy wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are absolutly right. To others seeing this comment, i‘d recommend you watch the Documentary named „Plastic China“. It is on YT, but you support the makers here: https://www.plasticchina.org We need to stop plastic polluttion now, or im afraid the earths ecosystem will collapse sooner or later.

I feel like the debate on human induced climate change is a red haring. It's so abstract, it basically invites conflict and CO2 is absolutely nothing compared to issues of mass consumption. There are huge floating patches of plastic waste our oceans, being swallowed by sea life, killing fish and making its way into our food supply. There are massive lakes of sludge in Chinese and South Pacific factory cities used to…

A low hanging fruit in the attempt to reduce consumption (which is the only real solution) is to stop single-use items. e.g. paper napkins, straws, carry bags from the local grocery shops etc. Just assuming that it's biodegradable or being recycled doesn't take into account the amount of energy and materials that went into production which are just wasted since the items are not reused.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#118

Post by tengbretson »

DangitBobby wrote: post #113
Pristina wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What annoys me is the consistent blaming on the 'industry' and 'profit' when industries only make thins people buy. So why do people use single-use plastic? Because they are lazy, and it's convenient.

And because it's often the only option. Here's a question for you, which one happened first? A) someone packaged a good in plastic or B) someone bought a good packaged in plastic?

Its a third option: At some point someone decided to package an existing product that was not usually packaged in plastic, in plastic. Consumers decided the new way of packaging was superior and everyone adopted it to keep up.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#119

Post by statictype »

repsilat wrote: post #81
WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #36

India should have done this long ago. Recycling items is way harder than it needs to be. First companies need to re-engineer their products to minimize the solid waste and maximize recyclability Second, people need to easily understand what can be recycled and what can not so they can make an informed decision Third, communities should not have the option to ship out their waste and have someone else deal with the pr…

> India should have done this long ago. This is a government ban, which means they want to stop people who want to import this waste. Are those importers too financially illiterate to realise that they're costing themselves money? That even though their business is dealing with this waste, they need you and the Indian government to tell them that recycling is actually pretty tricky? Maybe they should ban it because i…

I think his point was not that its uneconomical but that it's harmful. By banning it, they are forcing other countries to actually think about their waste and deal with it more responsibly.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#120

Post by [deleted] »

torgian wrote: post #91

Nothing perturbs me more than the whole plastic problem we have. China and India's plastic and garbage pollution is one thing, but Japan is the place that irks me the most when it comes to plastic use. I bought bananas that were wrapped in plastic (go figure, right? ) And what did the cashier do? She wrapped it in more plastic! THEN she gave me a plastic bag to put it in! That blew my mind. Like, why? Just _why_? Go…

[deleted]
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