I am also interested in which country pours most plastic trash into the ocean. I am sure no one is working on this.
U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
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Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#62I think we'll have to give up particular niceties about how we package things in the western world if we're to generate less trash, but it would come at the cost of removing illusions from the way we market products.
Have you been to less developed countries? They just simply do not package some products. It removes a lot of the allure of buying particular things, but also generates less trash.
Here's a simple example: utensils. In some countries, you just buy the utensil. In America, you buy a box with utensils in them, sometimes with a plastic shell, sometimes with paper wrapping inside of the box. But without the box, it feels like you're buying them from the dollar store no matter how nice the actual spoons and knives are, which commands less of a price mark up.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#63Pre pandemic, I'd go often to trader joe, and they would give samples. It was maybe a small bite of a food (ice cream, salat, or whatever else), and use a plastic fork for it. Just one bite, and you had to throw it out. It was more plastic than food. Whole Foods was the same. I think it is a crime against environment and I started feeling bad about it, and stopped taking samples when there were plastic utensils. It t…
Never mind how everything in Trader Joe's is packaged in plastic.
Plastic wrapped fruit. I can't believe it. Fruit comes with its own already biodegradable container!
F Trader Joe's fruit and veg.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#64As long as we can keep plastic waste out of the environment, does it really matter?
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Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where is the "junk land"? Almost everywhere has animals that likely don't enjoy plastic.
How important are those animals?
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#66As long as we can keep plastic waste out of the environment, does it really matter?
Is that a sensible phrase? The environment is everywhere.
Yes, as long as the plastic ends up in a proper landfill, it won't cause harm to the environment. In places with good waste management practices, like the U.S., nearly all plastic trash ends up in a landfill. As a result, the U.S. is responsible for only ~0.25% of plastic in the ocean [1].
To put this in perspective, if you got the Philippines to reduce the amount of plastic it sends to the ocean by just 1%, it would have a larger impact on ocean plastic than completely eliminating plastic in the U.S.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does the US still operate landfills? Some or all EU countries have completely abandoned the practice. So that's just not a harm that matters, unlike some other ones. In any case, it'd be compounding the problem here, and rather bad economics at the same time. Plastics aren't that hard to collect/separate, especially if it's ok to be mixed with paper. They burn readily and, given high temperatures, cleanly, allowing t…
Yes, the US still has landfills as does Europe. “In 2018, 24% of all municipal waste generated in the EU was landfilled.” That said, incineration is a similar option that drastically lowers volume of waste, but still produced ash that ends up buried and vast amounts of CO2.
Yeah, the news I remembered were about Germany, specifically.
it, and a few others, are at https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/201...
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That argument feels a little disingenuous. Like when people drive a big truck every day because once per summer they haul a boat. Eh, they also choose big trucks so they'll win in a crash. Remember, safety ratings/requirements for cars are based on collisions with similar cars . If you're in a Fit or Golf or Mini and the other guy's in an F-150 or Tahoe, you're in big trouble. The solution's probably some form of g…
> Eh, they also choose big trucks so they'll win in a crash Eh this is where it gets really complicated. I used to be a car crash enthusiast as a kid (crash science, not crashing myself). The main thing I learned is that big cars are ridiculously unsafe. Especially american big cars. Long stopping distance, lots of inertia, bad on the moose test, ridiculous amounts of energy to dissipate/absorb in a crash. Terrible.…
Oh, agreed on small cars being much more nimble and so maybe more safe in practice. I am 100% sure that a lot of SUV and truck buyers are doing so because they perceive them as "winners" in crashes, though. Some also, and relatedly, like the better visibility (but what's that doing to everyone else's visibility? Oh well, who cares).
Source: they'll just tell you, it's not a secret.
(yes, of course, some people actually use trucks enough for real truck-things that it makes some sense for them to own one, I'm not denying that such folks exist, and there are even quite a few of them—there are also plenty of Suburban Commandos, though, and lots of them are women who, again, will tell you that one reason they want a giant car is for perceived safety, so not just your usual "compensating for something" sorts)
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
You also have to think in terms of actual harm. Considering the US has an absurd amount of junk land it can use for landfills, a single use plastic object that has 1/1000 the carbon emissions of the reusable alternative may be the best environmental choice.
Where is the "junk land"? Almost everywhere has animals that likely don't enjoy plastic.
Nevada. Just fill in old mines?
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't the cardboard 'lined' ? And how much does it actually differ, plastic vs cardboard? For the cardboard, the basic ingredient also has to be harvested, or won another way. Then it needs to be transformed into cardboard.
Cardboard dissolves in nature, plastic doesn't. It disposes of itself, for the most part.
Not most of the fluorinated cardboard used for food packaging. It takes a really long time to break down and releases a bunch of nasty stuff in the process.
https://thecounter.org/pfas-forever-chemicals-sweetgreen-chi...