Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where is the "junk land"? Almost everywhere has animals that likely don't enjoy plastic.
Nevada. Just fill in old mines?
Bringing jobs back to Goldfield and Tonopah! And we needs more hands down Yellowjacket Mine
U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
181–190 of 291 posts
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#182This problem won't get fixed without legislation. Single use plastic is cheaper, so of course companies will use that if they can. Most people don't have the income to support "voting with their wallet", and even those who do don't always have the option. IF the best solution out there happens to use single use plastic, you're not going to opt for a worse solution just because it doesn't. And even if one company care…
> Most people don't have the income to support "voting with their wallet", and even those who do don't always have the option. I am old enough to remember when there was practically no plastic in food packaging. Twinkies and its ilk were more or less the exception (and fine examples they were of that exception!). No doubt many remember glass ketchup bottles, glass mustard jars, glass peanut butter jars, glass mayonna…
Is it more ecological to use glass instead of plastic?
With plastic there is trash to deal with, but glass is heavier thus will take more energy to deal with logistically. Recycling is not energy free either, and there is plenty of loss to deal with there. Plastic is very cheap to manufacture partly because its manufacture is so easy.
And right now it seems like energy consumption is a far larger worry than trash at the ecological level.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
Single use stuff seems easy enough to fix. What seems less obvious to me is what I experienced when shopping for a potty chair for our youngest there were dozens of options at just a single store for a big hunk of plastic that's only useful for a period of months. We ended up not buying one at all. I had a similar experience the last time I was at CES and was deep into the "South Hall" where there's kiosk after displ…
> it's also completely existentially debasing to the people involved. Wow, the privilege wrapped up in that statement. Do you think it’s existentially fulfilling to clean public toilets? To drive a bus? To bottle alcohol?
The things you mentioned, clean toilets, bus rides, alcohol are actually things people want. Trying to push something that no one wants or needs is kind of debasing. I agree with OP that we seem to have created a consumer mentality, "shopping therapy", that is sad to be a part of — either as the consumer or the producer. Never mind what it does to the planet as well.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#184Despite the hysteria most commonly used plastics are harmless. The only things I can think of that may be harmful in some plastics are harmful on their own, for example lead which can be used as a plasticiser to soften PVC. Lead is toxic whether or not it is in plastic. Fortunately your PET soda bottle or PE grocciery bag does not contain lead for obvious reasons.
Some other compounds like phthlates may have negative endocrine effects but I believe this is far from resolved.
"Microplastics" to the extent they exist in meaningful concentrations are not anything like asbestos fibers (this is known) which cause mechanical damage to cell structures by their needle like shapes. Rather microplastics are akin to small sand particles. Inert dust. The very reason that plastics do not decompose makes most of them safe to life unless absurdly high concentrations of very small particles are present in which case sand or silt dust would be comparable.
The mass hysteria about "plastics" in just shows how easily human emotions can be manipulated.
Sure, plastic bags floating in the ocean may look like jelly fish sea turtles. This is why we shouldn't throw plastic bags in the ocean. Maybe bags should be made more dense than sea water so if they do end up in the ocean they sink.
Otherwise the solution to the plastics "problem" is really simple: burn it, recycle it or bury it in the ground.
The last option has the added benefit of potentially serving as a long term carbon sink.
I could envision a world where solar power or bioengineered plants perhaps are used to pull CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it up in something useful and stable like polyethylene, which could be used or just burried in shallow pits removing CO2 from circulation for centuries or thousands of years.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#185I 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 exampl…
The developing world has cheap communal kitchens, and so cooking at home is optional.
In my country (Ukraine) its cheaper to go to a restaurant for 'business lunch' which is soup, potatoes+vegetables+meat, and juice, for $3.35.
As a single guy I can't cook that cheaply at home, which is not surprising when I am buying small portions with a huge amount of packaging around them.
Its really a shame that this concept is not more broadly applied in the West, and that restaurant food has sales tax attached to it whilst grocery food usually doesn't. We could reduce food and packaging waste if we taxed communal kitchens at 0% and shifted more people to eating inside them.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most American consumers who find themselves at the local TJs or Whole Foods should probably feel way, way worse about driving to the store than about little plastic spoons.
I’m not bicycling in 20 degrees Fahrenheit to shop for a family of 4, bags strapped to a bike. And there’s no public transportation. I think I’ma pretty regular American consumer. So I should feel guilty about this according to you?
I typically shop on a bike for my family of six at -15 to -25 C in Finland. But I live close to a large store and bike roads are excellent and usually cleared if snow.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#187I 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 exampl…
Moved from the US to Iceland. I thought plastic waste was bad before I got here, until I went to the meat and produce sections of the grocery store here.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
> re-used as household trash bags But that’s a one-time reuse for something that’s not going to biodegrade when it ends up in the ocean or landfill
It should never end up in the ocean, and nothing really biodegrades in landfill, especially not paper.
I mean, I disagree with both of those statements entirely. Do you have any sources? I do, but not googling at the moment.
EDIT: quick Google search has many sources listing paper degrading in 2-6 weeks in landfills. Plastic in the ocean… I think you need to b by broaden your horizons if you think that doesn’t happen
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Most people don't have the income to support "voting with their wallet", and even those who do don't always have the option. I am old enough to remember when there was practically no plastic in food packaging. Twinkies and its ilk were more or less the exception (and fine examples they were of that exception!). No doubt many remember glass ketchup bottles, glass mustard jars, glass peanut butter jars, glass mayonna…
Is it more ecological to use glass instead of plastic? With plastic there is trash to deal with, but glass is heavier thus will take more energy to deal with logistically. Recycling is not energy free either, and there is plenty of loss to deal with there. Plastic is very cheap to manufacture partly because its manufacture is so easy. And right now it seems like energy consumption is a far larger worry than trash at…
Good point. But I suspect we used to produce these things more "locally". And when they were transported we relied on trains, not trucks and highways.
But I'm just guessing.
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
The way most people in Germany would solve this (we need a potty for some months) is buying it 2nd/3rd/4th hand. Is that not common where you live (I guess USA)?
In the middle class and upward, it's not common, outside of folks who are particularly frugal. The post-WWII American culture is extremely consumerist / materialistic.
It's also that it's just easier to go to Walmart or Target (or Amazon) and buy one and be done with it, than to spend the time hunting around garage sales or thrift stores for something they might not have. Unless you really need to save $10, time is way more valuable than money.