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Just Bury Your Trash

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Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#81

Post by wavemode »

WarmWash wrote: post #68
duggan wrote: post #7

I don't remember energy use being the problem with plastic bags? It was plastic bags being absolutely everywhere in the environment. Streets, parks, trees. Wrapped around anything sticking out of the ground. On your face on a windy day. Pollution is the problem with plastic. Probably health, too, now that microplastics are being recognized as an issue.

My state did away with bags a few years ago, and you now never see bags blowing around or stuck on trees. It also seems everyone stopped complaining about it once we got over the hump of "remember to bring your bags". So we are just left with a small group of old timers, who would probably bring back metal (pull) tab cans if they could, complaining about it. Ironically its the same group of people who blocked windmil…

Your state has eliminated metal tab cans? Huh. What do you drink 12oz of pop out of?

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#82

Post by twobitshifter »

I recently learned of Dandora Kenya (Nairobi) and the megadump there and ors waste pickers.

It’s worth reading about and considering what happens to your waste.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/kenya-aid-waste...

The total plastic waste in subsaharan africa is expected to increase by 100 Million tons by 2060.

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#83

Post by [deleted] »

lukan wrote: post #59
general_reveal wrote: post #37

In an apartment, I’ve learned not to even have a garbage bin. If I have garbage I make a small bag and throw it out, or keep it in the freezer until I go out. Frozen trash doesn’t smell and doesn’t attract anything :) Of course, this requires you to have less trash , which is very easy if you simply take a few seconds to go outside and throw your food out after lunch/dinner. Everything else is just dry scraps usually…

Erm, was that part about keeping trash in the freezer serious? For me a freezer is for food, I don't mix that with garbage by intention. (small particles of it will remain)

[deleted]

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#84

Post by DiggyJohnson »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #17
dinkblam wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thats assuming the plastic bag is used once, but i've always reused them, sometimes had the same bags for 10 years however i have never re-used a paper bag because they are awfully loud and cannot be compressed. it is the worst kind of bag.

I reused all my grocery store plastic bags for disposing of cat litter and other trash. When those bags went away I had to start buying new plastic bags for the first time.

That’s funny because when my locality switched from plastic to paper bags I was annoyed at having to buy trash bags for the bathroom for the first time but found the paper bags were excellent for litter cleanup since they stand up on their own and are easier to scoop into than a smaller fluttery plastic bag.

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#85

Post by verisimi »

smartmic wrote: post #51
duggan wrote: post #7

I don't remember energy use being the problem with plastic bags? It was plastic bags being absolutely everywhere in the environment. Streets, parks, trees. Wrapped around anything sticking out of the ground. On your face on a windy day. Pollution is the problem with plastic. Probably health, too, now that microplastics are being recognized as an issue.

> Streets, parks, trees You forgot the biggest and probably the most sensitive dump: the (deep) sea.

Shirley, the most sensitive dump is in testicles? Microplastics in balls. Like a ball pit.

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#86

Post by robtherobber »

Every now and then I'd come across articles from this source and thought that they were decent. Perhaps not the best, but reasonably well researched and argued. But coming across this statement kind of sealed the deal for me in the wrong way:

> Instead of paying more to recycle, we could spend that money far more effectively on other environmental mitigation measures like carbon capture.

Pure unadulterated bollocks, I'm sorry to say. I shall flag this source whenever emerges in my feed.

> Sufficiently well-worn cotton tote bags can beat plastic for environmental cost, but only for the most consistent among us.

We simply don't need to rely on the "most consistent among us", because these things -- and so, so many others -- can be legislated, enforced, stopped, controlled etc. Businesses make and sell plastic bags because no one stops them and they're convenient (as well as a serious environmental problem). Should governments do the job they are supposed to do (or simply step aside and let the society organise in that particular respect), plastic bags would cease to be a problem.

I am somewhat disappointed, I guess.

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#87

Post by scotty79 »

xd1936 wrote: post #9

The argument that is pro-polyethylene plastic bags over cotton completely ignores the source: Renewable plants that are grown and harvested, vs. finite fossil fuels extracted from the Earth and refined. > Instead of a simple blowing and sealing process, the cotton must be made into yarn, woven into fabric, prepared, dried, sized, dyed, and finished, which takes around 1,725 megajoules, around 3,050 times as much ener…

If we used oil only for plastics it would probably last us 1000 years. By that time we'd figure out how to grow plastics.

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#88

Post by marcosdumay »

lillecarl wrote: post #21

Just burn your trash https://www.energimyndigheten.se/en/news/2025/from-waste-to-... My understanding is that biological decomposition of waste creates methane which is a worse greenhouse gas than CO2.

Landfills control for that and usually dispose the methane on a less polluting form.

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#89

Post by whstl »

AlexandrB wrote: post #62
leonixyz wrote: post #48

The authors think reusing a cotton bag for 173 times is difficult - that's all we need to say about this article. When recommendation for landfilling comes from this kind of sources, I think we can safely assume we are doing absolutely great with our demands to reuse, repair and recycle!

I think it's beyond many people. A typical pattern is that you forget your bag at home and end up buying another one. After this happens a few times you now have an excess of reusable bags such that you will never recoup the "173 times" on all of them.

One solution for this is reusable bags with a deposit that you can give back at the supermarket in exchange for cash. We have this at some supermarkets in Germany.
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