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Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#11

Post by technocratius »

qPM9l3XJrF wrote: post #2

Single-use plastic waste is good. It sequesters carbon. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wait-plastic-can-...

Your paraphrasing of the source you reference is slightly incomplete/misleading, as the claim pertains to non-biodegradeable bioplastics only.

Keep in mind that still significant portions of (fossil based) plastic waste are incinerated as well. And scale matters: in the country where I live roughly 30kg of plastic waste is per person per year. That's in the order of magnitude of a single tank of gas of a small vehicle. In other words: the sustainability problem with current-day plastics is not so much in it's carbon footprint, but more the damaging effect to various ecosystems and human health.

Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#12

Post by enchiridion »

sneak wrote: post #6

Why is single-use plastic a bad thing? It always seemed to me that the disdain for it was more from an emotional thing than an actual harm caused by it, but admittedly I am mostly ignorant of the situation. Like, that plastic garbage island in the Pacific: why is it bad? The argument against microplastics seems pretty clear. Is there a corresponding one for bottles and such?

Doesn't all single use plastic eventually turn into micro plastic?

Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#13

Post by novaRom »

TOP 20 (copy from the article, with alignment):

ExxonMobil,

Dow,

Sinopec,

Indorama Ventures,

Saudi Aramco,

PetroChina,

LyondellBasell,

Reliance Industries,

Braskem,

Alpek SA de CV,

Borealis,

Lotte Chemical,

INEOS,

Total,

Jiangsu Hailun Petrochemical,

Far Eastern New Century,

Formosa Plastics Corporation,

China Energy Investment Group,

PTT and China Resources.

Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#14

Post by cultofmetatron »

sneak wrote: post #6

Why is single-use plastic a bad thing? It always seemed to me that the disdain for it was more from an emotional thing than an actual harm caused by it, but admittedly I am mostly ignorant of the situation. Like, that plastic garbage island in the Pacific: why is it bad? The argument against microplastics seems pretty clear. Is there a corresponding one for bottles and such?

whales and sea turtles eat them. it jams up their stomachs and they die for one.

the ones that don't break down into microplastics where they can act as endocrine disruptors.

Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#15

Post by cultofmetatron »

sneak wrote: post #6

Why is single-use plastic a bad thing? It always seemed to me that the disdain for it was more from an emotional thing than an actual harm caused by it, but admittedly I am mostly ignorant of the situation. Like, that plastic garbage island in the Pacific: why is it bad? The argument against microplastics seems pretty clear. Is there a corresponding one for bottles and such?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LI3XhcefZg

Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#16

Post by eCa »

sneak wrote: post #6

Why is single-use plastic a bad thing? It always seemed to me that the disdain for it was more from an emotional thing than an actual harm caused by it, but admittedly I am mostly ignorant of the situation. Like, that plastic garbage island in the Pacific: why is it bad? The argument against microplastics seems pretty clear. Is there a corresponding one for bottles and such?

From where do you think microplastics come?

Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#17

Post by flukus »

qPM9l3XJrF wrote: post #2

Single-use plastic waste is good. It sequesters carbon. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wait-plastic-can-...

It sequesters carbon that was already sequestered. Probably emits a non-trivial amount during the extraction, transportation and re-sequestering stages too.

Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#18

Post by nondave »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #4
qPM9l3XJrF wrote: post #2

Single-use plastic waste is good. It sequesters carbon. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wait-plastic-can-...

False dichotomy. No one is using less gas because we are using single-use plastics. It’s not like gasoline anywhere in the developed world is so expensive (taxes aside, as they are not a matter of supply-and-demand) that if there were less contention from single-use plastics it would be cheaper and people would be buying/burning more.

Counterexample: when I used to own a car in the UK, I would absolutely minimise fuel consumption due to cost.

Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#19

Post by 01100011 »

eCa wrote: post #16
sneak wrote: post #6

Why is single-use plastic a bad thing? It always seemed to me that the disdain for it was more from an emotional thing than an actual harm caused by it, but admittedly I am mostly ignorant of the situation. Like, that plastic garbage island in the Pacific: why is it bad? The argument against microplastics seems pretty clear. Is there a corresponding one for bottles and such?

From where do you think microplastics come?

Microfiber towels and other plastic textiles that are far from single use?

The breakdown of a gazillion tons of non-single use plastic that is exposed to the sun on a daily basis?

I'm not saying single use plastics are good, but if your argument is that they're bad because they make microplastics then you've got to expand the discussion I think.

Re: Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study

#20

Post by danhak »

I remember growing up in the 90's and happily learning in school and on TV that it was my civic duty to recycle.

One of the biggest catastrophes of environmental policy was to shift the burden of plastic waste away from corporations and onto the consumer.

Corporations can pump out as much single-use trash as they wish, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the result not of their practices but of individuals' inevitable failure to be conscientious and manage the waste they produce. Classic tragedy of the commons.

It should have been a matter of Federal policy, not individual choice. Just like the (successful) ban of lead-based paint and CFC's.

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