Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021 • Hacker News Board

Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021

#131

Post by derefr » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 3:34 PM UTC

seanmccann wrote: post #40

derefr wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would be the point of offering paper bags, when they can instead sell you their high-margin reusable cloth bags (which are common in Canadian grocery stores)?

To provide a convenience to customers that didn't bring a reusable bag and don't want to spend a few bucks on a bag they'll never use again and has an environmental impact 1-2 orders of magnitude worse than a single use paper or plastic bag.

This:

> and has an environmental impact 1-2 orders of magnitude worse than a single use paper or plastic bag

presumes this:

> a bag they'll never use again

...right?

Which seems strange to me, given that people will really only buy the bag if they are planning to use it multiple times.

Measuring it as if it were a single-use bag, would be a bit like measuring the environmental impact of solar panels + batteries, as if they never generated any power (and thus never displaced any grid consumption of "spiky load" coal plants et al) and only existed as a cost of initial chemical construction.

Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021

#132

Post by beprogrammed » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 4:49 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #90

mynegation wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not dumb. It is about setting an example. We cannot fix everything everywhere, but we can move the needle. Maybe a youth living near one of those 10 rivers, reading about Canada doing it, will become a member of parliament or a minister and will do something about it. Or not. Maybe here in Canada out of necessity we come up with smart solutions to replaces single use plastics that can be copied all over the wor…

>We cannot fix everything everywhere, but we can move the needle. Maybe a youth living near one of those 10 rivers, reading about Canada doing it, will become a member of parliament or a minister and will do something about it. This kind of attitude only makes sense if it doesn't cost anything. Doubling our CO2 usage (assuming we switched to paper bags)[1], just so we can virtue signal to kids in third world countrie…

Trees are a renewable resource, trees pull carbon during growth, paper is recyclable seems paper bags are pretty good.

Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021

#133

Post by chameleon_world » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 6:23 PM UTC

BTCOG wrote: post #106

fareesh wrote: post #68

Is it possible that due to issues of politics and optics that serious scientists / engineers are unable to work on solutions like "hemp plastic"? Admittedly as a layperson I am guilty of wondering whether it is just one of those crazy ideas the marijuana enthusiasts are pushing, or whether it has any legitimate potential. Has this material been given any serious consideration?

It's very real and very much already exists. I've met a few biochemists who are manufacturing it in the Denver, Colorado area and it absolutely blows my mind that we are not growing thousands of acres of industrial hemp for both controlling CO2 and for all it's bioplastic, wood, and material products it can be making. Stop growing cotton. Stop using crude oil based plastics, and all products of the plant can be used…

I have only anecdotal sources claiming that hemp isnt a great alternative considering the land/water usage vs the product created, compared to say bamboo. Do you know anything about that?

Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021

#134

Post by chameleon_world » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 8:39 PM UTC

wolco wrote: post #87

nikeee wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cigarette filters are the largest source of trash floating in the ocean and are usually not bio-degradable [1, 2]. They end up as micro plastics. Banning them instead of plastic straws can be seen as vastly more effetive [3]. Edit: It seems pretty useless as they essentially have no function (edit: to health), since the near-universal adoption of filters on cigarettes has not reduced harms to smokers and lung cancer…

"they have no function". They limit and control the amount of smoke. Provides a more consistant experience. I read your #4 source as proof. It talks about how cigarette companies tried coming up with a filter to reduce death but stopped because the filters were reducing the taste/experience. That doesn't tell us filters have no use. Include that link it tells us that in the 50s cigarette companies offered filterless…

"4. Butt waste is not biodegradable: Filters are non-biodegradable, and while ultraviolet rays from the sun will eventually break them into smaller pieces, the toxic material never disappears."

Yes the break down but it seems they break down into smaller plastics or microplastics, which are being found in rain https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6496/1257

Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021

#135

Post by NeutronStar » Sat, Jul 18, 2020, 1:02 AM UTC

wolco wrote: post #9

NeutronStar wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should force companies to use biodegradable filters.

Paper breaks down well over time. Now those black coffee lids not so much.

> 95% of cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate (a plastic), and the balance are made from papers and rayon.

Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021

#136

Post by BTCOG » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 7:02 PM UTC

chameleon_world wrote: post #133

BTCOG wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very real and very much already exists. I've met a few biochemists who are manufacturing it in the Denver, Colorado area and it absolutely blows my mind that we are not growing thousands of acres of industrial hemp for both controlling CO2 and for all it's bioplastic, wood, and material products it can be making. Stop growing cotton. Stop using crude oil based plastics, and all products of the plant can be used…

I have only anecdotal sources claiming that hemp isnt a great alternative considering the land/water usage vs the product created, compared to say bamboo. Do you know anything about that?

Bamboo grows extremely slowly and can actually emit CO2 in hotter climates during the warmer season. Hemp grows extremely quickly and sucks down CO2 like a vacuum. Hemp doesn't require harsh chemical pesticides, and it doesn't require really high irrigation. It can fully replace cotton. While bamboo can be made into clothing (I do have a bamboo PirateBay T shirt) they just don't compare too well.