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85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

worldwildlife.org

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Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#151

Post by verandaguy »

Sparkyte wrote: post #96
lowkey_ wrote: post #41

I was skeptical of whether it was representative of 85% of the global population, or just the first-world. I've often thought (and heard that) environmental concerns are secondary to economic, and that people in less prosperous countries don't care as much about environmental concerns as people in first-world countries who are secure in most areas of their lives. Surprisingly, this data says the opposite! Sample size…

Lots of medical supplies are single use plastics.

Medical supplies also tend to have much better-defined disposal processes and ends-of-life than, say, plastic bags or coke bottles.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#153

Post by bsza »

beefnugs wrote: post #58

What a load of shit, paper straws cant even get through a single drink. Come up with some kind of useful alternative before just doing random reactionary dumb things

Straws are a negligible [0] part of plastic waste, and the idea they aren't stems from research by a 9-year-old child [1].

We don't have to replace all single-use plastic, just those that matter.

[0] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/news-...

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/business/plastic-straws-b...

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#154

Post by pembrook »

dumbo-octopus wrote: post #85
lowkey_ wrote: post #41

I was skeptical of whether it was representative of 85% of the global population, or just the first-world. I've often thought (and heard that) environmental concerns are secondary to economic, and that people in less prosperous countries don't care as much about environmental concerns as people in first-world countries who are secure in most areas of their lives. Surprisingly, this data says the opposite! Sample size…

The response rate is so low as to be entirely meaningless. If you're content with sampling only 0.000001% of the population, you can get any results you want by simply selecting for the people who care the most by taking a bunch of time to lecture the individual if they seem like they'd vote the other way (oh no, you have to leave? but we didn't even have time to submit your vote yet... :( ), and wording the question…

Yep, asking people vague questions about the boogieman du jour is a questionable excercise at best.

If a competing research team had gone out and done a survey with the question rephrased as, "Do you want a global ban on medical syringes and bottled water?"

You might find out, amazingly, 92% of people strongly support single-use plastics!

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#155

Post by [deleted] »

Sparkyte wrote: post #96
lowkey_ wrote: post #41

I was skeptical of whether it was representative of 85% of the global population, or just the first-world. I've often thought (and heard that) environmental concerns are secondary to economic, and that people in less prosperous countries don't care as much about environmental concerns as people in first-world countries who are secure in most areas of their lives. Surprisingly, this data says the opposite! Sample size…

Lots of medical supplies are single use plastics.

[deleted]

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#156

Post by peetle »

lykahb wrote: post #18

A ban like that sounds good. But what would replace those plastics? For the take-out food containers a common alternative is PFAS-treated paper. Is it much better for the health environment?

Great graphic on the environmental impacts of different kinds of grocery bags: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/grocery-bag-environmental...

In short, single use plastic bags are very hard to beat.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#157

Post by Carrok »

bagels wrote: post #136
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> an inconvenience to actually reuse the bag that is inevitably covered in rancid meat juice Why do you have rancid meat juice in your grocery bag!? Why do you have rancid meat! > not caring about burying a few plastic bags in the landfill I don’t particularly care about this. I still have a couple reusable bags in the back of my car that I use to transport food from the grocery store home. (I never have to deal with…

You've never had a package of meat leak a little juice in to the grocery bag? If you have, you either wash it (inconvenient) or you have rancid meat juice if you don't (it doesn't start rancid).

Yea, taking 5 seconds to rinse the bag out in the sink is _such_ an inconvenience. Life is rough.

I stopped buying meat for environmental / water usage reasons a while back, so no, this isn't an issue for me anymore. Guess I'm just a stupid hippie.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#158

Post by aunty_helen »

orhmeh09 wrote: post #141
dumbo-octopus wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The response rate is so low as to be entirely meaningless. If you're content with sampling only 0.000001% of the population, you can get any results you want by simply selecting for the people who care the most by taking a bunch of time to lecture the individual if they seem like they'd vote the other way (oh no, you have to leave? but we didn't even have time to submit your vote yet... :( ), and wording the question…

What do you think is a good sample size? How would you arrive at one?

There isn’t one. Some things are not measurable by this standard and the stats relatively meaningless. 3000 people from a whole continent? Cmon

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#159

Post by lxgr »

donatj wrote: post #86
AlexandrB wrote: post #14

I'll admit I was a little skeptical of plastic bag bans here in Canada, but it's had a noticeable effect on how much random garbage ends up stuck in hedges and fences where I live. Adapting to it wasn't too bad and good reusable bags are a lot more ergonomic and don't tear as easily when carrying heavy loads.

I'm skeptical. As it was pointed out to me, what percentage of things going in those plastic bags is already wrapped in a plastic bag, 90%? The single most useful plastic bag on the outside seems negligible in comparison.

If we can relatively easily reduce the single-plastic waste of those 10%, why not start there (while in parallel thinking about alternatives for product wrappers)?

There are also so many other product container types than plastic: Glass, metal cans (ok, these are often plastic-coated and I don't know how recycling for these works, but it seems to be possible), paper... It doesn't work for everything, but it does for many things – assuming the right incentives are in place.

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