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India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

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Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#161

Post by emiliobumachar »

bamboozled wrote: post #59
WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #36

India should have done this long ago. Recycling items is way harder than it needs to be. First companies need to re-engineer their products to minimize the solid waste and maximize recyclability Second, people need to easily understand what can be recycled and what can not so they can make an informed decision Third, communities should not have the option to ship out their waste and have someone else deal with the pr…

I have to say I agree with the regineering part, i don’t get PET bottles with hard plastic lids and labels. These things can’t be recycled as is it seems as a lot of times I see a seperate bin for the lids. There are a LOT of places where people don’t need to use plastic, it’s just how things are done and it’s convenient. Small example, individually wrapping fruit in plastic at the grocer. Fruit comes with its own pa…

Careful with unintended consequences. More people will go for the much more impactful cheeseburger or cookie bag if fruit becomes less convenient.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#162

Post by Brain_Thief »

scatters wrote: post #147
growlist wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The end goal is much much more difficult: convincing the people who run Intel and Apple and Samsung that it is in the planet's best interest to not have higher sales each year The people that run those companies are just functionaries. It's the owners that call the shots, and they are at this point apparently too far down the road of competitive wealth-hoarding to change.

How is investing in one's pension or retirement fund "competitive wealth-hoarding"?

I may be misinterpreting your question, but it seems as though you're equating the average worker's retirement fund investments to what the GP was most likely referring to: large investors who compose what we commonly refer to as the "ownership class" and who are most certainly engaged in a perverse form of wealth hording at the cost of any apparent negative externalities. The two classes of investor are not remotely similar and cannot be judged by the same standards. It would be best if all investors (present company included) insisted on environmentally and socially ethical standards as a precondition for investment, but what does that have to do with the observation that such focus seems particularly critical for the largest players to adopt ASAP?

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#163

Post by giglypuff »

darkpuma wrote: post #155
noufalibrahim wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A low hanging fruit in the attempt to reduce consumption (which is the only real solution) is to stop single-use items. e.g. paper napkins, straws, carry bags from the local grocery shops etc. Just assuming that it's biodegradable or being recycled doesn't take into account the amount of energy and materials that went into production which are just wasted since the items are not reused.

Shallow ecology measures like that are more PR stunts than meaningful action.

Putting it here, for fun with a serious topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lh3aPbKDn8

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#164

Post by mikorym »

andrewstuart wrote: post #4

The dumping of "recycling" onto other countries just goes to show what a lie recycling actually is. It's not recycling, it's just garbage, but the word recycling makes us feel good about sending it to some other country to be dumped. With India and China refusing it, look to the "recycling" companies to make deals with countries that don't have the political will to say no to accepting the worlds plastic and paper ga…

I do think there is merit in the waste-as-a-commodity view.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#165

Post by crankylinuxuser »

MisterTea wrote: post #159
titzer wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wearing the dressings of smart people, we do nothing, while telling others to do nothing, because the something they would do would be a "blip."

> Wearing the dressings of smart people, we do nothing, while telling others to do nothing, because the something they would do would be a "blip." Talk is cheap. If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. The only way to effect change is to work towards it yourself and gently encourage others to do so. Be prepared to make sacrifices and/or compromises (this is what stops most people, humans are selfi…

Again you're just blaming the end user for companies making the bulk of pollution of all sorts.

I don't want the box in a box in a box with countless plastic air pillows in an Amazon shipment. Nor do I want razorsharp clamshell packaging. Nor do I need plastic bags- I use cloth bags.

Yet I'm the one somehow "responsible" for a variety of pollution and climate change. Its not my fault things are built with planned obsolescence. I can repair a variety of things, but with glues and ultrasonic welding makes things notoriously difficult.

Tl;Dr. Companies are really responsible, but 3 Rs are targeting citizens.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#166

Post by titzer »

MisterTea wrote: post #159
titzer wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wearing the dressings of smart people, we do nothing, while telling others to do nothing, because the something they would do would be a "blip."

> Wearing the dressings of smart people, we do nothing, while telling others to do nothing, because the something they would do would be a "blip." Talk is cheap. If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. The only way to effect change is to work towards it yourself and gently encourage others to do so. Be prepared to make sacrifices and/or compromises (this is what stops most people, humans are selfi…

My irrelevant "blip" for 2017 was picking up 300 bags of trash off beaches with my own bare hands. I didn't lead with that, but you brought it up.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#167

Post by TeMPOraL »

mikekchar wrote: post #114
madengr wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is also a big exporter of plastic shit. Maybe there ought to be a law that requires plastic shit to be retured to the country of origin.

Alternatively there could be a law that countries that import plastic shit have a plan for dealing with it before they import it.

Yup. China doesn't export into another dimension; they're country that specialized to be the world's factory. And a factory doesn't do anything without work orders, which come predominantly from the western markets.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#168

Post by titzer »

MandieD wrote: post #158
titzer wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * Create a set of standardized, rugged, containers that seal around foods. We used to actually have this: it was wooden/plastic crates and boxes, pallets, burlap bags, and glass milk/juice/beer bottles. We're moving backwards, and it's all due to economics. Reuse of those materials back then was motivated by the cost and difficulty of producing those containers. It simply was not economically feasible to produce a…

Germany and neighbors still do some deposit bottles and jars, and at least in Germany, are better at the re-intake than they were 15 years ago. Unfortunately, we've also lied to ourselves about our Gelbesacks (packaging recycling bags) to the extent that there are a lot more things in single-use containers and a lot of fruit and veggies are in pre-weighed, plastic-wrapped packages.

I know, I live in Germany. The Pfand and bottle reuse system is pretty nice.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#169

Post by TeMPOraL »

quakeguy wrote: post #53
Tade0 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, my country - Poland, and what happens is this: 1. Some other country exports its trash to Poland. 2. The trash is stored at a specific place and not a few days go by until an "accidental" fire erupts. 3. The "entrepreneurs" who originally took the trash profit not only from that, but any potential insurance claim. 4. Rinse and repeat.

Who does profit from it?

1. The company that sent the waste, relative to what they'd pay for a proper disposal.

2. The people that accepted and disposed of the waste, on the difference between how they declared to do it vs. how they actually did it.

Re: India Imposes Complete Ban on Solid Plastic Waste Imports

#170

Post by TeMPOraL »

torgian wrote: post #91

Nothing perturbs me more than the whole plastic problem we have. China and India's plastic and garbage pollution is one thing, but Japan is the place that irks me the most when it comes to plastic use. I bought bananas that were wrapped in plastic (go figure, right? ) And what did the cashier do? She wrapped it in more plastic! THEN she gave me a plastic bag to put it in! That blew my mind. Like, why? Just _why_? Go…

> I mean, why would you _individually_ _wrap_ oranges?

Especially peeled ones. Right? I asked this some time ago here, and the answer I got was "people with motor skills problems". I still don't know how to feel about it - I don't know the relative sizes of genuine demand vs. the scale at which such goods are provided.

Still, that's an exception. What you described is absolutely ridiculous. I'm already appalled by the amount of packaging we use here in Poland for no reason other than providing advertising surface, but the stories from Japan make my heart bleed.

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