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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

#171

Post by primitivesuave »

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…

Honestly, to me, the 85% statistic is meaningless because the survey is simply asking if you believe "plastic = bad" - a pretty common sentiment, especially in a third world country like India where plastic pollution is visible everywhere. I'd be more interested to see a survey that asks "would you be willing to pay 5% more at the grocery store for plastic-free packaging?"

In less prosperous countries, the majority of consumers are more interested in saving money than saving the environment.

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

#172

Post by Havoc »

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…

Opinions/desires expressed and actual behaviours are very much two things.

Spent most of my life in Africa & actual behaviours line up a lot closer with your instinct. If you're close to the poverty line practicality trumps environment. Choice between paper bag and plastic? Plastic obviously - it's more durable and has more uses later

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

#173

Post by wannacboatmovie »

Jackim wrote: post #142
wannacboatmovie wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Poorer nations typically have no/few refuse collection services, and people often just pile up and burn their own refuse or dump it in rivers to take it away. Would it not make sense then if they had a container with which to collect and responsibly dispose of the refuse? A plastic bag perhaps?

Or maybe we could tackle the root of the problem, avoid waste that doesn't decompose on the human timescale.

Places that still have open defecation and garbage in the streets have bigger issues to be solved before we deduce plastic bags are the problem. E.g. third world.

Seattle and SF have banned plastic bags and the streets are still littered with human feces. Maybe for their next initiative they should pass out reusable bags for people to poop into. Sorry but a feel good measure to make grocery bags illegal doesn't move the needle for me when I still have to play hopscotch with literal logs of human shit.

These priorities are hilariously out of order.

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

#174

Post by dumbo-octopus »

lolinder wrote: post #162
pembrook wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

The actual question was [0]: > The United Nations agreed in 2022 to develop a global treaty to end plastic pollution. How important or unimportant do you believe it is to have global rules to… > Ban unnecessary single-use plastic products, e.g., shopping bags, cutlery, cups & plates? As survey questions go, this is actually a pretty precise question. [0] https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/...

Providing the context about the UN treaty makes it unnecessarily loaded. People are biased towards being agreeable, if you start out saying "everyone in the world agrees X, do you also agree X?", people are more likely to say yes than if you asked the question in isolation.

The word "unnecessary" also adds bias, and skews the results: "Of course we shouldn't unnecessarily use plastic. Oh, but my personal water bottle and the bag I get my food in and the cutlery I use to eat it and the... well not those, those are very necessary: I need them to eat and drink!"

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

#175

Post by Carrok »

ars wrote: post #161
Carrok wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're assuming I'm driving it back to the drop point as a dedicated trip. A: I typically keep the containers until I order next time, you have a month to drop them off. So just drop them off when you're picking up your food. B: The drop off point is a short walk away, so you could just, you know, walk. I'm not worried about resources or emissions here, I'm more concerned about trash in the rivers/oceans, and micropl…

> I typically keep the containers until I order next time Don't them smell? If you wash them by hand you end up using more resources than if you had disposable. If you put them in a dishwasher then, I guess that would work, but seems like a lot of effort for takeout. > I'm more concerned about trash in the rivers/oceans, and microplastics Are you dumping things in the street? I suspect you are not. River/Ocean trash…

> Don't them smell? If you wash them by hand you end up using more resources than if you had disposable.

No. There is absolutely no way that rinsing out a container uses more resources than creating and transporting new disposable containers.

> Are you dumping things in the street?

I personally am not. I see plenty of people who are. I see plenty of trash in my local rivers and streams, so I'm not sure what you're basing your statement on.

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

#176

Post by cogman10 »

jjcm wrote: post #91

I don't want a ban, I want a tax on them. There's a strong use for single use plastics - medical goods being one of the important ones that I highly suspect people don't want a ban of. They define these as "necessary" versus "unnecessary" in their poll (ie the 85% figure is specifically for "ban unnecessary single-use plastic products, e.g., shopping bags, cutlery, cups & plates"). Things get murky really quickly whe…

> Are all plastic liquid containers bad? Almost certainly not, you wouldn't want to store a corrosive acid that eats through glass in a glass bottle.

I'd argue that most, especially containers in regard to food item, are. You don't have to have a database to figure this out, you can start simple by just banning the use of single use plastic with regards to food. There aren't many (any?) items that are highly corrosive and intended for human consumption.

Plastics in medicine could wait for another round of legislation. Single use plastics used for shipping consumer goods and food are the 80% of plastic production problem.

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

#177

Post by CSMastermind »

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…

You should consider that this is obviously a "study" meant to manufacture data to support the organization's favored position not a real investigation into what actual people think.

Their conclusion is based on multiple surveys with different questions and methodologies but consider they did things like ask first, ": Before today, had you heard about a challenge called Plastic Free July, which encourages people to refuse and reduce single use plastics?" Told them about the harm single use plastics cause and then asked them, " How important or unimportant do you believe it is to have an internationally binding treaty to combat plastic pollution?" To which a large percentage of people obviously responded that yes it is important.

In another survey they asked, "The United Nations agreed earlier this year to develop a global treaty to end plastic pollution..." with the following question then referencing this treaty, "The treaty will include global rules for participating countries. How important or unimportant do you believe it is to have global rules to:" To which one of th responses was, "Ban unnecessary single-use plastics.", another was, "Ban types of plastic that cannot be easily recycled", etc.

And then they interpret agreeing that there should be a treaty to stop plastic pollution immediately after being given information about how bad it is to be the same as "Ban on Single-Use Plastics" which by and large no one surveyed actually said they wanted explicitly, nor were they asked.

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

#178

Post by blackeyeblitzar »

I am OK with plastic bans but they need to be implemented smartly. Near me, bans on single use plastic bags have resulted in all the stores handing out extra thick plastic bags that are treated as single use by everyone anyways. So I feel like it’s made the problem worse.

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

#179

Post by AlecSchueler »

wannacboatmovie wrote: post #73
AlecSchueler wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you use reusable bags? I have a couple that fold up and go in my back pocket.

That's utterly ridiculous and highly inconvenient for nearly everyone that isn't proselytizing about reusable sacks or needs to purchase more than a few items. What works for dedicated urbanists doesn't fly for the other 85% of the population. Reusable bags are nearly universally unsanitary. People let their cats play in them, never wash them, then place them on the same conveyor belt where you put your vegetables.

I don't think it's utterly ridiculous for most people. It's very common here in the Netherlands and I'm not sure the average Dutch person is so extremely peculiar to the rest of society. It's really no more inconvenient than carrying the bank card I need to pay for my purchase and in the worst case scenario if I forget it I can just buy a new bag to reuse with my other items.

Regarding how clean they are, I just wash mine in the washing machine and I wash my vegetables as well.

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

#180

Post by AlexandrB »

worik wrote: post #119
wannacboatmovie wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's utterly ridiculous and highly inconvenient for nearly everyone that isn't proselytizing about reusable sacks or needs to purchase more than a few items. What works for dedicated urbanists doesn't fly for the other 85% of the population. Reusable bags are nearly universally unsanitary. People let their cats play in them, never wash them, then place them on the same conveyor belt where you put your vegetables.

> Because that's utterly ridiculous and highly inconvenient for nearly everyone that isn't proselytizing about reusable sacks No Here in Aotearoa they are completely normal > Reusable bags are nearly universally unsanitary...place them on the same conveyor belt where you put your vegetables. Golly. Given the habits of growers you really should wash your vegetables before you use them. Pesticides

Not just growers, I don't think grocery store employees are washing their hands religiously when they're putting this stuff out.
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