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Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

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Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#21

Post by RileyJames »

hbarka wrote: post #7

Why hasn’t Amazon, Costco, or Walmart used their clout to effect a positive change? Have you seen all the plastic and unnecessary packaging in the goods they sell. The size of the packaging relative to the actual product is so ridiculous sometimes.

I was in Walmart last night and they had no bags. I asked, “have you stopped providing bags now?” Fully expecting the answer to be yes, BYO only now.

“No, we’ve run out of the paper bags. We’re switching to plastic bags tomorrow”

Seriously? Wow.

Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#22

Post by b3n »

titanix2 wrote: post #12
hbarka wrote: post #7

Why hasn’t Amazon, Costco, or Walmart used their clout to effect a positive change? Have you seen all the plastic and unnecessary packaging in the goods they sell. The size of the packaging relative to the actual product is so ridiculous sometimes.

Did you read the article? It says that "more than half of that waste comes from just five countries in East and Southeast Asia — China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam". All the companies you listed are irrelevant there.

These countries import waste from many other countries, including the US.

Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#23

Post by masonic »

hbarka wrote: post #7

Why hasn’t Amazon, Costco, or Walmart used their clout to effect a positive change? Have you seen all the plastic and unnecessary packaging in the goods they sell. The size of the packaging relative to the actual product is so ridiculous sometimes.

Costco probably uses the least packaging per unit of product of anybody, due to bulk packaging.

Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#24

Post by NeedMoreTea »

I do wonder when humanity will change our ways to stop wrecking the only planet we have, while there's still a chance.

First step is acknowledging plastic is a systemic problem that is rapidly becoming more trouble than it is worth. Then regulation to require degradable alternatives, re-use and dramatically reduce our consumption in the first place.

Or do we just keep relying on the economic myth of infinite growth until collapse? Which, of course, doesn't even make sense economically.

Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#25

Post by EGreg »

jl2718 wrote: post #4

Third grade me believed that my recycling got recycled. But it didn’t. We paid extra taxes for corrupt deals to get it dumped in the ocean. That was my plastic that killed the whale. Why did they lie to me? I did always wonder where all the recycling plants were. Would it really have been worse if we had put it in the landfill?

Government propped up fossil fuels and held back electric cars since 1910. We could have had CHOICE in how our energy is generated.

Why in all this time haven’t some alternatives to non-biodegradable plastic emerged?

Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#26

Post by [deleted] »

wespiser_2018 wrote: post #9
eecc wrote: post #3

Just like Climate Change, oceanic plastic pollution is a case of Tragedy of the commons. I can separate my waste and recycle as much as I want (and I do!) but it’s all useless if a random idiot proceeds to dump my weekly household recycling output into a river and call it a day. This is nothing that can be solved with personal initiative and responsibility; it requires international regulation and enforcement. There’…

I disagree. Tragedy of the Commons is a situation that is about the management of wildlife and natural resources for the purposes of maximizing yield, with the lesson being regulated consumption results in maximal natural harvest. Pollution is just a negative economic externality, or consequence of an action that is unseen by the participants, where more pollution is always worse. Unfortunately, no one owns the ocean…

[deleted]

Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#27

Post by chrisco255 »

A2017U1 wrote: post #18
Ultramanoid wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As already mentioned, many Western countries ( and others, like Japan ) shipped their plastic waste to China, until recently China refused to take it in anymore.

So you are claiming China paid money for recycling waste and then threw it straight in the ocean? Seems incredibly implausible.

Nah we paid China to "recycle" trash. And instead of actually recycling they just pocketed the money and dumped it.

Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#28

Post by yardstick »

hrktb wrote: post #10
benj111 wrote: post #6

"According to the U.N. Environment Programme, some 9 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. According to a 2017 study from the environmental group Ocean Conservancy, more than half of that waste comes from just five countries in East and Southeast Asia — China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam." Does anyone know how this fits in with plastic 'recycling'? These nations either were or ar…

We seem to be producing 8 billion tons [1], so 9 million ending up in the ocean is sadly predictable, even assuming earnest recycling efforts. [1] https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/plastic-produced...

More emphasis is needed on the Reduce and Reuse aspects of recycling. The ordering of the slogan is intentional: Reduce, Reuse, and only after those we should then Recycle.

How can we better minimise the amount of plastic that is thrown out in the first place?

Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#29

Post by calt »

A2017U1 wrote: post #18
Ultramanoid wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As already mentioned, many Western countries ( and others, like Japan ) shipped their plastic waste to China, until recently China refused to take it in anymore.

So you are claiming China paid money for recycling waste and then threw it straight in the ocean? Seems incredibly implausible.

They got paid money to take the plastic off our hands and recycle it, not the other way around.

Re: Stomach of Dead Whale Contained 'Nothing but Nonstop Plastic'

#30

Post by robjan »

A2017U1 wrote: post #18
Ultramanoid wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As already mentioned, many Western countries ( and others, like Japan ) shipped their plastic waste to China, until recently China refused to take it in anymore.

So you are claiming China paid money for recycling waste and then threw it straight in the ocean? Seems incredibly implausible.

China was usually paid money to deal with the waste
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