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U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

#221

Post by MichaelApproved »

nostromo wrote: post #166
ardit33 wrote: post #22

Pre pandemic, I'd go often to trader joe, and they would give samples. It was maybe a small bite of a food (ice cream, salat, or whatever else), and use a plastic fork for it. Just one bite, and you had to throw it out. It was more plastic than food. Whole Foods was the same. I think it is a crime against environment and I started feeling bad about it, and stopped taking samples when there were plastic utensils. It t…

Are you sure they're not biodegradable "plastic" forks? That's what my Trader Joe's uses. I believe they're made out of cornstarch.

biodegradable plastics are deceiving because the landfill they go into must be specifically tailored to biodegrade the plastics. Otherwise they stay there forever, just like regular plastic.

Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

#222

Post by ashtonkem »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #204
cronix wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of plastics that we "recycle" end up in landfills anyway. They are not recyclable because they are contaminated with food (need to wash food containers out before recycling) or they are labeled as "recyclable" but really are not, or are not at every recycling center in the nation. The same is true for cardboard like used greasy pizza boxes with cheese stuck to the bottom are not recyclable yet a heck of a lot o…

> need to wash food containers out before recycling (...) used greasy pizza boxes with cheese stuck to the bottom are not recyclable yet a heck of a lot of people toss them in the cardboard recycle bin. People are not being informed about it clearly enough. Not that it would change much, except discouraging most people from sorting trash. Beyond being a significant burden, having individuals washing their trash is ju…

I’m less in the “people need to be informed” camp and more in the “products need to be designed for easy recycling” camp.

If we want to recycle pizza boxes as a society, there needs to be a grease absorbing layer that’s clearly marked for the trash, and a recyclable layer with clear instructions. A great example of this is Siggi’s single serving yogurt cups. The paper label is easily separated from the plastic body, with clear instructions that they’re meant to be separated for recycling into separate streams. In my case my municipality doesn’t recycle the plastic they use (#5 IIRC), but at least the paper and metal foil get recycled.

Expecting end consumers to stay up to date on this stuff is just a way for companies to avoid the responsibility of making better packaging.

Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

#223

Post by goatlover »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #100
carstenhag wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way most people in Germany would solve this (we need a potty for some months) is buying it 2nd/3rd/4th hand. Is that not common where you live (I guess USA)?

In the middle class and upward, it's not common, outside of folks who are particularly frugal. The post-WWII American culture is extremely consumerist / materialistic.

The 1920s one wasn't?

Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

#224

Post by beervirus »

hereforphone wrote: post #48
gogopuppygogo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Not arguing your point but I think a fair amount of that likely inaccuracy comes from lack of infrastructure / a large amount of rural communities. I'd guess there's some intention there (for misreporting) but I doubt that's the entirety of the issue

China gets zero benefit of any doubt.

Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

#225

Post by alanbernstein »

zabatuvajdka wrote: post #129
alienth wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the US and tried donating our child's potty chair. The donation spots I tried refused it because they weren't allowed to take anything which a child has to sit in or on for safety reasons. I even tried Value Village, which is a private second-hand store, and got the same response. Into the garbage it went, sadly.

Couldn’t you chop it up and put in recycling bin?

Even if that would be effective, it is not practical to ask people to "chop up" their heavy plastic items just to throw them away. That requires tools, light skill, and time, that not everyone is able or willing to commit to the cause.

Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

#227

Post by jeffbee »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #196
abdupattoh wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I typically shop on a bike for my family of six at -15 to -25 C in Finland. But I live close to a large store and bike roads are excellent and usually cleared if snow.

You’re a better person than me. Sorry, I’m not doing that. For the record, I’m roughly 6.5 km from a market. I wouldn’t even know how to strap 20 bags to a bicycle. How do you?

This thread has verged into "30-50 feral hogs" territory. I have never, even once, seen a person with 20 bags of groceries.

Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

#228

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

sethammons wrote: post #10
vipermark7 wrote: post #2

When given an option between blaming the individual and blaming multinational corporations, I tend to blame the latter

No single raindrop believes it is to be blamed for the flood

This analogy highlights where the problem lies.

Floods are prevented, or mitigated, not by single raindrops, but by chaotic systems on a much larger scale, and / or infrastructure projects raindrops have little to no ability to action.

Humans need leaders to rally behind, and what we’ve had for too long, and likely will have for longer still, is wet dishcloths masquerading as leaders.

Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

#229

Post by scrollaway »

jhgb wrote: post #206
scrollaway wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it more ecological to use glass instead of plastic? With plastic there is trash to deal with, but glass is heavier thus will take more energy to deal with logistically. Recycling is not energy free either, and there is plenty of loss to deal with there. Plastic is very cheap to manufacture partly because its manufacture is so easy. And right now it seems like energy consumption is a far larger worry than trash at…

> With plastic there is trash to deal with, but glass is heavier thus will take more energy to deal with logistically. My family has been using the same set of glasses for canning for decades.

Right but is your family an outlier or an average? Anecdotes are not evidence, and what matters is how everything would pan out in the real world.

When we were using glass jars for everything, it's not like glass jars were not actively being produced. I don't think these are unanswerable questions but i highly doubt it's as simple as "replace plastic with glass". Aluminum may be a better solution, one that doesn't use up a lot of sand, for example.

Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)

#230

Post by goatlover »

pessimizer wrote: post #127
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just have the sample. Your refusal to not consume it isn't going to change them buying the plastic, because given the choice, people aren't going to stop sampling in the aggregate. And at that point you're just signaling to other people in a really silly way. If you really care, talk to your local representatives or write to Trader Joes and Whole Foods. Anything else is posturing. Not taking a sample which costs them…

There's no ethical consumption under capitalism, which is why I'm going to keep my slaves but vote really hard against slavery.

Is there ethical consumption under any system?
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