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Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

sdstate.edu

331–340 of 351 posts

Re: Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Spent $6+ million fighting California's bag ban through misleading ballot measures "Misleading". 6m is hardly anything in a CA election. The article even agrees, “[The $6.1 million spent by manufacturers] is big money, but in California, for 17 ballot measures, it’s essentially petty cash,” he said. How much evil money did the ban supporters spend? It's funny how negative you phrase the actions taken by the side yo…

You skipped my question. Do you work for a plastic manufacturer or are otherwise involved in plastic use or manufacturing?

No. Believe it or not, everyone who disagrees with you isn't a shill.

Re: Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

#332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick is to always have them where you will need them. I always have one or two in my backpack, in my car, in my luggage when I travel... Their size and weight is almost nothing and the only effort is putting them back after use. Which is where it occasionally fails, sure.

The trick is to not bother, just make sure your bag ends recycled not in the street or in the ocean.

Plastic bags are made of polypropylene, and are garbage.

Plastic for the most part is basically garbage, there are so many types that it’s hard to recycle it. PET and HDPE can be recycled fairly easily if they’re sorted, the rest aren’t really worth it (polypropylene, low density polyethylene, PVC).

The only thing that is almost always economically worth recycling is metal, which is separated from the paper/glass/plastic if you have single stream recycling. Plastic should be burned in a cement kiln or buried in a modern landfill, unless it’s well sorted HDPE or PET.

Re: Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit using bags for produce--I just put the produce in my basket or cart and then straight into the checkout bag on my way out of the store. The exception is small loose produce like snap peas.

Ugh. That's a REALLY bad idea for anything that you don't thoroughly cook.

[deleted]

Re: Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that the fault of plastic wrappings and not the fault of people throwing trash onto the side of the road?

Where did I say that? I was only responding to the assertion "in first world countries almost no household plastic ends up in the environment" pointing out that I see it everywhere.

My bad, sorry. I also see it

Re: Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you recycle then it's probably just going to a street or ocean somewhere else. Plastic recycling is more or less made up.

They could go into a furnace to get turned into heat, electricity and CO2.

In theory yes, in practice they will be "exported" to a thrid world country with limited processing capabilities and directly dumped into the ocean.

Re: Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They used to make it work with waxed paper. There's no reason why that can't be used for a large proportion of food packaging again.

That's just a different non-biodegradable petroleum product: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraffin_wax

A lot of food grade wax is carnauba.

Re: Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CO2 usage, I get you, but what about the plastic waste?

This is the problem though, right? It’s not one league table of environmental goodness - there are tradeoffs that as an educated consumer are impose to navigate.

Yes, I understand, that's why I questioned the unqualified claim "that's not a win for the environment" as if it's so clear cut.

Re: Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

#339

I would kill for this for when I’m buying fresh produce at the shops. Right now I just raw dog the produce into my basket as putting 4 apples into a plastic bag to ease the weighing and transport home seems like a selfish thing to do to the environment, but something that starts to break down soon after that sounds great.

Paper bags solve that use case much better.

Re: Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose

#340
post #141
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wash some forever checmicals over the pesticides, that'll do the job. Jokes aside, i raw dog with a quick wash and im yet to have caught covid so it cant be that bad.

I always find it interesting when I visit Italy. The supermarkets there do sell some kind of dissenfectent for produce, and everyone is really strict about using gloves (this was even before COVID). My country has none of that...

It's really weird how some safety regulations differs between countries - sometimes the rules are even the exact opposite like washing eggs before sale in the US vs. EU.

Makes you wonder how much of it is actually based on any kind of rigorous science and how much is done just because someone thought it was a good idea once and now its just how we do things.

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