Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not having alternatives to replace them with?
Paper/jute bags and multi-use plastics have been in circulation for quite some time now.
What do you replace a single-use plastic catheter with? Wash it and use it again?
Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
51–60 of 136 posts
Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
#52There was a similar thread for Germany here recently, and I remember someone saying that most companies will just start using multi-use plastics instead of single-use ones... without reusing them. Is that really likely or am I not foolish to hope that companies will eventually just research and use more biodegradable materials?
Perhaps a minimum pricetag then? E.g. a cup or a plate must cost at least $1.00
Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
#53Can we add cigarette filters to the list? If I had a penny for every ...
Ban single use paper and cotton? If you collected each you might have a penny a piece if you could recycle into something people want like homemade face masks.
Cigarette filters are the largest source of trash floating in the ocean and are usually not bio-degradable [1, 2]. They end up as micro plastics.
Banning them instead of plastic straws can be seen as vastly more effetive [3].
Edit:
It seems pretty useless as they essentially have no function (edit: to health), since the near-universal adoption of filters on cigarettes has not reduced harms to smokers and lung cancer rates have not declined [4]. And the color change is something that was added to make the filter to appear to be effective [5]:
> The tobacco industry determined that the illusion of filtration was more important than filtration itself. It added chemicals in the filter so that its colour becomes darker when exposed to smoke (it was invented in 1953 by Claude Teague working for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company). The industry wanted filters to be seen as effective, for marketing reasons, despite not making cigarettes any less unhealthy.
So trying to be rational here, they don't have any health benefits and are responsible for a large share of the microplastics in our ocean.
[1]: https://www.businessinsider.de/international/new-study-shows...
[2]: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/cigar...
[3]: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/plastic-straw-ban-cigar...
[4]: https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/i10
[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_filter#Colour_change
Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
#54Can we all agree that plastic packaging has gotten ridiculous? If I buy toys for my kids they're 90% packaging, 10% toy... It's baffling. Who's the consumer demanding this?
I have a family member who works for IKEA and one reason that small objects need lots of big packaging is because of theft, simple as that.
It wastes space for them, adds costs, and so on but the reduction in thefts are so big that it's worth it.
Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
#55Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
#56Great initiative, but these political edicts are not useful, and 2021 is too soon.
What we need is a structured approach, that analyses all of the kinds of use, how realistically dependant we are on all of them, probably some strategic alignment from gov. and a phased approach with more time.
Canadian ministers of industry are rife with any number of 'PowerPoint Programs' for this or that, that are again in the category of 'business sentiment' and often completely miss the mark.
I would really love to see the Minsters, or at very least the heads of their Bureaucracy - actually have an operational business background. We've established that our Ministers of Finance have to have 'credentials' - why on Earth we don't demand the same from our business related ministers is astonishing.
They could be identifying most of the use, talking a lot with the entities most affected, researching alternatives, lining up suppliers, poking in maybe in highly-specific areas, possibly with some truly progressive alternatives with intelligently focused investment, and at least proving some kind of 'phased transition framework'.
Much like when Sweden went from 'Left Lane' to 'Right Lane' driving, there needs to be plan.
A lot of business right now are facing truly existential calamity, to have a politician pull this out and say 'you have 6 months to change' is just not good.
I also feel that 'any rule can be hacked' and we're going to see all sorts of externalities from this, specifically glass.
Plastic is a really useful material, and that we don't want it in the Ocean's means we have to change, but not necessarily along he lines he's taking - in fact - the edict, were it followed to the tee, might not change many things other than in the minds of voters.
I would love to see a comprehensive plan for how we can tackled plastic waste, it will not come from the PM's office.
Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
#57This movement is really dumb.
Plastic pollution in the ocean is a problem, but it’s not the western countries causing it. There are 10 rivers that cause 90% of plastic pollution, and they are in Africa and Asia.
Plastic in a landfill harms nobody.
The worst part is that people somehow have this linked in thier mind with climate change, as in fixing plastic pollution is going to help with that.
Well if anything, it’s going to make it marginally worse because the replacements for single use plastics consume more energy.
Meanwhile this also has a pretty disproportionate amount of inconvenience for the public, continuing the “Environmental issues are about your personal sacrifice” message which is both unnessissary (companies can have a much Larger impact without you sacrificing anything) and counterproductive.
This is the politicians fallicy in action.
Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
#58Can we all agree that plastic packaging has gotten ridiculous? If I buy toys for my kids they're 90% packaging, 10% toy... It's baffling. Who's the consumer demanding this?
Or sugar that used to come in cardboard boxes for decades now coming in plastic bags. And so many glass jars replaced by plastic.
I fail to see the harm in this. Who or what is harmed by an inert piece of plastic sitting safely in a landfill?
Edit: this isn’t rhetoric, but a legitimate inquiry.
Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
By having nuanced legislation and regulation? This isn't a formal declaration of rule making, or legislation, simply a declaration of intent from the Prime Minister. There's no formal weight behind this (except probably to start getting internal government bodies working on policy). There's lot of time and room for sane (or dumb) rules to come out of this. Medical (and similar) use exceptions are common. For example…
So the headline is just absolute bollocks and means nothing when you start to interrogate it? Oh ok.
Do you expect a headline to tell you the whole story?
Re: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you ever used a paper straw? It takes ages for it to dissolve so for most people, event the disabled ones, it is not a problem.
No, they suck. They get soggy after a few minutes. I’d rather not use a straw at all. Which brings me to my main point. The “paper straws” movement isn’t actually anti-climate-change or pro-ecology, but just virtue signalling. If it was real, they wouldn’t be advocating paper straws, they’d be advocating no straws at all! Hint: you don’t need a straw (the vast majority of people anyways).
Maybe the end goal of paper straw advocates really is that. If the only straws available are shitty ones, more people might prefer to go strawless.