The irony of the first ad I'm shown being a coffee machine with unrecyclable pods to fill it makes me both amused and sad. Sort of sums up the whole problem really.
Fish are eating lots of plastic
81–90 of 119 posts
Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
That depends on where you live. I can put plastic wrappers in the recycling bin just fine.
Without food having touched them, I'm assuming, right? I'm pretty sure I've heard they just can't deal with grease from food in the recycling. (Not that they don't try to address a bit of it, but that any significant amount ruins their batches or something.)
You're supposed to wash things, but they're washed again at the recycling plant because few people do it sufficiently thoroughly.
Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Without food having touched them, I'm assuming, right? I'm pretty sure I've heard they just can't deal with grease from food in the recycling. (Not that they don't try to address a bit of it, but that any significant amount ruins their batches or something.)
You're supposed to wash things, but they're washed again at the recycling plant because few people do it sufficiently thoroughly.
Oh, I wasn't aware. Two follow-ups then:
(1) Is it actually worth the water? Especially in somewhere with a water crisis, like (say) California?
(2) Can they actually wash these though? On a large scale, how could they possibly wash plastic wrappers that can cling to themselves so as to remove all the grease?
Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic
#84I recently began bodybuilding and have been relying on canned tuna for protein. I eat other sources, but eat at least 1 to 2 cans daily. Is the plastic worse than the mercury? What would be a healthy, affordable, and easy to prepare (this is very important) alternative? Also, is canned tuna a US thing? How often do you consume canned tuna?
Tuna populations are massively depleted. Consider switching to something else for environmental reasons.
Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sort of banking on that. I expect our landfills will be mined by junkers. There is a lot of rare earth elements, metals, and plastics that won't biodegrade very quickly. Little snake bots tunneling through could pick them all up. It's all a matter of need, we'll deplete the finite resources soon.
> I'm sort of banking on that. I expect our landfills will be mined by junkers. I'm sorry, but all you're doing in reality (whether you realize it or not) is finding some vague resemblance of a justification for our irresponsible culture. I would either try to do something to address the problem or just avoid trying to keep up hopes like this. It only makes people feel better about not helping without actually solvin…
Yep that culture of "let's create more problems so we can sell more solutions" is despicable...
Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic
#86The irony of the first ad I'm shown being a coffee machine with unrecyclable pods to fill it makes me both amused and sad. Sort of sums up the whole problem really.
If it's Nespresso (or a compatible system) that you were shown an ad for, the "unrecyclable" line that seems to often get repeated is actually false.
The pods _are_ recyclable, but whether they actually _get_ recycled is a legitimate concern. In Switzerland and Germany, currently about 50% of used pods are recycled, and this is growing rapidly.
Additionally, Nestle claims that the proportion of recycled aluminium (from all sources, not just used pods) in all manufactured pods now approaches 80%.
Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic
#87The submission title makes the article appear less exciting than it actually is.
It's not news that fish are eating plastics. The news is that now we know they do it because apparently plastics smells good.
Can we add "Even worse, they may like it" to the submission title?
Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic
#88> This article was originally published on [theconversation.com.](https://theconversation.com/bait-and-switch-anchovies-eat-pl...)
Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why manufacturers? If waste disposal had to be paid for, people would start adjusting the retail price by adding the disposal price. Not sure where you live but in my town I pay 7€ per bin container (approx 50l) for non-recyclable waste but the recyclable stuff is free (which is probably still too cheap)
How do they deal with public trash bins on sidewalks, etc.? Are there none? If there are any, what's to prevent people dumping their garbage there and avoiding the fee? And what about homeless or otherwise poor people who don't have the means to pay?
OK, I'll bite. Suppose I wanted to avoid that. I could carry my trash out on the street, walk past three buildings and dump it in the bin near the bus stop instead of in the container behind the house. What is to stop me?
The bus stop is that close because people live densely here. Which means that there are many people per building, who collectively decide what size of garbage container to get and pay for it. I'd have to persuade a majority of the other flat owners to do the same in order to save actual money, otherwise I'd just have to pay for the container I don't use.
There aren't very many homeless people, so that problem is small. It exists but it's small. As for poor people, the garbage container is effectively included in the rent (it's a separate line item, not a separate invoice) and is cheap compared to the other line items, so that problem doesn't really exist.
Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do they deal with public trash bins on sidewalks, etc.? Are there none? If there are any, what's to prevent people dumping their garbage there and avoiding the fee? And what about homeless or otherwise poor people who don't have the means to pay?
OK, I'll bite. Suppose I wanted to avoid that. I could carry my trash out on the street, walk past three buildings and dump it in the bin near the bus stop instead of in the container behind the house. What is to stop me? The bus stop is that close because people live densely here. Which means that there are many people per building, who collectively decide what size of garbage container to get and pay for it. I'd ha…
I don't understand. If this 7€ per bin is something effectively included with rent, and something you're paying for anyway, then how would it discourage landfill waste? I thought the entire point was to add a cost to trash vs. recyclables.