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85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

worldwildlife.org

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Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#91

Post by jjcm »

I don't want a ban, I want a tax on them. There's a strong use for single use plastics - medical goods being one of the important ones that I highly suspect people don't want a ban of. They define these as "necessary" versus "unnecessary" in their poll (ie the 85% figure is specifically for "ban unnecessary single-use plastic products, e.g., shopping bags, cutlery, cups & plates"). Things get murky really quickly when we bucket items. Are single use water bottles bad? Probably. Are all plastic liquid containers bad? Almost certainly not, you wouldn't want to store a corrosive acid that eats through glass in a glass bottle.

So either the option is create a giant database of what is/isn't single use, which then can be gamed in its own way, or simply tax all single-use plastics such that necessary cases still leverage them, but it quickly doesn't become cost-effective for the main offending category of them.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#92

Post by OptionOfT »

stronglikedan wrote: post #23
cynicalsecurity wrote: post #2

I guess only with the exception of medical use.

Why can't they use reusable containers that can be sterilized just like their contents? Just asking. I don't support such a seeping ban, because I know the ramifications.

Sterilization doesn't solve all. Prions for example survive an autoclave.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#93

Post by MattGaiser »

Aunche wrote: post #47

It's not sexy, but the number one way to reduce plastic pollution is to build landfills and proper waste management systems in developing countries. Plastic bans are largely performative and often counterproductive. Instead of bringing their own bags, a lot of shoppers just treat the "reuseable" bags the they buy a the supermarket as disposable. https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickgleason/2024/01/22/new-j... https://…

I’m curious what bags would need to cost to change that behaviour, as for all the complaining about inflation, many clearly don’t miss 3-4% a shop buying cloth bags here.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#94

Post by DataDive »

I always use my reusable bags,

On the other hand, I found that sometimes I run out of plastic bags when I need them at home.

In some situations, a plastic bag is super useful: store a wet paintbrush overnight, wrap something that needs to retain moisture, lock up some smelly stuff, etc.

In those cases, I go to a store that still has plastic bags, then buy some stuff there and generously pack them into plastic bags.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#96

Post by Sparkyte »

lowkey_ wrote: post #41

I was skeptical of whether it was representative of 85% of the global population, or just the first-world. I've often thought (and heard that) environmental concerns are secondary to economic, and that people in less prosperous countries don't care as much about environmental concerns as people in first-world countries who are secure in most areas of their lives. Surprisingly, this data says the opposite! Sample size…

Lots of medical supplies are single use plastics.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#97

Post by londons_explore »

lowkey_ wrote: post #41

I was skeptical of whether it was representative of 85% of the global population, or just the first-world. I've often thought (and heard that) environmental concerns are secondary to economic, and that people in less prosperous countries don't care as much about environmental concerns as people in first-world countries who are secure in most areas of their lives. Surprisingly, this data says the opposite! Sample size…

Poorer parts of the world have (typically) much worse problems with litter.

Poorer nations typically have no/few refuse collection services, and people often just pile up and burn their own refuse or dump it in rivers to take it away.

That means poorer people see directly the litter rather than an 'out of sight, out of mind' approach.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#98

Post by H1Supreme »

64% of the people surveyed in the US "agree" or "strongly agree". Maybe it's because I spend most of my time in less affluent parts of the country, but I almost never see people bringing their own bags to the grocery store.

Checkout clerks usually seem surprised when I pull out my canvas bags.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#99

Post by gleenn »

htk wrote: post #21

"Ban unnecessary single-use plastic products most likely to become plastic pollution, e.g. shopping bags, cutlery, cups & plates" Such a loaded question just weakens the point. That's why it's hard to take these efforts seriously.

I kind of agree. I feel like the word "unnecessary" in that sentence guts it. Of course we should ban unnecessary and wasteful things. If the question was "should we ban plastic bags completely in favor of re-usable ones" might get a very different answer. I would definitely say yes to the first question but I also sometimes forget to bring my reusable bags to the store and then definitely always get the disposable ones if it's more items than I can carry in my hands.

Re: 85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics

#100

Post by legitster »

textninja wrote: post #89

I’m taking this with a grain of salt because 85% of people adopting such a hardline environmentalist stance defies reason. I think the poll’s design and authors probably had something to do with it. Context matters!

Kind of like that "4 out of 5 dentists" claim from back in the day - it involved some very heavy editorializing:

https://nowiknow.com/who-was-the-fifth-dentist-that-didnt-re...

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