If they ban plastic cutlery, how do eat at food courts? If they ban plastic grocery bags, what do we use as garbage bin liners? We buy single-use bin liners from Home Depot, I guess? So, they ban plastic straws, we are given more expensive paper straws, killing thousands of trees in this transition. Does the plastics ban make any sense?
Single-Use Plastics Ban
- Thread starter yomero5
- Start date
Trees are bio degradable and are replacable Plastic is not. One shot, and then destroyes the ecosystem
I know milliosns will die if we stop using straws, but perhaps we can endure a reduced use of straws - just like we reduced the use of horse drawn carriages and wood burning stoves?
Plastic is super useful but it will run out - maybe straws are not the best use of a limited resourch that is used in medicine? Fuck, your right. Lets end taxes and have the goverment send checks to everyone and then fuck over hte next generation. Party party!
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific. Marine debris is litter that ends up in the ocean, seas, and other large bodies of water.
www.nationalgeographic.org
Countless generations have survived without single use plastics. I think we can figure this one out, too.
It's not the plastic we see, it's also the micro-plastics used in industry. The later are causing fish stocks to thin out.
I used the wrestling metaphor to highlight the impact of plastics. The coronavirus is Randy "Macho Man" Savage, plastic contamination of our oceans is Andre the Giant.
I used the wrestling metaphor to highlight the impact of plastics. The coronavirus is Randy "Macho Man" Savage, plastic contamination of our oceans is Andre the Giant.
Due to the embarrassment in the fusion thread, I deleted Google Canada - it's not very good. Google Prime is now my Start page.
Take your own spoons/fork/cutlery to the food court or use the replacement wooden fork the food court will provide and as for no more plastic garbage bags:
What did the people do before plastic bags were made?
Answer (1 of 8): For groceries, we used brown paper bags provided by the store, similar to the kind that you get at Trader Joe's or Aldi. Then we usually reused them to hold garbage before it went to the dump. Yes, they got wet, and yes, they sometimes leaked. We just dealt with it. We stored th...
The glaring omission is plastic water bottles. Wonder why the Feds didn't ban these? Maybe they get tax $$ from them? I hate seeing these everywhere. No matter where you go in Canada, or the world, you will see these in almost every tourist location.
They are starting with the plastic that has colour. Making it more difficult to recycle. The clear is easier to deal with.
Its a progression thing. They understand you can't ban it all at once.
Its looking at what they are banning and that is the logical conclusion. They understand that there are supply chain issues and substitution ones.
Straws, cutlery etc are replaceable. Black plastic as well. Bags with reusable and paper. Liquid bottles will need another level so will have to wait. A gradualist approach is warrented here.
I've used the paper straws, they're okay. I have no problem banning them. But before everyone starts cheering the Libs, let's look at the facts.
Take plastic takeout food containers for example. As long as they're not black (City of Toronto won't collect them, not that they aren't recyclable) they can be rinsed and put in the blue bin and recycled. Paper, once contaminated by food, oil etc. (this includes pizza boxes), are not recyclable must go in the garbage. In other words, it will all end up in landfill. How is that better?
How about plastic grocery bags. They can be reused as garbage bags or recycled. In other words, they are not single use. Now everyone will have to buy single use plastic garbage bags (that come in a paper box). Retailers will switch to offering paper bags, which for the most part aren't made from recycled paper and have a much greater carbon footprint than plastic bags. This is due to the manufacturing process. In addition, they take up more space and are heavier. So they use significantly more fossil fuels in order to transport them. Paper bags are also a single use item. They're useless for anything else and many will also end up in landfill. Obviously reusable bags are a good idea but you have to remember to wash them. Which people rarely do so they can contaminate food.
Now some will argue that paper decomposes, plastic doesn't. If either one ends up in landfill, there's no oxygen under the layers and layers of garbage required for the paper to decompose. So they're equal in that respect.
If the goal is to reduce plastics in landfill, why not put a 10 cent deposit on every plastic water and pop bottle. Like they do with wine, beer and liquor bottles. There would need to be the infrastructure for returns, but when was the last time you saw a discarded beer, wine or liquor bottle, or can for that matter? They virtually all get returned.
A bigger problem in my opinion, is paper coffee cups. Due to the coating, none of them are recyclable. None of them. That means every Tim's and Starbuck's cup ends up in landfill. But no, the Liberals won't tackle that issue. They want to ban reusable/recyclable plastic grocery bags. Genius.
I'm all for making the planet a better place and reducing landfill, but just putting a ban on some things is shortsighted.
Oh, and the plastics in the ocean bit? Canada is near the very bottom of the list of polluters.
Take plastic takeout food containers for example. As long as they're not black (City of Toronto won't collect them, not that they aren't recyclable) they can be rinsed and put in the blue bin and recycled. Paper, once contaminated by food, oil etc. (this includes pizza boxes), are not recyclable must go in the garbage. In other words, it will all end up in landfill. How is that better?
How about plastic grocery bags. They can be reused as garbage bags or recycled. In other words, they are not single use. Now everyone will have to buy single use plastic garbage bags (that come in a paper box). Retailers will switch to offering paper bags, which for the most part aren't made from recycled paper and have a much greater carbon footprint than plastic bags. This is due to the manufacturing process. In addition, they take up more space and are heavier. So they use significantly more fossil fuels in order to transport them. Paper bags are also a single use item. They're useless for anything else and many will also end up in landfill. Obviously reusable bags are a good idea but you have to remember to wash them. Which people rarely do so they can contaminate food.
Now some will argue that paper decomposes, plastic doesn't. If either one ends up in landfill, there's no oxygen under the layers and layers of garbage required for the paper to decompose. So they're equal in that respect.
If the goal is to reduce plastics in landfill, why not put a 10 cent deposit on every plastic water and pop bottle. Like they do with wine, beer and liquor bottles. There would need to be the infrastructure for returns, but when was the last time you saw a discarded beer, wine or liquor bottle, or can for that matter? They virtually all get returned.
A bigger problem in my opinion, is paper coffee cups. Due to the coating, none of them are recyclable. None of them. That means every Tim's and Starbuck's cup ends up in landfill. But no, the Liberals won't tackle that issue. They want to ban reusable/recyclable plastic grocery bags. Genius.
I'm all for making the planet a better place and reducing landfill, but just putting a ban on some things is shortsighted.
Oh, and the plastics in the ocean bit? Canada is near the very bottom of the list of polluters.
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Its about replacability and supply chain. There are alternatives to plastic cutley. But to go back to glass bottles would be a whole other animal.
Here in NYS each of those water bottles is a nickel, which you get back when you recycle the empty. Not many wind up in landfills. Canada's behind the curve on that one...
I don't know what the big deal is with plastic water bottles? Perhaps I'm very old fashioned, I've been using Britta since I can remember.
The plastic bottles I use are old Vitamin Water, no more than two. And one thermos for coffee which is now gathering dust.
The plastic bottles I use are old Vitamin Water, no more than two. And one thermos for coffee which is now gathering dust.
