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Europe Plans Ban on Plastic Cutlery, Straws and More (cnn.com)
Europe is proposing a ban on single-use plastic items such as cutlery, straws and cotton buds in a bid to clean up the oceans. From a report: The European Commission wants to ban 10 items that make up 70% of all litter in EU waters and on beaches. The list also includes plastic plates and drink stirrers. The draft rules were unveiled Monday but need the approval of all EU member states and the European Parliament. It could take three or four years for the rules to come into force. The legislation is not just about banning plastic products. It also wants to make plastic producers bear the cost of waste management and cleanup efforts, and it proposes that EU states must collect 90% of single-use plastic bottles by 2025 through new recycling programs.
And Victoria continues to dump raw sewage into the ocean, as it has done for decades.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Good to know that the govt has its priorities right and is focusing on banning plastic straws!
In economy, you always start with the activity that has the highest marginal product. That way you maximize your output for a given amount of inputs. If you're serious about environment, you start with the worst offenders. Even if Europe paid for the cleaning up Asia or Africa, that would probably be still the most beneficial scenario.
Ezekiel 23:20
Parts of Europe still does loads of dumping of their garbage in the oceans.
Likewise, 5 nations are responsible for 60% of all garbage in the ocean.
It turns out that five countries are the leading contributors to this crisis. And all are in Asia. In a recent report, Ocean Conservancy claims that China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are spewing out as much as 60 percent of the plastic waste that enters the world’s seas.
America stopped decades ago, so instead, we have had it going to China and other nations. That also needs to stop. ALL OF IT. Far better for America to recycle, bury, or burn it.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Anyone who likes to eat and drink -- this junk eventually re-enters our bodies via the ecosystem.
Fuck that. I have a baby due in August. I'm not washing that shit.
In all seriousness... you will learn to deal with stuff you currently think is horribly gross - and it probably won’t bother you as much as you think.
... at least after the first month or two. At first, you’ll be thinking “WHAT have I DONE?!”
#DeleteChrome
I've experienced it too. It has nothing to do with biting. It's due to a galvanic reaction between the metal in the cutlery and the fillings in your teeth. If you have fillings, and there's sufficient saliva in your mouth, and the cutlery and your fillings are far enough apart on the galvanic series, it creates a weak electrical current through your mouth and teeth which feels awful. I only noticed it when I visited a friend who served me a meal with "fancy" gold-plated cutlery, but I would imagine different people are sensitive to different levels of current.
It's similar to chewing on aluminum foil if you have fillings, except in that case the aluminum makes direct contact with your fillings so the current is much higher.
I think the GP means wax-coated paperboard, like old-fashioned milk cartons.
Or waxed paper. That's how straws were made back in the old days. It meant you had to spend time drinking a milk shake or ice cream soda, because you couldn't force-suck it through the straw. People actually sat around and talked while enjoying a milk shake or ice cream soda. I know, weird!
I've worked with a food truck that does aome of the festival circuit in the midwest, where single-use plastic utensils are either heavily shunned or banned outright.
They looked at getting disposable wooden spoons for their dishes that require a spoon, and found it was cheaper to buy cheap stainless steel spoons and just hope that they come back.
Most of them do come back. They get washed and reused. The others (hopefully) get recycled in one of the many dozens of recycling bins, or maybe saved by the patron for their own reuse.
It is not as absurd as you think it is.
Kid-proof tablet..
https://www.google.com/search?...
I must admit I'm entirely fucking bewildered by the number of people that seem to need to drink out of a straw.
At least there are now adult sippy cups available, and the branding on them is clever too - 'sports bottle' almost sounds mature.
Plastic is inert.
So is asbestos. Free tip: Don't ever classify something complicated by a single simple property.