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Hawaii Lawmakers Chewing on Ban of Plastic Utensils, Bottles and Food Containers (hawaiinewsnow.com)
Plastic bags are out. Plastic straws are on their way out. Now Hawaii lawmakers want to take things a big step further. From a report: They're considering an outright ban on all sorts of single-use plastics common in the food and beverage industry, from plastic bottles to plastic utensils to plastic containers. Senate Bill 522 has already passed through two committees and is on its way to two more. Supporters say it's an ambitious and broad measure that would position Hawaii as a leader in the nation -- and ensure that Hawaii's oceans have a fighting chance as the global plastic pollution problem worsens. But others worry about the practicality of such a proposal.
It's a great idea so long as they still permit compostables. Compostable plastics are produced from renewable sources, so they even have the potential to be carbon-neutral. They do have to be tested to make sure they only break down into harmless compounds, though. We should be doing this everywhere.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
We've had what, 50-60 years now where companies have done whatever they wanted with packaging and we can see the results. The problem is that the financial interests of the polluter (business) don't align with good of society or the financial interests of the public, because ultimately we the tax payer are going to get stuck cleaning up this shit.
This is correct. Example:
0.001% of the plastic in the ocean is plastic straws
60% is discarded fishing equipment
The neo-liberal reaction was to ban plastic straws. This is pure propaganda, and in their ignorance makes middle class people feel good about themselves.
Normal people (in aggregate) simply don't consume enough of literally anything (including gasoline) to make an impact.
The super-rich cause the vast majority of all environmental degradation. The rich foul the environment, and we have to clean it up when that's even possible.
Everyone could switch to electric cars ... won't make a fucking bit of difference.
Nothing you do as an individual will make any difference.
No consumer choices you make will make any difference.
Nothing we do in aggregate as normal people will be any difference.
We have to rein in the super-rich. They damage our environment and make real democracy impossible. Basically they can't be allowed to exist any more.
Most ocean pollution comes from litter in fast-growing coastal cities in Asia, Africa and South America. It would make a lot more sense to deal with litter in emerging markets than to tinker with the kind of waste that goes into rich country waste treatment facilities. I say this as a professional recycler and environmentalist. The "grasping at straws" approach makes people (and journalists) feel like their doing something, which can actually result in "moral licensing".
A better approach is "fair trade recycling offsets", which are patterned after carbon trading. Let plastic utensil makers sell to people who want / need them, but let them offset by collecting as much litter from places like Lagos and Jakarta as they produce. It would mean less command-and-control by government, and reduce a lot more ocean waste.
Gently reply
You should actuallty talk to someone in the industry before spreading FUD. The materials dumped from 50-60 years ago were much more dangerous and hard to break down than the waste produced today (Asbestos, Lead, etc). All the news stories about plastic taking hundreds or thousands of years to degrade is utter nonesense. In modern waste management, waste is composted and reaches extremely high temperatures where plastics readily break down. In fact most of it is turned into energy, since plastic comes from hydrocarbons. That is, of course, all the stuff that isn't recycled, since modern countries have great recycling infrastructure. As for the stuff out in the ocean? It photodegrades rapidly since the ultraviolet light of the sun breaks it apart.
The main problem with plastics is not people in Hawaii or California drinking out of plastic straws. It's third world countries that don't give a damn about the environment, don't recycle, and spew their waste everywhere. In fact most US Corporations do give a damn about product lifecycle because the people who work in, and own those corporations are Americans, and don't want to live in a polluted S***hole. That's why the US doesn't have garbage in the streets and generally has a good handle on waste management.