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.

Comments

Great idea...

[drinkypoo]

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.

Re:Great idea...

[wierd_w]

I thought the predecessor to plastic straws were paper ones?

While many feel this necessitates having straws that turn into cellulose pulp in your mouth, this is not true. Coating the paper with a biodegradable wax, like carnuba, would solve the problem nicely, as would the use of modified starch coatings.

I agree that biodegradable plastics are ideal for disposable cutlery and pals, but they also tend toward being brittle and crack prone, which makes straws problematic.

For much of packaging that currently uses plastic, we can be using a variety of other, much more environmentally sensible materials, which would do the job just as well-- not necessarily biodegrading plastics.

And yeah, we SHOULD be doing it everywhere.

Industry doesn't want to do it. Plastic is a very versatile and inexpensive material that lends itself very well to commercial mass production. Getting food vendors away from that inexpensive and versatile packaging is hard. Especially when the packaging companies themselves lobby to deter that thinking.

Already starting to happen on the west coast

[Hadlock]

Lots of compostable, corn-based or other plant-based single use silverware avalible now. It's about 10-15% more expensive, but right now the cost is about $free so,
 
Paper bags are pretty popular in larger cities, Safeway near my house has tried to introduce thicker plastic bags to meet the "Reusable" mandate by the city, but locals are still requesting paper.

Grasping at Straws vs. Stormwater Runoff in LCDs

[retroworks]

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.

plastic bottles

[pgmrdlm]

https://www.usatoday.com/story...

Topping the list of items found polluting our beaches and waterways were 2.4 million cigarette butts, which contain plastic filters. That was followed by 1.7 million food wrappers and 1.6 million plastic water bottles.

Forgot about cigarette butts. And that is one of the major polluters. First world nations may be cutting back on this product, but that is not necessarily the truth in third world nations.

Why not make littering illegal?

[acoustix]

Oh wait...

I saw a stat that suggest that as much as 80% of the plastic waste in the ocean is fishing netting. The vast majority of the rest is supposedly from underdeveloped counties. Something like 0.1% of the plastic waste in the ocean is from the U.S. So these laws won't make a difference in the whole scheme of things.

Why not focus on the real problems that will have a real effect?

Are are there alternative motives involved?