Ocean Plastic / Garbage Cleanup

[Azure]

I thought I remembered a thread on this but can't find it.

This is interesting news, and perhaps something our government could support instead of the useless ban on plastic straws?

https://twitter.com/user/status/1643252090003759105

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Azure

I thought I remembered a thread on this but can't find it.

This is interesting news, and perhaps something our government could support instead of the useless ban on plastic straws?

Why not both?

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Why not both?

People obviously having severe anxiety attacks when they think about having to use the rim of the cup itself to drink from. “what? drink like when I am at home?! outrageous!”

[Monahammer]

Banning plastic straws is lazy, stupid policy making.

Ban polymers outside of specific applications and enforce strict single plastic packaging laws, along with recycled content requirements. Then fund clean up.

Unfortunately this is much less visible and so scores much less political points. But if you want to fix plastics start in these spots. Banning straws is dumb and frustrating.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Why not both?

Don’t be stupid. Every good thing that has ever existed solely existed so you could criticize something else.

You should know this.

[Ozy_Flame]

Ocean garbage cleanup and straw bans are a false equivalency. One refers to picking up plastics after they're used, the other refers to preventing plastic from even being used in the first place.

This isn't rocket science.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Don’t be stupid. Every good thing that has ever existed solely existed so you could criticize something else.

You should know this.

Perhaps I'd take you more seriously if you had Coke in your username. LOL, Pepsi. What a sub par thing.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Why not both?

I personally have zero problem with paper straws, and feel that paper based products should be used everywhere possible.

But it does seem like lazy policy when the greater issue is waste in general, including the fact that 1st world countries just dump their waste on 3rd world countries.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Perhaps I'd take you more seriously if you had Coke in your username. LOL, Pepsi. What a sub par thing.

Hey at least it's free. Who would buy pepsi?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

So, 200 metric tons out of... about a hundred thousand.

We're 0.2% of the way there guys!

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Azure

I personally have zero problem with paper straws, and feel that paper based products should be used everywhere possible.

But it does seem like lazy policy when the greater issue is waste in general, including the fact that 1st world countries just dump their waste on 3rd world countries.

I dunno, Reduce is the first choice and best thing you can do. I just got fast food recently and they forgot to even put a straw in. So i drank it form the cup, and it was fine. Maybe we just don't actually need a lot of these single use plastics?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Ocean garbage cleanup and straw bans are a false equivalency. One refers to picking up plastics after they're used, the other refers to preventing plastic from even being used in the first place.

This isn't rocket science.

And yet the goal (less plastic waste) is the same regardless of your inability to understand it.

So one would think that if we make policy decisions, which are as you said 'not rocket science', the result should be clear, amirite?

Despite the concerted efforts by corporations, the plastic straws ban has only made a minor difference in plastic waste production. National Geographic reveals that where 8 million tonnes of plastics flow into the ocean every year, plastic straws merely comprise 0.025% of the total. The finding indicates that banning plastic straws could not make a significant improvement to the environment.

Taking Hong Kong as an example. Research conducted by the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation reveals that Hong Kong’s overall plastic straw consumption has dropped from 1.7 billion to 1 billion from 2017 to 2020, indicating a 40% drop in its annual plastic straw consumption. However, its overall waste plastics have increased by 10.3% from 2017 to 2018, signifying that the plastic straws reduction does not impose a huge impact on the overall amount of waste plastics.

https://earth.org/data_visualization...aw-phenomenon/

I guess if your policy is about sending signals that 'we are doing something, look at us!', and not actually about actual outcomes, banning plastic straws is the route you take.

One would think its not rocket science to understand what needs to be done, but apparently it is.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

So, 200 metric tons out of... about a hundred thousand.

We're 0.2% of the way there guys!

It did seem hopeless at first, but with each new version they have increased their ability to remove waste, and only now will pour funding into massive cleanup.

Up till now it was more like a 'lets check if this works' type of deal.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

So, 200 metric tons out of... about a hundred thousand.

We're 0.2% of the way there guys!

Maybe you could get them to send you some, to build your house in the woods out of.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Azure

It did seem hopeless at first, but with each new version they have increased their ability to remove waste, and only now will pour funding into massive cleanup.

Up till now it was more like a 'lets check if this works' type of deal.

I'm certainly not against the project, it just seems extremely sisyphean unless they can massively ramp up the rate of it... like, over a million kg/year.

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Maybe you could get them to send you some, to build your house in the woods out of.

A lot of the red tape and bureaucratic nonsense slowing me down is superficially about being more "energy efficient", so re-using a bunch of trash in an environmentally friendly manner would presumably be a win... except the real reason is just to try to drive up housing costs to maintain local property values so probably not.

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Perhaps I'd take you more seriously if you had Coke in your username. LOL, Pepsi. What a sub par thing.

But then he would have to perpetuate a lie and say there is no coke in him.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

So, 200 metric tons out of... about a hundred thousand.

We're 0.2% of the way there guys!

Give it time, this is the new Ozone issue.

[DoubleK]

Those interceptors are so cool.

I really like the ones they have for rivers where pollution is a problem, stops it from even getting to the ocean.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Perhaps I'd take you more seriously if you had Coke in your username. LOL, Pepsi. What a sub par thing.

I always assumed that was a reference to being free of Pepsi - ie consuming none of it, like a Pepsi Free Zone.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I always assumed that was a reference to being free of Pepsi - ie consuming none of it, like a Pepsi Free Zone.

I was never really sure on what it meant. All I know is I have to see the word Pepsi and it makes me uncomfortable.