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In the same vein : why not produce/use less plastics ?
by wiz21c 7y ago
In the same vein : why not produce/use less plastics ?
- JulianMorrison 7y agoThe long term answer has to be, produce almost no plastic at all, except those cases where it's a genuine necessity such as medical uses.
- adrianN 7y agoI don't think so. The raw materials can be literally synthesized from thin air with enough energy input and you can burn plastics to get rid of them again. What we definitely need to stop completely is letting plastics escape into the environment. Clothes made from plastic fibers for example need to go away.
- JulianMorrison 7y agoIf you have to keep the stuff under harsh disposal control, that would rather obviate the non essential uses.
- TaylorAlexander 7y agoReducing consumption is the most impactful thing we aren’t doing.
- fastball 7y agoThat is the plan. "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" is the mantra, after all.
- thulecitizen 7y agoThere’s even two more R’s now: refuse reduce reuse (+repair) recycle rot
- lotsofpulp 7y agoWhat’s the difference between refuse and reduce?
- pixl97 7y agoMy guess would be to refuse some things, like plastic food wrappers where they can be switched out with paper. Reduce is using the same product material but using less of it in a single package.
- meruru 7y agoThat's easy to suggest and hard do. How are you going to change the behavior of entire populations? We are already trying education.
- rexpop 7y agoEnvironmentalists are fighting an uphill battle so long as business, whose packaging decision are practically unilateral, aren't held accountable for their contributions. The "education" that gets the most funding is simple mis-direction away from supply-side pollution to consumer-blaming "solutions".
- meruru 7y agoYes, but how do you make businesses accountable? Legislation perhaps? Who's going to vote for those? Perhaps if we could educate people to care, but as I said we're already trying that. On a individual basis, I guess bringing up the issue more often is the best we can do really, I would definitely appreciate more environmentalism in politics discussions, but it feels very low-impact.
- rexpop 7y ago> how do you make businesses accountable? Well, to whom are businesses accountable currently? Shareholders. Naive solution: make impacted communities shareholders.
- notatoad 7y agoPrice it appropriately. For the vast majority of the uses of plastic, it isn't the best solution, just the cheapest. Keep adding tax until something more sustainable is cheaper.
- frankbreetz 7y agoBut then people couldn't use 30 disposable water bottles a week.
- 7y ago