4 ms·

"waste management makes sure that no garbage gets into the ocean" I don't think this is the case in reality though. I live in a coastal city in a "first world"

"waste management makes sure that no garbage gets into the ocean" I don't think this is the case in reality though. I live in a coastal city in a "first world" country and waste management here can't deal with seagulls getting hold of bin bags and ripping them to pieces for the food inside, scattering plastics that blow into the sea. People are also terrible at disposing of things carefully - there's plenty of plastic waste floating around after a weekend of people on the beach.

gruez 6y ago
>I don't think this is the case in reality though. I live in a coastal city in a "first world" country and waste management here can't deal with seagulls getting hold of bin bags and ripping them to pieces for the food inside, scattering plastics that blow into the sea. By "bin bags", I presume you're talking about the bags you use to put garbage in. If you get rid of those, what are you going to replace it with? Paper bags? Those aren't going to hold moist garbage very well.
- frereubu 6y ago
  Yes, and I admit the mention of bin bags might have been an unintentional red herring. I was just intending to point out that even in a "first world" country with supposedly good waste management, lots of plastic gets into the sea. Better not to have the single-use plastic in the first place. Bin liners can be made from things like starch. Those are generally for compostable waste, but I don't believe for a moment that companies wouldn't come up with something suitable pretty rapidly if there was money to be made.
- oseityphelysiol 6y ago
  No need to replace them. My grandparents shrugged when first introduced to garbage bags as they were used (from soviet times) to carry the trash out with the bin, empty it to the trash container and be done. Seems easier and also one less thing to worry about. You do have to wash the trash can regularly, but that's the case even with garbage bags, albeit not as big.
Swenrekcah 6y ago
There are also those idiots that will flush anything down a toilet. Regularly causes trouble where I live.

gruez 6y ago

>I don't think this is the case in reality though. I live in a coastal city in a "first world" country and waste management here can't deal with seagulls getting hold of bin bags and ripping them to pieces for the food inside, scattering plastics that blow into the sea. By "bin bags", I presume you're talking about the bags you use to put garbage in. If you get rid of those, what are you going to replace it with? Paper bags? Those aren't going to hold moist garbage very well.

frereubu 6y ago
Yes, and I admit the mention of bin bags might have been an unintentional red herring. I was just intending to point out that even in a "first world" country with supposedly good waste management, lots of plastic gets into the sea. Better not to have the single-use plastic in the first place. Bin liners can be made from things like starch. Those are generally for compostable waste, but I don't believe for a moment that companies wouldn't come up with something suitable pretty rapidly if there was money to be made.
oseityphelysiol 6y ago
No need to replace them. My grandparents shrugged when first introduced to garbage bags as they were used (from soviet times) to carry the trash out with the bin, empty it to the trash container and be done. Seems easier and also one less thing to worry about. You do have to wash the trash can regularly, but that's the case even with garbage bags, albeit not as big.

Swenrekcah 6y ago

There are also those idiots that will flush anything down a toilet. Regularly causes trouble where I live.