4 ms·

I cleaned up trash last week for a work project. The number of plastic bags, bottles, and cups I picked up out of a nature area was amazing. Plastic bags were

I cleaned up trash last week for a work project. The number of plastic bags, bottles, and cups I picked up out of a nature area was amazing. Plastic bags were by far the worst. There was plastic bags in waterways, plastic bags in ditches, plastic bags in trees, just plastic everywhere. I'd love to know if the person who wrote this article has any financial ties to the oil/plastic industry. Side note: While I picked up litter, I thought about how I once saw disposable utensils in a grocery store that were mostly made from corn. They were biodegradable, but certainly more expensive. We (in the U.S.) already subsidize quite a bit to corn growers. Why can't we make more biodegradable plastics?

2muchcoffeeman 6y ago
PLA (the corn plastic) is not really that biodegradable. You need an industrial sized compost heap to get it to break down. Otherwise it’s going to be hanging around a long time just like everything else.
- hexbinencoded 6y ago
  There are a number of "biodegradable" plastics that are scams. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/10/ftc-cracks-down-misleading-unsubstantiated-environmental https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/10/ftc-c...
- hsolatges 6y ago
  That is a really bad argument. Bio-plastic will definitely be degraded in decades, hundreds or thousands years while we are still wondering if it will ever happen to petrol based plastic (while it goes up in the clouds). Time scale is clearly an issue with your statement (that is repeated over and over).
  - 2muchcoffeeman 6y ago
    I wasn’t really arguing anything. If I was, it would be, don’t rely on supposedly biodegradable plastic. Do they really do anything in a biologically inert environment?
tchock23 6y ago
They cited the Reason Foundation as a source for one ‘fact,’ so that should give the reader a hint as to their leanings.
totetsu 6y ago
I started photographing it all, as if it would change something.. https://imgur.com/a/5P5f3WC https://imgur.com/a/5P5f3WC It's so sad that the people who are growing up with this don't know its not normal, .. for the sea spray to be partially polystyrene,.. for the sand to be stratified with nets,

2muchcoffeeman 6y ago

PLA (the corn plastic) is not really that biodegradable. You need an industrial sized compost heap to get it to break down. Otherwise it’s going to be hanging around a long time just like everything else.

hexbinencoded 6y ago
There are a number of "biodegradable" plastics that are scams. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/10/ftc-cracks-down-misleading-unsubstantiated-environmental https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/10/ftc-c...
hsolatges 6y ago
That is a really bad argument. Bio-plastic will definitely be degraded in decades, hundreds or thousands years while we are still wondering if it will ever happen to petrol based plastic (while it goes up in the clouds). Time scale is clearly an issue with your statement (that is repeated over and over).
- 2muchcoffeeman 6y ago
  I wasn’t really arguing anything. If I was, it would be, don’t rely on supposedly biodegradable plastic. Do they really do anything in a biologically inert environment?

tchock23 6y ago

They cited the Reason Foundation as a source for one ‘fact,’ so that should give the reader a hint as to their leanings.

totetsu 6y ago

I started photographing it all, as if it would change something.. https://imgur.com/a/5P5f3WC https://imgur.com/a/5P5f3WC It's so sad that the people who are growing up with this don't know its not normal, .. for the sea spray to be partially polystyrene,.. for the sand to be stratified with nets,