4 ms·
IMHO, the problem is that the incentives are not aligned towards improvements but merely to follow the letter of the law without considering its spirit. For exa
by lhorie 5y ago
IMHO, the problem is that the incentives are not aligned towards improvements but merely to follow the letter of the law without considering its spirit. For example, there's a ban on plastic straws here in California, and the workaround Starbucks found for cold drinks was to provide a sippy plastic lid. So the plastic is still very much there (and never mind that the cup itself is still made of plastic). Paper containers aren't necessarily much better either if they're plastic coated (for example pringles canisters are basically unrecyclable even though they are "made with recyclable materials").
By targeting specific low hanging fruits, legislation ensures that the industry finds workarounds that continue to be cheap and environment-unfriendly, but in ways that have too complex details for an average joe to understand _why_ something that is labeled environment-friendly isn't quite so in practice. It's the environment equivalent of overprescribing antibiotics (shortsighted legislations) only to find years later you've inadvertently created superbugs (industries that produce things whose unrecyclability is extremely misleading and resilient to the level of understanding legislators have).
- rswail 5y agoStraws were banned more for their impact on marine life than because of their plastic use.
- llampx 5y agoWhich Seaspiracy told me is basically eyewash.
- lhorie 5y agoStraws aren't truly banned per se in CA. McDonalds still provide the cardboard ones. Only plastic straws specifically are banned, and only at retail establishments; you can still buy them in packs at the dollar store. IMHO, a lot of environmental legislation is mostly out-of-touch theatrics with no real impact. See realities of recent recycling center shutdowns and what sort of stuff gets picked up on beach cleanup days.
- Isinlor 5y agoI think only people who never been to a beach think that plastic straws are in any way a significant part of plastic pollution problem. It's always mostly plastic containers like bottles, plastic bags, fish nets and some random broken pieces of something bigger. Almost never straws. https://i.wpimg.pl/3500x0/d.wpimg.pl/355768210-77880789/zanieczyszczenie-plaza.JPG https://i.wpimg.pl/3500x0/d.wpimg.pl/355768210-77880789/zani... https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossy,ret_img,w_710/https://www.trvst.world/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/plastic-garbage-on-the-beach-1.jpg https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossy,ret_img,w_7... https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/garbage-on-the-sand-beach-in-thailand-dirty-beach-picture-id1138745143 https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/garbage-on-the-sand-bea...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]