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And the least harmful is not to dump plastic in a landfill, but to not produce plastics at all. :) Similarly, we can put more money into research on how to prod

And the least harmful is not to dump plastic in a landfill, but to not produce plastics at all. :) Similarly, we can put more money into research on how to produce paper/glass/aluminum/others with less energy, and also redesign consumerism and normalize bringing refillable containers to the grocery down to the household level. There's a lot that can be done that doesn't involve polluting the environment.

nitrogen 5y ago
And the least harmful is not to dump plastic in a landfill, but to not produce plastics at all. And all of the human advancements in sanitation, food safety, and transportation energy afforded by plastics? You'd significantly increase CO2 output of transportation if every plastic item was replaced by something heavier. Stopping all plastic production would be very harmful. As for people bringing reusable containers to the store, this was stopped because it's a health hazard.
- 3grdlurker 5y ago
  OK, we need to be specific that most of the plastic that end up in oceans and landfills are those called "single-use", mostly used in food packaging. > all of the human advancements in sanitation, food safety, and transportation energy afforded by plastics The pollution negates the health benefits of sanitation and food safety though, especially in the places where they are dumped, which are in rural communities in developing countries, whose people are somehow expected to make a living out of it for themselves and for their children. Besides, there are so many uses of plastic in food packaging that aren't even necessary to begin with, and which shouldn't exist. How much of single-use plastics are just bags of unhealthy junk food and candy wrappers and carbonated soda? Is it even necessary to have such a large economy based on unhealthy food sources?
goodpoint 5y ago
> redesign consumerism Better: eliminate consumerism
- 3grdlurker 5y ago
  Absolutely, I just made the wording a little bit """moderate""" to avoid debates I'm not in the mood to have, but I agree.

nitrogen 5y ago

And the least harmful is not to dump plastic in a landfill, but to not produce plastics at all. And all of the human advancements in sanitation, food safety, and transportation energy afforded by plastics? You'd significantly increase CO2 output of transportation if every plastic item was replaced by something heavier. Stopping all plastic production would be very harmful. As for people bringing reusable containers to the store, this was stopped because it's a health hazard.

3grdlurker 5y ago
OK, we need to be specific that most of the plastic that end up in oceans and landfills are those called "single-use", mostly used in food packaging. > all of the human advancements in sanitation, food safety, and transportation energy afforded by plastics The pollution negates the health benefits of sanitation and food safety though, especially in the places where they are dumped, which are in rural communities in developing countries, whose people are somehow expected to make a living out of it for themselves and for their children. Besides, there are so many uses of plastic in food packaging that aren't even necessary to begin with, and which shouldn't exist. How much of single-use plastics are just bags of unhealthy junk food and candy wrappers and carbonated soda? Is it even necessary to have such a large economy based on unhealthy food sources?

goodpoint 5y ago

> redesign consumerism Better: eliminate consumerism

3grdlurker 5y ago
Absolutely, I just made the wording a little bit """moderate""" to avoid debates I'm not in the mood to have, but I agree.