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I don’t think we see floating islands of paper bags and marine life strangled on cotton bag straps. Their measure of the impact of widespread disposable plastic
by fnordpiglet 4y ago
I don’t think we see floating islands of paper bags and marine life strangled on cotton bag straps. Their measure of the impact of widespread disposable plastic use is carbon emission, which is not the only environmental impact we have. Using products that degrade in nature lets our waste degrade in nature when it ends up in nature.
- dehrmann 4y agoCO2 emission from plastics is pretty small. Only 4% of fossil fuels goes towards plastics, and they mostly last so long that that doesn't even turn into CO2. If CO2 is your concern, there are much larger producers to focus efforts on.
- nroets 4y agoAs the article implies: The source of the plastic in the ocean are poorer Asian countries (India, Vietnam, Cambodia, China). The reason is that these countries lack (a) properly designed landfills (b) the logistics to send all their trash to landfills and (c) a culture of putting trash in bins. Asian countries will not transition to paper bags and cotton bag straps because it's too expensive and not as convenient as plastic.
- fnordpiglet 4y agoThey also note that a lot of developed countries plastic trash ends up in countries with less tight controls. So reducing that export of plastic should help. Finally, just because someone else does something bad doesn’t justify doing it yourself and compounding the problem.