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I can’t speak to where you have been. But that’s not true that I saw in Vietnam when I was there this year. For example. Go buy a bunh mi and they wrap it in a

I can’t speak to where you have been. But that’s not true that I saw in Vietnam when I was there this year. For example. Go buy a bunh mi and they wrap it in a bag, and place it in a grocery bag (to hang on your scooter). Want a pressed sugar cane drink? Plastic cup, plastic lid, straw and plastic bag. To your point since there is no trash pickup (it’s usually an old lady that comes at 4am in each district with a cart) there is discards everywhere. Especially in rivers and the like. These are all local things. The culture there is much of a porch culture that you hang out and talk. Each house often has a shop of some type that the tenant lives above and has a “hustle” to make money. So it’s not one where folks go get weekly groceries or whatnot. You want dinner you go get whatever you want, bunh mi, pho, or broken rice and pork? etc from said shop. You want rambutans, you go get some. Cooking and the like is often for special occasions. The trash problem is huge there. And when I asked they often blamed it on being ocean trash from the west. Even when asking about the trash issues on the Mekong at the northern end of the delta. While they also burn their fields around the same times annually for crops, they constantly burn trash in much of the country and the smog issue is real in many parts, except maybe Da Nang which is a special case and in fact that provincial leader (was quite popular and successful) was promoted to the capital and then mysteriously died. Fun fact. Vietnamese don’t have a word for smog. They call it fog. I actually got sick when in Hanoi and i am 50/50 on whether it was from the smog to be honest (the only folks in my party that didn’t get sick there were the folks that lived in Vietnam).

m3kw9 3y ago
Why does it matter where plastic originated from? Doesn’t make a difference if it originated locally, it’s more of an excuse to blame where it came from. Like gasoline for example
- croutonwagon 3y ago
  You can’t fix an issue if you are in complete denial of the source of the issue. It wasn’t western trash on the banks of their rivers or in the city corners. No doubt there may be some trash that does cross the oceans and hit their coast. But it’s by no means the bulk of the source. Frankly that trip somewhat made me aware that there isn’t much European and US can do for pollution at a global scale. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try, but that the indias and chinas and Vietnam’s dgaf and are working on the day to day and don’t have a huge concern for the big picture since there really isn’t time in the day. So we are pissing in the wind of sorts, though we should focus on keeping our nations and beaches and rivers cleaner.
  - latchkey 3y ago
    > Frankly that trip somewhat made me aware that there isn’t much European and US can do for pollution at a global scale. That's exactly it. That said, I'm living in southern californai now, we have a recycling bin that people just throw trash into. Nobody here cares either. Heck, this is one of the compost bins! https://imgur.com/cdPEo0i https://imgur.com/cdPEo0i
latchkey 3y ago
> For example. Go buy a bunh mi and they wrap it in a bag, and place it in a grocery bag (to hang on your scooter). Want a pressed sugar cane drink? Plastic cup, plastic lid, straw and plastic bag. During my time on the motorbike with my gf, we made a huge effort to not use plastic. It was a struggle. We brought our own cups, reusable bags, etc... we'd give them a cup for that delicious sugar cane, then they'd pour it in a plastic cup because that is what they were so trained on, remember we gave them a cup, pour it in our cup and then immediately toss the plastic cup. I can't tell you how many times that happened. > I actually got sick when in Hanoi and i am 50/50 on whether it was from the smog to be honest (the only folks in my party that didn’t get sick there were the folks that lived in Vietnam). 100% is was from the pollution there. Summers are brutal in Hanoi.
- minhm 3y ago
  > we'd give them a cup for that delicious sugar cane, then they'd pour it in a plastic cup Perhaps it's for ensuring consistency (of product volume, ratio of ingredients, etc) for all their products.
  - latchkey 3y ago
    That's some hardcore vinalogic. It comes from a machine that squeezes the sugar cane directly into a cup.

m3kw9 3y ago

Why does it matter where plastic originated from? Doesn’t make a difference if it originated locally, it’s more of an excuse to blame where it came from. Like gasoline for example

croutonwagon 3y ago
You can’t fix an issue if you are in complete denial of the source of the issue. It wasn’t western trash on the banks of their rivers or in the city corners. No doubt there may be some trash that does cross the oceans and hit their coast. But it’s by no means the bulk of the source. Frankly that trip somewhat made me aware that there isn’t much European and US can do for pollution at a global scale. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try, but that the indias and chinas and Vietnam’s dgaf and are working on the day to day and don’t have a huge concern for the big picture since there really isn’t time in the day. So we are pissing in the wind of sorts, though we should focus on keeping our nations and beaches and rivers cleaner.
- latchkey 3y ago
  > Frankly that trip somewhat made me aware that there isn’t much European and US can do for pollution at a global scale. That's exactly it. That said, I'm living in southern californai now, we have a recycling bin that people just throw trash into. Nobody here cares either. Heck, this is one of the compost bins! https://imgur.com/cdPEo0i https://imgur.com/cdPEo0i

latchkey 3y ago

> For example. Go buy a bunh mi and they wrap it in a bag, and place it in a grocery bag (to hang on your scooter). Want a pressed sugar cane drink? Plastic cup, plastic lid, straw and plastic bag. During my time on the motorbike with my gf, we made a huge effort to not use plastic. It was a struggle. We brought our own cups, reusable bags, etc... we'd give them a cup for that delicious sugar cane, then they'd pour it in a plastic cup because that is what they were so trained on, remember we gave them a cup, pour it in our cup and then immediately toss the plastic cup. I can't tell you how many times that happened. > I actually got sick when in Hanoi and i am 50/50 on whether it was from the smog to be honest (the only folks in my party that didn’t get sick there were the folks that lived in Vietnam). 100% is was from the pollution there. Summers are brutal in Hanoi.

minhm 3y ago
> we'd give them a cup for that delicious sugar cane, then they'd pour it in a plastic cup Perhaps it's for ensuring consistency (of product volume, ratio of ingredients, etc) for all their products.
- latchkey 3y ago
  That's some hardcore vinalogic. It comes from a machine that squeezes the sugar cane directly into a cup.