3 ms·

The reason is simple: despite their many problems, plastics are a modern day miracle material. The alternatives I see proposed may match or beat it on one or tw

The reason is simple: despite their many problems, plastics are a modern day miracle material. The alternatives I see proposed may match or beat it on one or two factors, but not everything. A viable general replacement for plastic needs to beat plastic on price, weight, durability, sanitation, strength, and so much more.

convolvatron 3y ago
or we could be willing to trade off some of these factors in order not to befoul our home
- blooalien 3y ago
  ^^^ So very much this! ^^^ It's a shame I cannot upvote this more than once.
- bee_rider 3y ago
  It is sort of weird because people around the world are staving, while we have tons of food waste in the west. So there is in some sense a crisis and plastics are a tool that could be used to help solve it. But we don’t, instead we peel oranges and then sell them in plastic containers at the grocery store. If we were talking about making hard trade-offs between preservation required to save lives and reducing pollution that would be one thing. Instead we use it to enable greater waste.
  - yakubin 3y ago
    > But we don’t, instead we peel oranges and then sell them in plastic containers at the grocery store. Someone is selling peeled oranges? O.o How long until they sell peeled apples?
    - bee_rider 3y ago
      Maybe not anymore, but Wholefoods gave it a try, there was a bit of mockery. In general I think the idea that our food is over-processed and over-packaged is not a new complaint, haha.
      - permo-w 3y ago
        in the UK in the "meal deal" section of supermarkets, you can find peeled anything in a little plastic box
- HideousKojima 3y ago
  Ok, you first. And don't be shocked when people (especially the lower classes) get upset when your efforts to ban plastics lead to meat and produce spoiling much faster and/or costing much more, or lead to shipping costs on common goods increasing significantly, etc.
  - permo-w 3y ago
    the issue here isn't the wrapping on vital foods. no one is asking for that to be banned. or no one should be anyway. the issue is the wrapping on literally everything else
  - asow92 3y ago
    Have you seen that there is an allowed amount of plastic mixed into animal feed? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/15/legal-plastic-content-in-animal-feed-could-harm-human-health-experts-warn https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/15/legal-pl... This is about more than sanitary wrapping.
- slt2021 3y ago
  who is going to pay for that?

convolvatron 3y ago

or we could be willing to trade off some of these factors in order not to befoul our home

blooalien 3y ago
^^^ So very much this! ^^^ It's a shame I cannot upvote this more than once.
bee_rider 3y ago
It is sort of weird because people around the world are staving, while we have tons of food waste in the west. So there is in some sense a crisis and plastics are a tool that could be used to help solve it. But we don’t, instead we peel oranges and then sell them in plastic containers at the grocery store. If we were talking about making hard trade-offs between preservation required to save lives and reducing pollution that would be one thing. Instead we use it to enable greater waste.
- yakubin 3y ago
  > But we don’t, instead we peel oranges and then sell them in plastic containers at the grocery store. Someone is selling peeled oranges? O.o How long until they sell peeled apples?
  - bee_rider 3y ago
    Maybe not anymore, but Wholefoods gave it a try, there was a bit of mockery. In general I think the idea that our food is over-processed and over-packaged is not a new complaint, haha.
    - permo-w 3y ago
      in the UK in the "meal deal" section of supermarkets, you can find peeled anything in a little plastic box
HideousKojima 3y ago
Ok, you first. And don't be shocked when people (especially the lower classes) get upset when your efforts to ban plastics lead to meat and produce spoiling much faster and/or costing much more, or lead to shipping costs on common goods increasing significantly, etc.
- permo-w 3y ago
  the issue here isn't the wrapping on vital foods. no one is asking for that to be banned. or no one should be anyway. the issue is the wrapping on literally everything else
- asow92 3y ago
  Have you seen that there is an allowed amount of plastic mixed into animal feed? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/15/legal-plastic-content-in-animal-feed-could-harm-human-health-experts-warn https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/15/legal-pl... This is about more than sanitary wrapping.
slt2021 3y ago
who is going to pay for that?