5 ms·

Here’s how it works in Colombia, we separate our rubbish and recycling, put the bags out for the garbage truck in the morning. Homeless “recyclers” come around

Here’s how it works in Colombia, we separate our rubbish and recycling, put the bags out for the garbage truck in the morning. Homeless “recyclers” come around and pick through your trash looking for plastics they can sell to fund their crack addiction. Sometimes they just take the whole bag down to the river bank, cut it open and sort through the stuff they want discarding the rest on the bank. Next time it rains the plastic gets washed into the river and here we are. The western mind can’t comprehend the level of stratification in society that leads to problems like this. It’s not a case of bumper stickers and catchy slogans for school kids, it’s people trying to survive at a level below any societal cohesion. The root cause as I see it, plastic. Everything is plastic wrapped in plastic as there’s cleanliness and trust issues in society. Want a bag of lollies? Plastic bag, individually wrapped lollies with an inner plastic wrap as well. Swapping to trash that’s going to break down in the river is a much easier solution. Some places have started to do this in the last couple years, but it’s mostly virtue signaling fast food places that want to give a western feel to charge higher prices. So you get two layers of plastic on your vegetables but your McDonald’s straw dissolves in your coke.

mathgradthrow 3y ago
>The western mind cannot comprehend... Haha, don't most of the users here live in the bay?
amatecha 3y ago
The western mind can definitely comprehend it. When it's garbage pickup day in my city, sometimes people are going by on bicycles rooting through trash bins (or recycling bins if it's recycling pickup day) and taking anything they can turn in for a recycling deposit. This is in Vancouver, Canada. It's probably not nearly as prevalent as in Colombia, but yeah... And yes, for sure, the root cause is the creation of plastic and its inclusion in nearly all commercial products. It's everywhere, and it's not the fault of you and I. We didn't choose it. I completely agree that having discard that is biodegradable (and perhaps can directly contribute to a compost pile) is a very worthwhile goal. Oh yeah, a bunch of cities here banned plastic takeout bags, but it's implemented in such a poor way that it's now just a great profit center for fast food restaurants: they are _legally required_ to charge $0.25 for a bag, even if it's a paper bag. I'm sure McDonalds absolutely loves this new policy. They already gave out paper bags with takeout, but now they cost the customer $0.25! It's especially funny because now all the restaurants give you these thick "plastic fabric" bags (and charge you for them) which you'll get more use out of, but are not any better for the environment. I still get one every single time I get takeout from any sushi place. Now instead of a bag full of thin plastic bags in my closet, I have a bag full of just as many super-thick plastic/cloth bags in my closet! Good stuff. Some are recyclable, I have a huge stack of these from takeout: https://lppackaging.ca/collections/biodegradable-bags/products/cloth-bags https://lppackaging.ca/collections/biodegradable-bags/produc... ... I wonder if I can just tell them I don't want a bag, and arrive with my own...
- riffraff 3y ago
  > I wonder if I can just tell them I don't want a bag, and arrive with my own... I bet you can. I've recently discovered you can ask the cold cuts/cheese counter to pack things in containers you brought. Admittedly I'm not sure that ends up as a net win (is washing liquid better than a gram of oil paper?) but it shows we have a lot of mental dark spots for reuse.
- martyvis 3y ago
  The point of more resilient bags is you take them back with you. Both of our cars has a cooler bag with a bunch of regular bags to get packed at the Supermarket. You just have to remind yourself to bring them in with you.
  - Nextgrid 3y ago
    The reusable bag idea only really works for car owners where you can keep a bag stash or intentional, stand-alone grocery runs where you can take bags from your house ahead of time. If you're just walking back home from some unrelated task and want to grab some groceries you will rarely have a bag on you, so you'll end up buying one anyway, it'll be then collecting dust at home for months before eventually being thrown away.
    - schiffern 3y ago
      They do have tiny reusable bags that can go in a day-bag or pocket. Surprisingly handy for random things. eg https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TT5VH1V/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TT5VH1V/
- dotancohen 3y ago
  > having discard that is biodegradable (and perhaps can directly contribute to a compost pile) is a very worthwhile goal. No, biodegradable is far worse for the environment. Normal plastic sits on the Earth's surface for years, as an eyesore to remind us to clean up our act. Biodegradable plastic releases CO2 directly to the atmosphere quickly, contributing to climate change more quickly (albeit with less eyesore).

mathgradthrow 3y ago

>The western mind cannot comprehend... Haha, don't most of the users here live in the bay?

amatecha 3y ago

The western mind can definitely comprehend it. When it's garbage pickup day in my city, sometimes people are going by on bicycles rooting through trash bins (or recycling bins if it's recycling pickup day) and taking anything they can turn in for a recycling deposit. This is in Vancouver, Canada. It's probably not nearly as prevalent as in Colombia, but yeah... And yes, for sure, the root cause is the creation of plastic and its inclusion in nearly all commercial products. It's everywhere, and it's not the fault of you and I. We didn't choose it. I completely agree that having discard that is biodegradable (and perhaps can directly contribute to a compost pile) is a very worthwhile goal. Oh yeah, a bunch of cities here banned plastic takeout bags, but it's implemented in such a poor way that it's now just a great profit center for fast food restaurants: they are _legally required_ to charge $0.25 for a bag, even if it's a paper bag. I'm sure McDonalds absolutely loves this new policy. They already gave out paper bags with takeout, but now they cost the customer $0.25! It's especially funny because now all the restaurants give you these thick "plastic fabric" bags (and charge you for them) which you'll get more use out of, but are not any better for the environment. I still get one every single time I get takeout from any sushi place. Now instead of a bag full of thin plastic bags in my closet, I have a bag full of just as many super-thick plastic/cloth bags in my closet! Good stuff. Some are recyclable, I have a huge stack of these from takeout: https://lppackaging.ca/collections/biodegradable-bags/products/cloth-bags https://lppackaging.ca/collections/biodegradable-bags/produc... ... I wonder if I can just tell them I don't want a bag, and arrive with my own...

riffraff 3y ago
> I wonder if I can just tell them I don't want a bag, and arrive with my own... I bet you can. I've recently discovered you can ask the cold cuts/cheese counter to pack things in containers you brought. Admittedly I'm not sure that ends up as a net win (is washing liquid better than a gram of oil paper?) but it shows we have a lot of mental dark spots for reuse.
martyvis 3y ago
The point of more resilient bags is you take them back with you. Both of our cars has a cooler bag with a bunch of regular bags to get packed at the Supermarket. You just have to remind yourself to bring them in with you.
- Nextgrid 3y ago
  The reusable bag idea only really works for car owners where you can keep a bag stash or intentional, stand-alone grocery runs where you can take bags from your house ahead of time. If you're just walking back home from some unrelated task and want to grab some groceries you will rarely have a bag on you, so you'll end up buying one anyway, it'll be then collecting dust at home for months before eventually being thrown away.
  - schiffern 3y ago
    They do have tiny reusable bags that can go in a day-bag or pocket. Surprisingly handy for random things. eg https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TT5VH1V/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TT5VH1V/
dotancohen 3y ago
> having discard that is biodegradable (and perhaps can directly contribute to a compost pile) is a very worthwhile goal. No, biodegradable is far worse for the environment. Normal plastic sits on the Earth's surface for years, as an eyesore to remind us to clean up our act. Biodegradable plastic releases CO2 directly to the atmosphere quickly, contributing to climate change more quickly (albeit with less eyesore).