3 ms·

I don't want a ban, I want a tax on them. There's a strong use for single use plastics - medical goods being one of the important ones that I highly suspect peo

by jjcm 2y ago

I don't want a ban, I want a tax on them. There's a strong use for single use plastics - medical goods being one of the important ones that I highly suspect people don't want a ban of. They define these as "necessary" versus "unnecessary" in their poll (ie the 85% figure is specifically for "ban unnecessary single-use plastic products, e.g., shopping bags, cutlery, cups & plates"). Things get murky really quickly when we bucket items. Are single use water bottles bad? Probably. Are all plastic liquid containers bad? Almost certainly not, you wouldn't want to store a corrosive acid that eats through glass in a glass bottle. So either the option is create a giant database of what is/isn't single use, which then can be gamed in its own way, or simply tax all single-use plastics such that necessary cases still leverage them, but it quickly doesn't become cost-effective for the main offending category of them.

ganzuul 2y ago
The tax might not have to be monetary. Putting geolocation QR codes on stuff could help mitigate the super-polluters by taxing perception.
cogman10 2y ago
> Are all plastic liquid containers bad? Almost certainly not, you wouldn't want to store a corrosive acid that eats through glass in a glass bottle. I'd argue that most, especially containers in regard to food item, are. You don't have to have a database to figure this out, you can start simple by just banning the use of single use plastic with regards to food. There aren't many (any?) items that are highly corrosive and intended for human consumption. Plastics in medicine could wait for another round of legislation. Single use plastics used for shipping consumer goods and food are the 80% of plastic production problem.
- Izkata 2y ago
  > There aren't many (any?) items that are highly corrosive and intended for human consumption. Pop cans have a plastic liner so it doesn't eat through the metal.
textninja 2y ago
I can't trust a plastics poll that doesn't also ask who wants the old straws back.

by jjcm 2y ago

ganzuul 2y ago

The tax might not have to be monetary. Putting geolocation QR codes on stuff could help mitigate the super-polluters by taxing perception.

cogman10 2y ago

> Are all plastic liquid containers bad? Almost certainly not, you wouldn't want to store a corrosive acid that eats through glass in a glass bottle. I'd argue that most, especially containers in regard to food item, are. You don't have to have a database to figure this out, you can start simple by just banning the use of single use plastic with regards to food. There aren't many (any?) items that are highly corrosive and intended for human consumption. Plastics in medicine could wait for another round of legislation. Single use plastics used for shipping consumer goods and food are the 80% of plastic production problem.

Izkata 2y ago
> There aren't many (any?) items that are highly corrosive and intended for human consumption. Pop cans have a plastic liner so it doesn't eat through the metal.

textninja 2y ago

I can't trust a plastics poll that doesn't also ask who wants the old straws back.