3 ms·

I hate splitting / magic bullet fallacies as much as the next guy, but the problem with these sorts of efforts is that they re-cast public perception of who is

I hate splitting / magic bullet fallacies as much as the next guy, but the problem with these sorts of efforts is that they re-cast public perception of who is responsible for creating the problem, taxing the producers/consumers to pay for the costs they are incurring to society so that it is not economically feasible to produce "disposable" materials that never break down, getting them to stop, and holding them responsible for cleanup. They're also completely insignificant, and actually make the problem worse, because it addresses the problem where people see it, which is a tiny, tiny fraction of the total problem. Same with the highly publicized "man cleans up _____ and collects ___ bags of trash at park/beach, yay humanity!" stories. Media are pushed by plastics companies to cover these "feel good stories" because it implies that the problem can and should be addressed by citizen efforts like that. "Why if we all did that, we'd solve plastic pollution" seems to be the problem. It also sort of implies that if we had a lot more people like Mr. Good Guy Greg Litter Remover, the problem would be solved - when plastic is distributed pervasively through the entire ecosystem. Can't clean up the millions of tons of plastic floating at all levels of the ocean, sitting on the ocean floor, in the stomachs of marine wildlife, etc. This robot dog is like driving half-way across the country to spit on a wildfire and then calling up a bunch of news stations to tell them how you helped. Not to mention all the resources consumed building the stupid thing that could have gone towards carbon and greenhouse gas reduction. Really, this is just some CS / robotics lab's vanity project. Video of it in "action": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8BqvAe-moI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8BqvAe-moI A video for the robot points out that ~3.5 trillion cigarettes are thrown into the ocean (and just the ocean!) per year.

sebastiennight 2y ago
3.5 trillion? If I'm going to assume that most babies, some children, and a few third world people do not smoke at all, and round it down to 3.5 billion smokers alive in the world today, you're saying that every single smoker throws 3 cigarettes into the ocean (just the ocean, not counting landfills) every single day?
janalsncm 2y ago
It is possible to dramatically reduce littering. Singapore has strict littering punishments. You don’t see a lot of litter on the ground. Of course caning people for littering isn’t a very popular policy in most countries. But in Singapore they also pay people to sweep the streets, because despite the laws, trash still will accumulate. Note that Singapore also doesn’t have a minimum wage which means people can be paid a low amount to clean the streets. In the U.S. we don’t enforce littering laws, and we also mostly don’t pay people to sweep streets. So we have very dirty streets. What a robot can do is work for very low cost to clean up streets. Far below minimum wage.
- petre 2y ago
  They're using low income South Asians to clean up, it's modern slavery. Also people will stick the cigarette butts in every nook and cranny available.
- _t9ow 2y ago
  > caning people for littering This is a myth. You won't get caned for littering, though you'll be fined and possibly made to sweep the streets as part of community service. See: https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/littering-offences-penalties-singapore/ https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/littering-offe...
hedora 2y ago
The only solution is to have manufacturers of plastic gather and dispose of 110% as much plastic as they produce. The 110% rule would be sustainable for a long, long time.

sebastiennight 2y ago

3.5 trillion? If I'm going to assume that most babies, some children, and a few third world people do not smoke at all, and round it down to 3.5 billion smokers alive in the world today, you're saying that every single smoker throws 3 cigarettes into the ocean (just the ocean, not counting landfills) every single day?

janalsncm 2y ago

It is possible to dramatically reduce littering. Singapore has strict littering punishments. You don’t see a lot of litter on the ground. Of course caning people for littering isn’t a very popular policy in most countries. But in Singapore they also pay people to sweep the streets, because despite the laws, trash still will accumulate. Note that Singapore also doesn’t have a minimum wage which means people can be paid a low amount to clean the streets. In the U.S. we don’t enforce littering laws, and we also mostly don’t pay people to sweep streets. So we have very dirty streets. What a robot can do is work for very low cost to clean up streets. Far below minimum wage.

petre 2y ago
They're using low income South Asians to clean up, it's modern slavery. Also people will stick the cigarette butts in every nook and cranny available.
_t9ow 2y ago
> caning people for littering This is a myth. You won't get caned for littering, though you'll be fined and possibly made to sweep the streets as part of community service. See: https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/littering-offences-penalties-singapore/ https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/littering-offe...

hedora 2y ago

The only solution is to have manufacturers of plastic gather and dispose of 110% as much plastic as they produce. The 110% rule would be sustainable for a long, long time.