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> blaming consumers Why not blame consumers which would dispose their garbage wherever they want instead of a bin? I would rather criminalize this. It's so eas

> blaming consumers Why not blame consumers which would dispose their garbage wherever they want instead of a bin? I would rather criminalize this. It's so easy to put an empty plastic bottle in a bin yet they insist on throwing it on the ground.

schiffern 2y ago
You should know you're repeating verbatim a propaganda line developed by the packaging industry to avoid (at the time impending) regulation, similar to the plastic industry's "recycling makes it all okay" and fossil & tobacco's "scientists disagree." https://web.archive.org/web/20050401181834/http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/21651/ https://web.archive.org/web/20050401181834/http://www.altern...
commodoreboxer 2y ago
Throwing plastic on the ground instead of in a bin is already illegal, and often carries $1000 fines if you are caught. And putting it in a bin already is just kicking the can down the road. I say we blame the corporations who are making materials that are nearly impossible to effectively recycle, don't biodegrade within several human lifespans, and break down into something that may very well be poisonous to us and our ecosystems. Blaming consumers for this is like blaming them for lead in gasoline.
- qwerty456127 2y ago
  > Throwing plastic on the ground instead of in a bin is already illegal, and often carries $1000 fines if you are caught. Is this ever enforced anywhere outside Singapore? I don't think anybody cares.
  - commodoreboxer 2y ago
    In state parks, but I haven't seen it really enforced in most of the US. The point is that litter isn't the primary problem with plastic. Most of the issues with it have nothing to do with the littering of random citizens, to the point that it's not even worth bringing up in a conversation about plastic.
    - soco 2y ago
      But do you think a citizen who doesn't care about throwing their bottles across the road, will care to vote for a recycling initiative? Education has to start somewhere.
create-username 2y ago
I've lived on an impoverished tropical island which was covered by a thick layer of plastic and cans. Somebody explained to me: "these folks have been throwing away their waste mindlessly for generations, the problem now is that all this pollution does not degrade" >It's so easy to put an empty plastic bottle in a bin you're not solving the plastic pollution problem, you are only sending your waste to pollute Thailand. The solution to the mass-death that a plasticised environment is causing is not to blame the victims, but to analyse the root of the problem: entrepreneurs and factory owners who abuse plastic because it's cheap
- qwerty456127 2y ago
  > you're not solving the plastic pollution problem, you are only sending your waste to pollute Thailand. Every time I walk a road in Thailand, also anywhere else, I pick up every piece of trash I stumble upon to throw it into the first bin I encounter. Thanks G-d I haven't been to the places where there is too much garbage and no bins.
  - create-username 2y ago
    I know that Thailand allegedly stopped buying western plastic waste but I’m too stingy to drop a GPS tracking device in my plastic container to see where it’s headed to.

schiffern 2y ago

You should know you're repeating verbatim a propaganda line developed by the packaging industry to avoid (at the time impending) regulation, similar to the plastic industry's "recycling makes it all okay" and fossil & tobacco's "scientists disagree." https://web.archive.org/web/20050401181834/http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/21651/ https://web.archive.org/web/20050401181834/http://www.altern...

commodoreboxer 2y ago

Throwing plastic on the ground instead of in a bin is already illegal, and often carries $1000 fines if you are caught. And putting it in a bin already is just kicking the can down the road. I say we blame the corporations who are making materials that are nearly impossible to effectively recycle, don't biodegrade within several human lifespans, and break down into something that may very well be poisonous to us and our ecosystems. Blaming consumers for this is like blaming them for lead in gasoline.

qwerty456127 2y ago
> Throwing plastic on the ground instead of in a bin is already illegal, and often carries $1000 fines if you are caught. Is this ever enforced anywhere outside Singapore? I don't think anybody cares.
- commodoreboxer 2y ago
  In state parks, but I haven't seen it really enforced in most of the US. The point is that litter isn't the primary problem with plastic. Most of the issues with it have nothing to do with the littering of random citizens, to the point that it's not even worth bringing up in a conversation about plastic.
  - soco 2y ago
    But do you think a citizen who doesn't care about throwing their bottles across the road, will care to vote for a recycling initiative? Education has to start somewhere.

create-username 2y ago

I've lived on an impoverished tropical island which was covered by a thick layer of plastic and cans. Somebody explained to me: "these folks have been throwing away their waste mindlessly for generations, the problem now is that all this pollution does not degrade" >It's so easy to put an empty plastic bottle in a bin you're not solving the plastic pollution problem, you are only sending your waste to pollute Thailand. The solution to the mass-death that a plasticised environment is causing is not to blame the victims, but to analyse the root of the problem: entrepreneurs and factory owners who abuse plastic because it's cheap

qwerty456127 2y ago
> you're not solving the plastic pollution problem, you are only sending your waste to pollute Thailand. Every time I walk a road in Thailand, also anywhere else, I pick up every piece of trash I stumble upon to throw it into the first bin I encounter. Thanks G-d I haven't been to the places where there is too much garbage and no bins.
- create-username 2y ago
  I know that Thailand allegedly stopped buying western plastic waste but I’m too stingy to drop a GPS tracking device in my plastic container to see where it’s headed to.