Plastic on the way out

[transatlantic]

What really bothers me is how we're approaching the problem too late!

- Why when we began first using plastics wasn't there recycling from the outset? we knew at that point it wasn't decomposable /degradable (within our lifetimes)
- Why are companies allowed to produce non recyclable plastics in the first place?
- Why isn't there an immediate ban (a year or so to be practical) on any non recyclable plastics used in food packaging or any other packaging?

We have the power and the means to stop this. We just choose not to as some people may get slightly less wealthy.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I suppose.

Take, for example, plastic milk cartons. When they were introduced, they were regarded as a great step forward - much lighter than glass bottles, easier to seal properly so more hygenic, easy to make into a shape that could be packed together tighter than bottles, far less breakable, and far cheaper to produce (glass does need a lot of energy to manufacture).

At the time, the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages. Maybe they still do - if we can deal with the waste arisings responsibly.

 

[transatlantic]

I disagree, nothing to do with hindsight. People will have known all this a long time ago. But those with the power to control it chose to ignore it for it's short term benefits

 

[El Barto]

This is amazing. Genuine question but what else do you/don't you believe in? It's fascinating to encounter people who legitimately can deny things like climate change, the earth being round, the moon landing, etc etc.

Show me where I said I don't believe in climate change, show me where I denied climate change.

Ok you didn't say it but I did assume it based on the massive amount of scepticism you've shown. Silly me!

 

[MikeG.]

.......Ok you didn't say it but I did assume it based on the massive amount of scepticism you've shown. Silly me!

The standard line for these science deniers is to accept that climate change is happening, but claim that it is just natural, and that climate has always changed. Humans have no role whatever in altering it, is the claim, and the thing that this poster is clearly hanging his hat on. I've often asked how CO2 levels can have gone from the pre-industrial level of 260 ppm to 400ppm now, without having any effect on climate, but that generally proves much too difficult a question for them, and I've never had even a reasonable attempt at an answer.

 

[Jacob]

Natural? We are natural too. Impossible to imagine how we could not have an effect on the world around us, but perfectly possible to imagine how we could do things differently