Also if we removed single use plastics, but didn’t dramatically cut back on everything we do that uses them, then we’d create more pollution with alternative methods trying to fill the gap. A global change is unavoidable, whether it is chosen or forced upon everyone by circumstance.
Yeah… we use single use plastics because they’re basically an industrial miracle production wise. Dirt cheap, super easy to use, innumerable applications… and all the drawbacks are post-production and someone else’s problem. A tough addiction to break.
It’s certainly incompatible with multi-national corporations with huge vertical integration. This is what happened with beer, soda and other stuff in many parts of the world.
I have lived in that World in my part of Eastern Europe, I lived plastic-free… it was the default.
Also if we removed single use plastics, but didn’t dramatically cut back on everything we do that uses them, then we’d create more pollution with alternative methods trying to fill the gap. A global change is unavoidable, whether it is chosen or forced upon everyone by circumstance.
This is part of the issue that a lot of people don’t get.
Plastics are, largely, petrochemicals. We have plastics because we have oil.
Use glass because it’s more recyclable? Glass is heavier and more fragile, meaning more cost to ship and more breakage in transit.
Yeah… we use single use plastics because they’re basically an industrial miracle production wise. Dirt cheap, super easy to use, innumerable applications… and all the drawbacks are post-production and someone else’s problem. A tough addiction to break.
Meaning more local production and collection.
That is incompatible with global trade.
It’s certainly incompatible with multi-national corporations with huge vertical integration. This is what happened with beer, soda and other stuff in many parts of the world.
I have lived in that World in my part of Eastern Europe, I lived plastic-free… it was the default.