Single-use plastic products are used once, or for a short period of time, before being thrown away. Under the EU’s rules on single-use plastics, the EU is tackling the 10 single-use plastic items most commonly found on Europe’s beaches and is promoting sustainable alternatives. The 10 items are
Cotton bud sticks
Cutlery, plates, straws and stirrers
Balloons and sticks for balloons
Food containers
Cups for beverages
Beverage containers
Cigarette butts
Plastic bags
Packets and wrappers
Wet wipes and sanitary items
People want to pretend just the things that are convenient to them are an issue. They say government and companies need to take action, then complain about actions taken. It’s really wild to see.
This is a list of end-consumer items put together by a government body beholden to fishing and other industries. And it’s not even about pollution levels, it’s specifically about beach pollution. Plastic lids on cartons of heavy cream are “also a problem” if we focus only on reducing plastic waste in the kitchen, but implying it’s even relevant compared to industrial plastic waste is disingenuous
Why shouldn’t it be relevant? The waste is out there, is being found on our beaches and the industrial plastic waste is not swept up as often? So why would a regulation to prevent the most common plastic-items on our beaches from being there be bad?
Diatribe alert. If you just wanna know, here: 75% to 86% of plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch came from fishing industry, article, study.
It’s not bad, and I didn’t claim it to be bad. It’s not relevant in the same way Dr Thunder and Pibb Xtra aren’t leading to a soft drink crisis in the USA—they’re a small part of a much bigger problem.
To carry on with this dumbass analogy, it would be misleading to argue for a ban on off-brand sodas while continuing to mass produce Sprite, Pepsi, and Diet Coke, and it lets big businesses off the hook for their destruction. Same with letting industries shovel untold plastic waste into the oceans behind our backs while making more visible efforts to ban much smaller amounts back on land.
Also, we’re not just worried about plastic because it ends up on beaches. That is, again, missing the bigger picture. It’s also missing why those items in particular end up on beaches, which is because of local littering. A cup on a beach is actually great for the environment compared to a piece of nylon disintegrating in the ocean. It just looks ugly. Our primary focus can’t be on ugly right now.
If you ban plastic straws from European beaches and say job well done, the planet will never notice. We need to start with the big issues, we don’t have time to pat them on the back and keep subsidizing the destruction of our planet. Agricultural fertilizer is next followed by plastic bags, iirc, or maybe bottles.
Yeah, but it’s a quick win. Ban some single-use plastics and prevent it from getting into the oceans because it doesn’t exist. Yeah, you have to do something about the fishing nets, but there is no reason to not take those quick-wins
It’s a quick win if it leads to further progress. It’s a distraction if it’s not part of a larger plan that includes real change. That’s my fear. Banning plastic straws was all we talked about for two straight years. That’s wasted time, and it didn’t really lead to anything else.
Not saying they are not but from what you posted it could still be 99.9% nets, what is in the article is just a list of the most common found items in beaches.
If it’s on the beach it’s been washed up there. The stuff that’s washing up can be collected, sure, but that represents a small percentage of the overall amount that there is.
And if you go out and order a drink, you might get 3 or 4 straws. Yes, it’s stupid. Yes, it doesn’t make sense. But it happens and people throw their to-go drinks into the environment after they finished them
Just FYI:
https://commission.europa.eu/news/less-plastic-waste-means-cleaner-beaches-2024-08-14_en
So yeah, nets are bad, but straws, plastic bags, cigarettes and packages are also a problem.
People want to pretend just the things that are convenient to them are an issue. They say government and companies need to take action, then complain about actions taken. It’s really wild to see.
This is a list of end-consumer items put together by a government body beholden to fishing and other industries. And it’s not even about pollution levels, it’s specifically about beach pollution. Plastic lids on cartons of heavy cream are “also a problem” if we focus only on reducing plastic waste in the kitchen, but implying it’s even relevant compared to industrial plastic waste is disingenuous
Why shouldn’t it be relevant? The waste is out there, is being found on our beaches and the industrial plastic waste is not swept up as often? So why would a regulation to prevent the most common plastic-items on our beaches from being there be bad?
Diatribe alert. If you just wanna know, here: 75% to 86% of plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch came from fishing industry, article, study.
It’s not bad, and I didn’t claim it to be bad. It’s not relevant in the same way Dr Thunder and Pibb Xtra aren’t leading to a soft drink crisis in the USA—they’re a small part of a much bigger problem.
To carry on with this dumbass analogy, it would be misleading to argue for a ban on off-brand sodas while continuing to mass produce Sprite, Pepsi, and Diet Coke, and it lets big businesses off the hook for their destruction. Same with letting industries shovel untold plastic waste into the oceans behind our backs while making more visible efforts to ban much smaller amounts back on land.
Also, we’re not just worried about plastic because it ends up on beaches. That is, again, missing the bigger picture. It’s also missing why those items in particular end up on beaches, which is because of local littering. A cup on a beach is actually great for the environment compared to a piece of nylon disintegrating in the ocean. It just looks ugly. Our primary focus can’t be on ugly right now.
If you ban plastic straws from European beaches and say job well done, the planet will never notice. We need to start with the big issues, we don’t have time to pat them on the back and keep subsidizing the destruction of our planet. Agricultural fertilizer is next followed by plastic bags, iirc, or maybe bottles.
Yeah, but it’s a quick win. Ban some single-use plastics and prevent it from getting into the oceans because it doesn’t exist. Yeah, you have to do something about the fishing nets, but there is no reason to not take those quick-wins
It’s a quick win if it leads to further progress. It’s a distraction if it’s not part of a larger plan that includes real change. That’s my fear. Banning plastic straws was all we talked about for two straight years. That’s wasted time, and it didn’t really lead to anything else.
Not saying they are not but from what you posted it could still be 99.9% nets, what is in the article is just a list of the most common found items in beaches.
Hmm. Perhaps the beaches shouldn’t be the prioritized focus for developing alternatives to plastic.
If it’s on the beach, it can be removedd up. Today, tomorrow or eventually.
I think the plastic that can’t be as easily be collected ought to be replaced by alternatives first.
If it’s on the beach it’s been washed up there. The stuff that’s washing up can be collected, sure, but that represents a small percentage of the overall amount that there is.
I probably use a straw a single time each year, and I don’t see people using straws much either, why is this a huge problem again?
And if you go out and order a drink, you might get 3 or 4 straws. Yes, it’s stupid. Yes, it doesn’t make sense. But it happens and people throw their to-go drinks into the environment after they finished them
I have never seen that happening. Where do you live? Here in Poland you get maximum 1 straw if any, lol.
Edit: Or you mean alcoholic drink? It’s possible, but I don’t really drink this kind of stuff at pubs, only beer.