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Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

27 by KlownKannon
I don't know if I'm helping (ok, I'm pretty sure I'm not) but I collect the liners from pipette boxes at work. We generate a bunch of them every week.

I'm building a suit of armor out of them. The hard part will be getting my boss to wear it as he's the Shogun.

(I'll also be making a katana out of serological pipettes).
I don't like to think of my self as an artist so much as someone who stares at empty spaces and imagines s--t.

Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

32 by inomaha
I do what my parents did. I don't buy a lot of crap.

I recycle as much as possible, but I know that costs are beating up recycling.

I saw an interview with Jesse Catlin who wrote a paper on the issue of recycling. The premise is that people who recycle tend to consume more, because they feel better about the amount of trash they produce. i.e. If they were forced to throw away plastic water bottles, they would be less likely to buy them in the first place since they end up everywhere and are bad for the environment. Recycling gives them some sort of absolution on their consumption and therefore encourages more of it.

https://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/ ... onsumption

A similar phenomenon can happen with hybrid cars if someone purchased one for the great gas mileage and yearly fuel savings. The catch 22 might be that the person chose the car because they live far away from work and drive too many miles. Had they lived close to work, they wouldn't need the hybrid and may in fact use far less fuel and overall resources then someone that chose location over gas mileage. I ran into this when talking with a person at work about their plug in hybrid. He drives 70 miles a day back and forth and I drive <12. A simple pencil to paper calculation showed I used much less fuel per year even with my craptacular mileage older car. Some days I ride my bike to work, which is not an option for him. His car gets replaced by new on a much more frequent time schedule then mine. New requires more resources then holding on to used.

My next car will get better gas mileage simply due to better technology, but in the mean time, it's a waste for me to get a new one before I use this one completely up. I've bought it used and have been driving it for 10 years now. I'll get to 100,000 miles in another year so I think another 5-10 years out of it is doable. By not recycling it sooner, I avoid a car manufacturer (and the supporting industries) creating a new one.

In renewable energy terms this is refered to as Negawatts. The easiest and cheapest method of "creating" renewable energy is to reduce consumption. Most people think renewable energy is too expensive. It is because you're using too much. The first step in sizing a system is downsizing your consumption. Trash is no different.
Last edited by inomaha on Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Brian

Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

33 by Mason
For thousands of years we drank out of cups, vessels or the skulls of our vanquished enemies. Now half the population freaks out if they don't get a straw in their drink. Kid's now apparently can't stand going to the dentist if they aren't rewarded with a plastic bag full of straight to the landfill plastic crap with some super inefficiently packaged floss and toothpaste thrown in for good measure.

I have been offended by this crap since the eighties. The first thing that really offended me waste wise was those little packs of cheese and crackers that were in every kids lunch back then. Remember the ones with four crackers and the red plastic cheese spreader. I was horrified as a newly immigrated 10 year old by all that waste for four lousy crackers. I always felt like I should save the spreaders for something.

If we can actually get a handle on this shit, the thing I think I will miss most is the Bic lighter. I haven't smoked cigarettes in years but 90% of the time there is still a Bic in my pocket.
'Sorry stupid people but there are some definite disadvantages to being stupid."

-John Cleese

Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

35 by KlownKannon
Mason wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 1:04 pm For thousands of years we drank out of cups, vessels or the skulls of our vanquished enemies. Now half the population freaks out if they don't get a straw in their drink. Kid's now apparently can't stand going to the dentist if they aren't rewarded with a plastic bag full of straight to the landfill plastic crap with some super inefficiently packaged floss and toothpaste thrown in for good measure.

I have been offended by this crap since the eighties. The first thing that really offended me waste wise was those little packs of cheese and crackers that were in every kids lunch back then. Remember the ones with four crackers and the red plastic cheese spreader. I was horrified as a newly immigrated 10 year old by all that waste for four lousy crackers. I always felt like I should save the spreaders for something.

If we can actually get a handle on this shit, the thing I think I will miss most is the Bic lighter. I haven't smoked cigarettes in years but 90% of the time there is still a Bic in my pocket.



Some Kiwis just want to watch the world burn.
I don't like to think of my self as an artist so much as someone who stares at empty spaces and imagines s--t.

Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

41 by kronkmusic
We're pretty much down to zero single-use plastics aside from kitchen trash bags, which we go through much slower now since we compost pretty much everything that's compostable. We've actively stepped away from a lot of consumer products in general. We make our own soap, our own shampoo and conditioner, and our own laundry detergent. Household cleaner is vinegar, which we buy in bulk. If making vinegar at home was efficient enough to offset the cost, we'd probably do that too, but it's just so damn cheap it's not worth the hassle. We also grow/harvest roughly 40-60% of our own produce now. The only thing we're not doing that I'd really like to be is brewing our own beer and fermenting our own wine.

There's a really cool store up by my parents called Jar, in which everything in the store is sold in bulk. There's literally not a single package in the entire store. Need peanut butter? Bring a jar and fill it up. Same for coffee, spices, pasta, beans, sugar, flour, ice cream, kitty litter, cleaning products, so on and so forth. They even have huge vats of OJ, cranberry, and some other juices on tap where you can just fill your own bottles, like beer growlers but for juice. I think this is the future of grocery shopping, or at least it should be.

Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

42 by Bullitt68
kronkmusic wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:05 pm We're pretty much down to zero single-use plastics aside from kitchen trash bags, which we go through much slower now since we compost pretty much everything that's compostable. We've actively stepped away from a lot of consumer products in general. We make our own soap, our own shampoo and conditioner, and our own laundry detergent. Household cleaner is vinegar, which we buy in bulk. If making vinegar at home was efficient enough to offset the cost, we'd probably do that too, but it's just so damn cheap it's not worth the hassle. We also grow/harvest roughly 40-60% of our own produce now. The only thing we're not doing that I'd really like to be is brewing our own beer and fermenting our own wine.

There's a really cool store up by my parents called Jar, in which everything in the store is sold in bulk. There's literally not a single package in the entire store. Need peanut butter? Bring a jar and fill it up. Same for coffee, spices, pasta, beans, sugar, flour, ice cream, kitty litter, cleaning products, so on and so forth. They even have huge vats of OJ, cranberry, and some other juices on tap where you can just fill your own bottles, like beer growlers but for juice. I think this is the future of grocery shopping, or at least it should be.
Sounds like our Food Conspiracy Co-op Organic Grocery on 4th ave. Been there for oh forty years maybe. They have some great articles on single-use plastic. http://www.foodconspiracy.coop/
We sit in the mud... and reach for the stars.
Ivan Turgenev
Prevent Suicides Call https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/t ... meone-now/

Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

43 by kronkmusic
Bullitt68 wrote:
kronkmusic wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:05 pm We're pretty much down to zero single-use plastics aside from kitchen trash bags, which we go through much slower now since we compost pretty much everything that's compostable. We've actively stepped away from a lot of consumer products in general. We make our own soap, our own shampoo and conditioner, and our own laundry detergent. Household cleaner is vinegar, which we buy in bulk. If making vinegar at home was efficient enough to offset the cost, we'd probably do that too, but it's just so damn cheap it's not worth the hassle. We also grow/harvest roughly 40-60% of our own produce now. The only thing we're not doing that I'd really like to be is brewing our own beer and fermenting our own wine.

There's a really cool store up by my parents called Jar, in which everything in the store is sold in bulk. There's literally not a single package in the entire store. Need peanut butter? Bring a jar and fill it up. Same for coffee, spices, pasta, beans, sugar, flour, ice cream, kitty litter, cleaning products, so on and so forth. They even have huge vats of OJ, cranberry, and some other juices on tap where you can just fill your own bottles, like beer growlers but for juice. I think this is the future of grocery shopping, or at least it should be.
Sounds like our Food Conspiracy Co-op Organic Grocery on 4th ave. Been there for oh forty years maybe. They have some great articles on single-use plastic. http://www.foodconspiracy.coop/
That place looks pretty awesome!

Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

45 by highdesert
The world produces over two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste every year, enough to fill over 800,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. Per head of population the worst offenders are the US, as Americans produce three times the global average of waste, including plastic and food. When it comes to recycling, America again lags behind other countries, only re-using 35% of solid waste. Germany is the most efficient country, recycling 68% of material. The study has been compiled by Verisk Maplecroft, a research firm that specialises in global risk,

They've developed two new indices, on waste generation and recycling. They've used publically-available data, plus academic research to develop a global picture of how countries are coping at a time when the world is facing a mounting crisis, primarily driven by plastic. The waste generation index shows per capita rates of municipal solid waste, plastic, food and hazardous materials. Municipal solid waste is rubbish that's collected by local authorities from residential, institutional and commercial sources. While the world produces 2.1bn tonnes of this rubbish every year, only 16% is recycled while 46% is disposed of unsustainably.

In the analysis, China and India make up over 36% of the global population and account for 27% of the waste. US citizens produce 773kg per head of population, roughly 12% of the global total. Their output is three times that of their Chinese counterparts and seven times more than people living in Ethiopia. Other European countries, including the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Germany, feature on the list. The UK ranks 14th in the waste index generating 482kg of household waste per person every year.

The US is the only developed nation with waste generation that outstrips its ability to recycle. "Where the US is doing badly is the relationship between what it generates and its capacity to recycle," said Niall Smith, one of the authors of the report. "And relative to it's high income peers, that's where it is performing poorly." When it comes to recycling in the US, the issue seems to be one of political will and infrastructure. "I think you see in survey after survey that infrastructure in the US just isn't there to provide the recycling option," said Will Nichols, head of environmental research at Verisk Mapelcroft.

"A lot of US waste - now that it can't get shipped to China - is just getting burnt, there just isn't the investment in place in infrastructure to deal with this problem." The banning of waste imports in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia is changing the global dynamic. There have been tensions between the government of the Philippines which sent back 69 shipping containers containing waste to Canada. "They (Asian countries) don't want to be the world's dumping ground anymore," said Will Nichols. "There's a growing middle class who are not happy with levels of pollution and China because of its political situation has the policy levers to address these issues more quickly than others."

The report suggests there may be a rocky road ahead, especially for businesses. Verisk Maplecroft expects governments to act on waste issues but with businesses footing the bill.
[url][https://www.bbc.com/news/science-enviro ... 838699/url]
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

46 by Wino
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/06/28 ... tion-case/

In retrospect - I was involved in a small way with this company's Point Comfort, TX facility expansion in early to late 1989. Was involved in setting up a ready mix batch plant on bay just across causeway from Port Lavaca that would supply barged aggregates from quarry on Guadalupe River just south of Victoria, TX. The conveying equipment came from an abandoned quarry and was rusting junk, but we were able to make it all work. One notable incident was initial start up and subsequent unloading of first barge - the old conveyor to barge had the original walkways and safety rails. All the big wigs came to watch the unloading operation and stood on those rusty pieces of junk over the jetty and bay. We had some problems at the radial stacker, so the days operation came to a halt and all the big wigs departed. Once we got the stacker problem resolved, restarted barge unloading - and almost immediately the walkway they had been standing on fell onto the jetty rocks and into bay - they got lucky that day. This was the project from hell, but it got the job done, albeit took two months out of my life, but kept food on the table. Never thought about pollution at the time, but appears that they finally got caught.
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
The greatest, most aggrieved mistake EVER made by USA was electing DJT as POTUS - TWICE!!!!!

Re: i think we need to stop using single-use plastic

49 by K9s
Gousout wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 7:05 pm Actually, I plead on eliminating plastic, any kind of it!
Because you are posting on the interwebs, I assume you aren't strict Amish.

So.... you might want to rethink that if you live in a modern dwelling or use a car, bike, bus, train, or other modern transportation.

Your computers, electrical wires, plumbing parts, ARs, Glocks, etc might have problems without plastic.

Your decision, though. Roll with it. But virtually every industry uses some plastic.
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt
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