Plastic

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BetteTheRed said:
my "ex-biker who lived 15 k away and charged $10/gram for crap that I will not tell you what we called".
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There was also the "friend of my son's who thought I was a MILF" and who I met in the parking lot of Chinese restaurants. Legalization has certainly divorced us from the criminal element we used to have to associate with.
 
And there is actually a curing and preservation process. But it does not have to be plastic-heavy.
 
Electronics also come in some pretty unbelievably wasteful packages with tons of plastic. Kimmio, I think this is all linked to unchecked capitalism, demanding zero loss of inventory due to breakage. I think at one time, it was considered normal to lose a certain amount of product to damage.
One of the worst things I saw was two cooked beets in a plastic shell.
 
ninjafaery said:
Electronics also come in some pretty unbelievably wasteful packages with tons of plastic. Kimmio, I think this is all linked to unchecked capitalism, demanding zero loss of inventory due to breakage. I think at one time, it was considered normal to lose a certain amount of product to damage.
One of the worst things I saw was two cooked beets in a plastic shell.
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It's greed at the expense of everything else.
 
I tend to remember back in the day, when plastic wasn't used as much (but was becoming more popular)......paper bags were used, meat wrapped in brown paper etc. , in other words paper, paper, everywhere, and the cry back then was, we were killing the trees.
If paper products are used more is that still a concern? Is there enough environmental products to turn to without killing trees too?
 
Waterfall said:
If paper products are used more is that still a concern? Is there enough environmental products to turn to without killing trees too?
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You have a point. Trees are renewable, but the process to manufacture paper is horribly toxic, so it's not clear what comes up the clear winner. I looked at a box of waxed paper the other day...$5!. I'm trying to figure out if it makes more sense to buy plastic film (with the box and the metal strip), and ziplock bags (more plastic in each bag). Still trying to figure it out. Some things need to be wrapped for the freezer.
 
BetteTheRed said:
One thing I for sure do? When I purchase a package of cans in a plastic "keep it together sort of net" (the soft plastic with 4-6 holes), I know that this plastic is not recycled, but often garbaged, so I very carefully cut every loop with scissors so no critter's neck can get trapped.
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I haven't seen those in a long time. We used to spend breaks cutting them up after loading the pop machine in our undergrad club.
 
ninjafaery said:
As an experiment, I began to crochet a sleeping mat from grocery bags (just the "shiny" ones) for use by people who are homeless. They aren't the easiest to work with and it'll take some practice, but that's the kind of thing I engage in on a personal level.
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I've heard of groups making these. I've never actually heard much beyond that though. Do you know these are something that's wanted?
 
ChemGal said:
Do you know these are something that's wanted?
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Yes, they are wanted everywhere. It's a layer between a person and the cold ground. Not too valuable so being stolen isn't much of a problem if there are plently to go around. I volunteered a bit in the winter for an out of the cold program, and I saw people grateful for something to lay on besides the floor or ground.
They could also be used in disaster situations.

www.1millionwomen.com.au

[DIY] Crochet Plastic Bags into Sleeping Mats for the Homeless | 1 Million Women

Try crocheting plastic bags into sleeping mats for those sleeping rough.
www.1millionwomen.com.au www.1millionwomen.com.au
 
e dislike plastics but they have a place. When everything was in glass bottles, fro pickles to milk to pop, that was heavy. Heavy things cost way more to ship, use tons more gas.....

so plastic came in a a safe, sanitary product. People were concerned about keeping Things safe longer.
so I don’t mind when my pickles come in a plastic bottle. I do mind when I buy some little gadget which is plastic itself, then is in a hard plastic package and often shrink wrapped too

but if you buy meat in paper, I do at the butcher, it doesn’t keep more than the day in your fridge and can’t really be frozen without repackaging it yourself. So does that mean you drive to the grocery store every day or two for more meat? Thats gas wasting and pollution

what I find frustrating is that cities where I live and now the country where I live, have us separate and recycle. But for a great deal of the stuff, it hits the land fill anyway and there is now no real market for all this stuff

my local dairy does milk in glass bottles and I love it. Though it’s very heavy. It has a plastic lid and a pull tab on that lid but even that they take back.

to me the Ontario beer stores is a good example of what you could do. They recover a huge percentage of beer bottles and cans. Something like 95% It’s because you get a bit of money back.
if grocery stores started taking clean washed glass and plastic back for money and then in turn made manufacturers collect it and use it, we could change our waste levels a lot. Though I guess it would only be Canada made items

but seeing as mos of our grocery stores are owned by three companies I Think they could do it
 
It's clear we've been giving this issue some thought. I like the idea of a "buy back" program too, but there needs to be an end use and I don't see that. I always wondered why plastic just can't be reused indefinitely. Sure there'll be breakdown, but it can be downgraded with each recycle. Isn't there enough plastic already to melt down and reuse? No big profits to be had from that practice. This is the kind of thing that would change in a zero growth economy. Suddenly used plastic would be a commodity.
 
This is the video that set off the plastic straw rage.
The turtle is a hawksbill turtle. Tortoise shell comes from this turtle. 64,000 of these turtles were being killed annually for the shell. The shell is heated up, like in a fire, and the colourful coating is pealed off. Sometime this was done while the turtles were still alive. Tortoise shell was used to make decorative things like glasses frames.

But plastic, a product derived from petroleum, became a cheaper resource and replaced turtles as the primary source of tortoise shell. Thus saving turtles from extinction.

Same actually with whale products. Greenpeace didn’t save the whales, petroleum did.

Plastic straws make up a very small amount of the garbage in the ocean. The biggest danger to life in the ocean, at 40% of all plastic ocean pollution is lost fishing nets. Fishing nets are designed to snare ocean life. If you want to make a difference, solve that problem.

Or get a glass straw and complain a lot. But no Canadian straws are making it to the ocean.

plastic is not evil. Improperly disposing of it is. Like medication from the doctor. Used as directed is good, but leave it out where kids can get into it, or improper disposal can be harmful. Plastic is inexpensive to make, is clean and strong and lightweight. It does no harm in a landfill. Recycling is typically more expensive than just making new and of lesser quality, so you end up using it to make inferior and expensive alternatives for other products. And they need subsidies.

Far better to just put it all in a landfill until someone find a good use for it that makes recycling it worthwhile.
 
This
" The biggest danger to life in the ocean, at 40% of all plastic ocean pollution is lost fishing nets. Fishing nets are designed to snare ocean life. If you want to make a difference, solve that problem."
Nice touch with the photos.
 
Has anyone tried bamboo toothbrushes? I have my first one and wonder why it took so long for these to hit the market. They do the job well and apart from the bristles, are biodegradable. Cost more (of course) not sure why though. I will continue to use them.
 
I use an electric toothbrush. If I could get the disposable heads in bamboo, I'd be very happy.
 
ninjafaery said:
Has anyone tried bamboo toothbrushes? I have my first one and wonder why it took so long for these to hit the market. They do the job well and apart from the bristles, are biodegradable. Cost more (of course) not sure why though. I will continue to use them.
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Not yet. I’ve seen them at Winners and Marshall’s for about $5 though. I bought a replaceable blade razor with a bamboo handle, maybe a year ago, from Shopper’s. It’s gender neutral I figure, bamboo looks nice and has no gender, but is sold with the men’s products (which are the same thing - sometimes just a better deal in a different colour). The razor with two cartridges was a good deal but the replacement cartridges are way too expensive - over $20 so I have this thing but ended up buying disposables anyway :(. It would be the same problem for all the brands of razor blade cartridges. They cost up to $20 for 5 cartridges, whereas 5 of the disposables razors, with similar types of blades (eg, Schick “Quattro” cartridges vs Schick “Quattro” disposable razors that are basically the same - as an example) are often less than half the price; even a third! Why? Why are we paying less and getting 4 extra plastic handles? But paying more for less material?It makes no sense - except to keep consumers buying them because they’ve made them cheaper. That’s their fault! They could discontinue all but the cartridges and make handles that don’t break, when you snap the cartridges in and out. And bring the price down to reasonable for that basic product. They could. People would still need to buy them, but the companies would have fewer options for soaking people. Greedy jerks.
 
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