Plastic in the 'ocean'

Like most problems in the world education is the only way round it.

Unfortunately with a meat head like Trump in charge of the USA, that doesn't help non.

I'm totally convinced the human race will wipe itself out in the next 100 years due to one reason or another.
Plastic in our food, leading to all sorts of cancers could be one possibility, if we don't fry the planet first, or just blow it up.

Hopefully one more season in the Premier League before that...

 

we actually sell a lot of our "recycling" to china... though they announced they were taking less of it as they couldn't deal with it and were simply sending it to landfill! I haven't heard where its being redirected, but it seems "rich" that we cant be arsed to deal with the rubbish we're generating and offload it to other countries. Last I heard they were hoping to send it to Indonesia which is so ironic, its beyond funny.

The issue is people. Whether uneducated, ignorant, selfish or just uncaring. For the ones who try and help and change, try and repair, they are outnumbered by governments and individuals that don't. People are programmed to consume and getting lazier and more selfish over time. There are just too many of us on this planet doing things that don't fit into the environment we find ourselves. whether its 10 years, 100 years or 1000 years, there will only be one outcome.

 

Well done, can you tell us all how you did it?

I can't remember the last time I bought a drink in a plastic bottle. But yesterday I bought some bog roll that was in plastic wrapping. Some shampoo and shower gel that are in plastic bottles. A toothbrush made of plastic in plastic packaging. Some washing up liquid in a plastic bottle. Some salmon for my tea that the fishmonger wrapped in a plastic bag. I'm glad he did really, I didn't want to carry it home in my hand leaking fish juice all over me. Some cereals that had an inner plastic bag and some milk in a plastic bottle. How do you feed yourself, clean yourself and clean your home without buying plastic?

 

You're just showing off, Jay.

We're the same age and I haven't had to buy shampoo for ten years!

Nevertheless, I'd love to reduce the amount of waste plastic I generate and am open to any realistic suggestions to help with this.

 

That is correct but you lose approx 15% in volume each time you recycle and is expensive to do due to the dangerous element of the the by products left behind. Smelting it to create it originally is not exactly environmentally friendly either.
For me the issue is about mentality, we are all guilty of it. If we take bottled water as an example, when I was a kid it didn’t exist, you took your own, drank from tap etc, now out of convenience we buy bottles and throw away. Food is same with packaging, people always bought fresh, no packaging etc, it is still often cheaper to buy fresh but people don’t for convenience.

 

I'm the same. Virtually everything you buy is contained in plastic film which is very difficult to recycle. I can't remember the last time I bought bottled water. I wonder if thinner but strong glass could be developed ?

 

I guess it's all relative. New York is still shamefully filthy compared with most European cities. Litter everywhere. I reckon it's on a level with Bangkok on that front. Once you get out and about though, the country is by and large quite clean, and they are reasonably diligent about separating their rubbish. A good job, as they produce so much of the stuff

 

Didn't say i don't buy plastic, I'm talking about single use plastics. I don't see a shampoo bottle as single use, it's also widely recyclable.

Look, you seem hellbent on an argument about this but it's really is simple, whether you choose to see it that way or not. If you have the means to reduce or eliminate your use of single use plastics then do it.

 

Why don't you do something about it?

If you're not part of the solution....

 

I use the bog roll wrapper as a bag for my bathroom bin, it’s the perfect size and always seems to get full just as I open a new pack. That washing up bottle is just screaming out to be turned into a rocket!

 

Plenty of countries worse that us, but it doesn't make it right.

 

Milk used to be just supplied in glass bottles now it,s plastic containers who’s brainchild was that then?

 

Got to support the morning milkman and try and avoid plastic where possible.