How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter? Will Australia follow Britain’s plastic straw ban?
Posted on April 23, 2018 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting Regulations
British Prime Minister Theresa May wants Australia to ban the sale of plastic straws. But Malcolm Turnbull has said no – for now.
Source: Will Australia follow Britain’s plastic straw ban?
What will Australia do?
At the moment, the short answer is not much.
Mr Turnbull, who is in London for CHOGM, said Australia will not commit to a ban on single-use plastics.
He said it was currently a state government issue. To date, every Australian state and territory except NSW has either pledged to or introduced a ban or tax on single-use plastic bags.
“The banning of plastic bags and other items of plastic has been debated in Australia over many years; it’s largely a matter of state regulation, the Productivity Commission has had a look at it, it’s something that will come up for review,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“It’s not a simple matter, because it can impose additional costs and can create additional pollution, so the important point is to ensure plastic waste does not find its way into our oceans.”
Australian environmental group Boomerang Alliance said it was “not good enough to pass responsibility for this national problem to the states.”
This is so poor of Australia. The government is so entrenched in looking after industry now and not the desires of the people or the future of Australia.
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