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? Plastic bag ban: Lack of enforcement only obstacle to eco-friendly capital – Pakistan
Posted on June 10, 2013 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsPlastic bag ban: Lack of enforcement only obstacle to eco-friendly capital – The Express Tribune.
The problem of plastic bag waste is a huge problem everywhere. The solution to make them oxodegradable is a questionable one however. It seems like this has already been adopted, so we will expect that in approx. 5 years time the authorities will realise that there is no difference to plastic bag waste and pollution and they will be seeking a new solution. Ox bags are going to fragment into little pieces of plastic over 12-24 months and while it may make a bag appear to disappear all that really happens is that not there are 1000’s of fragments of plastic blowing and flowing around their environment. These little bits are now wildlife sized bite pieces too.
The best solution to this is to stop using disposable plastic bags. Encourage people to use reusable bags. Either ban the bag or make shops charge for them. Let the shops keep the funds even as an incentive for them to comply with the law. Reusable bags are the lowest cost to the user and the environment. There are a few reports (written for the plastic bag industry) that say reusable bags have higher energy costs than disposable bags, but is the waste issue of 1000’s of thin plastic bags vs 1 reusable bag that shows that disposable plastic bags are far worse for the environment and infrastructure.
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