The Plastic Crisis/Environment Thread | Page 2 | Vital Football

The Plastic Crisis/Environment Thread

The issue is not the need for plastic from the supermarkets but the culture they have created over the years amongst the customers. A few years ago I knew an older Norwegian guy who moved to Sweden, when I saw him again he was visiting and doing something almost unheard of, he came shopping in Norway from Sweden. There is a massive trade in the opposite direction as Swedish prices are usually much lower but I've never heard of Swedes coming here to shop. His reason? In Sweden there are too many people trying to serve him fresh goods, he wanted to go to the fridges and freezers and buy pre-packed stuff.

Why am I telling this story? Well it highlights the issue of the customers demanding pre-packed food, which is inveriably packed in plastic and there is rarely a good plastic free alternative to this type of product. (As a short explanation, Norwegians are often insular and don't like to talk to anyone other than those in their social circles, the way shops developed from counter service to pre-packaged good plays up to typical Norwegian sensibilities and then magnifies them)

If the customers demand a product the supermarkets will sell it, simple. There is very little moral in the grocery business, it's all about selling whatever the customer wants, otherwise they will sell nothing. This has to be consumer lead.
 
I've noticed Johnsons cotton buds have changed from plastic to card.. it can be done.

Agree re the straws.

Laws and customer pressure are needed and I think as the crisis is building, they might well come. Plastic bags was a good start, would have been even better (as already said in this thread) if the profits from the re-useable ones went to an organisation looking to clean up the planet.
 
What's wrong with paper bags too? Ikea use them still. Perhaps not as environmentally friendly, in production, given their disposable naturte, as a reuasable bag but on the other hand, it's fully biodegradable, most reusable bags aren't.


 
Yup, safeway used to have them, they were good and strong.

Think Holland & Barrett still use paper bags.
 
HeathfieldRoad1874 - 14/2/2018 11:16

mike_field - 9/2/2018 21:04

That's the problem with the 5p charge for plastic baggies in supermarkets, the money stays with the supermarket rather than going to a fund to do something about the problem in the first place.

It gave people the excuse to moan.

4p of every 5p went to charities last year. It's part of the scheme that retailers are "expected" to donate the money to good causes. The other 1p is largely accounted for by VAT.

Maybe this needs communicating to the public more?

In any respects, hasn't it been a success? There has been about an 80% reduction in use.

I'm on a mission to stop plastic straws in pubs at the moment. I just can't help myself.

I'm amazed they don't bang that home more often, I've never heard of it I've just heard supermarkets comment a charity donation is made rather than the specifics.
 
The Fear - 14/2/2018 17:00


Think Holland & Barrett still use paper bags.

They certainly did when I was in there last August.

 
What about the millions of jobs in plastic manufacturing and retailing? Are they to be consigned to the scrap heap themselves? Will they be recycled into different jobs? I doubt it very much. And then there’s the farmers who grow plastic in the developing world. And, as importantly , what will all those little kids do who make a living on the dumps fishing it out for cash?

Important questions
 
Important yes, as important as saving the planet so we all survive? No.

There were manufacturing jobs before plastic became so prevelant, manufacturers will just have to re-focus what they make their products from and the major problem I'd say, what they make their wrapping of products from.
 
The fact that I said farmers growing plastic may have been an indication that I wasn’t entirely serious.......
 
An enormous area of rubbish floating in the Pacific Ocean is teeming with far more debris than previously thought, heightening alarm that the world’s oceans are being increasingly choked by trillions of pieces of plastic.

The sprawling patch of detritus – spanning 1.6m sq km, (617,763 sq miles) more than twice the size of France – contains at least 79,000 tons of plastic, new research published in Nature has found. This mass of waste is up to 16 times larger than previous estimates

:eek!:

https://goo.gl/4w5kz9
 
It is a strange old World. The base enzyme was discovered in the 40's. The lucky discovery is a mutation that increases the speed at which it breaks don modern plastics.

It doesn't do much for the mountain of waste we've already created, but it does open up the way to making sure it doesn't get worse.

There is still no reason to stop using plastic, wherever possible. I carry around a collapsible travel mug and a reusable water bottle. My Niece has stopped having a straw in her drinks, and she's only 10. Everyone can easily do their bit.
 
Only caught the report halfway through as I was up and about, but hoping they repeat it later today so I can catch in full as basically caught 'mutation' angle and it peaked my interest.

No it's a step, can't exactly go pouring it into the oceans without risk but at least it's an answer moving forward.
 
Loads of Companies signing up for increased recycling, but is it just marketing? McDonalds and Coca-Cola are two that have said they want to help.

I am always suspicious when corporations jump in like this.