Quote:
Originally Posted by flar
How about not having so many disposable products? Build things that are meant to last. We can live without so much of the stuff around us, we don't need to replace every thing made of plastic. I would hope that most plastic things are replaced with nothing.
Ban plastic water bottles, ban plastic bags. Two examples of things we don't actually need.
Nothing will change though, because people will make up endless excuses about why we can't do this and that, and fearmonger about alternatives.
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I agree, at least partially...
How about we ban all the throw-away electronic devices that can't be repaired due to design or lack of affordable parts, or at least require the manufacturers to design such devices to be easily repaired and to supply reasonably priced replacement parts (for a minimum of 10 years) so that it is economically feasible to repair them? Maybe build them better so that their buy-in price is higher, but they will last for at least 10 years? The market is filled with so much cheaply-built junk now, that is cheap to buy but blows up after a year or two, encouraging people to just throw it away and buy a new one.
For the stuff that will last longer, it's often outdated quickly and the software is no longer supported after a few years, again prompting people to toss it and buy something new.
It's time to look at the entire way that industry operates - especially the tech industry - and make requirements for their 'stuff' to last longer. As well, consumers need to educated that they don't need to have the latest greatest tech gadget to achieve happiness in life. Our throw away society extends far beyond plastic bags - but people don't seem to want to look at stuff that they personally enjoy in order to effect change, only the easy stuff that creates the appearance of making a difference. Don't believe me? Ask people you know to stop wasting energy and resources by checking their phones every 5 minutes and I'm sure you will get some interesting responses...
Regarding bottles, why not return to using glass? The beer industry has continued with reusable glass bottles all these years and it hasn't seemed to hurt them. Why not require all the soft drink and bottled water companies to collect, clean and reuse glass bottles as once was the norm?
Plastic bags? Sure, get rid of them, but first come up with an alternative that's better.
As I posted 2 pages ago, but was not responded to, there have been studies that suggest that the alternatives are only marginally better, or even worse in some cases, than the plastic bags that they are intended to replace. So a flat-out ban has the potential to replace one problem with another (or more problems), and for the environment to be no further ahead in the long run... just because we want to jump at apparently easy solutions that look good to the public (on the surface, until you start to actually research the issue), and will obviously get votes.
Then there is the whole other subject of single-use plastic products that are beneficial to people's health, like plastic syringes, hygene products, etc. A flat-out ban including items like these actually have the potential to be harmful to the public.
I'm not against banning anything that's bad for the environment, or bad for people's health (like how about pesticides and herbicides?), but I think we as a society need to have some clear thinking politicians who actually work with the science community to come up with best case solutions to our problems, rather than just jumping on the popularity bandwagon to obtain votes.
Just my 2¢ on the subject...