@ZeroZero1, I am sorry but comments like that will only antagonise about half the human race, and are therefore guaranteed to ensure lack of support. You and I and our children would not be alive without plastics.
Maybe, but is it true? Sometimes we need to face hard facts, even when they are unpalatable and inconvenient. This is very serious for life as a whole.
I provided evidence that plastic is leaching oestrogen like chemicals into our water and effecting our health and that of all animal life. Micro-plastics are doing even more damage. Plastics could be confined, by legislation, to only uses where substitutes are not tenable, and this includes plant pots even if this does "antagonise half the human race"
... the real issue is the profligate use of plastic by the manufacturers by design - where easy alternatives would suffice.
I think the real issue is, as I said earlier, the power and influence of the fossil fuel industry which provides the raw materials for plastic production.
Also, while factories and production processes are tooled up for working with plastics, there are no easy alternatives .... I'm not saying we shouldn't work towards doing without it as much as is feasible ... I believe strongly that we ushold and take steps in my own life to cut down on my use of it ... but it ain't going to be easy ... not by any stretch of the imagination.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I applaud your ideals, but IMO you are living in cloud cuckoo land.
I respect you, but I think you are like an ostrich with their head in the sand. We need to wake up and face the consequences of profligate materialistic consumerism. I would rather be a cuckoo than an ostrich.
You can refuse to buy products with ridiculous packaging or you could buy it and then post the packaging to the managing director of the offending company and make noises about it on media such as FB and Instagram to cover the generations.
You can refuse drinks with plastic straws and not buy coffee in plastic cups or go to places that offer you a re-usable cup and a discount every time you bring it back. Starbucks do this in Belgium apparently - Possum likes them - but I don't know about France as I like to sit and drink my coffee in a proper china cup or mug. Possum had a go at a place using plastic straws this summer. The next time we went they had re-usable metal straws.
When you buy bin bags, check they are made from recycled material and/or are recyclable. Join local litter clean-ups and beach cleans.
Just be more pro-active and less passive protesting. Lots of small individual actions will build up to a huge overall effect.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I work in Waitrose and nobody complained about the 5p charge for carrier bags. Most are well aware of the rationale behind it. Ditto when we stopped giving disposable cups for our free coffee scheme. Many provided their own re-usable cups long before we stopped giving away free coffees.
I'm with those who say, let's all do what we can, we know it's not enough, but it's better than doing nothing. To refuse to do anything because you can't do everything is just an excuse for laziness or apathy. I've never been afraid to be part of the lunatic fringe because I have seen how many ideas that began there are now mainstream. We DID stop Cruise missiles coming to the uk, we DID abolish notices in shop windows saying, "Room to let, no children no pets, no blacks, no Irish,". we DID get Nelson Mandela released. All these things happened because the first few people were brave enough to tell the rest of us it was wrong.
It is reported that the introduction of the charges for plastic carrier bags, costing approx 15 - 25 cents, here in Ireland has reduced consumption by up to 90%. Most people now use the 'bag for life' reusable bags, costing approx. euro 1 - 2 each. Has anyone been into a toy store lately? Sickening to see the amount of plastic toys there, never mind the mindless packaging used. Some companies are paying attention, some producers of easter eggs for example have been using cardboard packaging for a few years now........there is no quick, easy or cheaper alternative to using plastic. Does not bode well for the future.
One reason I buy organic eggs is that they come in cardboard cartons. The SMs I use here now offer paper bags for loose packed veggies as well as the flimsy plastics and one has stopped the plastics altogether.
Small steps in the grand scheme but every little helps.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
I provided evidence that plastic is leaching oestrogen like chemicals into our water and effecting our health and that of all animal life. Micro-plastics are doing even more damage.
Plastics could be confined, by legislation, to only uses where substitutes are not tenable, and this includes plant pots even if this does "antagonise half the human race"
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
I think the real issue is, as I said earlier, the power and influence of the fossil fuel industry which provides the raw materials for plastic production.
Also, while factories and production processes are tooled up for working with plastics, there are no easy alternatives .... I'm not saying we shouldn't work towards doing without it as much as is feasible ... I believe strongly that we ushold and take steps in my own life to cut down on my use of it ... but it ain't going to be easy ... not by any stretch of the imagination.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
You can refuse drinks with plastic straws and not buy coffee in plastic cups or go to places that offer you a re-usable cup and a discount every time you bring it back. Starbucks do this in Belgium apparently - Possum likes them - but I don't know about France as I like to sit and drink my coffee in a proper china cup or mug. Possum had a go at a place using plastic straws this summer. The next time we went they had re-usable metal straws.
When you buy bin bags, check they are made from recycled material and/or are recyclable. Join local litter clean-ups and beach cleans.
Just be more pro-active and less passive protesting. Lots of small individual actions will build up to a huge overall effect.
Ditto when we stopped giving disposable cups for our free coffee scheme. Many provided their own re-usable cups long before we stopped giving away free coffees.
Has anyone been into a toy store lately? Sickening to see the amount of plastic toys there, never mind the mindless packaging used. Some companies are paying attention, some producers of easter eggs for example have been using cardboard packaging for a few years now........there is no quick, easy or cheaper alternative to using plastic. Does not bode well for the future.
Small steps in the grand scheme but every little helps.