Think cloth bags are better for the environment? Think again

[Mainecoons]

In general the explosion in the use of throw away plastic packaging is a post WWII thing so it did largely originate with the late pre boomers and the baby boomers.  The problem is the stuff doesn't degrade in the environment and the sheer volume of it has exploded as well.  

It is very difficult to get around it as virtually everything you buy now is packaged to death.  

Before plastic bags we put our far lower volume of waste in the brown paper bags we got at the grocery store.  Most of the stuff in the bag and the bag itself would degrade readily in a landfill.  This stuff won't.  

It needs to go.  We lived without it before and we can do so again without any real compromise in living standard.

[RVGRINGO]

Back when......Every back yard had a 'burning barrel' for paper and cardboard. Thank goodness those are gone. However, in Mexico, burning plastic is too common, unfortunately.

"Poop"?  For some people, it went in the hole under the outhouse. Others had indoor plumbing & cesspools or even septic tanks. City folk had sewers.  Cats buried theirs, and dogs ran free and pooped elsewhere; never close to home, exhibiting their superior instincts and cultural sensitivity.

[mattoleriver]

11 hours ago, slainte39 said:

As far as they are concerned this plastic problem has been around since the arrival of Cortez.

It has! You do mean Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, right?

[DeborahM]

On 6/30/2019 at 7:10 PM, ComputerGuy said:

Reported on this before. Do a search and find the link to a comprehensive, proper scientific study that says the figure is way higher than this one. Way higher.

And so what do YOU do Mike?

[slainte39]

13 hours ago, gringal said:

These kids aren't being "brainwashed". They are being told the truth about the effect of the widespread use of plastic; things such as the "islands" of plastic in the ocean. I think we should face the fact that our generation opted for convenience over concern for the good of the planet.  YMMV.

I agree 100% with the "brainwashing".  I just wanted to point out that the schools are really trying to teach the students about this problem.  Brainwashing is just my way of saying that the program is intensive and it is working.  They´ve even shamed me into taking my own reusable bags to the stores

Sorry you misinterpreted meaning.

[slainte39]

10 hours ago, mattoleriver said:

It has! You do mean Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, right?

            No, I mean her uncle Hernando …………. I think she left for New York.

[ComputerGuy]

1 hour ago, DeborahM said:

And so what do YOU do Mike?

Truly, what I do is of no consequence.

[kimanjome]

On 6/30/2019 at 11:34 AM, solajijic said:

 Africa, India, etc... know full well that any effort made by the 1st world is doomed by the continued growth of the 3rd world.  Population and pollution.  

Then China who has no worries and owns the African continent and soon the world.....

Absolutely!  We travel to Africa frequently and it is amazing how many Chinese corporations are creating /  subsidizing / implementing businesses that are China-owned.  The Chinese are also buying huge swaths of land.  Chinese university students are being groomed to look forward to the future....in Africa.  I am speechless about how much of this is going on and in the meantime we in the US are distracted with petty matters.  As much as I dislike a certain US president at the moment, he made an excellent point about our US military maintaining safety in the Strait of Hormuz, for the benefits of the Chinese oil-tankers. 

On 7/2/2019 at 12:24 AM, English Rose said:

What gets me is people who buy large size bags for their garbage. What did we do before plastic?😊

 

 When we were kids back in the 1960's I remember my parents re-using the big, brown paper grocery bags for trash.  We would put one in the kitchen garbage bin and when it was full we would take it outside to the metal trash can.  Of course we had to be careful about putting "wet stuff" in the brown paper bag.

[bdmowers]

On 6/30/2019 at 12:00 PM, Alfa said:

This campaign against plastic bags is getting a little disproportionate when you consider that they make up only .8% of the plastics now in use. Even if we eliminate them all, it will have an insignificant impact on the problem.

Ah, statistics!  Your figure of .8% is for plastics now in use.   I might submit that a statistic for percentage of plastic bags that make their way into the oceans where they enter fish and animal digestive systems and do other harm might be significant.

Here are a couple of statistics regarding this:

On the Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Cleanup day in September 2017, 789,138 volunteers in more than 100 countries collected about 20.5 million pounds of trash. 7% of this were plastic bags.

The American Chemical Society says that 6.5% of plastics in the oceans are plastic bags.

[Arroyos]

On 6/30/2019 at 11:12 AM, Alpha1 said:

Yes, I can't image using the plastic one 131x...

 

Yes, but I can imagine using my cloth bag 131x or more.  I have used mine for years before they wore out.