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I reuse a single use….they can be washed too.

When are disposable vapes going to be banned?

I'll see at least 3 discarded on my 5 minute walk to work, never once seen plastic plates/cutlery

Those single use battery banks too. Worst products ever.

....but, are you eating British food with it? It's tough to wash that level of awful from plastic.

Something that you use for 5 minutes shouldn't last 500 years.

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Yet plastic water bottles remain. And novelty toys that kids and adults will play with for few minutes and then they go in the trash.

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I wish they had the intelligence here in America to ban single use plastics in restaurants too. I’m sure there’d be enough lobbiests to “persuade” the politicians that workers need to keep making them to stay employed. Instead of adapting to greener laws, we choose to pollute the planet because of “jobs”

That's great. Small steps in the right direction compound over time.

Actually quite easy. Plastic comes off plastic quite nicely

And this is why we need ubi. Anyone with half a brain can see that high employment rates at 40 hrs a week is unsustainable. There just are t enough things that need doing by people to justify it . We need to move beyond the idea that everyone needs to have a job that pays enough per hour to work 40 He’s a week and just subsidize keeping people with a universal basic amount of income for basic needs. If people want more than the basic needs then they can work, working should provide a means of having extra not provide the means of surviving

Funny enough alot of people get upset by the biodegradable replacement, whenever they ask if we have single use cutlery in the shop i work at.

They almost seem insulted by the very idea.

But do you need a license for that?

Single use battery banks? Wtf? Is that actually a thing?

Where I live it has become increasingly common to get disposable wooden cutlery; I think it’s made from bamboo.

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Where, exactly do you think the money for UBI is going to come from?

If you take a fairly conservative $1200 a month to cover rent, food, and basic utilities (not including internet or phone or ANYTHING else) and multiply that by 2/3 of the US population, that's 2.8 Trillion dollars a year.

Trillion.

There's no way you can do that that wouldn't make the inflation we're currently seeing look like the tiniest little blip in history.

He may be joking of the AAA and AA non-rechargeable varieties.

Make this worldwide, and usage of plastic is going to fall down drastically

Just as soon as your local nanny state gets off their hunches and makes it happen! I'm sure England will lead the pack!

Well yes, you are still handling Br*tish food

Aren't those mostly made of glass and metal? Seems less harmful than plastic, but I am unfamiliar.

Already reality in entire EU.

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Yes the “power hit” as an example.

Plastic water bottles can technically be reused a few times though, right?

And lithium ion batteries

Idk why people have a hard time doing the basic math for this

Because paper degrade in your mouth. And wood makes the entire meal taste like wood.

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The vast, vast majority aren't re-used though.

Single use plastic cutlery as well. The problem is that the large majority of people doesn't do that because that's not what they're designed for.

Is this actually uplifting?

It doesn't appear anyone even attempted to quantify the damage they're claiming these things do. Lots of people will now be inconvenienced, and we don't even know if it's a good idea or not.

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The amount of pollution to make that isn’t much better.

How dare people make decisions to make the world a better place? What are they thinking?

Disposable li-ion power bank

Source?

a trillion dollars is 1/25th of last year’s american gdp.

people fail to realize that the main drivers of inflation aren’t people — they’re corporations

related example: while inflation and interest rates are both high, reserve requirement ratios for banks are still zero. theoretically, this gives big enough banks carte blanche to print as much money as they want, driving inflation.

Now you can join us in the hell that is cardboard cutlery.

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You know what food that overcooked and bland does to teeth? They don't develop properly because they're trying to run away. Can't see it being any easier for plastic to endure.

Haunches

What are the potential benefits of keeping them / risks getting rid of them?

My knowledge on this is as basic as it comes, but getting rid of something that takes 100s of years to breakdown and replace them with stuff that doesn’t take 100s of years to breakdown seems like a good idea

Buy some plates

Watch American politicians fight it and be like, "They want to kill US jobs!"

What is the solution for takeout food?

And plastic is everywhere, majority of those aren't recyclable so that just gets tossed on ever-growing garbage dumps, if it even gets there, a lot just ends up drifting on the wind or floating in the ocean. And we barely even scratched the surface of the potential health and environmental consequences of our plastic use (such as the rather strong links between plastics and loss of fertility).

But hey, a slight wood taste definitely seems like the bigger issue here, understandable.

And no, banning single use plastics isn't the solution to end all plastic problems.

A large chunk comes from being about to completely dissolve a lot of governmental assistance programs. You still have the assistance money that would have been given out, but without the extreme overhead of bureaucracy. All the red tape for the most common welfare situations is absurd.

There have been a few business models using reusable bowls/lids for takeout where a deposit is charged and you get it back when you return the dishes. Don't return it, and the money is forfeit so the company can replace what you kept. This could work for delivery, could still do a "hub" or "dash" service, but the return part is on you, since the driver may not go back there.

Alternatively, bringing your own could be doable, as long as it's "in store take out". People just have to realize portions will be by piece or weight, or a measured serving scoop, so bringing an oversize container won't net more food.

This. Though there are some degradable products being made recently that are much better, but if a restaurant only has straws that degrade before I'm done drinking, or utensils that make the food taste nasty, I just won't shop there any more.

The politicians passing these laws don't care anything about pollution or the environmental impact. They only care about public perception.

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The amount of pollution produced by the plastic you'll have to buy and rebuy and rebuy over again once it gets stolen will be far greater than wooden forks/plates that will go back to the planet and which you can get easily by simply planting trees

I think back to when I was young and they banned paper bags from grocery stores because super thin plastic bags were said to be better for the environment. It seems like environmentalism is just cyclical. Give it 20-30 years and they'll be banning paper/wood straws/utensils, just wait.

Edit: Now that I think about it more, they could try to standardize people brining their own permanent utensils, and sell permanent utensils to those who forget them, just like how grocery stores now will sell you cloth bags.

Brittle as hell and usually break. Useless after being used once.

I go for metal or wooden cutlery if at all possible.

Some googling gives me data from 2019 at around ~50kg per person per year for countries like the USA (53kg), Australia (59kg), UK (44kg). From here.

That's estimated single use plastics, not other trash.

Keeping in mind that the majority of plastics aren't recyclable and a lot of them don't even get to the garbage dumps.

And besides the rather small portion of people that actually need things like straws for medical reasons for which there are always exceptions provided, who exactly will get inconvenienced?

Edit; To add to this, we know reducing plastic use is good, any reduction is good, gotta start somewhere.

Why? Did not even think this was... WHY???

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>Some googling gives me data from 2019 at around ~50kg per person per year for countries like the USA (53kg), Australia (59kg), UK (44kg). From here.
>
>That's estimated single use plastics, not other trash.

That's quantifying how much plastic is used. I asked for quantification of the damage/harm caused.

>To add to this, we know reducing plastic use is good

That's my entire point. We don't.

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>What are the potential benefits of keeping them

As the people who are buying them? Various options exist, but some people still buy the plastic option - they obviously perceive benefits - maybe price, maybe functionality, maybe hygiene.

> getting rid of something that takes 100s of years to breakdown

In landfill, that doesn't matter, we're not running out of landfill space for sporks.

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Pasta straws for life

But more importantly why do we even need straws

That's great. Now do animal agriculture, invest in public transport, and clean energy.

>That's my entire point. We don't.

Yes, we do.

knock yourself out I'd say, plenty of research on this subject.

I'll provide you with a single excerpt, again you're free to dive deeper into this.

>Plastic contains chemical additives, most of which remain unknown or understudied. Meanwhile, many of the chemicals additives for which scientific information is available are known to be toxic. A growing body of evidence points to the health risks posed by plastic additives. These include endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are linked to infertility, obesity, diabetes, prostate or breast cancer, among others. Other health conditions linked to additives include reproductive, growth, and cognitive impairment and neurodevelopment disorders.

there's plenty of research that needs to be done still in this field if we want an accurate picture, but what we know already is pretty damning.

And that is only the health aspect of it. Like I said in my previous comment, most plastics aren't recyclable, so that's 50 kilo per person per year that gets tossed somewhere, anywhere, you're free to do the math on how much avoidable waste that is globally.

On that note, show me a fish, and I'll show you plastic.

I agree that various options should be available, but there’s always going to be a line. E.g. You can’t buy asbestos insulation anymore.

I disagree with ‘we aren’t running out of landfill space for sporks.’ Its not about having space for sporks now, it’s about the impact plastics have in the future. These are small steps, but when there’s a cleaner solution, it’s silly to use a more harmful option.

Is the business model proven? Like for example do people not end up piling them despite the deposit and eventually throw them out?

I reckon that the majority of plastic cutlery can't be washed in the dishwasher as they release dangerous microplastics. not even accounting the fact that they bend easily

>there's plenty of research that needs to be done still in this field

Doesn't appear to be any kind of quantification of damage, however. The size of the problem appears to be unknown, but we can conclude it's relatively small, otherwise it would be easier to detect and quantify.

>On that note, show me a fish, and I'll show you plastic.

Plastic that didn't make it to a landfill or incinerator, sure. But when properly disposed of, that's not an issue.

>E.g. You can’t buy asbestos insulation anymore.

This is a really good example, because asbestos insulation was directly linked to a huge number of deaths and chronic debilitating ilnesses.

We were able to get a rough quantification of the damage done to people's lives, and we decided to (mostly) get rid of asbestos because that damage was very high.

So I'm asking - what level of damage is being caused by plastics used within this country (the ones that can be controlled by legislation) - how much harm/damage is caused.

If it's a lot, we should get rid of it. If it's not, then we shouldn't be banning it.

>I disagree with ‘we aren’t running out of landfill space for sporks.’ Its not about having space for sporks now, it’s about the impact plastics have in the future.

What impact do you believe plastics disposed of in a landfill (or incinerator) will have on you in the future?

Apparently, the residents of my neighborhood have never heard of this "trash" thing, as I find scores of plastic water bottles discarded in my local park, gutters on my street of floating down the stream behind my house.

I dont recall. I saw it being discussed somewhere and don't recall. I just thought it an interesting idea vs throwaway stuff.

I'm pretty sure technology handles most of the manufacturing of this stuff anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if grocery and restaurant chains are investing much more in lobbying for banning the stuff, claiming some sort of environmental concern, but really so they can point to politicians for shifting the cost to the consumer.

People are still going to buy plastic utensils and bags. Especially, those of us who reuse these things. Now we get to buy it ourselves. Unfortunately it's going to be the poorer communities who are most affected because they rely on these things, especially plastic bags.

"Hey mate, you have a loicense for that plastic knife?"

Which is why the issue should be forced.

I'm poor and rely on the free plastic bags to both carry my food for the walk home, a large amount since I can only make it twice a month to the store, and then we use them again at home for trash lining/cat litter/etc.

The real problem is a lack of perspective from the upper-middle classes, believing everyone can shoulder the cost of this feel-good legislation that isn't going to have a significant impact on the environment considering how reliant we are on the stuff for nearly everything we own. Guess what. We're just going to have to buy the plastic bags now.

Give up your phone, TV, car, PlayStation, etc and then let's go after the 10 or so, super thin, poorly manufactured bags I use a month.

If they are going to do this, they also need to ban all the plastic they use to package everything.

It would hurt those living in poverty much more, you’re right. Hopefully banning single use plastics can help push using recycled papers and biodegradable plastics made from corn. Maybe some grocery stores can offer free reusable bags for signing up like to Walmart or Sams clubs. It can be figured out but you gotta take that first step sometime or else it’ll always be this way.

Idk about in the UK, but where I am you can’t buy flavored pods anymore since the public outrage a few years ago got them pulled from shelves. So now your options are either buy tobacco flavored pods (which taste awful) or get disposables which last equally as long as a pack of pods and come in good flavors. The reason disposables are so popular is because they come in good flavors. If good flavors for like juul were allowed again, you would see the popularity of disposables die off greatly and this type of littering to diminish.

But you know it’s all “think of the children” when nicotine already has the same level of restriction that alcohol does and nobody’s saying you shouldn’t be selling pink whitney because it tastes good to children.

Manufacturers such as coca cola are to blame 100%. They order the manufacture of billions of these bottles at the start of the supply chain. They can choose to funnel money into r&d, use only recyclable cans or glass but they choose plastic everytime because they claim its what the customers want. No one pushes back and the guilt is always levelled onto the consumer.

Yeah i see them all the time

Wood ones are better to use anyway imo. The ones you get I chippies. I get two and offset the prongs making it into four

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I would say it's a proven business model with decades of success. This is how it used to be done with glass bottles, wooden crates, etc..

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Saw three in one day when I was cycling to work. The light to say it was out of vap was still flashing on it

Agree, I'm in the US and walk or bike every day and I always see a tossed vape pen on the street. Can't recall seeing a spoon or fork.

All that shit has died down in the US. We don't hear a whisper about vaping anymore.

>What is the solution for takeout food?

Bamboo chopsticks

Bamboo/wooden/PLA cutlery

Fingerfood, eating with your hands

Taking it home to eat with your home cutlery

Deposit on cutlery

The lil wood forks they have now with takeaway are better anyway

>Like for example do people not end up piling them despite the deposit

If they're nice enough for piling up you've sold them for re-use that's also fine.

>and eventually throw them out?

Why throw a good fork out after storing it for a while? Might as well sell it back, keep using it or.... Even if you throw it out, but at home that's better than along the road... Where still someone would be more likely to pick it up of there's deposit on it.

It works kinda well from bottles to pallets to pressurised gas cylinders, I'm sure forks could fit in.

The French strike again! Soon everyone will be forced to replace all tableware with BREAD! They must be stopped!

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Styrofoam cups too. I live in china usually but I’m visiting family in the US and I’m astonished by the amount of styrofoam is used. China is a whole other ballgame with single use plastic and delivery stuff.

Ahh I was just thinking about the cartridges. I forgot those existed. Yup pretty bad for the environment.

Plastic bags aren't banned here so you're fine.

Nor am I advocating a complete ban on all plastics.

Nor is this a choice between you surviving financially and the world using less plastic.

Honestly, that's a whole other discussion on its own, from the fact that pollution is becoming an increasing cost to society through climate change, illnesses and whatnot, and addressing all that costs money, not addressing it even more. To how to make that transition affordable for everyone, if we even can etc... and that's a discussion I just don't fancy delving into atm.

When buying a roll of plastic bags breaks your bank there's another issue at play, and that too needs addressing. And we can do multiple things at the same time, but it too often gets bogged down by populist nonsense.

My main point is that we only get to live for a brief while and enjoy this planet, why make it shorter by polluting? And can we at least not leave the place behind cleanly? So the next poor sod that comes along at least has fresh air to breathe and some birds and trees to look at?

Very technically it was designed for reuse. It was created for the armed forces to be able to carry lightweight utensils. But, of course, you are correct that as it currently exists, the quality is too poor for durable reuse.

True

how is there much pollution for bamboo stuff, its one of the fastest growing thing ever and once you've set it up you don't really need to fuck with it.

is styrofoam not getting banned in america? i heard it was getting banned or at least talked about having the laws passed for it to be banned.

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They usually break half way through your first chip.

When are we going to stop banning tiny things like straws and vapes, and start banning things that ACTUALLY clog up the oceans like fishing nets

The same as it was before plastic? I thought the weird little wooden chippie fork thing was a UK icon.

Current US healthcare spending - per year - is over 4 trillion dollars.

You were saying?

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Cutlery and plastic to be banned.
We are all going to be eating by hand.
Fish and chips or fried chicken dips.
It’s going to get messy as you bring it to your lips.

Gotta say for £3 if your on the streets very useful

Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Not true for all of them for sure, but the ones that actually make the decisions: definitely.

It’s not only about the waste and if it’s biodegradable, but the pollution fromTransportation and manufacturing. Yeah, bamboo grows quickly, but it still has to harvested, shipped, shaped, packaged, then shipped again. Just make people start carrying their own cutlery if you want to make a worthwhile difference.

Disabled folks, elderly, after medical procedures etc. They are needed in society. The plant based Ines are the coolest ones I've seen.

Ah i forgot other forms of cutlery don't need to be manufactured, packaged and shipped.

But yeh i'm sure everyone will definitely carry their own set of cutlery.

I also think its neat when people have a metal straw in their purse

While I agree, how many of us own reusable bags and forget to being them in when shopping? Just saying.

Yep. Metal utensils need to have all those things happen too, but only once. It’s the single use we need to end.

As far as the cutlery, You stop providing them, and people will bring their own. You can point out how many people didn’t wear masks, but look at how many did. And if it will affect people’s food, people will adapt quickly.

I'm in the post and I don't like it

Bamboo always worked well for me.