This is a list of end-consumer items put together by a government body beholden to fishing and other industries. And it’s not even about pollution levels, it’s specifically about beach pollution. Plastic lids on cartons of heavy cream are “also a problem” if we focus only on reducing plastic waste in the kitchen, but implying it’s even relevant compared to industrial plastic waste is disingenuous
Comment on nets
Obelix@feddit.org 2 days ago
Just FYI:
Single-use plastic products are used once, or for a short period of time, before being thrown away. Under the EU’s rules on single-use plastics, the EU is tackling the 10 single-use plastic items most commonly found on Europe’s beaches and is promoting sustainable alternatives. The 10 items are
Cotton bud sticks Cutlery, plates, straws and stirrers Balloons and sticks for balloons Food containers Cups for beverages Beverage containers Cigarette butts Plastic bags Packets and wrappers Wet wipes and sanitary items
…europa.eu/…/less-plastic-waste-means-cleaner-bea…
So yeah, nets are bad, but straws, plastic bags, cigarettes and packages are also a problem.
Jtotheb@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Obelix@feddit.org 1 day ago
Why shouldn’t it be relevant? The waste is out there, is being found on our beaches and the industrial plastic waste is not swept up as often? So why would a regulation to prevent the most common plastic-items on our beaches from being there be bad?
Jtotheb@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It’s not bad, and I didn’t claim it to be bad. It’s not relevant in the same way Dr Thunder and Pibb Xtra aren’t leading to a soft drink crisis in the USA—they’re a small part of a much bigger problem.
To carry on with this dumbass analogy, it would be misleading to argue for a ban on off-brand sodas while continuing to mass produce Sprite, Pepsi, and Diet Coke, and it lets big businesses off the hook for their destruction. Same with letting industries shovel untold plastic waste into the oceans behind our backs while making more visible efforts to ban much smaller amounts back on land.
Also, we’re not just worried about plastic because it ends up on beaches. That is, again, missing the bigger picture. It’s also missing why those items in particular end up on beaches, which is because of local littering.
If you ban plastic straws from European beaches and say job well done, the planet will never notice.
Jajcus@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Single use plastic items laying on the beach is what bothers people the most, but this doesn’t mean it is the biggest problems. There is much more plastic in the oceans that we do not see.
bstix@feddit.dk 2 days ago
Hmm. Perhaps the beaches shouldn’t be the prioritized focus for developing alternatives to plastic.
If it’s on the beach, it can be picked up. Today, tomorrow or eventually.
I think the plastic that can’t be as easily be collected ought to be replaced by alternatives first.
then_three_more@lemmy.world 2 days ago
If it’s on the beach it’s been washed up there. The stuff that’s washing up can be collected, sure, but that represents a small percentage of the overall amount that there is.
bstix@feddit.dk 2 days ago
Excellent point.
Obelix@feddit.org 2 days ago
If it gets swept up on the shore, it’s in the ocean. So it totally makes sense to prevent it from being there.
ComradeMiao@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Cotton bud stick???
Obelix@feddit.org 2 days ago
It’s kind of crazy - those plastic Q-tips are only better if you want to totally wreck your ears and every doctor is warning against that. For every legitimate use, those paper variants work perfectly well
desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
how can a paper a tip grease a bearing?
nahostdeutschland@feddit.org 1 day ago
Why would you grease a bearing with a q-tip? Use a proper tool for that!
then_three_more@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I think Americans call the q tips
prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Yeah but a q-tips here are paper / cotton
then_three_more@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Over here cotton buds used to usually have plastic sticks. They’ve all changed to paper because of this EU thing though.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Not anymore, they switched to plastic.
thesystemisdown@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Unbranded Q-Tip
Matriks404@lemmy.world 1 day ago
straws
I probably use a straw a single time each year, and I don’t see people using straws much either, why is this a huge problem again?
Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 days ago
People want to pretend just the things that are convenient to them are an issue. They say government and companies need to take action, then complain about actions taken. It’s really wild to see.
Azteh@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Not throwing my garbage in the wild makes me have no idea how often straws end up in the ocean, so it seemed like a wild thing to go after.
Any idea if it’s people dumping all this stuff in the wild or if it’s because we throw it out in our bins that it somehow gets to the ocean?
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
a lot of single-use items come from fast food places, which people will eat in their cars and then just throw out the window as they drive along.
it’s a fucking sad practice but it’s really hard to get people to stop doing it, so the next best option is just to make sure as much as possible of the things you get from fast food joints will dissolve in a rain shower.
BakerBagel@midwest.social 2 days ago
Stuff falls out of garbage trucks, trash cans get tipped over, stuff gets blown out of the bed of a dumptruck at the landfill, landfills erode and take trash with them. Trashcans aren’t just magic portals that take trash into the nightosphere
x00z@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It’s called environmental dumping. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_dumping
First world countries ship waste to third world countries where dumping is not illegal (or at least not enforced).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVnMBGXVVUI