Jaded

[Seeker]

I recognise, as I'm getting older, that I'm getting jaded and cynical. I saw this list:

https://celebrityprivatejettracker.c...derboard/#gref

and was thinking about it as I was washing out plastic food bags that will go to Tesco on my next trip. What is the point? The plastic bags will be burnt (apparently) not recycled meanwhile billionaires are swanning around in their private jets.


(Not riding my bikes may be influencing my mood )

[garynortheast]

I don't necessarily think it's just about becoming jaded and cynical as we get older Seeker. I do think however that it's more that a growing number of people are waking up to the obscene greed and sense of entitlement of a relatively small cohort of people who are responsible for driving the insane damage being done to our planet through corporate activity, advertising, and media manipulation.

I've just finished reading James Rebanks' book, "English Pastoral" in which he, as a Cumbrian hill farmer and shepherd, charts the descent of farming into the industrialised hell it has become in so much of Britain, and driven mostly by large corporations such as chemical companies and machinery manufacturing companies. If you haven't read the book I'd recommend it. Probably one of the most important books to have been written about farming practice since Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring".

And yes, I'm afraid you're right about plastic. Most of the plastic film being sent for recycling is being incinerated, along with (apparently) a good deal of the waste that previously went in to landfill. Neither of these is a wise thing to be doing. The incinerating of plastic waste is as polluting as burning coal. The plastic issue needs tackling at it's root - the manufacture of completely unnecessary single use plastic.

[redtrummy]

We really try not to use single use plastic and take a weeks worth of film to the supermarket its up to the legislators to ensure its recycled correctly, years ago we managed without it and could do so again but it needs Governments to legislate on such matters moving in the right direction but there is plenty more that could be done

[Ruffy]

As one wit once said:

"So let me get this straight: I go to the supermarket and buy

• Half a pound of sliced ham in a plastic/film container
• A loaf of bread in a plastic bag
• 4 pints of milk in a plastic jug
• A pack of napkins in plastic wrap
• a store-made salad in a plastic tub
• mustard and ketchup in plastic bottles

But they won't give me a plastic bag to carry it all home in because plastic bag is bad for the environment?"

Personally, I don't agree with simply demonising plastic (though I agree many single-use applications deserve further review to see if the benefits outweigh the other effects). However, I do wholeheartedly support demonishing littering and poor waste management. IMHO, recycling should be the norm for things than can be handled that way. But that would mean properly trying to tackle human attitudes, as well as individual and business behaviours. Which is probably far too challenging for most politicians to contemplate, because it inevitably means upsetting, disappointing or otherwise reigning in the conveniences the electorate [have been programmed to] want by rich and influential lobbyists who definitely believe they will lose out massively.

[Sir Trev]

Sadly we cannot escape plastic in our current lifestyle. Part of me would be happy to go back to glass bottles for things like ketchup, but it's heavier and if if breaks it can be deadly. Refilling existing containers for a lower price would never work as too many people are too lazy, making it unprofitable for volume retailers.

Ruffy's quote is spot on and always makes me laugh, especially as I have several plastic bags-for-life that I've been using for years, and will last quite a bit longer yet. Even the old fashioned really thin bags would make several trips to the supermarket before being used as bin liners once tatty in our house.

[Bibio]

Rubbish furnace power plants to me are a good idea as long as its well managed and filtred.