Word: plastics
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...POLLUTION 46,000 Estimated number of floating plastic pieces per square mile (2.6 sq km) of ocean, according to a 2006 U.N. study 56.5 million Tons of plastic (51.3 million metric tons) produced...
Watching someone carefully rinsing out a spent mustard packet doesn't sound like entertainment, but in Japan it's big-time television. On a recent segment of Tokyo's popular morning show Hanamaru Market, a waste-recycling expert submerged a flimsy plastic packet in a tub of water, gently allowing water in and out to rinse it clean. A host of the segment stood by, watching intently, and asked if it was necessary to use soap. No, said the expert, water and a little elbow grease are all it requires...
...some proponents of anti-plastic measures seem misinformed. “Any environmentalist would argue when push comes to shove, paper is better for the environment than plastic,” says Maria Blanchard, Press Secretary to Massachusetts State Senator Brian Joyce, who wants to introduce a statewide tax on plastic bags in his home state. The senator’s office needs to check its facts: According to ReusableBags.com, an organization founded to promote the use of canvas sacks, plastic bags take four times less energy to produce and 91 percent less energy to recycle than paper, and Professor...
...likely upshot of banning plastic is an increase in the use of paper bags, which cost more energy to produce and take up more space than plastic. Supposedly, paper is better anyway, because it has a higher recycling rate than plastic—around 20 percent versus a rather dismal one percent. But the comparison is not entirely apt: The country currently uses only 7 billion paper sacks per year, compared to 100 billion plastic bags. And paper has an organic, green image, making its users more likely to be the recycling type. When the average consumer, no more...
...most importantly, a ban is the one sure way to stop progress in its tracks. Modern plastic bags are the most environmentally friendly yet: They thinned down a third between 1977 and 1990, and have even started to appear in biodegradable form (at least these compostable bags are exempt from the San Francisco ban). Banning the product removes the incentive to improve it, just as it discourages individuals from educating themselves about their choices. Environmentalists need to reflect upon these long-term consequences before they charge in with sledgehammers to kill flies. Their current mentality?...