Channel 4 News had a nice idea when covering the Opening of Parliament. The only shots they showed of the Queen making her speech was the brief reference to plastic bags -- which says it all about this government!
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To hell in a (plastic) handbag, peut-être? - or maybe a warning that the government of the day shouldn't get too carriered away? Either could arguably be said about not only this but many past UK governments, methinks!Originally posted by Ferretfancy View PostComment
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I think, in this instance, it says more about Channel 4.Originally posted by Ferretfancy View PostComment
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Moderately interesting - with quotes:Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
Nearly doubled? Does that mean that 3 cases became 5, or that 5000 became 9999?Professor Pennington's comments come after a study by University of Pennsylvania revealed that since San Francisco banned the use of plastic bags in 2007, hospitalisations and deaths from foodborne illnesses have nearly doubled.
Penn Law professor, Jonathan Klick, found that eight per cent of reusable shopping bags contain E.coli and that 97 per cent of people admit to never washing their reusable bags.
I didn't think anyone put raw meat into their bags for life - or does that mean meat wrapped in paper or plastic, which is how butchers round here sell it. Indeed, on reflection, do any sellers still use paper?
It never occurred to me to wash any of the bags we have.Comment
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Nor me: most of what I get is sealed one way or another - even unwrapped bananas and apples, unless one eats the skins!Originally posted by Dave2002 View PostComment
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This is quite an interesting article about the "plastic soup" - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29631332Comment
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And here is a TED talk on the same issue - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROW9F-c0kIQOriginally posted by Dave2002 View Post
You may not agree with all of the ideas, but maybe they'll make you think.Comment
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An amazing sounding person; his dedication, commitment & enthusiasm would be impressive whatever his age. There is an element of truth in the criticism that he's tackling the 'wrong end' of the problem, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't do it - it is an element of the solution. I'd go further than those who say we should concentrate on removing it from rivers before it gets to the sea; we need to stop it getting into the environment generally, which can only be done by a) stopping producing so much, b) recycling more of what is produced, and c) stopping people discarding it into the environment. Plastic bag 'charges' or 'taxes' will be a (albeit small) part of doing that. It's a jigsaw, & every little piece is important & helps make up the complete picture.Originally posted by Dave2002 View PostComment
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I agree about the enthusiasm of the young inventor/scientist. We should encourage people like him.
Scotland has now imposed the 5p per bag charge, a few mixed reactions - http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/sc...lastic-4471923
England still intends to introduce a bag levy in October 2015 - a move which I still oppose without further discussion - https://www.gov.uk/government/polici...c-carrier-bags
This article points out some of the difficulties with so-called bio-degradable bags - http://myzerowaste.com/2009/06/biode...arm-than-good/ [The original Guardian article on which that is based is no longer available.]
I am still somewhat opposed to the 5p charge. I agree that there are environmental problems, and the difficulty with the ocean polution is significant. What I am now a lot less convinced of is that this measure will actually make a difference to the major problems. There is evidence from Ireland and Wales that the take up of bags by customers to supermarkets has reduced significantly as a result of charging regimes in those countries, and probably Scotland will follow suit. However, what is not certain and probably not studied is what consumers will use instead, and whether their behaviour will change in ways which will overall reduce the amount of plastic in the external environment.
One interviewee in the Daily Record article suggested that he would be buying his own plastic bags for refuse, and I suspect many of us will do the same. The net contribution to the plastic "load" on the environment could actually be more, depending on what consumers actually do. For example, if I switch to heavy duty plastic bags - which is a possibility - and others do likewise, the plastic "out there" could increase. We are now learning that this stuff "gets around", and if it doesn't actually degrade into something relatively harmless, then it will cause major problems in years to come.
Possibly some of the problems are exacerbated by poor waste handling procedures - about which most of us know fairly little. In some areas we may assume that once we have put our refuse in bins, or recycling centres for some material, that it will be handled appropriately, but this is not always the case. If plastic is simply put into, or onto, landfill dumps, then it can still get out into the wider environment. OK - that's "not our problem" - or at least that would be the view of many in our society, but in fact it is still a problem for which we are responsible if our agents are not dealing with these issues appropriately.
I doubt that very many people who have to pay the 5p extra bag levy even understand what it is all about, or whether it is important or significant.Comment
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