Disposal in the green age

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Moonwicky said:
Proud snowflake checking in here. These bag bans are primarily about reducing the litter that results when these bags are carelessly disposed of, and not as much about reducing the use of plastic (though it is a positive side-effect). Yes, most people are responsible about their bag usage (we save ours and use them for all sorts of things, and then recycle the ones we don't end up using) but when people get careless with the empty bags they tend to linger in the environment for a very long time, like most plastics.

The profit margins on plastic bags (bin liners and such) is typically minuscule, and I suspect most retailers would prefer to cater to the convenience of their customers by continuing to offer the plastic disposable shopping bags. It doesn't really make sense for retailers to get excited about these bans. The fact is, due to the carelessness of some, it becomes necessary to ban the bags outright in order to prevent them from becoming yet another form of non-biodegradeable litter.

Finally, I'm sure I'm not the only one in this community that would appreciate it if we could keep the cynicism and snowflake-slander in check. Thanks. :D
I am very direct in the way I talk that is my nature... By the way those reusable shopping bags the so called "green" bags are laden with toxic chemicals like lead and have e coli from the use over and over again and if you do not wash your hands when you go to the bathroom and touch those handles your spreading it even more and no Hand sanitizer is not a replacement for soap & water. There is another thing that will kill your liver that hand sanitizer stuff! Im the guy with the can of lysol spraying down my shopping cart before a thing gets put in it . The green way of living actually does more harm than good in my opinion.
 
Another thing about hand sanitizer, and maybe even Lysol spray, is that you're doing more harm than good by not getting any germs in your body, and therefore your body can not fight bad stuff when it really needs to. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=118140
 
12srepaid: totally with you on the sanitizer. In Europe they felt out of fashion. I agree about the chemical in the bags. Around here a lot of investments are made in green reusable bags and the supermarket would gladly support that approach as a real alternative. Seeing in the last 20-30 the process that has been made (recycling, more natural materials, landfills not allowed anymore in my country, burning trash generates heat for houses, most energy efficient engines and appliances, etc...), it is overall positive. Of course there are still areas that need to be improved but those issues are known and in progress.


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12srepaid said:
Another thing about hand sanitizer, and maybe even Lysol spray, is that you're doing more harm than good by not getting any germs in your body, and therefore your body can not fight bad stuff when it really needs to. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=118140

you need to get on youtube and watch george carlin's stand-up on Germs
 
bambinod said:
you need to get on youtube and watch george carlin's stand-up on Germs

That, and read most any medical paper/journal written on germ exposure in the last ten years.

Attempting to always rid one's environment of germs actually hurts your immune system. Much like if you never flex a muscle it will get weaker. Periodically exposing yourself to everyday germs actually exercises your immune system to keep it, and you, more healthy.
 
Slomo said:
That, and read most any medical paper/journal written on germ exposure in the last ten years.

Attempting to always rid one's environment of germs actually hurts your immune system. Much like if you never flex a muscle it will get weaker. Periodically exposing yourself to everyday germs actually exercises your immune system to keep it, and you, more healthy.
Funny you mention muscles boy I found a new one today during physical therapy dang the sucker hurts now! OUCH!
 
Moonwicky said:
Proud snowflake checking in here. These bag bans are primarily about reducing the litter that results when these bags are carelessly disposed of, and not as much about reducing the use of plastic (though it is a positive side-effect). Yes, most people are responsible about their bag usage (we save ours and use them for all sorts of things, and then recycle the ones we don't end up using) but when people get careless with the empty bags they tend to linger in the environment for a very long time, like most plastics.

The profit margins on plastic bags (bin liners and such) is typically minuscule, and I suspect most retailers would prefer to cater to the convenience of their customers by continuing to offer the plastic disposable shopping bags. It doesn't really make sense for retailers to get excited about these bans. The fact is, due to the carelessness of some, it becomes necessary to ban the bags outright in order to prevent them from becoming yet another form of non-biodegradeable litter.

Finally, I'm sure I'm not the only one in this community that would appreciate it if we could keep the cynicism and snowflake-slander in check. Thanks. :D

I agree the snowflake hate is a bit extreme and unproductive.
 
Slomo said:
That, and read most any medical paper/journal written on germ exposure in the last ten years.

Attempting to always rid one's environment of germs actually hurts your immune system. Much like if you never flex a muscle it will get weaker. Periodically exposing yourself to everyday germs actually exercises your immune system to keep it, and you, more healthy.

Like the man said, "Your immune system needs germs to practice on!"
 
Just a 2 cent contribution to this topic. Here many people wrap adult diapers in old newspapers (normal trash bags are taxed, but diapers can be disposed freely if in a transparent bag or if you write on the bag that it is diaper, but this rule is depending on the cities).

Else about the plastic bags and environment issue, while I agree that it is all about money (although I feel less than about all the war/defense/insecurity issues that we hear about daily, but this is another debate), I had the chance in a previous job to dive in a submersible 5500 meter depths in a place that no man ever visited (not difficult to find at this depth), and the very first thing I saw arriving at the bottom was a plastic bag. Of course, you could say it makes hard substrate for organisms to live on but I still find it terribly sad and revealing of how we trash our world. To go back to the diaper topic, at similar depth, we actually also collected some baby diaper a few year later and actually it was full of life as I guess some organisms liked the 3D structure, but this is far not enough to balance the negative issues of littering...
 
Hasn't there been any sort of development on degradable 'plastics'? All we need is something that would break down over time--perhaps after getting wet--but holding together plenty long for normal use. Perhaps a week or two or even a few months after the initial wetting? Sell small bags that also break down and you'll have a greener option for diapers.
 
PaddedDeist said:
Hasn't there been any sort of development on degradable 'plastics'?

The big two that I'm familiar with are those that break down in the presence of UV light and those that can be decomposed by bacteria/fungus. They all have their limits - a UV-degrading plastic won't degrade if buried. (because no sunlight) The bacteria plastics are either aerobic or anaerobic, meaning they either require air or don't want it. And they won't work in the opposite situation. (buried or not buried) So there's no one plastic that's universally biodegradable.
 
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Plastics that break down need to be made from biological materials, not from oil. Currently, bio-plastics are very limited in durability, and they actually start breaking down as soon as they are made They are not suited for use as a diaper shell.
 
Damn, there needs to be more work in this area.
 
PaddedDeist said:
Damn, there needs to be more work in this area.

There's a LOT of work going on in this area, there just aren't a lot of solutions being rapidly found. It's a hard problem. 99.99% of research doesn't pan out. You have to do it a lot to get even one success.
 
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