Minimizing plastic

[Avenged7Fold]

Not a groundbreaking idea, nothing particularly exciting but one we should all think about.

I am not talking about going plastic free or touting the ideal that no one should use plastic ever but rather looking at it from a practical sense.

A friend of mine and his missus has gone as plastic free as they can, when it comes to disposable items/containers. He tries to buy plastics which can be more easily recycled if he cant avoid buying stuff that comes in a plastic bottle. He said the hardest change was toiletries, as it was difficult to get them in a enviro-friendly packaging and that the amount of non recyclable plastic that he built up before the change was staggering.

I go to a variety of retail/trade shows and have seen the crazy amount of plastic and general waste comes out of a temporary stand setup, something that happens weekly at exhibition centers. Literately several square miles of carpet use to be thrown away in between shows (now i believe they recycle a lot of it).


I've often tried to minimize plastic and was wondering if others in GD do the sames and to what extent?

I have been to small shops in other countries where people bring in their own re-usable container for food and drink. Do we like our flash packaging too much for this to ever be commonplace here?

Our attitude for litter seems to be appalling too, i certainly didn't care when i was a kid but now nothing annoys me more.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Things like bans and such work for targeting specific issues like micro-bead cosmetic purchasing inside the country but an attitude shift is what we are in need of. Though we have taken a big change in attitude over the years, we are still wasteful and there is a long way to go. There is a bring your own container movement in some countries but i just cant see it happening here.

I'm trying to reduce my plastic consumption, but it's really difficult at times. Also I'm not sure why I'm bothering since I also eat plenty of meat and that's probably far more harmful to the environment.

Taking the attitude of not bothering because you don't go all the way is a bit much. You bother because it will make at least a little difference somewhere, even if that difference is unnoticed by you and the somewhere is somewhere else.

Meat industry is terrible for the environment but in a different way. There the issue lies with quantity and how we treat it as an every day necessity. The carbon footprint of the meat industry is huge but the issue is obviously a very different one to plastic. People love to complain about how expensive meat is and also acknowledge farmers don't earn enough but the big supermarkets are often made to look like the bad guy but it is the consumer that ultimately decides the market.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

To be honest, i don't normally need to inspect my food before i buy it. Usually the picture on the cardboard box and my imagination is good enough for me

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Saw a few kickstarter things recently about normal everyday disposable plastic objects being replaced with equivalent plant matter versions. I don't think these projects are saving the day any time soon on their own but they are certainly doing their bit in changing cultural attitudes behind plastic by just making the anti-plastic waste industry larger.

There the cassava root 'i am not plastic' bags and the quite cool edible cutlery designed to do away with plastic (both you can eat them after one go or wash and reuse for months!)