this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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We need oil gas and plastics. Oil and gas in the short/ medium term (meaning 10-20 years) but plastics potentially for the foreseeable
we have alternative energy sources and so oil and gas should be (needs to be) the priority to wean off of but the scaling up of these needs to be properly managed
Plastics I do not see an alternative to as an end product, however it is possible to use "bio sources" to make plastic precursors so there's a route through there but the scaling is nowhere right now
Single use plastics are a viable target but durable plastics I think are with us for the long term
I just want there to be some sense in the regulations. I'm from the US so that's rare, but banning plastic straws seems pretty silly when almost every product at the store is packaged in giant clamshell packaging that turn into razor blades when you open them. Paper and cardboard packaging should be required for most products.
What products do we use durable plastics for, and are there reasonable alternatives?
As far as I can tell the straw ban really gained steam after that Sea Turtle Video of someone pulling a straw out of it's nose. They are dangerous to wildlife all over, and aren't necessary. Didn't Starbucks create some sort of sip top?
Some examples: Parts of your chosen form of transport, a decent portion of your mobile phone/laptop/pc, bits of your shoes. The guttering on your home. The lining of your fridge
If you make a special effort to look for it, you'll find durable plastics all around you. Perhaps their ubiquity makes them disappear a bit
Ofc plastics can be made from sources other than petrochem and that needs to be pushed in the same way as alternative energy, but none are decently scaled yet
I don't think too many people are really against durable plastics
There are renewable resource based plastics, like PLA that is used in 3D printers.