Plastic oceans

[germuhknee]

This article scared the bejeezus out of me:

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/07/26/PlasticSea/

Out of sight, out of mind ...

[klang]

That reminded me of this thing .. a few years old, but still ..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4602285/

Damn, we are messy as a spieces..

[lickmyballssuckmy]

Looks like a job for welfare recipients.

[william]

Originally Posted by germuhknee

This article scared the bejeezus out of me:

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/07/26/PlasticSea/

Out of site, out of mind ...

Years back I was at some remote beach and every so often I saw a discarded water bottle. I started looking out for them and began spotting them everywhere I went. Plastic bags are the rage worldwide. Paper has long fallen out of fashion. Some places you get Paper inside a plastic bag - go figure.

Eh. People like having two cars per family, their own washing machines and dryers, mowers, lawns, fertilizers, driving for all their needs (shopping, post office, work, school)...

[ooda]

On a side note, I wonder how long till it becomes efficient to start dumping waste into the sun. It would be a good way to get rid of the nuclear waste that is lying around.

[germuhknee]

Originally Posted by ooda

On a side note, I wonder how long till it becomes efficient to start dumping waste into the sun. It would be a good way to get rid of the nuclear waste that is lying around.

Maybe we could make an elevator out of plastic to get there.

[ooda]

Originally Posted by germuhknee

Maybe we could make an elevator out of plastic to get there.

The thing with plastic is that it can be recycled, but the problem is that people just don't give a shit anymore. When things get dire on Earth, wait till you see how much money there is in recycling. Landfills are literally gold (and other metals) mines waiting to be uncovered.

[EastTexas]

I would agree that plastic litter is a bad problem, but one of those facts I have to call bullshit on.

Americans alone toss 2.5 million plastic bottles into the sea every hour.

That number can't be right, 60 million bottles a day into the sea?

[william]

What sucks is that our lives and infrastructures are built around packaging.

Everything has a wrapper, a box, a bit of plastic.

I get a phone and it comes with a box worth of garbage.
I order a book from Amazon and I get a box and plastic padding.
I get something from a deli and it comes in a clear plastic container
I buy a bagel and they put it in a bag - without even asking if I need one.
I get take-out Chinese and instead of a cardboard box I get a plastic container.

(btw, if you don't need a bag 'cause you're about to eat or use whatever - tell them)

And then manufactures make it worse - even within their own product line. Look at Palm. Each model Palm uses it's own proprietary docking station so when you upgrade your palm, you need to a new dock.

[paul_r]

Originally Posted by ooda

The thing with plastic is that it can be recycled, but the problem is that people just don't give a shit anymore. When things get dire on Earth, wait till you see how much money there is in recycling. Landfills are literally gold (and other metals) mines waiting to be uncovered.

it's easy you put a 25 cent deposit on a bottle, people will return it or someone else will. it works in Denmark -- and used to work with glass bottles until the companies thought it would be cheaper to not bother, i can remember collecting bottles to buy candy as a kid.