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#single use plastic
reasonsforhope · 1 year
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YES, PLASTIC BAG BANS HELP PREVENT POLLUTION REALLY WELL
"Plastic bags are everywhere - littering our streets, clogging up our rivers, and choking wildlife in the ocean.
But after years of campaigning from environmental groups, many places have banned them entirely.
Over 100 countries now have a full or partial ban on single-use plastic bags. Between 2010 and 2019, the number of public policies intended to phase out plastic carryout bags tripled.
The results of such tough rules are starting to show.
What is a plastic bag ban?
A plastic bag ban is a law that restricts the use of lightweight plastic bags in shops. Sometimes they are totally banned, and sometimes consumers have to pay a fee to buy them.
The bans often only apply to thin plastic bags, with thicker, reusable ones still available for purchase.
Bangladesh became the first country to introduce a ban on plastic bags back in 2002.
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Such total bans are common throughout Africa and Asia. These areas import much of the Global North’s ‘recyclable’ rubbish and so face the consequences of plastic mismanagement more acutely.
In addition to plastic bags, many countries ban other types of single-use plastic like in the EU which has got rid of single use cutlery, straws, balloon sticks, and coffee buds.
Which European countries use the most plastic bags?
In Europe, 18 countries have imposed bans on thin plastic bags - including France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, and Albania.
A further 23 countries require consumers to pay a fee. Two more - Switzerland and Norway - allow the plastic industry to impose a ‘voluntary charge’ on the use of the bags.
Plastic bag consumption is highest in the Baltic and Nordic countries, Eurostat data from 2019 reveals. Latvia (284 bags per person, per year) and Lithuania (332) consumed far more plastic bags than any other European country. This could change, however as from 2025, Latvian shops will no longer be permitted to give away free plastic bags. A similar prohibition will come into force in Lithuania this year.
The lowest plastic bag usage can be found in Portugal (8), Belgium (17) and Poland (23).  Portugal banned the bags in 2021, two years after Poland. [Note: To be clear, that is 8 plastic bags per person per year! Way lower than I thought was currently possible!]
Do plastic bag bans work?
Plastic bag bans have so far been highly successful. A ban on thin plastic bags in California reduced consumption by 71.5 per cent.
Research shows that taxes work too. According to a 2019 review of existing studies, levies and taxes led to a 66 per cent reduction in usage in Denmark, more than 90 per cent in Ireland, between 74 and 90 per cent in South Africa, Belgium, Hong Kong, Washington D.C., Santa Barbara, the UK and Portugal, and around 50 per cent in Botswana and China.
And the impact is visible on the ground too.
At a 2022 annual beach clean in New Jersey, US - where a ban was recently introduced - the number of plastic bags collected dropped 37 per cent on the previous year. Straws and takeaway containers dropped by a similar amount.
“It’s really, really encouraging to see those numbers trending down for the bags, straws, and foam containers,” said Clean Ocean Action Executive Director Cindy Zipf. Clean Ocean Action is a charity that is instrumental in organising the beach clean."
-via EuroNews.Green, 4/5/23
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brooklynmuseum · 1 year
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Diamonds are forever, but so is plastic trash. 🎣💞
Look closely and you’ll see these lovely lures are no ordinary bait and tackle. As part of DEATH TO THE LIVING, Long Live Trash, Duke Riley fashioned DIY fishing lures out of plastic collected from the Brooklyn waterfront as well as trash from the streets of New York City.The tube of lipstick at-center seems quite apropos. Happy #ValentinesDay, everyone! 
See the inventive ways Riley salvaged single-use plastic in the context of contemporary environmental dilemmas as part of #DukeRileyBkM through April 23. 
📷 Courtesy of Duke Riley Studio 
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The B.C. government says several single-use plastic items will be phased out by December as part of new rules aimed at tackling plastic pollution.
On Friday, provincial Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman announced details of the new rules, which have been in the works since an intentions paper on the issue was published last April.
Starting in December, single-use items such as plastic shopping bags, disposable food service accessories, oxo-degradable plastics and food service packaging made of polystyrene foam, PVC, PVDC, compostable or biodegradable plastics will no longer be allowed to be sold in B.C.
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Tagging: @politicsofcanada
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kp777 · 1 year
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hope-for-the-planet · 2 years
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By the end of 2025, Coors six packs will be packaged in a cardboard alternative to six pack rings.
The company also aims to complete five other environmental goals by 2025, including reducing greenhouse gas production by 50%, brewing beer and growing barely with less water, 100% renewable and recyclable packaging, and restoring water to local watersheds. 
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llilmisstoomuchh · 13 days
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Love Letter to the Pacific
24” x 48”
Mixed Media: acrylic, yarn, jeans, zippers, dried moss, plaster, waste plastic, shells, rocks, molding paste.
2023
Created by Me
By far, my coolest, craziest, most thought provoking piece of art. It took over 200 hours and is my pride and joy.
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bacteriaeatingmybrain · 11 months
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I found myself feeling guilty about how the plastic of medication bottles is hard if not impossible to recycle, and how my daily injections come in individual vials for each day, and the syringes, and their wrapping. But that’s fucked up and I have to remind myself,
No one should ever feel bad about the trash their medications create.
No one. I don’t care how much single use plastic it takes.
Your life is worth more than the trash you create
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wild-at-mind · 1 year
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Why are some online people still carrying on an imaginary crusade against the eeeeeevil environmental activists who salivate at the thought of banning all the plastic in the world so disabled people who need it can’t use it? I assumed everyone understood the plastic drinking straw ban to be a very token gesture by governments, as in ‘ok we will ban this one plastic product to try and look virtuous’ and instead of being like ‘this is a token gesture to distract from how governments are not doing anything about these massive environmental issues’, people went ‘FUCK these environmental activists for demanding the plastic drinking straw be banned!’ It’s weird because online people are normally pretty good at spotting that kind of distraction tactic by governments and corporations. When it comes to where the idea for the ban actually came from, I had a look because I didn’t know, but had a feeling it wasn’t any of the big lobbying groups. Sure enough the issue was apparently originally raised by a 9 year old in the US. With all respect to that kid (who is an adult now), it does seem like the kind of thing that would get picked up by the press as a cute story and turned into policy.
It is a shit situation to have to bring your own plastic drinking straw around everywhere you might have a drink, I sympathise greatly. And I’m not saying no individual activist has ever been shitty about this, or not understood why a disabled person might need a plastic drinking straw. But in my experience, environmental activists don’t really talk much about individual plastic products, or do much about it beyond making their own choices to use refill shops etc, if they are able to do so. Generally the hot button debates are things like: nuclear power, yay or nay? Kind of bigger picture stuff, you know?
I was so surprised that the online consensus was that environmental activists were out to destroy everything disabled poeple need. I kind of worry that bystanders, who are not involved in IRL environmental activism and are not disabled themselves, will just assume that this is the case. I really, really do not think that it is, and also like with my post about JSO I want to caution against the idea that any change will be bad for social justice reasons...no. What we actually need to do is have a system where people use things according to their need. If only disabled people drove cars along the road outside my house, my lungs would not be in the state they are. (The pollution grime collects thick on my windows.) Imagine if we had a trust system, where only people who needed to use something we may someday have a very limited supply of used it, and people who had other options that were slightly less convenient used those? I don’t know if such a thing is possible in the society we currently have, because of the way people are, but I can dream. But you see how you can get into a trap of thinking ‘changing something could be bad so we should change nothing’. The all or nothing approach is the problem.
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environmentday · 10 months
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‘Toxic tidal wave’ of plastic pollution putting human rights at risk.
The appeal comes as countries continue negotiations towards an international treaty on plastic pollution, and ahead of World Environment Day on 5 June.
“Plastic production has increased exponentially over recent decades and today the world is generating 400 million tonnes of plastic waste yearly,” said David R. Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, and Marcos Orellana, Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights.
“We are in the middle of an overwhelming toxic tidal wave as plastic pollutes our environment and negatively impacts human rights in a myriad of ways over its life cycle.”
A dangerous ‘cycle’
The experts outlined how all stages of the “plastics cycle” are harmful to people’s rights to a healthy environment, life, health, food, water and an adequate standard of living.
Plastic production releases hazardous substances and almost exclusively relies on fossil fuels, and plastic itself contains toxic chemicals which put humans and nature at risk.  Furthermore, 85 per cent of single use plastics end up in landfills or dumped in the environment.
Meanwhile, incineration, recycling and other “false and misleading solutions” only aggravate the threat, they added, noting that “plastic, microplastic and the hazardous substances they contain can be found in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe.”
Suffering in ‘sacrifice zones’
The statement also addressed how marginalized communities are most affected by exposure to plastic-related pollution and waste.
“We are particularly concerned about groups suffering from environmental injustices due to heightened exposure to plastic pollution, many of them living in 'sacrifice zones'”, they said, referring to locations near facilities such as open-pit mines, petroleum refineries, steel plants and coal-fired power stations.
Plastic pollution has also made an “alarming” contribution to climate change, which is often overlooked, according to the experts.  “For instance, plastic particles found in oceans limit the ability of marine ecosystems to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere,” they said.
As Special Rapporteurs, Mr. Boyd and Mr. Orellana receive their mandates from the UN Human Rights Council.  They are not UN staff and are not paid for their work.
They noted that over the past two years, the Council and the UN General Assembly have adopted landmark resolutions recognising the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, which should prompt and guide initiatives to address plastic pollution.
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© UNDP/Sumaya Agha
A woman sorts plastic at a recycling plant in Jordan.
Treaty negotiations underway
They also welcomed progress towards an internationally binding treaty to turn the tide on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.  The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) projects that the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems could reach some 23 to 37 million tonnes per year by 2040.
Negotiations continued this week in Paris, following on from an initial session held last year in Uruguay.
Speaking during the opening on Monday, UNEP chief Inger Andersen bluntly stated that “we cannot recycle our way out of this mess”, adding that “only elimination, reduction, a full life-cycle approach, transparency and a just transition can bring success.”
The second meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-2) will conclude on Friday, and delegates have a deadline to agree a treaty by 2024.
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timmurleyart · 1 year
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Plastic, plastic, plastic. 🗑🥤🌍💵❌☠️
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k00279452 · 1 year
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Digital Cut Out Animation
Carrying on the images of the bag and water bottle fish , i created an cut out animation . I wanted to use the leftover prints i made for the cyanotype.
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I planned a story board, visualizing the composition. I wanted the apocalyptic fish going in the opposite direction of the bag , to represent the disruption of the natural environment. The black and white has an eerie quality to it , while the hint of blue on the plastic bag draws attention to it , showings it doesn't belong.
I created the water sound in my sink at home and added it on through premiere pro . I liked how it turned out , ideally I would like there to be more going on , but it would take too long and I don’t have that time . The movement of the fish are a little ridged.
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shreygoyal · 2 years
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Three in four people worldwide want single-use plastics to be banned as soon as possible
“The onus and opportunity is now on governments to adopt a global plastics treaty ... so we can eliminate plastic pollution.”
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brooklynmuseum · 2 years
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Found plastics become mosaics, sculptures, fishing lures, and more in order to tell the tale of local pollution and global maritime devastation in "DEATH TO THE LIVING, Long Live Trash."⁠ ⁠ Opening on June 17, this exhibition connects the history of American maritime art to present-day issues of environmental justice and the pollution of New York waterways. Featuring 250 new and recent works by Brooklyn-based artist Duke Riley, the artworks on view use materials collected from beaches in the northeastern United States to tell a tale of both local pollution and global marine devastation.⁠ ⁠ Learn more about the materials, the messaging and maritime history that inspired Duke Riley. #DukeRileyBkM
https://bit.ly/DukeRileyBkM
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A Montreal municipal bylaw banning the use of single-use plastic items comes into effect today, with glasses, stir sticks, straws and utensils among the items that will be prohibited.
The ban also applies to polystyrene or compostable plastic products, whether used on-site in restaurants or for takeout, with the only exception being trays for raw meat and fish.
The bylaw was passed 18 months ago and covers the 19 boroughs that make up the city of Montreal, with officials estimating some 8,400 businesses will be affected.
There are certain exceptions, including for non-profit groups like charities or organizations that deliver meals to vulnerable people. [...]
Continue Reading.
Tagging: @politicsofcanada
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bumblebeeappletree · 2 years
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California’s new law could eliminate 23 million tons of single-use plastic by 2032 — here's how ♻️
#Earth #Environment #ClimateCrisis #NowThis
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smol-beans-things · 1 year
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I am so tired of unavoidable plastics
The way the world has made it near impossible for me to avoid single use plastics bothers me so much sometimes. And while I'm aware that the majority of pollution in oceans and such are from Big Business, I'd still like to step away from throwing away so much plastic.
There is seemingly so very little I can consume without plastic needing to be thrown away. Even bulk items come with the little plastic fruit and veggie stickers. Farmers markets in my area exist only in summer and unrealistically far away. There are NO zero waste bulk stores near me. 😔 I do what I can because it feels right, but it's frustrating to have so much plastic in my garbage and know that my area doesn't recycle. (And if you want to, you ha e to pay to do it).
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