209

How will we ever get away from plastics when they are ubiquitous for safety (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by littlecolt@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

107 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Plastic seals food, sterile medical implements, medicine, beverages, etc... it's seems like plastic is used as a way to seal things safely. Post pandemic rising, I see even more. My work used to be have plastic utensils in the cafeteria, for example, an already wasteful thing. Now, post-2020, every fork, knife, and spoon is individually wrapped in a plastic wrapper. I feel like the more my desire to escape plastic intensifies, the more plastic I see all around me everywhere.

How can we get away from plastic as a safety layer?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] 0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

The solution is not perfect though...

Life cycle analysis studies show that some bioplastics can be made with a lower carbon footprint than their fossil counterparts, for example when biomass is used as raw material and also for energy production. However, other bioplastics' processes are less efficient and result in a higher carbon footprint than fossil plastics.

[-] PupBiru@kbin.social 22 points 1 year ago

the plastic problem is separate from the carbon problem though… we don’t ban plastics because we’re concerned about climate change; we ban them because we are worried that microplastics are causing significant health effects to both humans and most other animals

[-] 0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Still, there is that other thing to worry about as well. The eco system is a system, doesn't depend on one thing only.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Likewise, we will always have products and processes which have some carbon footprint. The hope is that we have enough others that don’t or are carbon negative that the net effect is one of balance.

[-] PupBiru@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

of course, but they are complex problems and you shouldn’t poo poo a potential mitigation to 1 because it negatively impacts another

the solutions to complex problems shouldn’t require being solutions to every complex problem

[-] Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 year ago

Obviously. I doubt bioplastic had even 1/100 of the money and research of their fossil counterparts.

[-] 0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

That might also be true.

this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2023

209 points (94.8% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27277 readers

1613 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.