I suspect that reusing bags is causing a lot more health issues than people realize.
3 thoughts on “Plastic”
One of the (unexpected!) effects of the ban on plastic grocery bags: human fecal matter littering the sidewalks. Homeless people used to poop in those plastic bags, and then they would dispose of them … when they had them. They don’t have them any more, so …
I know it is lame to ask for a cite, but do you have any sources or citation on this?
It makes a lot of sense, and corroboration would make this story even better.
I’ve looked at a lot of anti-plastic straw sites, and they have one thing in common: all of their text. And all are complete BS. They all show the same graphic of a barrel of oil, sliced proportionally to the amount of oil used for various purposes. “Chemical feedstocks” is a very tiny percentage. Almost every site quotes the same figures about how the amount of oil diverted to manufacture plastic straws would fuel X millions of cars per year.
The only problem with this is that plastic straws aren’t made from petroleum. They’re made from ethylene in natural gas, a component of natural gas that is incompatible with the NG fuel spec. The narrow cut hydrocarbons in a barrel of oil are used as much higher feedstocks for pharmaceuticals, and specialty resins for epoxies and polyamides. Even natural gas isn’t required for production of polyethylene, but it is a convenient feedstock.
The anti-plastic crowd is blatantly anti-human. They call for “leaving it in the ground” with regard to petroleum and natural gas, on the grounds that plastic bottles and straws will remain in the ground (in landfills) for 500 years or more. Whereas the petroleum and natural gas was in the ground for 500 million years or more. The only difference is that humans took it out, used it to their own benefit, then returned it.
One of the (unexpected!) effects of the ban on plastic grocery bags: human fecal matter littering the sidewalks. Homeless people used to poop in those plastic bags, and then they would dispose of them … when they had them. They don’t have them any more, so …
I know it is lame to ask for a cite, but do you have any sources or citation on this?
It makes a lot of sense, and corroboration would make this story even better.
I’ve looked at a lot of anti-plastic straw sites, and they have one thing in common: all of their text. And all are complete BS. They all show the same graphic of a barrel of oil, sliced proportionally to the amount of oil used for various purposes. “Chemical feedstocks” is a very tiny percentage. Almost every site quotes the same figures about how the amount of oil diverted to manufacture plastic straws would fuel X millions of cars per year.
The only problem with this is that plastic straws aren’t made from petroleum. They’re made from ethylene in natural gas, a component of natural gas that is incompatible with the NG fuel spec. The narrow cut hydrocarbons in a barrel of oil are used as much higher feedstocks for pharmaceuticals, and specialty resins for epoxies and polyamides. Even natural gas isn’t required for production of polyethylene, but it is a convenient feedstock.
The anti-plastic crowd is blatantly anti-human. They call for “leaving it in the ground” with regard to petroleum and natural gas, on the grounds that plastic bottles and straws will remain in the ground (in landfills) for 500 years or more. Whereas the petroleum and natural gas was in the ground for 500 million years or more. The only difference is that humans took it out, used it to their own benefit, then returned it.