BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: GUEST,dianavan
Date: 07 Aug 08 - 04:07 AM

I once saw a photograph of a Chinese landscape where there were shredded plastic bags hanging from a leafless tree.

Apparently they are picked up by the wind and deposited everywhere. I know that, at sea, ducks and other animals pick at them and discard them. Some are not so lucky and are suffocated by bits that lodge in their throats or craws. As a child I walked the Pacific beaches at low tide and saw no plastic. Now its littered with plastic and dead animals, especially ducks and birds.

Plastic must be reduced. The best way to do that is to wash and re-use what you already have. We did without plastic bags for a long time and we can get by without them in the future. Its not exactly a basic necessity.

Are we really so far gone as a culture that we can't live without plastic bags?

Pay attention to your shopping. Many of those plastic containers can, at least be re-cycled. Advocate for re-cycling programs in your community and use them. Choose food that is not pre-packaged.

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 07 Aug 08 - 04:34 AM

Plastic must be reduced. The best way to do that is to wash and re-use what you already have.

The best way to do that is for the manufacturers to stop producing it. The Recycling Myth is where the onus is placed on the consumers rather than the assholes who produce this shit in the first place. The bottom line is there should be none of this rubbish to recycle! It's up to governments to act on this; to either do something about it, or don't, but either way stop feeding domestic consumers all this bullshit about recycling.

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Aug 08 - 05:02 AM

There is a street market near us that has a small square with a few trees in it. These trees are always full of shredded bags and because the cheapest available are blue, white or blue and white striped, the effect last winter was quite dramatic - as if the trees had been decorated tastefully for Christmas.

Of course, decorating trees with shredded plastic is never tasteful, but the visual image was quite stark and gave a good example of what these bags get up to when they're let loose into the world.

The leaves hide these bags in summer, but they'll still be there, in a couple of months time.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Aug 08 - 10:42 AM

If everything I discarded went out to the curb, it will easily fill a trash can. Because I recycle I'd say that about 80% of my trash never makes it to the curb, it goes in recycle bins or compost. If I had a burning barrel (not good for the air, but efficient) I probably wouldn't have anything going out to the curb.

When I was a kid we had a two-burner black and white wood burning stove called a "trash burner" in the kitchen and when I visit friends who live in rural areas in Washington, a lot of older homes still have them. They're small but if you have a blower on the stack they are a good source of heat and you can heat water or cook on top of them if you're burning wood in winter.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: mouldy
Date: 08 Aug 08 - 05:47 AM

I saw a cartoon in Private Eye yesterday on the effort to reduce use of plastic bags - it had 3 people walking out of a supermarket with carrier bags. Each had an arrow pointing upwards to the person holding it, and a rather less than complimentary slogan printed on it - "Wasteful B*st*rd", Environment Hating Swine", and "Global Warming Is All My Fault".

I thought there might be an opening there for some enterpreneur who didn't want to make any more money!!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 Aug 08 - 11:12 PM

I am a great advocate and user of reusable bags. Apart from the fact that they keep you from being strangled by plastic bags, they hold more, and rip less than plastic bags, and are much easier to carry.

If you should happen to be in a situation where it is necessary to walk to the market, the advantages of a reusable bag, particularly one with outsized handles, or even a shoulder strap, become immediately apparent.

If I can't pack the bags myself at the market, I arrange them on the belt the way I want them bagged.

Even at that though, I have no illusions about saving the planet.

The way that foods are packaged has to be changed(the trend toward individually packaged portions often means that packaging costs more than the food does) , as does the fact that many food items are shipped great distances, requiring an l expenditure of
fuel, that, again, costs more than the food.

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 08 Aug 08 - 11:45 PM

Growing up there was us 5 siblings and 2 parents ..... I don't think we ever fully filled a small garbage can per week.

I dunno ... why is it these days you see an average of 2+ hefty sized plastic garbage bags full sitting on the curb on garbage day where there is a houshold consisting of 2 kids and 2 adults.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Aug 08 - 01:36 AM

Because they toss everything with no understanding of what it means to recycle. My next door neighbor lives by herself and has a large bag at the curb usually twice a week. I make a weekly trip to the recycle center in Fort Worth. That is the difference right there. I guess I need to teach her how to recycle then take her stuff, with mine, to the recycle center.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 09 Aug 08 - 08:59 AM

Check this link out .... it relates very well to this thread.

This is the work of Chris Jordon, a photographer out of Seattle.

chris jordon

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Aug 08 - 09:59 AM

I read about or heard an interview with him a couple of years ago. Patience is clearly his strongest suit when it comes to creating these images.

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: DMcG
Date: 10 Aug 08 - 04:39 AM

Maybe, but since there are tools like Mazaika it may take less patience than it first seems.

Subject: RE: BS: ASDA & the Recycling Myth
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Aug 08 - 08:53 AM

I find it difficult to use the 'green' bags - their capacity is much larger than a supermarket plastic bag, and the young checkout chickybabes pack them so full that I cannot lift them. It's not just weakness due to rapidly approaching old age; I have shoulder, elbow and wrist problems. If I ask for less to be put in, and more bags used (I have plenty) I get the death stare and the big sigh. Obviously the training for store employees needs to be addressed in this regard!

Small wonder, then, that I prefer to shop online even for groceries.

Our local council area has a recycling program that we participate in, it's not difficult - make it easy enough and people will do it.

Cheers
JennieG