BS: Plastic pollution

Subject: BS: Plastic pollution
From: r.padgett
Date: 24 Mar 26 - 10:26 AM

"A necropsy revealed what was behind the whale's failing health: an 11-inch plastic bag lodged in its stomach, along with a parasitic infestation. According to the research team, these factors "may have contributed to digestive blockage." yahoo news current

I find that "need a bag" is still prevalent in uk stores ~ this is imv terrible and the source of very many one use bags ~ yes some are recycled but very many according to statistics end up in rivers, canals, sewage and the sea

The issue was ignored the last tine it was brought up officially time for some desperate legal measures

Yes many now take a "bag for life" or simply a re useable one ~get into the habit and take one with you

Ray (uk)

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Mar 26 - 10:43 AM

For years there have been articles and videos about animals dying of plastic, either trapped by it or so full of it they can't absorb calories. Here's a quick Google search on necropsy photos animals with plastic in stomach. Most, but not all, are marine animals.

The back seat of my car is full of cloth tote bags for shopping. Even with those it is possible to end up with a lot of plastic making its way into the house. Around the US there are municipalities and counties that have outlawed the disposable bags. And of course pushback from some states that made laws saying their cities and counties can't ban them. Stupidity on the books.

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: r.padgett
Date: 24 Mar 26 - 12:28 PM

This is about the level of ignorance and stupidity of everyone from MPs and housewives on plastic pollution and the sewage pollution and corrupt set up of water and sewage treatment in the UK

Just like the dependency we have on oil and its plastic derivatives

One way could be Hemp products but apparently this is also a drug!

However thinking needs to be awakened

Ray

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Mar 26 - 07:32 PM

The ranchers and farmers here in Idaho don't care for plastic bags. They find them in the fields and range lands, inside calves and mature beef cattle, the dairy farmers lose good milkers, and even the potato farmers find the things inside their machinery...some of which is in the USD500,000 range to replace. The things melt inside machinery and bugger it up something awful and awfully expensive to fix.

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: Pappy Fiddle
Date: 24 Mar 26 - 10:50 PM

I take a couple of cardboard boxes to the grocery store. They fit in the cart. They have handle holes (reinforced by me) so I can just lift them out and put them on the counter. Cashier can just scan the items right in the boxes. Boxes go out to the car. At home they go into the kitchen (well, I have to carry 'em there)

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: r.padgett
Date: 25 Mar 26 - 02:39 AM

We desperately need a legal template and a reduction in plastics in our everyday life ~ more alternatives and an end to "need a (plastic) bag"

Plastic bags start with shopping bags and end up in farmers' fields and the sea ~ this continues not to be taken seriously ~we have become dependent upon plastic~ we are plastic junkies

Ray (uk)

NB there is famous Ray Padgett in USA

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 Mar 26 - 04:38 AM

good posts Ray

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: r.padgett
Date: 26 Mar 26 - 02:43 AM

"Plastic doesn't just cause major pollution in oceans and nature worldwide. It increasingly makes its way back into human consumption through microplastics that are believed to disrupt endocrine functions and cause other health issues.

Single-use plastics are among the most difficult to recycle and least reusable, making them a top priority for addressing plastic pollution." yahoo news today current

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 07:09 AM

There are some plastics that act like hormones and can throw life into confusion.

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: r.padgett
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 07:21 AM

All the more reason to find plastic alternatives ~

Plastic is certainly a big advantage and we have become too reliant on it

There must be must alternatives that are biodegradable and cheap somewhere

WE are wallowing in our own (rubbish!) ***

Ray

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 10:05 AM

Hemp has a lot of potential, is easy to grow, and can be used in a simple form like paper or turned into types of bioplastics. Corn also has some of those applications.

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: r.padgett
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 10:39 AM

Yes Hemp should be being grown and used imv

Ray

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 11:15 AM

> Hemp has a lot of potential

Indeed, and it has a long history, going by the Wikipedia page on hemp. Sadly, "Influential groups misconstrued hemp as a dangerous 'drug'" (URL in original), and that were that for some decades. There's hope, however, esp since I saw CBD on sale over the counter in a UK pharmacist's; so hemp may re-enter the market for fibre as a side hustle to that, in the same way (to circle back to the Subject) that plastics are for the oil industry.

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 12:56 PM

It is my understanding that hemp for paper was a popular thing a very long time ago, but the timber industry lobbied to get it outlawed so trees could be exclusively used for paper instead. This is the same kind of short-sightedness that led Standard Oil to lobby against the streetcars in Los Angeles because more people would spend money on gasoline if they couldn't rid the trolley. Idiocy, illustrated.

Bamboo also has a lot of uses (bamboo being a grass and it grows very fast).

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: r.padgett
Date: 31 Mar 26 - 01:30 AM

A proper discussion at World level needs to ne started on plastic replacement and the current disastrous state we are in due to plastic pollution ~ action is needed not just reporting and social comment

Yes WE do have people looking at these social comments

Forget the War and start thinking about the planet we are destroying

Ray

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: G-Force
Date: 31 Mar 26 - 04:13 AM

I think I can honestly say I have never thrown a plastic bag in the sea, or a river, or a farmer's field. If any of mine have ended up there, who do I blame?

Subject: RE: BS: Plastic pollution
From: r.padgett
Date: 31 Mar 26 - 08:47 AM

If you have bought one there is still a good chance that it will end up in river, sea or sewage

Ray