The sea is getting the short straw with climate change

[Chrisch]

Have Waitrose stopped selling plastic bags?

It is unfortunate that plastic is such a wonderful material to mould and build products out of. Waitrose sells shopping bags made from it, as do all the other supermarkets. It is widely used in packaging and shipping goods around. Huge volumes of plastic is generated by the recent development of online shopping and companies like Amazon that use vast amounts of plastic to bulk out products to fit a standardised range of (virgin) cardboard.

However, many alternatives are available for those 6-7 people in the UK that give a shit. The problem is that these alternatives are generally more expensive and so the additional packaging costs make the product more expensive. The end consumer can see it cheaper on the internet so buys from online sellers or eBay shops.

We re-use cardboard packaging as much as possible and re-use any plastic anti-damage packaging. I also collect boxes from local customers to re-use them and recycle the offcuts and damaged or unusable boxes. The main plastic waste we cannot do much with is shrink wrap on palletised goods. I generate so little waste my landlord lets me dump what we do throw away in his skip. If you watch what his business throws away you would wonder WTF is the point of my efforts. Some days I do.

[Allan Carr]

We received a parcel the other day which was packed with what looked like the 'S' shaped lumps of expanded polystyrene. However, a note in the box said they were made of potato starch and are fully compostable.

To give Amazon their due, most of their packaging these days is cardboard and paper, including the sealing tape, rather than plastic.

[notdeadyet]

However, a note in the box said they were made of potato starch and are fully compostable.

Apparently a quarter of a billion people globally live in food poverty and we grow potatoes to make packaging for stuff bought from Amazon. Until we address our culture's runaway consumption, it doesn't make a difference if packages come wrapped in tiger skin.

[Barrygoss]

Apparently a quarter of a billion people globally live in food poverty and we grow potatoes to make packaging for stuff bought from Amazon. Until we address our culture's runaway consumption, it doesn't make a difference if packages come wrapped in tiger skin.

apparently 4 million of those are UK kids, who get to watch the Amazon van drive past.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/...ing%20families.


Agreed on the consumption though. but the sight of a slightly empty shelf is all it's need to show the true colours of many in the UK, grab every toilet roll you can....

B

[Chrisch]

Apparently a quarter of a billion people globally live in food poverty and we grow potatoes to make packaging for stuff bought from Amazon. ....

Its greenwash to make people who over consume and buy pointless shit feel better about themselves. Another equally pointless bullshit is so called offsetting. You buy some planet destroying garbage you don't need but it is all OK because someone has planted a tree in a peat bog thus causing the bog to emit greenhouse gas rather than sequester carbon. I watched the little tots on countryfile planting trees and being patted on the head by the beeb crew. The interesting thing was the little saplings were being planted about a metre apart. Now call me a fool if you must but in my world trees tend to grow a bit bigger than this would allow. I gues they plan to thin them out (with a petrol chainsaw) as they get a bit bigger?

[notdeadyet]

apparently 4 million of those are UK kids, who get to watch the Amazon van drive past.

The fact we have even a single foodbank in one of the wealthiest countries on the planet is something everyone should be ashamed of. Kind of gives you an idea of how much support to expect for brown people on the other side of the world when sea levels rise and harvests fail in the coming years.

Agreed on the consumption though. but the sight of a slightly empty shelf is all it's need to show the true colours of many in the UK, grab every toilet roll you can....

B

My low point for my opinion of the general public was seeing a woman the size of a zepellin waddling through Aldi with the entire display case of Berocca because vitamin C mixed with bicarb is what's going to keep her alive.

[gobfish1]

Its greenwash to make people who over consume and buy pointless shit feel better about themselves. Another equally pointless bullshit is so called offsetting. You buy some planet destroying garbage you don't need but it is all OK because someone has planted a tree in a peat bog thus causing the bog to emit greenhouse gas rather than sequester carbon. I watched the little tots on countryfile planting trees and being patted on the head by the beeb crew. The interesting thing was the little saplings were being planted about a metre apart. Now call me a fool if you must but in my world trees tend to grow a bit bigger than this would allow. I gues they plan to thin them out (with a petrol chainsaw) as they get a bit bigger?

No need to thin them out most don't last long. 5 years later most of what's planted is dead.

[graham_hk]

Rebreather 101 - the trigger to breathe is 0.04bar PPCO2 - why? because we've evolved to that figure because it's what's in the air - at what point do all humans get a CO2 hit?

Adapting will cause a load of deaths and mass evacuations of the places too hot to live in. Not sure we can evolve in time....

B

0.04% is not the same as 0.04 bar

[Allan Carr]

The potato starch packaging is made from by-products of the food processing industry which would otherwise be thrown away. It's more expensive than expanded polystyrene but more eco-friendly.

[Chrisch]

The potato starch packaging is made from by-products of the food processing industry which would otherwise be thrown away. It's more expensive than expanded polystyrene but more eco-friendly.

It is an example of the way in which we can - if we want - overcome the problems. The big question mark with products such as this are whether or not it actually takes more CO2 to make this than the styrene version? In theory food starch is the way to go and it is really really good if the end user then puts it into a composting process. If it goes into the rubbish and hence landfill it will generate methane (unlike the styrene) and could actually create more greenhouse gas albeit at the benefit of less "plastic".

I get a few products that have styrene peanuts as packing and try to re-use them (I have a customer that can re-use them). They are a PITA as they blow about and none of my customers want them in their goods. Amazon refuse to take anything with peanuts.

https://www.gwp.co.uk/guides/polystyrene-alternatives/