Reusing Vs Recycling (Plastics Debate)
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2018 1:47 pm
We were talking the other day about "the olden days" (as you do when you get to a certain age).
The conversation turned to "reusable" items.
When we went shopping, as a kid that is, Mum would take her shopping bags with her and fill them with loose items. Vegetables were either loose or in brown paper. Meat and fish was wrapped in strong white paper. Bread was wrapped in wax paper that served as wrapping for sandwich lunch for Dad the next day. Milk, pop, beer was in reusable glass bottles. Straws, a rare item, were rolled wax paper. Sweets in a paper cone, carrier bags were paper, ETC, ETC, ETC. All either reusable packaging or bio-degradable items.
We could not recall any item that was wrapped in plastic. 1950s, 1960s era that is.
Where did all this plastic come from? Is it that it is so cheap it is easier to use plastic instead of paper.
If plastic is such an issue, why can't we revert back to these old ways of shopping.
What is the cost of recycling plastic. I saw a news item that showed a factory that had a really complicated and hi tech process that turned used plastic items back into pellets that, in turn, would go to make more plastic bottles. How is that cost efficient?
I have a plastic water bottle that I refill from my tap at home. I have been using the same one for about 6 months.
A lot of my neighbours put their garden waste in a brown bin that gets taken away. They pay for this service. That waste then goes to a processing plant that consumes vast amounts of energy to turn it into compost that then gets wrapped in plastic and sold back to the populace. I do my own composting, which costs me nothing.
Is it that people have just become lazy and cannot be bothered with reusing their packaging. Is it all too convenient.
Is it us that is causing the plastic mountain in the first place. Is it affluent Western nations or is the problem further afield.
The conversation turned to "reusable" items.
When we went shopping, as a kid that is, Mum would take her shopping bags with her and fill them with loose items. Vegetables were either loose or in brown paper. Meat and fish was wrapped in strong white paper. Bread was wrapped in wax paper that served as wrapping for sandwich lunch for Dad the next day. Milk, pop, beer was in reusable glass bottles. Straws, a rare item, were rolled wax paper. Sweets in a paper cone, carrier bags were paper, ETC, ETC, ETC. All either reusable packaging or bio-degradable items.
We could not recall any item that was wrapped in plastic. 1950s, 1960s era that is.
Where did all this plastic come from? Is it that it is so cheap it is easier to use plastic instead of paper.
If plastic is such an issue, why can't we revert back to these old ways of shopping.
What is the cost of recycling plastic. I saw a news item that showed a factory that had a really complicated and hi tech process that turned used plastic items back into pellets that, in turn, would go to make more plastic bottles. How is that cost efficient?
I have a plastic water bottle that I refill from my tap at home. I have been using the same one for about 6 months.
A lot of my neighbours put their garden waste in a brown bin that gets taken away. They pay for this service. That waste then goes to a processing plant that consumes vast amounts of energy to turn it into compost that then gets wrapped in plastic and sold back to the populace. I do my own composting, which costs me nothing.
Is it that people have just become lazy and cannot be bothered with reusing their packaging. Is it all too convenient.
Is it us that is causing the plastic mountain in the first place. Is it affluent Western nations or is the problem further afield.
