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It is illegal in this country to throw any trash outside of a trash receptacle. It doesn't matter if it's a plastic drinking straw, a paper coffee cup, or a dirty diaper. ALL trash must go in trash cans so that it goes to a landfill/compost/recycle/energy from waste. NOT the rivers and oceans.
If you're on your way to bankruptcy court and don't want to be late, why would you waste your time going out of your way to pick up a penny off the sidewalk? The bankruptcy trustee isn't going to care because that is roundoff error. The key is to show up before it's too late and they take your house!
So it is with this asinine idea that if we ban ourselves from having plastic drinking straws, that will somehow reduce the volume of trash in the ocean. It will not.
We need to be spending our time and money on something that is actually useful, and that would be to stop other countries from dumping their trash in the rivers and oceans. It's not easy to do that, of course, but banning plastic straws is just a total waste of time and money that could be spent on boycotts of Asia, distributing flyers protesting Asian culture (i.e. littering), etc.
If you really think that banning plastic straws will make even a negligible difference in the amount of trash in the oceans, then you are actually part of the problem, because it means you are not interested in attacking the cause of all this trash -- Asia and their filthy ways!
Trash from Asia is not what is in the streets, streams, and rivers where I live. That is all from Americans. We are not perfect, even if someone else is worse.
Indonesia’s Citarum River*, blackened by debris beyond recognition, has been dubbed the most polluted river in the world. The situation has gotten so bad that the army was recently called in to remove the plastic waste -- and prevent further dumping in the waterway, according to media reports.
It’s just one sliver of the massive pollution problem in Asia. China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam are dumping more plastic into oceans than the rest of the world combined , according to a 2017 report by Ocean Conservancy. This isn’t just an Asia problem. Plastic is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world. The U.S. wasted about 33.6 million tons of plastic, and only 9.5% was recycled.
I don't think it's any secret that Asia is the biggest problem. However, that doesnt mean Americans shouldn't strive to be better just because we're not the worst.
I agree that Americans should certainly strive to be better. We should always strive to be better but it seems like the media ignores the effects from Asia and is also very harsh on America. I don't like that.
I agree that Americans should certainly strive to be better. We should always strive to be better but it seems like the media ignores the effects from Asia and is also very harsh on America. I don't like that.
I've seen first hand how the navy used to get rid of trash at sea. Trust me, an aircraft carrier can generate a lot of trash!! We certainly have our ownership of part of the problem.
Personally I think it's just a high-visibility feel-good gesture that'll accomplish nothing of any substance... except to convince most Americans that environmentalists care about petty rules and gestures over results.
I don't really care if they ban plastic straws though. But they're gonna have a riot on their hands when Red Staters realize how hard it is to suck an entire Big Gulp though those fall-apart paper straws.
is more than negligible -- even assuming this straw ends up in the ocean, which is quite unlikely -- than this:
I think this is a way to start small, getting people to think "do I really need that plastic straw" or "do I really need a plastic bag" when there are other options available.
I think this is a way to start small, getting people to think "do I really need that plastic straw" or "do I really need a plastic bag" when there are other options available.
The other options stink. A plastic straw ban or a plastic bag ban TAKES AWAY an option for me, and that is the best option. I re-use plastic shopping bags as garbage bags. If you take away that option, I have to buy kitchen trash bags. Where's the savings? See how stupid these bans are? They are solely for environmentalist whackjobs to pat themselves on the back for codifying their environmental feel-good-ism into law. It's pathetic.
Anything banned always has a flip side. If we ban plastic straws and make and use paper straws then we’re killing more trees. Those other sippy cups then have more disposable lids. To this end what else will be banned next? Tampons, they have disposable plastic plungers and the container. Thousands of them go into the trash every day. We are a world of consumers and users of products and everything has to be disposed of or what you replace it with will also be used up. If anything perhaps have people ask if they want a straw. A lot of people don’t, similar to automatically serving a glass of water to everyone. Let them ask if they want one or offer it. Many will say no.
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