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cannotremembermyname t1_j1aw32c wrote

Pretty much everything sold now contains some sort of plastic, if not the object for sale, then the packaging or tags.

Until the manufacturers aren't held responsible for the crisis they've created they'll continue to pump it out.

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E_PunnyMous t1_j1ayefg wrote

The sedimentary layer known as marking the plasticine period of the anthropogenic era

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tobsn t1_j1b07fg wrote

it’s it not going to stop but just get more and more

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Aerokent t1_j1b3ebk wrote

Replying to tobsn (#1,015,067)

Nah, at some point they're gonna mass produce the fungus that eats plastic to shortsightedly counter the issue and accidentally destroy half our civil infrastructure.

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srone t1_j1b5r5b wrote

We are drowning in plastic; it is in our air, our rain, our soil...even in our infant's breast milk.

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gerberag t1_j1ba75i wrote

Thank you laundry pods.

Thank you dishwasher pods.

Idiots.

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jawshoeaw t1_j1bv0cl wrote

This is good news. Put the oil back where it came from.

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Stingray88 t1_j1bvq4m wrote

Replying to gerberag (#1,015,892)

Fleece, Nylon, Acrylic, Polyester, Spandex, etc… all synthetic fibers made from plastics. Every time we wash clothes like these we’re injecting millions of microplastics into the water supply.

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ilde86 t1_j1bwtly wrote

Micro plastics the new lead!

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MPFX3000 t1_j1bzhzq wrote

Really? Because my kid’s grandparents all have their houses stocked with single serve plastic water bottles.

Oh I guess understanding the consequences of those choices isn’t high on their list of priorities

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flip314 t1_j1ccupz wrote

Replying to BlueSunCorporation (#1,017,452)

If enough countries had the will to write regulations into their trade agreements, this kind of thing could be somewhat controlled.

Yeah, you have less control over the manufacturing process, but the products and packaging allowed for import actually could be controlled

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CompanyMasterRhudian t1_j1ce6b5 wrote

Want to stop seeing plastic in everything? Tax it. Make every transaction that includes plastic have a big fee. Use that fee for clean up. If the cost to put it in plastic is more then the sustainable alternatives then corps will do so to maintain profits.

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---Loading--- t1_j1cefu7 wrote

Geologist in the far future will recognise this time as "an era of plastic".

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toxodon t1_j1cg5od wrote

I work for a company in the U.S. that receives hundreds of boxes a day that have lots of styrofoam in them due to needing insulation to keep blood samples frozen. When each box is cut open, hundreds of little pieces of styrofoam float around in the air. When we throw out the boxes in the dumpster outside, little flecks fly everywhere, which end up washing into our local river that goes to the ocean. This is not biodegradable styrofoam - it's plastic - and it breaks down into microplastics over time. My company is quite literally creating a constant stream of microplastic into the ocean. Imagine the millions of companies worldwide doing the exact same thing, at much worse volumes, with worse materials. We're going to make the ocean uninhabitable for so many creatures and ourselves if we don't change our ways; ie switch to biodegradable materials.

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ohjehhngyjkkvkjhjsjj t1_j1cknek wrote

So is there a way to undo that or is the ocean floor gonna be like Kim K from now on?

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BoozeIsFoods t1_j1cymuf wrote

My money is on them increasing 10x in the next 20 years.

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WolfOne t1_j1cyvyq wrote

Replying to MPFX3000 (#1,018,162)

That's why the understanding and the actions should be done way above their level. As in, there should not be a possibility to buy all this plastic just because its convenient.

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giantdeathrobot t1_j1dbken wrote

Replying to AutoModerator (#1,014,596)

Much of asia seems to give zero fucks about littering.

I am currently in Indonesia and the plastic pollution here is atrocious. With the exception of the very rural villages, many of the roadside ditches are full of shredded plastic bags, food packaging, torn sacks, etc. Snorkeling in Amed (Bali) is like swimming through a sea of plastic. Super gross. When you talk to the locals about it, they all say it's the tourists fault, but they all have big spreading piles of waste next to their houses, inevitably spreading into streams and drains.

Really makes a mockery of everyone else's efforts.

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primalscreen t1_j1dq7qx wrote

Replying to gerberag (#1,015,892)

PVA pods are an issue, but they are a small contributor because they do somewhat break down. You should be more concerned about the polyester clothes and plastic cooking utensils which are put into the machines. Ultimately, however, the vast majority of microplastics in the ocean are from packaging (either retail or supply-chain types) which end up outside of the proper disposal systems.

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Lapidarist t1_j1ds8ku wrote

People in this thread are saying that this is due to plastic being in everything, but surely, this was the case 20 years ago as well. I really doubt that's the main driving force.

So what is the culprit? Perhaps developing nations?

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Saladcitypig t1_j1dsgok wrote

Hopefully there will be geologists in the future who dig up a layer and point to that confetti line of time that humans could not stop polluting and shake their heads.

I was on the beach with my nephews and he showed me a weird rock, and I realized it was some worn down piece of plastic. Pretty poetically awful.

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myg00 t1_j1e3n6m wrote

We are gonna be like a big plastic M&M

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jbirdkerr t1_j1e99sn wrote

Who knew that shipping everything we buy across the largest body of water on the planet in ships that are decades old would cause pollution?!?

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cannotremembermyname t1_j1euxl8 wrote

Replying to CompanyMasterRhudian (#1,019,410)

The machine will not allow itself to be dismantled. The corporations own the people that make the laws, and they won't stand to see their profits drop. We need leadership that cares more about the planet and its future than money and their bank accounts. I want to believe that will happen, because it can, but I feel like the decline is accelerating and we're more likely to be screwed than saved.

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