Thanks for clarifying that, I now know that we'll carry on contaminating our oceans, rivers and environment generally, because it's the cheap and easy option.
I don't consider myself as a lentil munching tree hugger, but I do think that it is vital that we clean up our act and stop polluting this planet of ours in the way that we do. I understand that it entails a massive change in the way we do things, but it needs to happen IMO.
Exactly right
Although I can see the financial and physical (as an experienced retailer) arguments in favour of using plastics as well explained by DG, jimmy944 and Rod2, surely the wit of man (and women) is such that we CAN come up with a far better solution than filling our seas, which give us life, and landfill sites with non-degradable, un-recyclable, plastics. We just cannot carry on as we are now.
To bring the argument down to whether or not you are a "tree huger" is plain ridiculous. All of us have a vested interest in this planet and if we can improve something that is damaging our environment why not do it? Everything now is expected to be "on the cheap", no matter what the long term consequences will be. There is no question that if those who can do not come up with a solution to greatly improve plastic formulation so it can be recyclable, or quickly breaks down, and spread the educated word that to throw plastics away into rivers and the sea is unacceptable, eventually killing off the human race, if nothing else does, then we are neglecting something we MUST do. Yes, it may well result in extra costs if the producers of plastics cannot come up with the right solutions, but the alternatives could be far more expensive!
I recycle as much as I can, but I am angry, and have written to the authorities including my MP, to say so that I have no facilities for placing the plastics into the recycling system. If you live in a house then the waste carts do a recyclable waste run that includes plastics, but when you live in blocks of flats with communal waste bins there is NO recycling possibilities for anyone without a car, or who cannot store waste in their flat. I take my collected recycling to a Kent County Council recycling centre, run by BIFFA, the same people who run the waste carts, but there you cannot place plastics into any bins, apart from the general waste one that goes to landfill.
This is as a society we have to change, so that all plastics can be recycled, and there are heavy penalties for any firm producing recyclable plastic packaging, and any individual or firm who dispose of recyclable plastics improperly.
Once more, it is not all down to the feelings or beliefs of tree huger's, or some form of latter day hippy's, or even some national / international conspiracy to defraud us all of our money. No, it is down to us all doing the right thing to stop us clogging up our poor planet that our poor grand children and great grand children will have to live on.
Quote, ''We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."