this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025

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submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[–] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 97 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (9 children)

Plastic Recycling is Largely A Myth.

The world produces an average of 430 million metric tons of plastic each year. The United States alone produces tens of millions of tons of plastic waste annually. Yet on average, only about 5 to 6 percent of plastic in the U.S. is recycled.

Basically, the vast majority of plastic either literally cannot be recycled, at all, or would be astoundingly expensive to properly seperate according to it's different types and run through the recycling process.

... So, in most cases, it isn't, and just ends up in a landfill or being directly dumped into nature.

Oil companies have known this for decades, and, as with other issues surrounding pollution ... they've promoted anything that makes an individual feel guilty when they know that even if all individuals followed the suggested course of action, it would have a negligible impact.

[–] ZMoney@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (4 children)

But please put your plastic in the bin marked plastic.

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[–] Obelix@feddit.org 171 points 1 day ago (25 children)

Just FYI:

Single-use plastic products are used once, or for a short period of time, before being thrown away. Under the EU’s rules on single-use plastics, the EU is tackling the 10 single-use plastic items most commonly found on Europe’s beaches and is promoting sustainable alternatives. The 10 items are

Cotton bud sticks 
Cutlery, plates, straws and stirrers 
Balloons and sticks for balloons 
Food containers 
Cups for beverages 
Beverage containers 
Cigarette butts 
Plastic bags 
Packets and wrappers 
Wet wipes and sanitary items

https://commission.europa.eu/news/less-plastic-waste-means-cleaner-beaches-2024-08-14_en

So yeah, nets are bad, but straws, plastic bags, cigarettes and packages are also a problem.

[–] Jtotheb@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is a list of end-consumer items put together by a government body beholden to fishing and other industries. And it’s not even about pollution levels, it’s specifically about beach pollution. Plastic lids on cartons of heavy cream are “also a problem” if we focus only on reducing plastic waste in the kitchen, but implying it’s even relevant compared to industrial plastic waste is disingenuous

[–] Obelix@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Why shouldn't it be relevant? The waste is out there, is being found on our beaches and the industrial plastic waste is not swept up as often? So why would a regulation to prevent the most common plastic-items on our beaches from being there be bad?

[–] Jtotheb@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Diatribe alert. If you just wanna know, here: 75% to 86% of plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch came from fishing industry, article, study.

It’s not bad, and I didn’t claim it to be bad. It’s not relevant in the same way Dr Thunder and Pibb Xtra aren’t leading to a soft drink crisis in the USA—they’re a small part of a much bigger problem.

To carry on with this dumbass analogy, it would be misleading to argue for a ban on off-brand sodas while continuing to mass produce Sprite, Pepsi, and Diet Coke, and it lets big businesses off the hook for their destruction. Same with letting industries shovel untold plastic waste into the oceans behind our backs while making more visible efforts to ban much smaller amounts back on land.

Also, we’re not just worried about plastic because it ends up on beaches. That is, again, missing the bigger picture. It’s also missing why those items in particular end up on beaches, which is because of local littering. A cup on a beach is actually great for the environment compared to a piece of nylon disintegrating in the ocean. It just looks ugly. Our primary focus can’t be on ugly right now.

If you ban plastic straws from European beaches and say job well done, the planet will never notice. We need to start with the big issues, we don’t have time to pat them on the back and keep subsidizing the destruction of our planet. Agricultural fertilizer is next followed by plastic bags, iirc, or maybe bottles.

[–] Obelix@feddit.org 1 points 22 hours ago

Yeah, but it's a quick win. Ban some single-use plastics and prevent it from getting into the oceans because it doesn't exist. Yeah, you have to do something about the fishing nets, but there is no reason to not take those quick-wins

[–] Jajcus@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago

Single use plastic items laying on the beach is what bothers people the most, but this doesn't mean it is the biggest problems. There is much more plastic in the oceans that we do not see.

[–] Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 71 points 1 day ago (1 children)

People want to pretend just the things that are convenient to them are an issue. They say government and companies need to take action, then complain about actions taken. It's really wild to see.

[–] Azteh@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Not throwing my garbage in the wild makes me have no idea how often straws end up in the ocean, so it seemed like a wild thing to go after.

Any idea if it's people dumping all this stuff in the wild or if it's because we throw it out in our bins that it somehow gets to the ocean?

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's called environmental dumping. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_dumping

First world countries ship waste to third world countries where dumping is not illegal (or at least not enforced).

You get stuff like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVnMBGXVVUI

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 17 points 1 day ago

Stuff falls out of garbage trucks, trash cans get tipped over, stuff gets blown out of the bed of a dumptruck at the landfill, landfills erode and take trash with them. Trashcans aren't just magic portals that take trash into the nightosphere

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[–] TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Not saying they are not but from what you posted it could still be 99.9% nets, what is in the article is just a list of the most common found items in beaches.

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[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 141 points 1 day ago (4 children)

[–] FMT99@lemmy.world 87 points 1 day ago

No, someone else is doing something worse than me so I'm absolved. I can do what I want.

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 33 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yeah, I simultaneously want to comment that the left panels are a wild fantasy, as I've never seen an actual human say that we should focus on plastic straws. As far as I can tell, that's propaganda put into the world by companies trying to discredit genuine efforts.

But at the same time, it's not even like you have to focus on straws. You can simply not use them, because it is just a stupid concept to produce something that's immediately trash, and then also go and do other things in life. Believe it or not, most activities in life don't involve straws.

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[–] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 53 points 1 day ago (4 children)

On an unrelated notes, a huge fraction of oceanic microplastics is from car tyres. Driving is a number one source of oceanic microplastic.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 37 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Car tyres are also significant contributors to terrestial microplastics and particulate matter!

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[–] HungryJerboa@lemmy.ca 69 points 2 days ago (4 children)

But aside from donating to NGOs dedicated to cleaning up ocean litter, the average person has very little way to reduce the number of plastic nets in the water. It requires lifting fishermen out of poverty, teaching them more sustainable fishing practices, and cracking down on littering, all things that require international cooperation.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 89 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It requires lifting fishermen out of poverty

Bruh. These aren't 1 dude in a boat with a long line. These are billion dollar corporations running fleets. And yes, we need international cooperation to bring them to heel. Like with farmers, however, make no mistake that the people doing this kind of pollution are at all ignorant or unaware of what they are doing.

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[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 47 points 1 day ago (11 children)

the average person has very little way to reduce the number of plastic nets in the water

Besides the obvious and 100% viable option of just not eating fish.

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[–] 21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com 33 points 1 day ago (2 children)

But what if we pass the responsibility down to the consumer instead of dealing with industrial waste that's often more of a matter of cost than practicality?

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