Why Banning Plastic Straws isn't helping the Oceans

[MikePal]

Well at long last some truth. For all you Climate Nazi's who were smitten with Climate Barbie's zeal in banning our beloved straws, the truth about them and the danger your straw from Tim's will end up in an Ocean.

But if you take a quick look at where all this plastic is coming from, you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that banning straws at North American restaurants was pretty much the least effective way to address this problem.

So where is the ocean plastic coming from? Two places. One: Ghost gear. This is fishing gear that has fallen off of commercial boats, and then wanders the ocean needlessly killing wildlife until it disintegrates. Up to 46 per cent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is ghost gear .

See, if I use a plastic straw at a fast food joint, when I’m done with it that plastic straw goes in a garbage bin which is then picked up by civil servants who take it to different civil servants who bury it in the ground and cover it with clay. Notice the lack of any ocean in that equation. And that’s basically the program throughout Europe and North America: Unless you’re a putz who’s literally chucking your slushie in the sea, your straw’s final resting place is well-removed from any unfortunate sea turtles.

It’s why, according to a 2017 study , 95 per cent of the world’s ocean plastic comes from just 10 rivers: Eight in Asia and two in Africa.The group Ocean Conservancy has similarly estimated that most ocean plastic comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The straw that got stuck in that sea turtle’s nose? It almost certainly came from an Asian community with bad waste management.

But here’s the good news: We actually know how to fix both ghost gear and poor waste practices in the developing world. With ghost gear, you set up buyback programs with fishers to disincentivize them from simply chucking broken gear overboard. As for poor waste management, countries like Canada are actually really, really good at safely managing garbage. And the bang for the buck is huge: Kick a few million dollars towards a dump project in Indonesia, and you’re instantly diverting thousands of tonnes of plastic from the ocean.

watch the video:

[Bowjob]

consumer plastic has nothing to do with the oceans plastic waste. 90% of the plastic in the ocean is from commercial fishing boats and the reason for lower fish counts is caused by over fishing and bycatch. which is more waste thrown back into the ocean.

i made a post on here a while ago about a documentary called seapiracy on netflix. i highly recommend giving it a watch if you already havent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q5CXN7soQg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCnLWUSaz9o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnEXKINNBzg

[MikePal]

The ones mention in the video:

The Amazon:


in India:


a couple more..dumping plastic into the rivers that feed the Oceans...

[glen]

Maybe if we ban plastic forks that will help.

What a load of crap.

[73hunter]

Well, the plastic ban might not save the oceans but I believe it’s still a step in the right direction ?

And I’m no environmental-Nazi - Just a construction guy who sees the ditches of our highways littered with Tim Horton cups and lids, plastic garbage bags and yes….straws. We are pigs, time to face it.

[Birdbuff]

Well, the plastic ban might not save the oceans but I believe it’s still a step in the right direction ? And I’m no environmental-Nazi

Just a construction guy who sees the ditches of our highways littered with Tim Horton cups and lids, plastic garbage bags and yes….straws. We are pigs, time to face it.

Agree 100%. Time to increase littering fines and ACTUALLY enforce them. Or start fining the companies from whence they came, ie. timmies, McDonald’s, etc.

[dean.f]

Just look in the garbage bin on a big construction site in the summer, the amount of recyclables like skids worth of water bottles that could be recycled. There's so many bigger fish to fry than plastic straws. The cost of forcing people to separate plastics and cardboard or other recyclables makes it easier to just pay the extra for landfill disposal from a business standpoint. Even for companies who own "environmental" divisions.

I wish there was a simple solution but money is always the deciding factor.

[impact]

[gbk]

Same as with cliamte change-raise the price of the gas for the small guys, and let all the big guys keep polluting ,like it is for free.