this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2025
433 points (99.1% liked)

196

4670 readers
548 users here now

Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.

Rule: You must post before you leave.

^other^ ^rules^

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

[alt text: first, there's text over a happy Albinauric from Elden Ring saying "me when I thought recycling would save the world. second, there's text over a sad/depressed Albinauric from Elden Ring saying "me after I found out that plastic corporations invented plastic recycling to put the responsibility onto the consumer even though they knew plastic recycling was both chemically and financially not feasible, and now I have plastic in my brain, lungs, and testicles".]

top 31 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Regardless of whoever came up with the idea, recycling does help and you should do it:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230317-how-recycling-can-help-the-climate-and-other-facts

It may not save the planet on its own, but it is part of the solution.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Well yeah. We need to properly dispose of what we can get back from the environment. But that doesn't mean we should keep using it. It should be a case of proving something needs to be plastic, not passing laws to ban one plastic thing at a time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

Oh absolutely. There's a reason that Reduce and Reuse are before Recycle in the Three Rs.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (5 children)

When they rolled out disposable plastic bags, they said they were green because they saved trees. I remember. The paper in bags was and is created using pulp from farmed trees, like other crops.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yep. Fucking hippies acting like they were chopping old-growth forests for shopping bags. Idiots should have taken a forestry class. Talk about a truly renewable resource.

"But PAPER!!!"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

in defense of at least some of the hippies, it's not like they allowed the sustainability of some tree species to stop them from taking the last of the old growth as if they were they were trophy animals.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago

You invent a plastic bag of sufficient thickness to serve for a year or more. The grocery chain sees better profits with tissue thin disposable bags though. Guess which one wins?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Lots of inventions get changed or have knock on effects different than the inventor intended. We didn't get lazy, the corporations saw a cheaper alternative to disposable paper bags and went with it. It is a systemic issue that rises above the end consumers decision.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

Also its made from sawdust and scraps, stuff that has almost zero uses otherwise

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

I remember this too

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

because they were lighter and more compact, transporting them burned less fuel. so they were 'less polluting'

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Every time I turn the LED light off to save the world I open up my plane app and see a thousand jet liners in flight. I then open the boat app and see ten thousand cargo freighters. Then I look at a picture of New York and Las Vegas at night.

I turn back on my LED light and leave the room.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago

This is my old man yelling at clouds

Don't make the consumer guilty for the damage companies cause.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

Use less plastic!

You can still recycle paper, metal, cloth and other materials.

Also, plastics with resin id codes 1, 2 and 5 are very recycleable, but don't get recycled as they get disposed of with other plastics.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So, what do you do with it instead?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Bury It deep in the earth where it came from and mark it like toxic waste.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

What do you do with the massive pile of earth you have to dig up to make space for all the plastic?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago

Reclaim wetlands from the rising ocean.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Make it into a hill over the hole

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

What do you do with the hill?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

It can be downcycled up to five times tho

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

https://youtu.be/y1Q9iYlz-xQ Bill burr has some insight to this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

This reminds me of how ''foax fur'' products were just actually fur the whole time.

Edit: https://www.hsi.org/news-resources/mis-labelled-fur-uk/

Yes, I am referring to real fur being unlabeled or labeled as synthetic fur. This was a huge scandal a few years ago.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

https://www.hsi.org/news-resources/mis-labelled-fur-uk/

Yes it was a huge news story a few years ago, a lot of designer labels were just not labeling and quietly claiming it was synthetic or labeling real fur synthetic.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think they’re confusing the fact that faux fur is less environmentally friendly than real fur. Real fur can biodegrade, faux fur is plastic. It’s the “vegan leather” debate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I'm not confusing anything I added a link, there was a news story years ago exposing fashion brands not labeling real fur (implying it's synthetic because real fur must be labeled) or labeling it synthetic when it was real fur.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They are more animal friendly but just as environmentally bad is the result of my google search

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I'm referring to real fur being labeled synthetic it was a big news story a few years ago.