Hacker News Reader

Comment by dkdbejwi383 | Hacker News Reader

> The only upside is that paper bags are better biodegradable in the environment and don't spread microplastics around.

I think this is quite important. Even if the majority of people were well intentioned and re-used plastic bags, they shed micro plastics during use, eventually they fail and even if you recycle them, there's no guarantee they won't be sold off with other recyclable waste and then dumped or burned.

View on HN

I mostly agree, but burning / pyrolysing plastic is not a bad outcome for 'recycling' oil into energy if properly done at scale (including emissions filtering) for electricity / district heating.

>they shed micro plastics during use

they do? I thought most of the microplastic pollution is from plastic that made it into the ocean and are broken down by the sun?

Vehicle tires shed plastic into the air when you drive. Look at any wall near a freeway. That's not just exhaust turning it black.

That's understandable because the tire is a fast moving object coming in contact with a rough surface, but your average plastic bag? The wear that a plastic bag experiences is absolutely tiny by comparison. Your mousepad/table/keyboard probably experiences more wear than all your plastic bag use combined.

Multiply that by seven billion people.

And samonella causes 25,000 hospitalizations per year in the US, should we ban chicken as well? Multiplying any tiny number by 7 billion will get you a big number. What matters is how big it is relative to everything else. If plastic shedding from plastic bags accounts for 0.01% of the global microplastic pollution, then there's no real point going after it.

The crazy thing is yeah, we should probably halt meat production. You’re right, multiplying 7 billion by anything is a big number. You’re getting it. It’s sort of inevitable right?

People living to the limits, in the here and now, gambling they’ll be childless and dead by the time any of this shit matters.

> If plastic shedding from plastic bags accounts for 0.01% of the global microplastic pollution, then there's no real point going after it.

0.01 > 0

We need to stop thinking production and use of plastic is inevitable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com