Plastic Waste

[crazed 9.6]

What has been bothering me (among other things) is what is and is going to be happening with plastics during this pandemic.
As an example, here in my small city, the city council set a bylaw a few months ago (maybe 6 months ago), which stopped the use of single use plastics. No more plastic shopping bags and other single use items.
I know other places around the globe started this as well.
I thought it was great and loved the fact that my city went ahead of others around us and set the bylaw, just fantastic
And we all got use to it rather quickly, starting with using our own shopping bags other then plastic ones.
But now with this pandemic, they went back to plastic bags and single use plastics. I do understand why, but there has got to be a better solution. We made such progress (a drop in the bucket in the big picture but it was progress).
What I been doing is not accepting my groceries in the plastic bags and keep my own bags in the truck parked outside. I just pack my groceries once I am back outside of the store.
So there are ways to do this without bringing back them damn plastic bags.

And even more worrisome is the fact that plastic is a product made from oil.
Oil prices are down in the cellar since 90 % of the cars are parked and gathering dust and planes are grounded (mostly) and cruise ships docked. Only thing really that are still running at full capacity are trains and trucks bringing us goods and food.
So guess what ?
The oil companies now or will be pushing plastic like never before seen. This will happen and already is.

I would really like to drop the F bomb about now, because i am out of words to explain my disgust

Even before this pandemic and the drop in oil prices, the oil companies have already been proceeding forward with war to keep their plastic smothered world just as it is.


Judith Enck, a former administrator with the US Environmental Protection Agency and now President of the environmental platform Beyond Plastics.

C/P
"The oil industry is increasingly looking "for a replacement market, knowing that fossil fuels are not going to be so dominant in electricity generation and also transportation, as more people turn to electric vehicles and electric buses," says Enck.

"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a "enforcement discretion policy," which loosens environmental protection regulations."

"The EPA does not expect to seek penalties for noncompliance with routine monitoring" of possible violations of environmental laws, which, according to critics, may result in unstemmed pollution."

The President of the Plastics Industry Association, Tony Radoszewski, wrote a letter to US Health Secretary Alex Azar, protesting sharply against a "push to eliminate single - use products at the local, state, and now even the federal level."
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Judith Enck is not letting this go without monitoring thou, which is somewhat reassuring but we are dealing with oil companies
And we all know what the oil companies want, no matter what the environmental costs are, they usually get away with.

C/P
"The pandemic may have temporarily driven the environmental movement off the streets and onto the internet, but that doesn't mean polluting industries will get away with spinning it for their own selfish aims at the expense of the environment and public health," she writes in an op-ed in Newsweek.
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And I do not even want to mention Coca Cola ... I will for sure end up dropping that F bomb !!

oh my