Posted on 11/04/2013 1:13:16 PM PST by Olog-hai
The European Commission Monday (4 November) tabled measures to reduce the use of thin plastic bags by 80 percent, with about 710,000 tonnes of them being thrown away each year.
Each EU citizen use almost 200 such bags—below 50 microns in thickness—yearly and, for the most part (89 percent of the time), throws them away after just one go.
The practice is causing “enormous environmental damage,” said environment commissioner Janez Potocnik. He said the bags are a symbol of our “throwaway” culture, as the bags take hundreds of years to degrade “yet we only use them for a few minutes.”
The commissioner is proposing that member states either set national reduction targets, use a levy or ban such bags altogether. …
(Excerpt) Read more at euobserver.com ...
Back in the EUSSR!
Didn’t the enviro wackos tell us to switch from paper to plastic a while back?
Yuuuuuup!
Liberal morons. They are the most useless people on earth.
No exceptions.
Typical ... why the heck don’t they teach people not to litter, or create some sort of social stigma for those who do? My plastic grocery bags get recycled and reused for trash - I have small trash cans or baskets in 5 different rooms where they’re used. If they do away with plastic trash bags, then we’ll just have to buy MORE plastic trash bags - and where’s the savings or efficiency in that?
Weren’t plastic bags brought in to save trees from being turned into paper bags????
They banned plastic grocery bags in Austin back in March. I thought it was going to be a pain, but it’s not bad. I just keep a couple of bags in my backpack in case I hit the grocery store on the way home from work.
Banning the bags is, honestly, not the disaster everyone makes it out to be. You adapt. People are assholes when it comes to litter. Saw a young gentleman get off the bus yesterday. He took the last cigarette out of his pack and tossed the box over his shoulder onto the ground. That seriously irritated me. I wanted to see him get busted and fined. Cigarette butts and boxes are about 80% of the trash I see on the ground.
That’s not the point.
What is the point? Getting rid of the plastic bags in Austin has reduced the litter by a bunch. It’s not a huge burden on us. Just remember to grab your canvas bags before you leave the house.
Now we just need to get rid of the smokers that treat the ground like a garbage can.
Ah, Austin.
Funny that plastic is the sole offending item of litter.
It’s not. Not by a long shot. There are fast food cups and bags. There are tires and crap. There are cigarette packs and butts everywhere. People are seriously assholes when it comes to litter.
But one thing that I don’t see a lot any more are the plastic bags. People are being responsible. They are taking their bags to the store and using them with no problem. I’d like to see more enforcement of littering laws. Wish that twirp had gotten a $200 ticket or his ass kicked by a cop. But he just walked away from that trash.
Bought bread this week that had 5 bags to hold two loaves of bread.
each loaf in a cellophane bag, in a plastic bag, which were both in a fancy labeled bag with the nutritional info etc.
amazing waste of resources.
I just get normal store brand bread. One loaf in one bag.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.