Talk of The Villages Florida - Something to think about-plastic bags

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Quote:

Originally Posted by defrey12 (Post 2459134)

Me too...

Most all of us will. But, like alcohol or tobacco, doesn’t mean it's a good thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nn0wheremann (Post 2459097)

Repurpose them as trash can liners and make energy with the garbage collection

Energy? How? How much? Any "waste" or "byproducts" with that? Like smoke, soot, toxic run-off, etc containing microplastics? Inquiring minds want to know!

Quote:

Originally Posted by La lamy (Post 2459028)

But I strongly disagree with the grocery size plastic bags being used for single use dog waste. What a waste!!! Even the smaller grocery veggie bags or buying dog waste bags seems a lot more reasonable IMHO.

I agree. I use the produce bags as a first choice. As a second option, I cut the grocery size bags in half vertically, giving me 2 poop bags for the price of none. Not good for leash walks, but work great for picking up in your own yard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvdancin (Post 2459083)

I lived in CA for 25 years. They did away with bags. So, you have these people who bring gross, cockroach infested, meat juice covered bags that are left in their filthy trunk. Those bags go on the counter cross-contaminating everything else.

Ah yes, the infamous unintended consequences of "great ideas".

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 (Post 2459145)

Most all of us will. But, like alcohol or tobacco, doesn’t mean it's a good thing.

Less pollution is always preferrable to more. I am certain that smart humans or AI will devise a better alternative at some point. Until then, we're still going to need plastics even if they're less than ideal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 (Post 2459147)

Energy? How? How much? Any "waste" or "byproducts" with that? Like smoke, soot, toxic run-off, etc containing microplastics? Inquiring minds want to know!

The company Waste Management (the garbage truck people) has an waste to energy program, which replaces recycling. You can look it up on their website, but basically -

they incinerate the trash, with a closed system. So the exhaust from the burning process is now energy, which fuels the system, allowing them to burn more trash. There's zero exhaust in the air, zero pollution, zero water pollution, zero runoff, zero smoke. It's all incinerated.

There are two different types of ash that result from the process, and each are handled slightly differently. You can read about it here:
What Happens To Waste To Energy Incineration Ash? | This Is Eco

Pretty interesting stuff.

Paper (bags) is natural… Plastic is not and NEVER breaks down.

Except in TV where it is incinerated for energy recovery, so it also lowers our hydro costs and the toxic gases are captured by the modern plant. I know the “never break down” theory but that happens only if you throw plastic in landfill etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvdancin (Post 2459083)

I just had to comment on this. I lived in CA for 25 years. They did away with bags. So, you have these people who bring gross, cockroach infested, meat juice covered bags that are left in their filthy trunk. Those bags go on the counter contaminatinating everything else. Just saying that it was not a good thing. I use my bags in the car, waste baskets and over and over again. I was SO happy that FL didn't do away with their bags.

I was too!

Abundance of Love can use all plastic bags

Abundance of Love meets at several of the rec centers. Everglades on the first and third Monday. Plastic grocery bags are recycled into mats for the homeless. Please look at their website for all they do for charitable organizations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LindenLindy (Post 2459209)

Paper (bags) is natural… Plastic is not and NEVER breaks down.

Maybe rubber car tires should be replaced with wood.:D:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by LindenLindy (Post 2459209)

Paper (bags) is natural… Plastic is not and NEVER breaks down.

Have you tried picking up a squidgy dog poop with a paper bag?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 (Post 2459147)

Energy? How? How much? Any "waste" or "byproducts" with that? Like smoke, soot, toxic run-off, etc containing microplastics? Inquiring minds want to know!

If your top concern is microplastics in food, water, and the environment → Incineration with scrubbing wins.

If your top concern is climate change & reducing fossil use → Recycling is the better path (but only when done properly and domestically).

Neither is perfect — they solve different parts of the problem. The true long-term solution is plastic reduction at the source (less production, better materials, reuse systems).

recycling plastic bags is easy...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darield (Post 2458944)

Lately I have been getting feeds on my phone about foods and products to avoid to reduce our consumption of micro plastics. So this has obviously become a problem since we are even finding this nasty stuff in our livestock our soil and of course The Ocean. I decided to ask several stores how many plastic bags they go through a day and the common answer was between 4-7,000 A DAY! I then looked up approximately how may grocery stores are in Florida? Approximately 20,000. If I multiply 20,000 x 3,000 bags (a very conservative number). Just in Florida we are using approximately 60 million plastic bags a day!! We don't have the manpower to recycle this plastic (latest figures are between 5 and 6% gets recycled) so the majority ends up in landfills, the ocean or best yet, we burn it in huge trash facilities. Please use reusable grocery bags.
If this interests you, here are some links to read more;
5 Things You Need to Know About How Florida Banned Plastic Bags - Debris Free Oceans
plastic-bags/https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-is-practically-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worsehttps://shunpoly.com/article/how-much-of-the-usas-plastic-is-recycled

We recycle all our plastic shopping & household plastic bags. Walmart, Publix & Lowes (and a few other stores I would think) all have containers at each entrance for plastic bags. We just hang a plastic bag in our garage and instead of throwing the plastic bag in the trash, just put it in that recycling bag instead. When it get's full, (which doesn't take long), we just take it along with us on our frequent shopping trips and put it in the bin on the way into the store. Very easy and convenient. Wish everyone did this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caymus (Post 2459016)

I remember people taking both types. They would put the paper bag inside the plastic bag, so they had "handles".

LOL. How silly is that?