Why is plastic tat even allowed to be produced and sold?

[Bbnel]

Like the stuff that comes in party bags and last 24 hours? With the state of the climate surely these sort of things (and many other products I am sure) should be banned worldwide? I am sure it’s not that straightforward, and is not as easy as just banning it. And there is probably an endless list of other things that could be banned. Just with Xmas coming up and all the stocking fillers etc I am just feeling a bit sad that we are still pushing this consumerism worldwide

Yanbu, there is far to much plastic tat.
But with the price of everything going up I dont blame parents for buying cheap plastic toys so their dc have something to open xmas morning.
We need to bring back good quality items even in expensive shops now things last just as long as cheap ones.

Putting a load of laundry on twice a day is hardly environmentally friendly!

She throws them into the machine after half a days use - nothing in her post suggested the machine was run twice a day. She may just wait til it fills up with cloths then run it.

@dontletthemugglesgetyoudownn

I feel sick thinking about all the plastic just sitting around in landfill. I was talking to my ma about maybe using washable nappies when we have a baby, and she was a bit disgusted about until we worked out that all the nappies she used for me and my siblings ( 3 of them) are all still in landfill. does anyone know where to start with cloth nappies?

Modern nappies still use disposable liners & when you consider how often you need to wash them & the temperatures involved are they really the environmental option?.You can get biodegradable disposable nappies now but you need to be careful about which brand you pick. The best thing from an environmental perspective is early potty training - even if all you do is ‘catch’ a 1 yo’s poo / wee every 2-3 hours it’s still far better for the environment than anything else.

My DM still has a loft full of my old Fisher Price toys from 40+ years ago. DS has played with them at her house and they are still good as new.

Plastic toys used to be sturdy and hard wearing. I don't think there's a single toy available these days that is designed to last a year let alone a lifetime.

That’s why I wonder if legislation is the way

Hopefully you don’t mean a ban. It’s better if people were aware they can return defective items to the manufacturer or seller—even plastic toys are meant to last for a reasonable amount of time

Same usedupusername my small has all our old fisher price toys too

*dm not small

Plastic shite is still alowed to be produced,because stupid people still buy this stuff.

So you've never ever bought a piece of plastic, ever? Never picked up a sandwich at the shops that's wrapped in plastic, or some fruit that's in a plastic bag. Never bought something plastic (such as clothes made of polycotton or polyester) that you didn't really strictly need to stay alive just because you wanted it? Even though you already had something at home you could have worn instead?

If you say no, i don't believe you. Everyone has bought plastic. If all the other people who have bought plastic are stupid then you must surely accept you're one of them?

This is kind of the point. Everyone looks at everyone else and says "they're buying too much plastic" without ever stopping to consider how much they're actually contributing themselves. Because in their mind, they have good reasons. But doesn't everyone?

I do it too. I'm not saying i don't. But this thread is peppered with people saying "other people do it". Who is prepared to stand up and say "yes i consume too much and i don't want to change that because it's inconvenient".

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Putting a load of laundry on twice a day is hardly environmentally friendly!

She throws them into the machine after half a days use - nothing in her post suggested the machine was run twice a day. She may just wait til it fills up with cloths then run it.

I dunno, this is MN where people wash their towels daily and get through a bottle of bleach a day, I could easily believe it to be the case!!

@JaninaDuszejko

Yeah, don't buy it. Agree the expensive plastic is even worse. DD1 got a toy for birthday once a few years ago, it was a rather shit toy (not a lot of playing in it) but she like it until it broke after ~10mins of play. Completely shit. It went in the recycling but how bloody pointless. Those little bouncy balls you get in party bags last for longer than that.

Plastic toys cannot be recycled, astonishingly. It's only certain 'thin' plastics. I took a load of plastic toys to the tip and was told nope. It's only 'thinner' types of plastic that can be recycled. I was gobsmacked

Yes from an environmental perspective it should be banned. Absolutely.

But as you've said, its not that simple. Most plastic tat is manufactured in China but bought by the West. If we ban it here, we cut a huge amount of revenue to China. How are China going to take that?

If people weren't buying it, they wouldn't make it, but people are. A government campaign for people to reduce the amount of tat they buy might raise awareness, but if its there to buy someone will buy it.

I agree completely, OP. I'm not sure how practical it would be to ban completely, but it's definitely an option to be considered along with heavy taxes on it

Any party that works ripostes a ban
On plastic tat won't be elected. That's why.

Part of the problem is defining tat. An item that seems useless to most people might be considered essential to a few.

Here are a few things I've seen recently, which I would put money on nobody considering essential:
A fluffy flamingo sitting on a tiny plastic toilet
A bauble of a pig in a tutu
A giant "popper" in the shape of yoda

Those are just 3 I can think of off the top of my head. Most of these things didn't exist a few months ago so they cannot in any way be considered essential. They should not exist now.

They could introduce a tax of levy, say £1 per 100g of plastic. Maybe people would thunk twice about something which will be immediately binned, if it cost them more than a few pence.

Modern cloth nappies don’t use disposable liners, some people choose to use them.
We have fleece liners. They get washed with the nappies, and cloths for Ds butt, face cloths after eating, dirty bibs, any other dirty baby related cloths.
We do a ‘nappy wash’ every other day, so 3 per week. Yes it’s a bit more water and electric, but these nappies aren’t sitting in landfill huge pile for centuries, our electric is all renewable, and we would still need to wash face cloths/ bibs/ etc for baby/ toddler anyway. Never use tumble dryer.

We have 20 nappies, Ds is 18 months. They are all in as new condition still, so we will definitely either use again if we have another child, or will pass on to someone else.

I actually can’t really comprehend that disposable nappies are still the norm and seen as exceptable tbh. Yes a small % might have no washing machine, etc etc, but that really should be the small %, a huge majority could and should be using washable, even if only at night, or at home or whatever.

A fluffy flamingo sitting on a tiny plastic toilet
A bauble of a pig in a tutu
A giant "popper" in the shape of yoda
Basically anything in Flying Tiger, Paperchase, Hema, etc: we could shut down Tiger and it wouldn’t affect anyone’s living needs – but would have an impact on jobs and livelihoods. We need to find a way to have an economy that isn’t reliant on shopping.

It is very difficult to draw the line though

I agree personally that the examples above (flamingo on toilet) are tat

But what about say Hatchimals, Polly Pocket, LOL dolls, Barbie? Are they also tat and should be banned?

If you say no then what is the difference between the flamingo and these which makes one tat and the other not?

If you say yes then do we also need to ban further plastic toys like lego, hama beads, playmobil, marble runs? If not then again, what is the difference?

I think it’s a really really difficult area to make any rules in, it’s hard to find an objective definition of “tat”

@minipie yes I agree and an outright ban wouldn't work for that reason. I think a tax/levy on plastic to make it more expensive so people buy less of it.
If someone is still happy to buy an "essential" barbie if it costs £40 then they can make that decision. But it might start to turn the tide of people thinking that their kids need 10 barbies

@minipie - I think plastic is ok if kept and used as long as possible.
So in your examples duplo is generally well built and kept for next generation or passed on to friends or charity. flamingo toilet thing is probably just binned. Barbies fine if played with, kept or passed on, not ok if binned after a few months when they don’t use anymore.

And again it’s a reducing production thing. If child likes barbies, 6 well chosen ones they love, are far better than a whole giant box of 30 bought as on 3 for 2, or cheap version in Poundland

Dock I can see that as an option but “tax on toys” isn’t going to be a vote winner is it… there will be complaints that this just means the rich can buy as much plastic as they like and the poor can’t even get a single Barbie…

It might encourage more second hand toy sales though which would be a good thing

Caspianberg I agree and think that’s the approach we all ought to take when considering what to buy

My point was that I don’t think we could make legislation on that basis, you can’t make a rule banning “things that are likely to be binned after a few uses”, as this will vary from person to person, some people may say I’ll keep this flamingo for years… others may bin duplo if their kid doesn’t play with it… etc

We could ban 3 for 2 deals on toys and other plastic though

@minipie

Dock I can see that as an option but “tax on toys” isn’t going to be a vote winner is it… there will be complaints that this just means the rich can buy as much plastic as they like and the poor can’t even get a single Barbie…

It might encourage more second hand toy sales though which would be a good thing

Thats the problem. If we are going to solve the plastic/climate change issue, there are going to have to be some unpopular policies and the government will never introduce these as all they want is easy wins.

@LaCerbiatta

There was a piece in the BBC the other day on the horror of wipes, even flushable ones. They contain plastic and will not degrade. They're clogging the sewage system, covering river banks, absolutely horrific 😢. Why people are still flushing them is impossible to understand but also they should just be banned? Plastic free wipes would do the same job surely?

Yes, if they weren't sold, people couldn't buy those plastic wipes and flush them down the toilet in the first place! I blame the governments the most of all. Why aren't they banning these products in the first place?