What plastics would you ban / put a charge on next?

[theremaybetulipsahead]

If you were the PM what 'easy wins' with regard to plastics would you implement?

Mine would be:

• Ban non-biodegradable nappies.
• Minimum charge to single-use plastic coffee cups (similar to plastic bag charge).
• Companies selling bottled water must also supply drinking water / water fountains. Add charge to bottled water.

Babies just woken up so will have to stop there...

A common lie. Plastic disintegrates fairly quickly in the sun, especially thin carrier bags.

But even if it would take years for it to go, so what? That's kind of the point of plastic carrier bags in the first place. They last. They're one of the best modern inventions, due to their convenience and how cheaply they can be produced.

Banning carrier bags is very tunnel vision indeed. You'd be banning something that improves the lives of most people on the planet, for some nebulous and debatable gains sometime in the future.

@theremaybetulipsahead

People have always reused carrier bags because they are so versatile and convenient.

Those boxes of salad grind my gears. So much box!

Maybe some people reused them, but most people didn’t. This shows the effect of the plastic bag charge on plastic bag reuse - www.gov.uk/government/news/10p-bag-charge-turns-the-tide-on-plastic-waste

I know they've been effectively banned, which is why I said I would bring them back. Paper bags have a far higher carbon footprint, and it's practically impossible to reuse them. You'd be lucky if they got your shopping home even the one time.

Cotton bags have a carbon footprint about 20 times higher than plastic bags, and they're nowhere near as practical or versatile.

Plastic wrap on fruit and veg. I’d also put a very high tax on bottled water - no need in the UK!

Plastic bags break down into small plastic particles which are consumed by animals and fish, and end up in the food chain.

@flabbagast

For argument's sake let's say it's true. So what? What harm does it do?

Lots of ideas that seem great but won’t work in practice. People won’t drink from fountains because they’re unhygienic, people nowadays do stupid things and you can’t trust that some sicko won’t put something on the spout. And we need plastic packaging because they sell stuff in supermarkets where anyone can fiddle with it.

If we want to be eco friendly we need to go back to small shops where food doesn’t need to be prepackaged because it’s supervised and served out by shop staff.

Plenty of studies out there, and no doubt much more research to come in future years: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8704590/

This! Absolutely madness!
Even paving is better than plastic grass.

Studies that microplastics exist and that we ingest them, but there isn't really any evidence that they're harmful.

In balance I think there's a very good case to be made that the benefits of using plastic carrier bags far outweigh any nebulous possible harms.

www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01143-3

Micro plastics have been found in human placenta, that’s the harm it does.
www.foodpackagingforum.org/news/microplastics-in-placentas-occurrence-sources-and-effects

And we need plastic packaging because they sell stuff in supermarkets where anyone can fiddle with it.

I have news for you, even with plastic it gets fiddled with. Don't you wash your fruit and veg before using it...?

Fruit shoot lids - those little clear plastic things on the top of the fruit shoot with holes in them that serve absolutely zero purpose and seem to be everywhere.

I try not to buy childrens drinks, opting to fill up their water bottles when out but some pubs and restaurants don’t allow you to bring your own drinks (fair enough) and it boils my piss that these lids exist.

Again, so what? Does it actually harm anyone?

Is ban any coffee outlet from using any disposable cups and only allow them to sell the re-useable ones or tell people to bring their own re-useable ones!

Disposable nappy wipes - utterly useless and awful for the environment. Cheeky wipes all the way!

Disposable breast pads

Make cloth nappies more accessible, educate people that they aren't hard to use, or clean, much better at containing poo as well.

Really? Plastics are made from chemicals and additives which aren’t designed to exist in the human body. I know there are ongoing studies into their harm on the human body but surely someone with even the most basic intelligence can come to the conclusion that microplastics in your body is not doing you any good.

What if you are going somewhere you can't take a reusable cup. Don't mind paying a bit extra but not for a proper travel mug every time I go into town.

I’d like to see some changes to PPE for carers. Mine have to wear gloves, an apron and a mask (now optional, but most are still wearing one). They’re putting compression stockings and shoes on me. No bodily fluids, no creams, no water. At the very least the aprons could go - precovid they didn’t wear them or gloves. That would save a lot of plastic.

I want rules on making consumer goods fixable and not building in obsolescence within a short time.
And stop lying about LEDs lasting forever, they don’t and we have just had to throw a whole lamp away because the sealed unreplaceable LED unit failed.

I was only this morning listening to an interview about reduction in wildlife in this country and I thought at the time how I’d ban astroturf plastic lawns.

I also think that we need a clearer nationwide system of bins and recycling. If you’re away or out for the day the numerous different groupings of items that can be put in a particular bin doesn’t help recycling.

Cats and dogs have a bigger impact on extinction of wildlife.

The single use packaging you get in M&S.
Whenever I go in it's all I can see.

I’d make sure all paper/cardboard packing could be recycled- so none of that glossy or glittered stuff that has to be binned. We need to get used to duller/less fancy packaging and tbh you aren’t keeping it so who cares!