AIBU to see the loom band craze as just more plastic waste to end on beaches and land fill

[Barbierella]

AIBU to not be able to see anything about loom bands except the fact they will be adding more tiny bits of plastic all over the planet for land fill and birds to choke on.

Yes I know there are bigger environmental issues so am I just being a total grump or does anyone else feel like this.

Total grump

I do too, but have not said it out loud yet.

Yeah, part of me does worry about all the factories churning out all the bands and looms. Sure. When some people haven't got enough to eat, it also seems a really self-indulgent thing to do.

YANBU.

I hate seeing mass balloons being set off, for the same reasons.

""Yes I know there are bigger environmental issues ""

I'm not sure that there are that many that we can control.

The production and disposal of all these crappy products that we could live without is a big concern around the world to all environmental/wildlife groups.

As is all of our waste.

This has a big effect on our planet, it's wildlife and the people in developing countries (as well as a knock on effect on all of us).

The tat Poundland/McDonald's churns out at the rate it does, is staggering.

It always makes me despair every Christmas/Birthday Party bag etc thread, when many on here take pride in how much cheap crap they get away with buying, not like the idiots who spend more, but buy decent, less presents that aren't landfills waiting to happen.

I'm Vegan for environmental reasons, as well as being opposed to unnecessary animal cruelty.

Yep... total grump...

birdsgottafly

You are totally right.

""Yeah, part of me does worry about all the factories churning out all the bands and looms. Sure. When some people haven't got enough to eat, ""

Educate yourself why people around the world are so poor.

The Developed Worlds demand for cheap goods is keeping people (including children) on wages that they cannot live on.

The destruction of natural habitats and species is also affecting what once was subsistence living/farming.

I avoid posting on threads about chocolate/coffee, who are the biggest exploiters of women and children and our want for cheap cocoa beans are causing deaths/poverty.

At least women involved in the sex industry can earn a living.

There is another program being made about taking Brits to see if they could work/survive in other countries, they are always worth watching.

Surely what you say applies to everything:

• endless fast food/takeaway packaging (look in any river for example and you'll soon spot a McDonalds cup or burger box)

-technology items (peoples endless quest to have the latest mobile phone/tablet/games console means so many are being discarded whilst they still work)

Also do you not realise that the factories "churning out" are causing lung diseases at mass rates, which there is no health care for.

As well as other health problems, even for unborn babies.

Continue to live in your blissful bubbles, though.

It applies to everything though... Cheap plastic toys that breaks with in seconds...

If it wasn't loom bands being made it'd be something else.

I spent two 2 hours yesterday making loom bands with my ds1. We thourly loved it.

So on that account ybu.

I agree!

It's a pity, though, because making them seems to be everything you want from a childhood activity: physical deftness, creativity, learning from/teaching one another...

Does their inappropriate disposal have any impact on wildlife?

I only have a collection of random thoughts about them:

Iwould like to know what they are made out of. They do seem to deteriorate very quickly. I do wonder about how toxic their manufacture is.

The actual mass that each child gets through is pretty small. Probably less than the weight of a single water pistol that may well have broken by the end of a season.

I think there will be a little environmental payback in that while kids are making loom bands, in general (other than using you tube to learn how to make them!) they aren't using electronic devices.

I agree about food packaging, that annoys me too. However, at least people do need to eat (albeit not in fast food outlets) whereas people do not NEED plastic toys.

I get your point, but do think you are being a bit of a grump. If you can't see ANYTHING good about them. Schools have hit on to the craze - ours has had Maths/engineering lessons using the loom band craze as a trigger for activities - patterns, strength, lots of ways to go with it.

Am more concerned over the devices we are all using to access a social networking site... the environmental impact of mining for the components of batteries, in particular, is astonishing.

It's a cheap hobby & it keeps them entertained for hours!!

If I said to dd I won't be buying you loom bands because they might harm the plant a few hundred years down the line... She would think I'd gone crazy!!

"The dangers posed by plastic in the marine environment are significant. The United Nations estimates that one million sea birds and at least 100,000 whales, dolphins, seals and turtles die each year after mistaking plastic for food or becoming entangled in it.

A dead fulmar found by RPBC not far from the site of the recent beach clean was autopsied and found to have died with a ball of plastic sheet blocking its stomach.

“The devastation that marine litter causes is tragic and unnecessary – and it’s getting worse. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade, so the amount of it in the environment is growing all the time."

Margaret Atwood is that you?

My thoughts are that we are trying to stop/ban plastic bag usage, reduce plastic packaging etc. And then people buy plastic throw away toys and it just does not make any sense at all.

I know that plastic bags are a bigger issue but in a world with such environmental issues it seem strange to me that so many people would embrace buying what will essentially end up scattered everywhere and have implications on wildlife.

Yanbu

I wish people would just stop buying unnecessary plastic stuff. :(

YANBU. of course you are right.

everyone lives in their OWN bubble though...

me - I will use devices with batteries (devices also made from plastic) which are sent for recycling to African and Asian countries - they get the pollution of mining AND recycling the stuff... I will also buy and let my kids play with plastic tat.

but I don't fly on holiday, buy green beans from Kenya, drink coffee, or own or drive a car

Yanbu! I've been banging on about this for months. The amount of discarded bands I see lying on the floor/local park/beach is staggering.

Rubber bands are a well known choking hazard to wildlife, these are just tiny brightly coloured elastic bands. They need to be disposed of responsibly but nobody seems to care

I wonder if people who go shopping to buy their kids loom bags then put them in their bag for life