Germany is Banning Single-Use Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Food Containers (usatoday.com) 135
Germany is banning the sale of single-use plastic straws, cotton buds and food containers, bringing it in line with a European Union directive intended to reduce the amount of plastic garbage that pollutes the environment. From a report: The Cabinet agreed Wednesday to end the sale of plastics including single-use cutlery, plates, stirring sticks and balloon holders, as well as polystyrene cups and boxes by July 3, 2021. Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said the move was part of an effort to move away from "throw-away culture." Up to 20% of garbage collected in parks and other public places consists of single-use plastic, mainly polystyrene containers.
'Cotton buds'? (Score:1)
Why ban those? They can be made with paper sticks.
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Re:'Cotton buds'? (Score:4, Informative)
This. Its not about banning the item itself, its banning the single use plastic - there are already cotton buds with paper based stems available to purchase, and the UK went this way a few years back. Paper based stems are bendier and less sturdy but still get the job done.
Dont expect it to stop here - face wipes, baby wipes etc are all in the firing line in many European countries as they are all single use where reusable products are just as usable (albeit less convenient in a modern world - who wants to wash a facecloth after a few uses these days?)
Re:'Cotton buds'? (Score:4, Insightful)
In my whole 59 years of life, I have never seen someone use a cotton bud out in public, only at home in the bathroom. How does that rubbish sneak out of there. Hey I know something they should ban, mobile phones with fixed batteries which get broken by design when the battery swells, designed that way on purpose. How about that pollution plus the additional pollution generating revenue needed to keep buying mobile phones that are actively designed to break but Qtips they are the bigger issue, OK :/.
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I don't know exactly how they get out there, though I could guess, but as a diver I can tell you with absolute certainty that enough of them end up in the ocean that I've seen a good few during dives everywhere from the Caribbean to Asia, so this makes sense, though I think the bigger problem is that because they're small they also break down easily into micro plastics. This is just a guess, but it's possible therefore that they're seeping into the water through runoff as microplastics too.
I don't disagree
Re:'Cotton buds'? (Score:5, Interesting)
Many cruise and cargo ships throw trash overboard to avoid paying the fees per ton of trash offloaded in the harbour. If you want to clean up the oceans, that looks like a better place to start. Perhaps a world wide rule where ships pay for trash per passenger mile rather than per ton?
And increase fees for littering. In Singapore, you can get a $2000 fine for a first offence. Plastic should be thrown into the trash, not into nature, why do people still find this so difficult to understand?
But noooo, it's much easier to outlaw plastic straws and force people to use either badly tasting paper straws (yes, I've tried them) or tooth-busting corona-spreading metal straws. Never mind that producing paper straws (with the liners inside) actually pollutes more than the production of plastic straws.
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But noooo, it's much easier to outlaw plastic straws and force people to use either badly tasting paper straws (yes, I've tried them) or tooth-busting corona-spreading metal straws. Never mind that producing paper straws (with the liners inside) actually pollutes more than the production of plastic straws.
There are also silicone straws. They're just as corona-spreading as metal ones, which is to say negligibly, but they won't bust your teeth. I imagine hot beverages make them a bit bendy, but not so much that they won't accomplish their mission.
Re: 'Cotton buds'? (Score:2)
Silicone's electrostatic charge makes it IMPOSSIBLE to store kitchen utensils made from it without having them attract things like dust, dander, and cat fur. Well, unless they come out of the dishwasher & go straight into a plastic ziploc bag for storage... ;-)
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You could store it in a case, which you'd probably want to do with other kinds of straws to keep them clean anyway. Or you could rinse before use, although I'm not thrilled with the idea of washing a straw in a public restaurant's bathroom sink either.
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But noooo, it's much easier to outlaw plastic straws
One regulation that can solve source problems rather than having to deal with shitty enforcement mechanisms is easier. Also it's not all about littering, it's not all about plastic in the oceans, it's not all about landfills.
Fundamentally we humans are horrendously wasteful and horrid creatures who through millions of years of evolution with our perfectly formed mouths are suddenly too good to drink from a fucking cup. "noooo" we need to dig up decayed dinosaurs instead.
or tooth-busting corona-spreading metal straws
Please don't cite a very temporary pa
Re: 'Cotton buds'? (Score:2)
If cruise ships dumping garbage is really a problem then the other options is to require ports to accept garbage as part of the docking fee instead of per ton of garbage. Also fine anyone caught doing it and offer rewards for reporting it.
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It's not a matter of fixing the things in "bigger issue" order. It's a matter of fixing as much as possible in the shortest time. These things are bad and can be relatively easily replaced, so they should be. Your point about single use batteries is of course absolutely correct, I want to be able to change batteries on all my devices, even if that makes them slightly bigger.
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I would guess they are lumped together with other plastics, shoved on a boat somewhere, and sent on their merry way. The plastic trash is then either dumped directly into the ocean by boat owners looking to increase their margin or dumped in a country with few environmental safeguards so long as the price is right. Banning plastic qtips won't solve this problem, but it will at least ensure that less stuff is being dumped.
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Paper based stems are bendier and less sturdy but still get the job done.
This is the exact opposite of my experience. Paper based Q-Tips are sturdier than plastic ones.
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Paper based stems are bendier and less sturdy but still get the job done.
This is the exact opposite of my experience. Paper based Q-Tips are sturdier than plastic ones.
Same here. But I do find it depends on the brand. Name brand Q-Tips are sturdy, but many off-brand cotton swabs with paper stems are worse than plastic ones. I make sure to only buy Q-Tip brand ones for that one reason alone.
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I was horrified the first time I encountered a plastic stem q-tip. Not just because it's a stupid waste of plastic, but also because in every way it was worse, it was weaker than the paper stick, being hollow it could collect water and the edges were sharp enough that exposure to them in the ear canal could be extremely dangerous.
I understand the plastic industry pushing the switch, but honestly, half the time we replace a traditional power object with plastic about half the time it's worse, it's only advan
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We banned straws a few years ago, but like banning cotton buds (which we didn't) it's one thing to ban them but much harder to replace them. What replaced plastic straws was paper ones, which turn into a soggy crushed mess after a short time, essentially useless.
I get the feeling this ban is more a shopping list of items that someone dreamed up than anything based on real research, i.e. go out there and collect roadside litter from various locations and ban the worst offenders. My guess would be plastic
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This. Its not about banning the item itself, its banning the single use plastic - there are already cotton buds with paper based stems available to purchase, and the UK went this way a few years back. Paper based stems are bendier and less sturdy but still get the job done.
Dont expect it to stop here - face wipes, baby wipes etc are all in the firing line in many European countries as they are all single use where reusable products are just as usable (albeit less convenient in a modern world - who wants to wash a facecloth after a few uses these days?)
Quebec Canada also banned 1x use plastic. Paper straws are the replacement. Unfortunately, they are slightly thicker than the wax coated paper straws of old. Thicker because they have to be resist flattening when put into the same take-out bag as the rest of the food. Wax straws tend to get squashed.
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Had to look that up; British/European term for 'cotton swab'.
Why ban those? They can be made with paper sticks.
The ones with plastic sticks are banned. The whole thing is a stunt, though.
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Well, I'm certainly glad you clarified that, since your original statement didn't make much sense to me, either.
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A lot of people don't like them, because they bend too easily compared to plastic sticks. But they'll get used to it sooner or later.
Unless we can manufacture the plastics with domestic resources, possibly from plant polymers, lowering our dependence on minerals oil is a good idea in my opinion.
There's still a lot of nonsense going on there, like making Germany's baseline electricity generation dependent on gas straight from Putin's ass, which is lik
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"Had to look that up; British/European term for 'cotton swab'.
Why ban those? They can be made with paper sticks."
It's about plastic.
Paper stick ones aren't banned, also not paper straws or paper food containers.
That's kind of the point.
Re:cotton swab? (Score:4, Informative)
It might surprise you to hear, but different countries use different terms.
Q-Tip isn't as as prevalent in Germany as it is in the US. So we don't use the product name as a generic term.
Another example: We don't say "Kleenex" over here but "Tempos" (as this brand is much more prevalent).
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Likely because they weren't the big brand name sold there initially.
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Forgot to ask... do you "google"?
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Forgot to ask... do you "google"?
Are you implying that anyone anywhere in the world "bings"? The op is German, not not a non-existent unicorn.
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Forgot to ask... do you "google"?
Are you implying that anyone anywhere in the world "bings"? The op is German, not not a non-existent unicorn.
No, I'm implying that "googling" has become a verb and that it wasn't before Google. Seems obvious if you follow the thread.
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I did follow the thread, added a funny in the end. I'm sorry your sense of humour died.
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Keep your day job. Your sense of humor is borken.
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Because "Q-Tip" is a brand name. There are lots of cotton swabs that aren't Q-Tips.
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Calling them 'Q-tips' is like calling an 'adjustable wrench' a 'Crescent wrench'; the former is a generic term for the tool, the latter is a brand name.
Sorry. Would you like a kleenex?
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Bayer lost the trademark for Asprin as reparations after Germany was defeated in World War One. They also lost the trademark for Heroin.
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Re: cotton swab? (Score:2)
In the South, Coke is often used as a generic term for any soda or carbonated beverage as well
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"In the South"? What podunk town do you live in? In my 61 yrs, I've never heard it used that way.
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He meant the greater Atlanta area, obviously.
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>"In the South"? What podunk town do you live in? In my 61 yrs, I've never heard it used that way."
Me neither. Nobody refers to all carbonated drinks as "Coke." Carbonated drinks are referred to as "sodas" or a "soda." The only misuse of the word "Coke" I have heard is when the person really wants a "cola" and refers to all colas as "Coke", which is, of course, improper.
Back to the topic- I have never, ever heard of a "cotton bud." They are "cotton swabs." It is true that most people here never say
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Yes, I've heard people call them Coke machines, which often makes sense because the whole machine was covered in Coke logo. But I've still never heard anyone ask about a Coke and using it as a generic term like "Pop" or "Soda". I'm not implying that it never happens, but in my travels to 49 states (only missing Montana), I've never heard it.
Re: cotton swab? (Score:2)
Re: cotton swab? (Score:2)
Iâ(TM)ve always used crescent wrench. I knew q-tip was a name brand but had no idea crescent wrench was.
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They're still around, and their tools are still good. At least, the ones made in the USA. I don't have any Crescent tools made in China, so I can't speak to that.
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Well done (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Well done (Score:5, Informative)
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Some moron always says this shit.
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I don't think it was meant to be instructional.
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I'm sure the ban on plastic straws will clean up the ocean and rivers around Indonesia.......
Who cares about the oceans around Indonesia. I for one am excited to have less plastic littered in the bushes on the road side.
Speaking of Indonesia, do you still export your plastic waste there for "recycling" the same way you export all your other problems to the 3rd world and then blame them for it? Or do you buy exclusively in the USA and dispose responsibly exclusively in the USA?
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>"Who cares about the oceans around Indonesia. I for one am excited to have less plastic littered in the bushes on the road side."
I, for one, would be more excited about not littering in the first place. It doesn't matter what the item is or is made of. Even lined paper will sit in the open for years. Plastic straws are a vanishingly tiny part of plastic waste and also litter for which there are few reasonable alternatives. What I see the most are plastic and non-plastic cups and food containers.
>
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I, for one, would be more excited about not littering in the first place.
Honestly I'm more excited about a pony, but I can't get one so I'll settle for biodegradable waste.
Fantasic news (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Fantasic news (Score:5, Insightful)
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Exactly. And they are doing is from the free enterprise angle, not the government mandated angle. It's encouraging.
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The entire practice of making something that will be used for 5 minutes and then last for 1000 more years should be reduced as much as possible, that ratio is awful.
. . . those cardboard condoms are going to be a "rough ride" . . .
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Yeah, but what's with the tagging on this story?
It's common sense, and pretty well supported in the population, but it's more tagged "nazi" and "sieghiel."
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That's a really tricky case. Syringes used to be glass and metal, they would be cleaned between uses. Realistically estimating the behavior of heroin users is beyond me.
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With some moderately expensive equipment, and a lot of energy.
So, you want to make sure that heroin users are rich enough to afford the hardware and to hire someone to make sure their needles are cleaned? That'll really help the drug users of the world get things together....
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I mean, a pressure cooker works fine as an autoclave. I worked in a lab that did some small amounts of micro work and we literally just put a pressure cooker on a hot plate in the fume hood.
Physically cleaning out the needles though, no idea his you would cheaply and reliably do that.
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how will that work? (Score:2)
Re:how will that work? (Score:4, Interesting)
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You know that businesses moved away from paper plates, wooden utensils and all the rest because it was expensive. And environmentalists cried that it was killing trees. And your definition of take out is kinda funny. Man just think of those days long past where people brought their own utensils and plates. Then again, even earthenware was considered disposable at one point.
It reminds me of those glorious cloth bags that businesses started falling all over themselves to push people to go with. Then sudd
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So...? Plastic things are cheap because of the massive oil subsidies. And even if they were more expensive... so? You also buy shatter proof glass in your car's windshield. But, it's more expensive... so maybe you should replace it window single-pane window glass, then, right?
You've got some good stories swirling around in your head about what imaginary groups of people told you. Good l
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Plastic isn't cheap because of massive oil subsidies. It's cheap because we use all of the raw and refined components in everything we make unlike even 50 years ago. Your attempt at an example is shit though, you buy a shatter proof glass windshield because the windshield is a critical component of the vehicles structure. Not having it means you die of things like the engine compartment flipping upwards in a high speed crash, or getting crushed in a rollover.
It's a good thing it's not hard to find everyt
Re:how will that work? (Score:5, Informative)
More and more single-use food containers over here are made from paper, or from left-over starch from industrial food production(Which means they are even edible)
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At that time at the places that used paper it was that wax covered heavy paper and then they could use a piece of aluminum foil to wrap it.
We were told not to throw that type of paper in the paper recycling container.
Compared to a single styrofoam container I don't see any real difference from the recycling side.
Those edible wafer things were used with crepes and similar things at fests but have you ever seen anyone eat them? I usually just saw garbage can fil
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The same way you'd get it at kebab shops that aren't your local brand of idiots. Paper plates and straws, and wooden utensils. Shit man if the degenerates in the Ruhrgebiet can figure this out I'm sure your local Doner can as well.
Paper straws wrapped in plastic (Score:2)
...instead of plastic straws wrapped in paper.
As if that's going to make the difference. In a few hundred years when we're all dead and buried, future generations will be scratching their heads and blaming our stupidity for our harsh lives.
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I didn't see that anywhere in the laws. Hell I don't think I've ever been given a straw in anything. Is that a thing in America? Don't you have those straw dispensers where you push a button and you get a straw? If anything it's plastic straw wrapped in metal.
Exponential increase will stop someday (Score:3, Interesting)
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I'm not sure that's unfortunate. Mothernature's wrath seems to favour the intelligent as the survivors, whereas voluntarily not reproducing seems to favour the poor and stupid.
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Total non-issue for us Germans, by the way. (Score:3, Interesting)
We already barely use those things anymore anyway. Aside from it having become quite unfashionable too.
So banning the things is just putting the final signature under the done deal, to make it official.
Now let's see how up in arms US commenters are ... :)
Re: Diseases (Score:2)
Ha, when the local cafe switched to takeaway only, I brought in a reusable cup only to be told they couldn't accept my germs. And when I said I didn't need a plastic lid for my 3-gulp espresso, sorry plastic lids are mandatory.
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Who in their right fucking mind are sharing cotton buds, plastic or otherwise?
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Covid-19 is the World-Shaking-Problem-Of-The-Day! So, everything bad that happens must be related to that world-shaking problem, or people won't take it seriously.
Of course, thinking people, seeing everything linked to covid-19, might start to wonder if covid-19 is that huge a deal....
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Restaurants haven't switched to using disposable plastic cutlery either.
Fortunately soap is quite effective at cleaning coronavirus off surfaces. Or just drink like a grown up and don't use a straw.
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Actually, at least one restaurant I regularly dine at has indeed switched from reusable metal utensils to single-use plastic for dine-in customers.
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And you still eat at a place which just advertised that they can't effectively give you clean dishes to the point of switching to disposables? Holy crap!
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Or just drink like a grown up and don't use a straw.
There are grownups who have dental problems that cause hot or cold liquids to cause them pain. Others have dexterity problems. They need straws if they're not going to suffer.
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Yeah, you are right, I shouldn't have said that. Sorry.
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Covid is still happening, and these politicians fools still do not understand germ theory?
I think it's quite safe to say that if "covid is still happening" 12 months from now then we need to come up with otherways of getting on with our lives.
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What has one to do with the other?
Re:Headline (Score:4, Insightful)
Single use paper food containers, or, containers made out of left-over starch from food production, which are even edible(although they don't taste very much)
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Re:Single Use Bags and the Pandemic (Score:4, Insightful)
Paper?
Or perhaps sanity will win out and people will realize that your reusable bag is probably approximately as contaminated as your reusable hands.
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When is the last time you washed your hands?
When is the last time you washed your reusable bag?
Did you put your bag on the floor at any time between the last time you washed it and when you set it on the counter to load your groceries into it? Carry it into the washroom with you? Etc.
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When is the last time you got your hands close to your mouth or nose? Your reusable bag? Viruses aren't some taint that renders an object infected forever or until it's washed. That bag is probably just fine until you pick it up to take it with you.
You *could* wash it too.
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Also, this is being done in a country that has the pandemic under far better control than certain other countries.
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If the shelf life is that much longer it's not because of the container, it's because the product is "ultra-pasteurized", which means it's fucking dead.
Re: That's one tiny step, I guess... (Score:2)
In the US, at least, food is often packaged in containers filled with argon so the food itself won't oxidize & turn brown, oxidize, etc. That's why potato chips last for months in an unopened bag, but go bad within a few days once it's opened. Ditto, for ground beef... you can keep it sealed & unopened for a week, but the moment you break the seal, it has to be cooked or frozen or it'll turn grayish-brown overnight.
Tip: if you have paintball CO2 cartridges & a way to attach a regulator & bal
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