Companies whose futures depend on plastic production are trying to persuade the federal government to allow them to put the label “recyclable” on plastic shopping bags and other items virtually guaranteed to end up in landfills and incinerators.

Is there anything more pathetic than a used plastic bag?

They rip and tear. They float away in the slightest breeze. Left in the wild, their mangled remains entangle birds and choke sea turtles that mistake them for edible jellyfish. It takes 1,000 years for the bags to disintegrate, shedding hormone-disrupting chemicals as they do. And that outcome is all but inevitable, because no system exists to routinely recycle them. It’s no wonder some states have banned them and stores give discounts to customers with reusable bags.

But the plastics industry is working to make the public feel OK about using them again.

Companies whose futures depend on plastic production, including oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, are trying to persuade the federal government to allow them to put the label “recyclable” on bags and other plastic items virtually guaranteed to end up in landfills and incinerators.

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  • HubertManne
    1•1 month ago

    yeah. five or ten cents aint gonna cut it and it does need to be nationally. its pretty easy to make sure all us products have a unique identifier so you can’t bring in from mexico or canada or such. I think of aldi and how you never have a loose cart and they never pay anyone to clean up the lot and they don’t have to use up parking space for convenient cart returns. Then if some lady is to concerned about her safety (yeah this is a reference) someone will still return it. I keep on thinking they will somehow need to go above a quarter but so far a quarter works for that.

    • @[email protected]
      1•1 month ago

      A quarter sounds good, or at least is a good place to start

      I have to admit I no longer return cans and bottles, despite that they’re more likely to get recycled when you return thenm. However I’ve been trying to cut back on things like soda anyway, and I’m not going out of my way for a dime to a quarter per week. They go in with the rest of the recycling. We did have a guy coming through collecting cans and bottles from recycling bins so I tried saving mine off to the side so he wouldn’t have to dig for them, but he hasn’t been around in a long time

      • HubertManne
        2•1 month ago

        yeah even without the deposit like we have here aluminum brings in enough for folks to collecte. I used to seperate it into a grocery bag and hang it on the fence for first come first serve with the alley pickers.