alt Hacker NewsYour point about plastic straws reminded me of this interesting article Just Bury Your Trash [0]. There’s an argument to be made that recycling many types materials (except metal) is not worth it. Eg since recycled plastic is more expensive than virgin plastic, it might be better if the money we collectively spend on it could be redirected to something that’s more beneficial to the environment.
And while others have pointed out that plastic straw bans are not about climate change, I suspect many people think they are, lumping together “climate change”, “the environment”, and “pollution” into a monolithic thing. “I’m doing my part” with a plastic straw then as they eat beef, drive an SUV, and fly to vacation (disclaimer I do some of those things).
Replies
I was thinking about this a while back whilst I watched someone struggle with their shopping across the supermarket carpark without a plastic bag only to get in a Range Rover. I guess it's a form of moral self licensing[1].
Counterpoint: China
Is China going woke and then broke on recycling? Or like renewables and EVs did they put engineers in charge and not Libertarians who irrationally hate all government programs?
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/articles/chinas-cir...
Plastic is fine for recycling as long as the process is simple and cheap. Pressing plastic into panels using a sheet press, for use in construction, signage, or art/crafting, is actually fairly efficient versus trying to recreate “virgin” plastic through melting and mixing. It can also be done on a smaller scale. See https://www.onearmy.earth/news/sheetpress
But I agree that typical plastic recycling is inefficient.