The European Commission proposed a total ban on some single-use plastic products and measures to drastically cut the consumption of others, in the latest push by the EU to reduce carbon emissions and marine litter threatening its seas.
The ban will apply to plastic cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws, drink stirrers and sticks for balloons, according to the proposal unveiled on Monday and is subject to approval by EU governments and the European Parliament. Member states will also be forced to reduce the use of plastic food containers and drink cups by prohibiting their free-of-charge distribution.
EU Proposes a Total Ban on Plastic Forks and Other Products
I love Good Hearted activists that are gonna save us from the End of the World one disposable fork at the time. I mean, the planet will explode at the sheer amount of plastic and Styrofoam floating in our oceans and polluting the land… we are dying!
Then again I am old enough to remember being taught why disposable food utensils and containers were good for humanity: They cut down on transmittable diseases. It started with you humble Dixie Cup by the water coolers and then spread all over the world.
Back in the bad old days, communal water and food locations like water coolers and even restaurants, were notorious focus for transmitting diseases. The eating wares were shared and methods of disinfection like steaming the crap out of plates and silverware in restaurants were not common or could be afforded.
The disposable plates, cups and forks cut down on transmittable diseases by cutting the need to share items. Hygiene was easier to control and much cheaper: plates and silverware infected with a patron’s sickness did not make it back to the food preparation area but was taken directly to the garbage. The low-cost also helped small business be willing part of a really healthier way of eating.
Now, we are going to have those saying we have advanced enormously in the hygiene front and we could perhaps eschew on these evil disposable products and go back to more permanent items. Understand that even with those advances, we are still subject to human performance or rather lack of it when it comes to keep things clean. You may have heard of a fast-food chain by the name of Chiplote and the issues they had. Also whole cruise ships affected with Norovirus and making what was supposed to be an enjoyable trip for its passengers. a living hell stuck to their toilets. We keep hearing food recalls from greens, eggs, ground beef and that is under tightly controlled processors. Shit will happen no matter what, but it is the layers of protection we can add which helps avoiding the spreading of diseases.
Getting rid of a safety net because it looks awful to the environment is stupid as hell. Add to that the need to tax and fine rather than encourage cleanliness. Can you imagine what would a small business owner or even a big company would do if instead of being taxed and fined to death in the name of dumb Social Engineering, would be given tax credits and bonuses for helping keep the planet clean?
Never mind: Liberal rather you die first than reduce tax income.
Hat Tip Sean G.
Sort of related: Have you guys noticed how all the doomsday predictions about global warming have had the dates drawn out over the years? What I mean is, the previous predictions from a couple decades ago about Manhattan being under water by 2015 and mass global deaths occurring obviously never happened, so the climate change alarmists/morons have set the new doomsday date to 100 years from now? They know that no one currently alive will see it happen, so they can try to claim credibility.
That’s the theory behind the wording change from “global warming” to “climate change”. The nice thing about the climate is that it’s always changing, so they can’t possibly be wrong.
And they count on the fact that most people don’t know that “if it’s not falsifiable it isn’t science”.
The plastic bag ban in California is causing salmonella. People put a package of chicken in a canvas bag. Next time around they put in lettuce. The bacteria from the chicken goes into the lettuce and boom!!! Infection.
If you use canvas shopping bags, you need to run them through the washing machine with bleach and they dry them in high heat between uses or they become bacteria sponges.
Nobody does that so they get sick.
Disposable eating ware still has uses in the modern world. Camping trips, catered events, fairs, military expeditions or any other location where, bulky, expensive dishwashing equipment isn’t practical, or where normal hygiene standards may be compromised or not possible.
What about disposable plastic medical equipment?
Or disposable syringes, or scalpels? 🙁
I wonder if they even realize that in trade for less plastic/paper going to the landfill is they’ll get more sewage in the waste stream from more washing of utensils.
I always thought the lesson of environmentalism is that you don’t eliminate problems, you just move them. There is no “away” that you throw problems and never think of them again, you just move the problem someplace else.
This is why the hard core greens want to kill off about 95% of humanity.
“This is why the hard core greens want to kill off about 95% of humanity.”
Somehow they are delusional enough to believe that they will be the 5% that survive and will still be able to enjoy the technology enabled lifestyle they currently enjoy with no one left to grow the food, maintain the grid, mine the essential minerals or bury the 95% that didn’t make it. Argh!
Ah, Europe making life worse for Europeans and doing nothing to address the problem, since 95% of all ocean borne plastic pollution comes from just 10 rivers, eight in Asia and two in Africa, but their helping of course. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4970214/95-plastic-oceans-comes-just-TEN-rivers.html
Technically there are enough biodegradable alternatives so that single use cups and cutlery will not vanish.
But nevertheless is a ban like this so wrong on so many levels. But that’s the EU for you.