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AWARENESS OF HOW much plastic we use and throw away in Ireland has been growing in recent years.
Plastic is a cheap, durable material that has been around for decades and has a wide range of uses.
Most plastics take up to 1,000 years to decompose and there are growing concerns about their impact on the environment.
The average Irish person created close to 58kg of plastic waste in 2016, the highest rate in Europe. Measures to reduce this have been floated including a ban on single-use plastics.
However, this could increase food waste and carbon emissions in other areas (using glass instead of plastic, for example, would increase the weight of transport and drive up fuel costs).
So what do you think? Should Ireland ban all single-use plastics?
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It is not possible to ban them all 100%, at least in the short term.
@James Wallace: Yes
@James Wallace: Start an initial ban list and lets go from there. I’m sick of putting so much unusable plastic in the black bin. Almost 3/4 of what I put in there could easily be a paper based product to do the same job. Example, tissue packets, all single use plastic, paper packets/packaging could easily do that job. Also these single use plastics as they are call, can be recycled, just the facilitates are not here yet. The single use plastics can be melted down into what looks like a dough ball, and turned into paving slabs or roof tiles, take a look on YouTube. I firmly believe the future generations will look back and us, thinking we where mental to be just burying things in the ground and burning things, possibly even digging up old dumps to get old rubbish.
@James Wallace: this government wont be banning anything that effects buisness no matter how beneficial to the environment or the people, nope the answer will be the usual “sure tax the f**k out of it.
@Dave.: A lot of your so called paper products have a plastic film so are also technically plastic
So they’re banning straws but not green scouring pads. With a straw you can rinse it and put it in the recycling bin. No one of those green scouring pads. Take a new one give an old oven dish a good scrub in a basin then slowly pour out the water and see what’s left in the bottom.
Its like a fine plastic powder that would normally go down the drain. No chance of it being filtered out. Small marine life will eat this and it then enters the food chain.
This type of ban is just reactionary. Proper measures are needed. We need to enforce laws on street littering more as this rubbish often makes its way in to rivers and on to the sea. Its not plastic that is the problem rather what people are doing with it.
@Darren Byrne: watch The War on Plastic on BBC player. You’ll see where recycling ends up.
@Darren Byrne: the biggest cause of micro plastics in the sea comes from us washing our clothes should we stop that too. banning straws is a start to reduce the plastic we don’t need. Drink like a grown up or use a reusable straw
@Guill Ire: a very good series – frightening to see those mountains of plastic waste ! as for the green scourers – switch to a dish brush instead !
@LittleBee: Banning straws is just a reactionary populist measure. They should be doing something more concrete. Laws forcing recycling companies to show where recyclables collected have been sent and they have actually been recycled would be a start. Banning micro beads is good but as I and you have pointed out their are worse sources of micro plastics entering the ocean. And we don’t need to stop washing clothes, just wear clothe made of natural fibres.
@Guill Ire: Yes so wouldn’t laws forcing companies to ensure the recyclables are actually recycled and that they have to be able to show where they went would be a lot better than the simple measure of banning straws.
@Eric Davies: exactly, so why aren’t they banning them when there is an alternative. This is a populist measure and a cop out on doing something real.
@Darren Byrne: I don’t know I take you point because it is a collection of solutions that’s needed but I’m a firm believer that not producing something in the first place is better then have to recycle it at the end
@Darren Byrne: there will be no laws forcing companies to do anything, this is fg, the attitude is let the taxpayer pay more
@LittleBee: Drink like a grown up. How condesending can you be. Some people Need a plastic straw. Reusable are great but there are times when they cannot be cleaned properly.
Plastic straws are an aid for soe people and shpuld be freely available
What about banning nappies instead of straw’s?
@Mark Edwards: nappys are needed straws are not most people can drink like grown ups.
@LittleBee: you would have reusable nappies, tampons and pads is another big one, they should be taken off the market immediately.. There’s reusable cups that can be used.
Bags for life should be replace with cotton bags, even India is ahead of us on that one. There is so much that could be done immediately and no one has the balls to even suggest it.
@Hardly Normal: Oh I totally agree that there are alternatives but as I say straws are not needed we can cope without them so let’s start there. Make disposable nappies compostable or at least biodegradable. I used to mind a little boy that used reusable nappies and I’m not joking you he stank of p!ss all the time I can’t see the greater public using them. But we can cope without wipes so let’s ban them. Sanitary products could also be redesigned to be biodegradable I’m sure because like the nappies I really don’t think the cups will catch on there’s something grim at even the thought of it
@LittleBee: I agree, slightly weird. Our ancestors probably thought the same when tampons were invented though.. the alternative is even more grim.
@Hardly Normal: wonderful thanks for putting that image in my head for the rest of the day ha ha
@LittleBee: if he stank of p!ss all the time it means his nappies weren’t being cleaned properly. That’s not a reusable diaper issue. That’s an issue with the parents’ hygiene and cleanliness, and I’d have to question how clean and hygienic they were in areas other than that child’s behind. If reusable nappies are properly cleaned they do not smell.
@LittleBee: Grown ups, you say the words but dont act as one. Most people not all people.
Screw the ones than need them they dont count is what you are saying.
@LittleBee: Funny for generations babies did not smell of piss, maybe because the nappies were washed properly.
So screw the Persons With Disabilities is what you are saying, they do not count.
@LittleBee: Here is an image to stick in your head, a Person With disabilites choking trying to drink out of a cup or being burnt by hot liquid because the cup was dropped.
I hate using the word but you are an ableist of the worst kind, a person who claims to care about others but ignores Persons With Disabilities when it suits you
How come go to McDonalds get a paper cup n now they promoting they using paper straws but still get a plastic lid
@Alan Carthy: the cups are not all paper either there lined with plastic
@Alan Carthy: The lid is recyclable. It’s PP5 if I recall. Ireland can recycle. 1,3,5.
Another minimum. Manufacturer should have to place the marking of what plastic it is on the product.
@Dave.: Can straws not be made from the same plastic as the lids?
Stop single use, excessive packaging from shops which fills our bins every week. It is totally unnecessary.
@Carsonwasahurler: People are dirty, no one wants their groceries being pawed by people who haven’t washed their hands in weeks.
@Cathal: groceries are dirty. especially the ones which grow in the dirt
Even if pubs stopped automatically putting straws into drinks would help. What’s wrong with drinking from the glass?
@Aisling: most pubs are using paper straws now and even so some people don’t want to drink for the glass for many reasons
@Aisling: i hate when they do this….but it’s so you drink faster
@LittleBee: you don’t have to use the straw. It’s personal preference though, I prefer drinking out of a straw than a dirty glass.
They should just pick a date and ban them just like the smoking ban. We live in a capitalist society and businesses might crumble but new industries will appear to take their place. Its time for action against the plastics industry and they won’t do anything unless they are forced
@David Saunders: too many vested interests for the political classes to take action – oil industry ,big pharmaceutical companies, EU directives on food and health and safety, chemical companies – all ‘sponsor’ political parties and governments .
@David Saunders: The very reason we are on this mess is because of capitalism.
@Fran Scanlon: the most advanced society woth the best quality of life to exist since antiquity? Yes you are correct
@David Saunders: It is a safety issue for Persons With Disabilities, plastic straws are needed by soe people. Not wanted NEEDED
What about how medicine is stored. Most tablets are packed in single use packaging that can’t be recycled due to tin foil attached?
No no just tax it ! That normally works , doesn’t it ??
@Adam Gibson: sarcasm !!! -i like it !!
Many disabled people require straws to drink, that’s why straws were invented. Then everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Please stop being ableist and saying people should drink like a grown-up.
Why not ban other plastics like packaging, you know, the stuff nobody’s life actually depends on.
@Roisin Dermody: reusable straws and sippy cups are available. Most straws are totally unnesscessary.
@Roisin Dermody: you can buy a reusable stainless steel straw that folds down to the size of a pen , they only cost a couple of euro and are easily cleaned simply by washing through with warm water .
@LittleBee: No you are wrong and dumb to think that every option has not been tried and tested. Persons With Disabilities are brilliant at getting around issues that able people would not see.
If there was a better way, we would have coe up with it.
The TV remote was designed as an aid for a person with disabilities by a family member.
@Eric Davies: If a person has a seizure with a stainless steel stram in their mouth, then what.
Do you not think all of thos options have been thought of and checked out.
Glass, stainless steel, paper, straw straws,
yes, there are bio alternatives, and people would only buy what they need (less waste and less need for preservatives which are used mostly in imported food that travels long distances)
Yes (as much as we can, I’m sure we’ll still need lots for medical reasons) but also ban the production of single use plastics or use of same in packaging in the country by Irish companies. This should also be lobbied for at EU level.
Also there should be some sort of audit of fishing nets/equipment) done and damaged nets returned to shore instead of thrown in the water. I imagine stuff just gets lost sometimes but that should be a given % instead of allowing free reign).
It is so easy to give and receive back a deposit on plastic bottles. Google Denmark bottle returns. It takes political will, like the success on plastic bags.
plastic alway full with two week of wheelbin most plastic and very little papers. Hopefully ban plastic
A good way to start would be if people only ate what they need instead of becoming fat. Think how much less would be bought and hence so much less plastic. A big saving on the health service also.
Yes
A polymer that can be used for all the single applications but can also be clean burning needs to emerge.
No point pretending, it’ll be the most efficient form of recycling, we’re not about to turn back the clock on current convenience.
Can we ban paper straws too?? Awful things altogether
Paper straws jus disintegrate, always end up going through 2/3 per drink so I’m using more really and they’re annoying
@kevinhunt101: There are PLA straws that are made from plant plastic, they feel just like the real thing and decompose within a year or two.
We should switch to this sort of plastic instead of banning all plastic.
Are all those who voted yes ready to accept the job losses and higher unemployment in their recycled Utopia?
A milk shake will never be the same again
I think MOST single use plastic should be banned, it’s a no brainer really but you cant ban ALL single use plastics. The bungs you get placed in your arm in hospital for drawing blood and injections are all plastic, the sterile bottles for urine are plastic too. These cant be used again, obviously but straws, plastic wrapping, cotton buds (some have plastic handles), wet wipes etc. need to be severely curtailed. And of course micro beads should have been banned years ago.
The auld new straws in MacDonalds are shocking. Make my teeth go all funny.
So because people are irresponsible in there lives; lets ban it. Typical government response, but i bet they will tax it first. Knee-jerk politics are good for nobody, people need to take responsibility for their actions, plain and simple. This alone would fix 90% of the pollution issue.
@Thomas L: no. It’s a systemic issue. It’s so difficult to do a full grocery shop with out buying plastic. And impossible if you want to buy what you actually want to buy. Like the shopping bags and smoking ban, it needs to happen from the top down! We’ll adjust. It’s not the end of the world. We adjusted to bringing shopping bags we could adjust to less plastic about the place too!
@Karen Kelleher: Fair point, however, as a consumer knowing that certain items will contain an ammount of plastic and then purchasing those items, thus, assuming responsibility for the recycling of those plastics. That is an easy concept to follow, no? So the answer seems to be a ott reaction to a problem created by irresponsible people? Plastic is a lot more sanitary than paper first and foremost, medical and food industries rely on plastics, as to deliver products fit for human consumption.
Remember; it is not gigantic industrial nations…it isn’t the 1,000’s of tankers, planes or 1,000,000,000’s of cars polluting the world…
It’s those ****ing small plastic bottles in hotels and those cheeky ****ing straws.
Not one of us, or even all is us, would register as a blip on China’s output – do you think our Government will ban them too?
@Artugal: thank God someone with sense
@Artugal: you seem to think this is about c02 emissions. It’s not.
This poll again. I feel like some one is waiting for a different outcome.
Coke won’t be same out of a cardboard carton ha that’s gas of me
Try sucking a milkshake through a paper straw …ugh
651 voted no. Must be FG voters. 136 voted don’t know, confused, must be FF voters
in Berlin they have an excellent system an people are collecting glass and plastic bottles for money…….everyone wins….cant Ireland copy?
Knowing very well that plastic is hurting earth, which is our home and still using it is not acceptable. It is like making our home dirty knowing well that it will become non livable one day. And we call ourselves educated.
Ban plastic strays…there. That whole greenhouse thing sorted. As you were.
It would be fantastic! At certain times of the year we wind up filling a wheelie bin with nothing but plastic packaging from products sold in the shop where I work.
How about mandating biodegradable packaging materials, instead?
in Berlin they have an excellent system an people are collecting glass and plastic bottles for money…….everyone wins….
Can we please please ban cling film. I hate the stuff and there is no excuse for it
Straws were only an example of one of use plastics…. It wasn’t meant to be taken literally!!
Jeez this country… Wake up
Knowing that plastic is so bad for earth which is our home, and still using it is not at all acceptable if we call ourselves educated. It is almost like making our house dirty knowing well enough that one day it will become non-livable. It is almost no brainer to ban single use plastic. It is really extreme that now vegetables and fruits also come wrapped in plastic. And we call ourselves educated.
have your say