This isn't an issue I've seen specifically discussed. I've posted a couple articles about it before (one about plastic "islands" of trash forming in the middle of the Pacific & another about some part of plastic mimicking estrogen in the body & causing some baby boys to have smaller balls :eek: ) but not seen it addressed in any kind of broad way.

So I thought I'd start this thread.

I was just wondering few hours ago why everything has to be plastic wrapped. Item that brought this up this time was a package of toilet paper, which naturally was wrapped in plastic. I think paper could work as well (obviously i don't mean TP).

It is really hard to try gather ingredients for even a simple meal without bringing back some plastic junk. It's still doable, but would require much more time and effort. I guess comfort is one reason for it :sad:, but surely there is a way to make packaging materials more recyclable. Biggest amount of trash that i'm pretty unable to recycle is plastic :/.

I've also heard stories about plastic junk on islands thousands of km's from any human habitation. Sucks.

I'm all in favor of reducing the amount of plastic we all use.

That said, the fact that it's clear and waterproof is obviously a huge reason why products are sold wrapped in plastic.

But they weren't always - just think about things you'd likely see in an old dry goods store, like Mr. Olsen's in Little House on the Praire. Everything was wrapped in brown waxed paper. Of course, paper has it's problems as well. But not nearly as bad as plastic.

My girlfriend and I shop almost exclusively at farmer's markets, and the only things that come wrapped in plastic there are meats. We don't eat much meat, so we use very little plastic. I really wish the US would wise up and outlaw plastic shopping bags. I mean, if China (http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/china-plastic-bags-47010907) is doing it, we should be able to bite the bullet!

Number of plastic bottles used in the United States every five minutes: 2 million

http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/10/24/poptech-chris-jordan-plastic-bottles-all.jpg

You can't exactly claim that that do not have any lasting impacts on the environment.

Short-term: Complete and utterly disgusting sight on the ground, possibly animals can choke by eating it or get caught in six-pack rings, etc.

Medium-term: Looks less ugly, but might release some hazardous chemicals.

Long-term: By the time it decomposed, it would have released all the toxins.