Clown Car VI: Hello, Goodbye. On to 2024.

[El_Machinae]

This is one of the topics where it's worth having an actual book on your mantle about it. Momentum on the plastic problem is definitely a Zeitgeist issue

 

[Takhisis]

I think we can probably shift to biodegradeable materials for some applications that currently use plastic. I agree that really recycling plastic would be good, too. I don't know a whole lot about plastics though.

Plastic can be replaced by wood in quiiite a few applications if you know how to. Wood's not just good for wooden penises (see the Weird News thread).

 

[Samson]

Plastic can be replaced by wood in quiiite a few applications if you know how to. Wood's not just good for wooden penises (see the Weird News thread).

Almost all of my plastic waste generation is from food packaging, and we handled food before we had plastics, so it must be possible to do it without plastics now.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Plastic can be replaced by wood in quiiite a few applications if you know how to. Wood's not just good for wooden penises (see the Weird News thread).

Is this second part supposed to be a dirty joke. If it is, well played, if not... excuse my dirty mind. In any case, I'd say rubber and glass are probably both passable substitutes in that regard. Fruits/vegetables also work... OK, I'll stop now...

Almost all of my plastic waste generation is from food packaging, and we handled food before we had plastics, so it must be possible to do it without plastics now.

So true. I "recycle" a ton of takeout food containers and trash an obscene amount of plastic wrapping/packaging for groceries... even more so, ever since we discovered the joys of grocery-delivery during the lockdowns.

A quirky "crying-Indian" (ie pointless guilt recycling) thing I have a habit of doing is rinsing out my gallon-size food storage bags. Like if they just have a few crumbs in them or something easily rinsed out, I just rinse them and re-use them. I do sometimes wonder if the water I am using rinsing the bags is more environmentally wasteful, than just trashing the bag.

 

[Takhisis]

Is this second part supposed to be a dirty joke. If it is, well played, if not... excuse my dirty mind. In any case, I'd say rubber and glass are probably both passable substitutes in that regard. Fruits/vegetables also work... OK, I'll stop now...

No, seriously, it's in the Weird News thread, the Argentine health ministry has become a laughingstock again for starting a tendering process for the purchase of 10,000 wooden penises for a sex-ed campaign.

Almost all of my plastic waste generation is from food packaging, and we handled food before we had plastics, so it must be possible to do it without plastics now.

So true. I "recycle" a ton of takeout food containers and trash an obscene amount of plastic wrapping/packaging for groceries... even more so, ever since we discovered the joys of grocery-delivery during the lockdowns.

Yeah, most of our plastic waste here is from food packaging as well. Rubber and glass are passable substitutes in this case.

 

[Sommerswerd]

No, seriously, it's in the Weird News thread, the Argentine health ministry has become a laughingstock again for starting a tendering process for the purchase of 10,000 wooden penises for a sex-ed campaign.

Yeah, most of our plastic waste here is from food packaging as well. Rubber and glass are passable substitutes in this case.

Especially glass. The whole "crying-Indian" ad campaign was part of the soft drink industry's efforts to abandon recycled glass bottles in favor of plastic, by gaslighting the public into thinking that the plastic waste was the fault/responsibility of individual members of the public, rather than the companies producing the plastic-bottled soft drinks.

Beer still comes in glass and aluminum. Why can't water and soda? Its absurd.

 

[Ferocitus]

IIRC, in Germany some shops were responsible for the disposal of the packaging of their products,
e.g. the plastic, pins and cardboard that shirts were boxed up in. You could leave the packaging at the shops.

Anyone here know exactly how that worked, or if the regulations are still in place?

 

[Farm Boy]

Its absurd.

It's lazy.

Lazy and wasteful is sexy, because lazy and wasteful is rich.

 

[Ajidica]

A quirky "crying-Indian" (ie pointless guilt recycling) thing I have a habit of doing is rinsing out my gallon-size food storage bags. Like if they just have a few crumbs in them or something easily rinsed out, I just rinse them and re-use them. I do sometimes wonder if the water I am using rinsing the bags is more environmentally wasteful, than just trashing the bag.

I'm always surprised when people don't recycle gallon ziploc bags. Like, I have a drawer full of them. I usually just use them for transporting dry baked goods that are already in saranwrap/tin foil/tupperware that I don't want going all over the place if it tips or rips.
If I use the ziploc for marinating meat, then it goes right in the trash when done.

I know some people re-use tin foil, but I never have.

 

[Farm Boy]

I have over the past year drastically increased my canned soup consumption. My non-recycled waste has plummeted.

Maybe Assclown was onto something with his Campbell's tours.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Canned soup bad for you... too much salt. You stop that immediately or I'm telling.

Growing up, I absolutely loved everything in the Campbell's "Chunky" line, especially the New England clam chowder, which was also my Dad's favourite. I'd eat 2 cans of that with a whole sleeve of "Premium" brand saltine crackers like I was giving out candy. That was my go-to meal all through high school.

 

[Farm Boy]

Damn skippy. I still love those, but I'm skipping the crackers.

I'm down 10 lbs again, after ballooning 30. Soup works just fine in moderation(I love the previous conversation reference tho, thank you). Trying not to die on him. We'll see if he or I gets lucky first.

Accidentally dumped a whole bunch of those Chinese numbing peppers in my mouth the other day(bottom of a bag of imported chips), thought I was having a heart attack. All I could rustle up was a "thank goodness, I made it." Alas, alas.

 

[Ajidica]

Growing up, I absolutely loved everything in the Campbell's "Chunky" line, especially the New England clam chowder, which was also my Dad's favourite. I'd eat 2 cans of that with a whole sleeve of "Premium" brand saltine crackers like I was giving out candy. That was my go-to meal all through high school.

Jeez, I think that meal is saltier than I get when people don't get back to me about weekend plans.
In other words, very.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Growing up, I absolutely loved everything in the Campbell's "Chunky" line, especially the New England clam chowder, which was also my Dad's favourite. I'd eat 2 cans of that with a whole sleeve of "Premium" brand saltine crackers like I was giving out candy. That was my go-to meal all through high school.

Cant get Clam Chowder over here in Australia. I wouldnt mind giving it a go.
I do have some campbells chicken soup, which I mix in canned corn to make chicken corn soup but there are a lot more options these days and I very rarely have it. But it makes for a quick meal

Accidentally dumped a whole bunch of those Chinese numbing peppers in my mouth the other day(bottom of a bag of imported chips), thought I was having a heart attack. All I could rustle up was a "thank goodness, I made it." Alas, alas.

RIP Farmboy died from Chinese Sichuan pepper.
You will become famous in China.

 

[Zardnaar]

They've eliminated plastic bags here for shopping using cloth and paper.

They're gonna eliminate single use plastic stuff as well eg straws and packaging.

Ate a baked spud takeaways today and it was served with wooden knife and fork.

Almost a return to the 1980's. Wouldn't mind seeing glass milk and soda bottles return.

 

[tjs282]

IIRC, in Germany some shops were responsible for the disposal of the packaging of their products,
e.g. the plastic, pins and cardboard that shirts were boxed up in. You could leave the packaging at the shops.

Anyone here know exactly how that worked, or if the regulations are still in place?

The Verpackungsverordnung has been replaced by a newer Act under current German Law, but broadly speaking the requirement for businesses to be responsible for the packaging-waste they produce is still in force, yes

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verpackungsverordnung_(Deutschland)

Spoiler First para of the German Wiki article :

Die deutsche Verpackungsverordnung (VerpackV) wurde im Jahr 1991 von der damaligen CDU/CSU-FDP-Bundesregierung mit Zustimmung von Bundestag und Bundesrat beschlossen. Es handelte sich um das erste Regelwerk, das die Verantwortung der Hersteller für die Entsorgung ihrer Produkte festschrieb. Das System der aus heutiger Sicht überwiegend erfolgreichen Verpackungsverordnung brach in den ersten Jahren mehrmals beinahe zusammen. Es handelte sich um das Pilotprojekt der im späteren Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz (KrW-/AbfG) – ab 1996 – umfassend und detailliert geregelten Produktverantwortung. Die VerpackV wurde wiederholt novelliert, wobei unter anderem das Monopol von DSD (siehe Grüner Punkt) aufgehoben wurde. Zum 1. Januar 2019 wurde die Verpackungsverordnung vom Verpackungsgesetz abgelöst.[1]

Spoiler Google translation of the above :

The German Packaging Ordinance (VerpackV) was passed in 1991 by the then CDU / CSU-FDP federal government with the consent of the Bundestag and Bundesrat. It was the first set of rules that laid down manufacturers' responsibility for the disposal of their products. The system of the packaging ordinance, which is largely successful from today's perspective, almost collapsed several times in the first few years. It was about the pilot project of the later in the recycling law (KrW- / AbfG) - from 1996 - comprehensively and detailed regulated product responsibility. The Packaging Ordinance has been repeatedly amended, including the abolition of DSD's monopoly (see Green Dot). On January 1, 2019, the Packaging Ordinance was replaced by the Packaging Act.

I scanned the article quickly, and if I understood it correctly, the idea basically works as follows.

Every (German) manufacturer selling goods in Germany is required to register themselves with a central (German) office, including an approximate prediction of how much and what kind of packaging-waste they expect their sales to put into circulation that year. They are then charged a fee according to how much burden they are going to place on the system, and the monies collected are used to fund the collection and recycling of packaging-waste in Germany, via the "Gelber Sack/ Tonne" ("yellow bag/ bin") scheme.

In our family (2 adults, 2 teens), we use the Gelbe Säcke mainly for plastic food wrapping (yoghurt pots, sliced-meat trays, clingwrap, etc.), tetra-brick-type cartons, foil, non-returnable food cans*, and non-returnable plastic bottles* (drinks, soap, cleaning products...), but consumer-goods packaging like expanded polystyrene peanuts/ blocks can also go in. We fill approximately one sackful every two weeks. At least in theory, it then all gets taken to a local facility to be sorted by type, and crushed/ baled for recycling.

I gather from colleagues that there was at least one scandal a decade or so back when at least one waste-disposal company was found to be dumping the waste onto barges and sending it to the third world for incineration instead of recycling as they were contracted to do, so the process is — again at least in theory — now more tightly regulated/ monitored.

*The purchase-price for aluminium drinks-cans, and most glass and plastic beer/juice bottles includes a deposit, and most supermarkets have one or more automated collection-points near the entrance which spit out a cashable receipt for all returned bottles/cans (smaller supermarkets with less complex collection points might require glass bottles to be returned at the checkout). Most supermarkets also have packaging-bins just beyond the checkout, separated into paper, cardboard and plastic streams, and there might also be a collection point for dead batteries and/or lightbulbs. More complex electrical goods and electronics can be disposed of via e.g. big-box DIY/ hardware stores.

 

[Takhisis]

Finally someone just tells the lolbertarepublicans to shut up.

‘If anybody is lying here, it is you’: Fauci turns tables on inquisitor Rand Paul
The senator bit off more than he could chew when he accused Biden’s top health adviser of lying about US-funded virus research

Anthony Fauci has a reputation for plain speaking, as a senator who accused him of lying discovered to his cost on Tuesday.

A congressional hearing on the coronavirus pandemic was electrified when Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, clashed with Rand Paul, a Republican senator for Kentucky and longtime opponent of mask-wearing.

Spoiler :

Paul suggested that Fauci had lied before Congress in May when he denied that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded so-called “gain of function” research – the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential impact in the real world – at a virology lab in Wuhan, China.

“Dr Fauci, knowing it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11 where you claimed that the NIH never funded gain of function research in Wuhan?” the senator demanded.

Fauci, speaking in his now instantly recognisable Brooklyn accent, fired back forcefully: “Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress and I do not retract that statement.”

He also told the Senate health, education, labor, and pensions committee that a study cited by Paul referenced a different sort of virus entirely from the one responsible for the coronavirus pandemic. “This paper that you are referring to was judged by qualified staff up and down the chain as not being gain of function.”

Paul interrupted, Fauci insisted “Let me finish,” but Paul went on, pointing his finger as the exchange became more heated.

Fauci said angrily: “Senator Paul, you do not know what you’re talking about, quite frankly. And I want to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about.”

The sparring continued as the men repeatedly interrupted each other and the committee chairperson struggled to retain control. Fauci concluded: “If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you.”

Critics say Paul is grandstanding for an audience on the right, where Fauci has become a boogeyman, targeted by media commentators and subjected to “Lock him up!” chants at Donald Trump’s rallies.

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has previously said he deals with such criticism partly by turning to Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel The Godfather with its philosophy: “It’s not personal, it’s strictly business.”

Fauci also told Tuesday’s hearing that the Delta variant of the coronavirus was the cause of more than 80% of new US Covid-19 cases, but the authorised vaccines remain more than 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

Biden in late May called on aides to investigate the origins of the virus and to report back to him within 90 days. The more prevalent theory is that the virus originated in animals, possibly bats, and was passed on to humans.

Tina Smith, a Democratic senator for Minnesota, asked Fauci if there was anything else he would like to say to “counteract these attacks on your integrity that we’ve all just witnessed”.

He responded: “This is a pattern that Senator Paul has been doing now at multiple hearings based on no reality. He was talking about gain of function, this has been evaluated multiple times by qualified people to not fall under the gain of function definition. I have not lied before Congress. I have never lied. Certainly not before Congress. Case closed.”

Have you no sense of decency, Mr. Paul?

 

[Zardnaar]

Lol go Fauci.

 

[Samson]

Critics say Paul is grandstanding for an audience on the right, where Fauci has become a boogeyman, targeted by media commentators and subjected to “Lock him up!” chants at Donald Trump’s rallies.

This bit surprised me. Was he not everyone's favorite for a while?

 

[Broken_Erika]

This bit surprised me. Was he not everyone's favorite for a while?

He has been colluding with the evil Demoncrats!