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As the world strives to wean itself off fossil fuels, oil companies have been turning to plastic as the key to their future. Now even that's looking overly optimistic.
The global crackdown on plastic trash threatens to take a big chunk out of demand growth just as oil companies like Saudi Aramco sink billions into plastic and chemicals assets. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, Total SA and Exxon Mobil Corp. are all ramping up investments in the sector.
Renewed emphasis on recycling and the spread of local bans on some kinds of plastic products could cut petrochemical demand growth to one-third of its historical pace, to about 1.5% a year, said Paul Bjacek, a principal director at consulting firm Accenture Plc.
Maybe they can convince consumers to accept clamshell packaging for everything.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday June 06 2019, @01:16AM (22 children)
So the industry will still be making more money every year. What's the problem?
Don't count on consumers to be good stewards here. I am reducing and reusing plastic and I'm still seeing more of it coming in all the time. Most people probably don't care at all. Do they even notice 5-cent plastic bag charges?
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(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 06 2019, @01:28AM (5 children)
What's the matter with you? Petrochemicals are a gift from god! He doesn't offer a second gift when you refuse the first.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday June 06 2019, @01:30AM (2 children)
I just want the bioplastics, or plastics intended for years of use (such as Sterilite containers).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 06 2019, @01:48AM (1 child)
Oy! Doesn't anybody remember anything [getyarn.io] anymore?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday June 06 2019, @03:21AM
string [youtube.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday June 06 2019, @02:31PM (1 child)
There is the whole Flood thing in the bible. Thus, the origination of all those petrochemicals. Decayed plant and animal matter. You're likely filling your car up with ancient human.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 06 2019, @03:00PM
Heh, we only use the freshest humans, premixed with leaded additives
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jasassin on Thursday June 06 2019, @01:41AM (6 children)
The Hy-Vee grocery store here gives a discount (something like five or ten cents I can't remember) per cloth bag you use to bag up your groceries. Every store should do that. I think it would make a big difference in wasted plastic bags, especially if they advertised it.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0x663EB663D1E7F223
(Score: 3, Funny) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 06 2019, @01:52AM (4 children)
But instead they do the reverse, and sell you a *for a better planet* shopping bag. And now, you have to buy extra bags for garbage.
It's all part of the Shopping Bag Industrial Complex that Eisenhower warned us about.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Insightful) by HiThere on Thursday June 06 2019, @03:31AM (3 children)
An estimate that I've seen was that unless you reused that "reusable bag" more than 30 times, it was more environmentally destructive than the single use plastic. This is clearly subject to a lot of variation, as different bags are considerably different, but the point here is that the "reusable bags sold by Lucky Supermarket (I didn't check the others) are so flimsy that they'd be luck to get five uses before collapsing while you were carrying them. They aren't the durable canvas that people used to use.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Informative) by krishnoid on Thursday June 06 2019, @05:32AM (1 child)
If you're going to go with a plastic-ish bag, "BAGGU" [baggu.com] is a good contender for durability and weight-bearing (albeit pricey). They also never seem to go on sale.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday June 07 2019, @12:32AM
Actually, as I write this, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom's online both have sizable-discount limited-quantity sales on some of the uglier/plainer designs this week. I just bought some.
(Score: 4, Informative) by FatPhil on Thursday June 06 2019, @09:17AM
Like either of those will ever happen. Having said that, I've returned a small pile of brown paper bags to my local beer shop a few times, so at least some of them are getting more than one use.
The spare plastic bags I keep in the side pocket of my rucksack have been there for a few years, and have been used a dozen or so times. There's nothing intrinsically demonic about plastic bags, as long as you're prepared to pay the same attention to their use as you would to brown paper bags or bags for life. "Doing your bit for the environment" most sensibly means "using the plastic bag 30 or so times, and when it's lost its integrity, disposing of in in the 'plastics only' recycling bin".
This is one of those religious green issues, where alas far-from-ideal idealistic woo-woo reigns supreme.
Oh, 173: https://fee.org/articles/banning-plastic-bags-isnt-just-bad-economics-its-bad-for-the-environment/
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Interesting) by schad on Thursday June 06 2019, @12:22PM
Probably every store should do what Costco does, i.e., not provide any bags at all. All they have is a big pile of used cardboard boxes that the products in the store originally arrived in.
Some people bring reusable cloth bags. Coolers and collapsible wheeled carts are also options. But it seems from my experience that most people just use the cardboard boxes, which is probably the most environmentally-friendly solution.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday June 06 2019, @01:44AM (7 children)
Yeah,
as if growth can continue for ever.
Anyway, if the Saudi royal family wind up broke the world will be a better place. Not that they will, when they run out of oil they will just go and live in their Mayfair mansions.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 06 2019, @10:36AM (6 children)
Unless, of course, that comes at the expense of the well being of many other people. Policies that harm one person need not help another.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 06 2019, @03:05PM (2 children)
You only have to check the usual cost/benefit ratio. All you need is a pocket calculator.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 07 2019, @09:51PM (1 child)
I recall the cost/benefit ratio supposedly wasn't exciting for other examples of regime change.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday June 08 2019, @12:35AM
Wouldn't know about "exciting". It is merely the primary method of deciding whether to invade or not. It's like the riot index, you balance the "benefits" of austerity to the costs of the resulting property damage. Everything is done by the numbers. Perfectly natural and normal.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday June 06 2019, @09:12PM (2 children)
Policies that remove power from the House of Saud are likely to be a net benefit for everyone involved.
I don't see why anyone should have to live under an absolute monarch in 2019.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 07 2019, @01:53PM (1 child)
I see policies that removed (or could remove) bad people from power heavily criticized before - such as supporting the Arab Spring, invasion of Iraq which removed Saddam Hussein from power, the current sanctions against Iran, and current support for Venezuela opposition. I don't buy that there's likely to be a net benefit in that light.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Saturday June 08 2019, @07:54AM
You're right, when the US meddles they always screw things up.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Thursday June 06 2019, @02:51PM
The problem is when you're not even sure whether it's worth trying.
For example, in an apartment building or condo complex, all residents trash and recyclables are centralized. If just one or two people toss trash into the recycling, then there's a chance that the entire recycling bin will be reclassified as trash and throw away instead of recycled.
So we have a situation very similar to vaccination. Unless everybody does it, it means nothing. And we all know there are more than enough morons to ruin it for everyone else... both for vaccinations as well as recycling.
And this doesn't get into the fraudulent recyclers that don't actually recycle and just ship it all off to Malaysia or China or Africa or whatever.