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Europe Plans Ban on Plastic Cutlery, Straws and More (cnn.com) 628

Europe is proposing a ban on single-use plastic items such as cutlery, straws and cotton buds in a bid to clean up the oceans. From a report: The European Commission wants to ban 10 items that make up 70% of all litter in EU waters and on beaches. The list also includes plastic plates and drink stirrers. The draft rules were unveiled Monday but need the approval of all EU member states and the European Parliament. It could take three or four years for the rules to come into force. The legislation is not just about banning plastic products. It also wants to make plastic producers bear the cost of waste management and cleanup efforts, and it proposes that EU states must collect 90% of single-use plastic bottles by 2025 through new recycling programs.
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Europe Plans Ban on Plastic Cutlery, Straws and More

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  • Please no (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Pfhorrest ( 545131 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:34PM (#56689030) Homepage Journal

    Please don't let this spread to the U.S. I have some problem that makes the touch of metal silverware on my teeth feel like scratching my fingernails on a chalkboard, and I need to request plastic utensils everywhere I go because of that.

    • Re:Please no (Score:5, Insightful)

      by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:37PM (#56689044)

      Maybe look into some bamboo cutlery.

      • That actually does exist, and other 'cheap wood cuttery'.
        However a 'malformed' bamboo knife can also be connsidered a weapon.

    • Re:Please no (Score:5, Insightful)

      by idji ( 984038 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:43PM (#56689078)
      then take your own plastic utensils with you wherever you go.
    • Re:Please no (Score:5, Insightful)

      by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:45PM (#56689100)

      Please don't let this spread to the U.S. I have some problem that makes the touch of metal silverware on my teeth feel like scratching my fingernails on a chalkboard, and I need to request plastic utensils everywhere I go because of that.

      Did you consider not biting your cutlery?

      Seriously, I don't think anyone likes the feel of cutlery touching their teeth, that's why most people place the fork/spoon in their mouth then pull the cutlery out using their lips to separate the food from the utensil.

      I'm pretty confident I go weeks at a time eating without cutlery touching my teeth.

      • Re:Please no (Score:5, Informative)

        by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @03:21PM (#56689844)
        I've experienced it too. It has nothing to do with biting. It's due to a galvanic reaction between the metal in the cutlery and the fillings in your teeth. If you have fillings, and there's sufficient saliva in your mouth, and the cutlery and your fillings are far enough apart on the galvanic series [researchgate.net], it creates a weak electrical current through your mouth and teeth which feels awful. I only noticed it when I visited a friend who served me a meal with "fancy" gold-plated cutlery, but I would imagine different people are sensitive to different levels of current.

        It's similar to chewing on aluminum foil if you have fillings, except in that case the aluminum makes direct contact with your fillings so the current is much higher.
        • That is an interesting explanation, but I'm not sure it's behind my problem. If I am very careful to keep my lips between the metal and my teeth, I can cautiously use metal utensils without the nails-on-a-chalkboard feeling. On the other hand, the sound of metal utensils scraping against something like ceramic can cause the same response, like if someone is dragging the tines of their salad fork across their ceramic plate trying to get the last shreds of lettuce or whatever. It's exactly like nails on a cha

    • Re: Please no (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:46PM (#56689110)

      So just because you can't be bothered to remember to bring some alternative cutlery for your bizarre issue the health of the world's oceans should be continued to be out at risk. #wow

    • They are talking single use plastic. I am sure if you want plastic hard plastic reusable cutlery you'd be able to buy it.

    • Yes, let's continue filling up the oceans to protect just you from minor dental discomfort.

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Please don't let this spread to the U.S. I have some problem that makes the touch of metal silverware on my teeth feel like scratching my fingernails on a chalkboard, and I need to request plastic utensils everywhere I go because of that.

      It's spreading.

      But there are solutions!

      Straws - there are metal (sucks to be you, though) and paper straws (like of old).

      Cutlery - instead of plastic, use ... bioplastic compostable cutlery.

      The problem is that plastic utensils are single use and unless recycled (which most

  • Flying? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Roger W Moore ( 538166 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:40PM (#56689058) Journal
    Will this apply to flights as well? I thought that plastic utensils there were generally regarded as a safety feature, not just a cheap convenience.
    • Depends on the airline and/or class. I've been on many flights relatively recently where they have metal cutlery no problem.

    • Re:Flying? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ugen ( 93902 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:55PM (#56689174)

      Sure it's for safety. They just trust passengers in business more, so no safety issue with giving them metal utensils :)

    • They'll just eat like Comporellonians do, with disposable gloves. ;)
    • Will this apply to flights as well? I thought that plastic utensils there were generally regarded as a safety feature, not just a cheap convenience.

      They can trash them instead of refuse; unless of course you are on a 50p flight...

    • Metal cutlery is allowed and used. Oddly (in the US, AFAIK) glass or hard plastic bottles are not banned either, even though there's a potential safety issue there.
    • Re:Flying? (Score:4, Funny)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @02:46PM (#56689688)

      I can't say I've had plastic utensils in a plane. I can't say I've had any sharp ones either, at least not in economy class. Ordering a steak in first netted me a nice sharp stabby hijack the plane rated knife.

  • by eggstasy ( 458692 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:41PM (#56689064) Journal

    It's considerably cleaner than plastic and would make all the quacks stop complaining about Bispheno A.
    It just sinks to the bottom of the ocean and can turn back into sand through erosion.

  • by ugen ( 93902 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @12:57PM (#56689192)

    This is great news. But Europe is already doing a lot to clean up and reduce its plastic use. This is most urgently needed pretty much everywhere else. In particular both in the US and in Asia. The sight of roadsides, fields and beaches littered with tons of plastic waste is ubiquitous in those places - and we all pay the price.

    There is no reason for most of current plastic use other than externalizing disposal costs so that everyone bears those.

  • . . . seeing how this plays against the current British anti-knife campaign [surrenderyourknife.co.uk]. No metal cutlery, no plastic cutlery. . .

    • by green1 ( 322787 )

      I don't think they're thinking about kitchen utensils (of course you do rightly highlight the absurdity of anti-knife laws in that they ban pocket knives, but allow the knife used to carve the sunday roast....)

  • Hey Europe (Score:5, Interesting)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @01:03PM (#56689224)

    If you really want to do the right thing by Mother Nature, ban disposable diapers.

    • Re:Hey Europe (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Zarhan ( 415465 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @01:37PM (#56689370)

      No need to ban all of them - just those with plastic absorption gels and similar components.

      At least in Finland and Sweden there are disposable diapers that are made 100% of paper (I know because I've used both brands for my kid). Essentially biodegradable - and also works very well as fuel for waste-to-energy plant.

      Comparing to reusable nappies - running your washing machine at 60 or 90C to properly wash them just doesn't seem all that efficient, compared to the industrial scale process where trees get first converted to paper to nappies and then burned for energy after use. No, I have not ran the numbers.

      So you can keep the convenience of disposable nappies without the downsides of plastics.

      • Comparing to reusable nappies - running your washing machine at 60 or 90C to properly wash them just doesn't seem all that efficient, compared to the industrial scale process where trees get first converted to paper to nappies and then burned for energy after use. No, I have not ran the numbers.

        We didn’t wash them ourselves - we used a commercial diaper service which at least claimed to avoid certain environmentally nasty chemical cleaners some commercial laundry services use. I did run the numbers, and the cost was is the same ballpark as using disposables. The main thing is you have to be willing to do a quick shakeout of the diapers into the toilet, which really isn’t a big deal.

  • by laughingskeptic ( 1004414 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @01:12PM (#56689262)
    Cheap bulk stainless flatware is $0.50 a part or less. I can see this being just like shopping bags where you either show up with your own flatware or buy flatware when doing things like eating at food trucks. We would have flatware in our desks at the office and scattered in our cars. Another minor greening irritation.
  • The amount of waste generated per person in US and other developed nations is shocking and with countries like China and India fast catching up, similar lifestyle is not sustainable globally. Even with all the progress in recycling, lot of it slips out and ends up in our food chain.
    The use of plastics especially for disposable items is irresponsible. I wish these were not so cheap and the real cost of disposal and ecological impact was factored in their price. Trying to convince the public for more envir
  • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @01:23PM (#56689314) Journal
    Parts of Europe still does loads of dumping of their garbage in the oceans.
    Likewise, 5 nations are responsible for 60% of all garbage in the ocean.
    It turns out that five countries are the leading contributors to this crisis. And all are in Asia. In a recent report, Ocean Conservancy claims that China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are spewing out as much as 60 percent of the plastic waste that enters the world’s seas. [pri.org]
    America stopped decades ago, so instead, we have had it going to China and other nations. That also needs to stop. ALL OF IT. Far better for America to recycle, bury, or burn it.
    • America stopped decades ago, so instead, we have had it going to China and other nations. That also needs to stop. ALL OF IT. Far better for America to recycle, bury, or burn it.

      Burning plastic releases massive amounts of sequestered carbon into the atmosphere (not to mention an array of toxic chemicals) so please do the rest of us a favour and talking restrict your choices to burying, recycling or best of all stop using plastic.

      • A number of nations in Europe are burning plastics and paper just fine. Look, these are not simply burned out in the open. They are burning plastics, wood, food, etc that can not recycled easily.
  • by FeelGood314 ( 2516288 ) on Monday May 28, 2018 @05:38PM (#56690366)
    1) Most of the plastic in the oceans is from China, India and third world countries where rivers are often used for garbage disposal. Our concern for the environment is completely alien to some cultures.*
    2) Straws can't be washed so they have to be disposable
    3) Straws are small, there mass is negligible, same with plastic grocery bags. As a percentage of your yearly waste I doubt they make 0.5%
    4) Be very suspicious of anyone pushing these bans. They are likely virtue signalling and care more about appearing to be doing something than actually doing it.

    *To be fair though do to our significantly higher wealth and consumption means our damage to the environment is many times more.
  • As of 2017, 60% of ocean plastic pollution was generated by China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka, in that order, with China vastly outdoing the others. No EU country is within the top 20, which would indicate a very minuscule amount of plastic waste leaking into the oceans. If European governments want to waste a massive amount of resources to worry about this, the pollution generated is going to be more overall, not less.

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