[alt text: first, there’s text over a happy Albinauric from Elden Ring saying "me when I thought recycling would save the world. second, there’s text over a sad/depressed Albinauric from Elden Ring saying “me after I found out that plastic corporations invented plastic recycling to put the responsibility onto the consumer even though they knew plastic recycling was both chemically and financially not feasible, and now I have plastic in my brain, lungs, and testicles”.]
When they rolled out disposable plastic bags, they said they were green because they saved trees. I remember. The paper in bags was and is created using pulp from farmed trees, like other crops.
Yep. Fucking hippies acting like they were chopping old-growth forests for shopping bags. Idiots should have taken a forestry class. Talk about a truly renewable resource.
“But PAPER!!!”
in defense of at least some of the hippies, it’s not like they allowed the sustainability of some tree species to stop them from taking the last of the old growth as if they were they were trophy animals.
You buy this?
Lots of inventions get changed or have knock on effects different than the inventor intended. We didn’t get lazy, the corporations saw a cheaper alternative to disposable paper bags and went with it. It is a systemic issue that rises above the end consumers decision.
You invent a plastic bag of sufficient thickness to serve for a year or more. The grocery chain sees better profits with tissue thin disposable bags though. Guess which one wins?
Also its made from sawdust and scraps, stuff that has almost zero uses otherwise
I remember this too
because they were lighter and more compact, transporting them burned less fuel. so they were ‘less polluting’