In the past there was a debate over whether cloth diapers were really environmentally better than disposable diapers. The answer: not in areas where water and energy are scarce, because rewashing cloth uses more resources (water and heat) than do plastic and cellulose production and landfill disposal. Now the New York Times poses another environmental…
Tag: plastic
Curbside Recycling Is Costly—So Make Producers Pay?
There’s a growing clamor for producers of plastic packaging to pay the costs of recycling their materials. On March 25, two Democratic congressmen from California and Oregon introduced a bill that would make such “Extended Producer Responsibility” (EPR) mandatory across the country, reports Waste Dive. That bill follows efforts within at least seven states to…
The Throwaway Society: Thank Goodness!
“The throwaway society is healthier, cleaner, more economical, less wasteful, less environmentally damaging—and yes, more ‘sustainable’ than the green vision of utopia.” Not many people other than John Tierney are willing to say this, as he did in the summer edition of City Journal. Nearly 25 years ago (in 1996) Tierney wrote an article for…
‘The Perverse Panic over Plastic’
John Tierney in the City Journal: The plastic panic has never made any sense, and it’s intensifying even as evidence mounts that it’s not only a waste of money but also harmful to the environment, not to mention humans. It’s been a movement in search of a rationale for half a century. During…