Banning plastic grocery bags

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by vid

There are so many garbage cans in the neighbourhood that pedestrians use those instead of littering. Drivers don't bother to leave litter in their cars or pull over and dispose of it properly if they can't bare to see it in their vehicle.

Personally, I solve the rubbish problem by forbidding any eating or drinking in my car. For the sake of safer, cleaner roads, I implore everyone else to do the same.

[freeweed]

I've been anticipating a plastic bag ban for many years now. Like a lot of posters here, I use them EVERYWHERE - however yeah, the 5 or 6 you get every time you pick up groceries tends to be more than I can re-use in a given time frame, so they accumulate. Years ago I'd bring them back in a huge bag for recycling - but ever since the threat of a ban became real, I've been stockpiling.

I now have hundreds upon hundreds of these things stashed away. When a buddy saw them recently, he was astounded at why I'd keep so many. My comment to him was "yeah, but these things last for DECADES. I'll have enough plastic bags for the rest of my life".

He found that darkly ironic.

[manny_santos]

With cars, I think the way to go is hybrids. However, change the electricity source - as cars are generally moving, in the outdoors, solar and wind energy could be harnessed to recharge the battery.

I find it ironic and humourous when I hear about "zero emissions" cars. The actual emissions are just moved from the location of the car to wherever the electricity used to power the car came from; in some cases it's coming from coal, oil, or gas. In Ontario our electricity is a real mix of different sources, and we still have coal.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

However, change the electricity source - as cars are generally moving, in the outdoors, solar and wind energy could be harnessed to recharge the battery.

You mean like a big wind turbine attached to the car's exterior?

Thermodynamics doesn't agree with your idea.

[Taeolas]

While the "Zero Emission" car is a joke due to the power source being an emitter, there are advantages to concentrating the pollution at one source as opposed to spreading it all over the transportation grid. Concentrating the pollution generation at one static spot (Power plant) opens up other ways of dealing with the pollution that are difficult, if not impossible to do in a mobile lower pollution generator (vehicles).

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

With cars, I think the way to go is hybrids. However, change the electricity source - as cars are generally moving, in the outdoors, solar and wind energy could be harnessed to recharge the battery.

I find it ironic and humourous when I hear about "zero emissions" cars. The actual emissions are just moved from the location of the car to wherever the electricity used to power the car came from; in some cases it's coming from coal, oil, or gas. In Ontario our electricity is a real mix of different sources, and we still have coal.

Gasoline hybrids are either anemic, needlessly complex, or both. Diesel is the way of the future. Insanely efficient, torquey as hell, and with a nice, refined clatter to remind you there's an engine underneath. Unlike picky gasoline engines, they can burn fuel produced from a variety of biowaste sources. And diesel engines pretty much last forever, which reduces the need to continually mine minerals for use in engine blocks or hybrid batteries, not to mention reducing the energy needed to put the damn things together.

The humble Jetta TDI will save the planet, you heard it here first.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

While the "Zero Emission" car is a joke due to the power source being an emitter, there are advantages to concentrating the pollution at one source as opposed to spreading it all over the transportation grid. Concentrating the pollution generation at one static spot (Power plant) opens up other ways of dealing with the pollution that are difficult, if not impossible to do in a mobile lower pollution generator (vehicles).

Exactly, in theory you could have 'scrubbers' bigger than the actual power plant attached to it, but on a car the size and weight is much more important.

[240glt]

^^ The old VW turbo diesels (< 2002) were the best, even with the cracked heads and blow-by

The TDI's are junk in comparison. They tried to hard to make it perform like a 1.8T. Not what diesel is all about

[Troll]

Originally Posted by freeweed

I've been anticipating a plastic bag ban for many years now. Like a lot of posters here, I use them EVERYWHERE - however yeah, the 5 or 6 you get every time you pick up groceries tends to be more than I can re-use in a given time frame, so they accumulate. Years ago I'd bring them back in a huge bag for recycling - but ever since the threat of a ban became real, I've been stockpiling.

I now have hundreds upon hundreds of these things stashed away. When a buddy saw them recently, he was astounded at why I'd keep so many. My comment to him was "yeah, but these things last for DECADES. I'll have enough plastic bags for the rest of my life".

He found that darkly ironic.

the bags will likely be around long after your corpse has decomposed, you can tell him that next time

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Troll

the bags will likely be around long after your corpse has decomposed, you can tell him that next time

Yeah - they're my inheritance to the next generation(s).

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by 240glt

^^ The old VW turbo diesels (< 2002) were the best, even with the cracked heads and blow-by

The TDI's are junk in comparison. They tried to hard to make it perform like a 1.8T. Not what diesel is all about

I know what you mean, that was the sacrifice that needed to be made so diesels could meet tightening emissions standards. But don't be too harsh on the new diesels; the 140hp/236 ft-lb TDI is still way, way quicker than the pathetic 98/150 ft-lb you get from a Prius, and your real-world mileage will be about the same. That being said, my preference is for the old Mercedes diesels that could burn bunker fuel if you needed to. The apocalypse-proof car.

[93JC]

Huh.

I remember a time when paper bags were done away with because they were not "enviromentally friendly". We had to move to plastic because we had to save the forests.

Funny how things come around...


Anyway, I think an all-out civic ban is silly. It's emblematic of a city council that is incapable of dealing with real issues; easier to distract the populace with attention-catching decisions like "we're banning plastic bags!" than to tackle the tough stuff (e.g. working with provincial and federal governments to create a better way of funding municipal infrastructure and services than the cities going to the higher levels, cap in hand, begging "Please sir, I want some more.").

Besides the fact it makes the council involved look incompetent I don't think it's necessary. I already do >95% of my shopping with cloth bags. When I was still predominantly using plastic bags I re-used them (they made great bags for cleaning cat litter boxes, and fit perfectly into my bathroom garbage can) or recycled them. Now I buy single-use garbage bags to supplant the old supply of grocery bags I used to re-use all the time.