DONE - Need some ideas (re-usable vs disposable arguement)

[Thomas]

I'm giving a speech to persuade people not to buy disposable stuff, and instead buy stuff that lasts.

Abstract: America is transitioning into a disposable society. It seems like everything we buy, will either be thrown away or replaced within 5 years. Some of the most obvious things are plastic water bottles, plastic toys, and even things no one would dream of keeping such as diapers or tissues. These products are not designed to last or to keep, but as little as twenty years ago, they were. People used to use canteens which they just refilled with water, toys were made out of metal and were meant to be passed down, diapers were made of cloth and meant to be washed, and people used to blow their noses on handkerchiefs.

Some examples:
canteens / plastic water bottles
cloth diapers / disposable diapers
metal children's toys / plastic toys
re-used glass milk contains / plastic milk containers
handkerchiefs / tissues

Some reasons:
save money in the long run
less trash (better for environment)
less jobs to China which makes this crap

Some statistics:
- Americans' total yearly waste would fill a convoy of garbage trucks long enough to wrap around the Earth six times and reach halfway to the moon. It is estimated that this year 222 million tons of waste will be generated by Americans.
- Since 1950, people in the United States have used more resources than any generation who ever lived before them. Each American individual uses up 20 tons of basic raw materials annually.

There was a joke or something that I recently read about someone criticizing an old person for not use a new "re-usable" bag, claiming the previous generation is ruining the world for them. I thought I read it on this forum, but I can't find it. Does anyone know what I'm talking about and can share that?

Does anyone have more examples, reasons, or statistics?

Thanks in advance,
Thomas

[Thomas]

I've edited the original post to add an abstract and some statistics. I'm in my early 20's, so I don't know how things used to be, which is why I'm asking y'all for help.

[stroo]

You need to be careful with this argument. Back in the late 80s when my wife and I had our first daughter we looked at disposable versus cloth diapers. Turned out disposable diapers were actually better for the environment primarily because of all the water waste connected with washing cloth diapers.

So it is not always the case that reusable is better for the environment than disposable. You need to look at all the puts and takes connected with each option.

[psijac]

Reusable bags are crap. Only 10% of people remember to bring them back, because of the increase carbon requirements in manufacturing you would need to use the same single bag for at least four years before you gain a positive net impact. If your bag rips or tears or is just plain ugly it takes longer to decompose in a landfill that plastic bags

[Thomas]

You need to be careful with this argument. Back in the late 80s when my wife and I had our first daughter we looked at disposable versus cloth diapers. Turned out disposable diapers were actually better for the environment primarily because of all the water waste connected with washing cloth diapers.

So it is not always the case that reusable is better for the environment than disposable. You need to look at all the puts and takes connected with each option.

Plausible point. To make my speech the length it needs to be, I will talk about that as a rebuttal point, and then I will go on to ask (because I sure don't have the answer), how much water goes into producing/moving/etc the disposable diapers. Also, what about the production of the plastic in it, and then the trash of it?

Thank you.

[Thomas]

Reusable bags are crap. Only 10% of people remember to bring them back, because of the increase carbon requirements in manufacturing you would need to use the same single bag for at least four years before you gain a positive net impact. If your bag rips or tears or is just plain ugly it takes longer to decompose in a landfill that plastic bags

Good point. I will use this as a warning not to get sucked into hype and trends, and then explain this example. Thanks.

[sjfcontrol]

Reusable bags are crap. Only 10% of people remember to bring them back, because of the increase carbon requirements in manufacturing you would need to use the same single bag for at least four years before you gain a positive net impact. If your bag rips or tears or is just plain ugly it takes longer to decompose in a landfill that plastic bags

Not only that, but you NEED to wash them. Otherwise they start growing "science experiments", and it contaminates the fresh food you place in it. I'd much rather use a plastic bag (and save a tree).

[Thomas]

Reusable bags are crap. Only 10% of people remember to bring them back, because of the increase carbon requirements in manufacturing you would need to use the same single bag for at least four years before you gain a positive net impact. If your bag rips or tears or is just plain ugly it takes longer to decompose in a landfill that plastic bags

Not only that, but you NEED to wash them. Otherwise they start growing "science experiments", and it contaminates the fresh food you place in it. I'd much rather use a plastic bag (and save a tree).

Hmm. I didn't know that you needed to wash them.

[MadMonkey]

If we re-used metal toys like I had, we'd have generations of lead poisoning, not just one dummy like me...

If I was focusing on throwaway products, I'd look at things like appliances and electronics. Nothing lasts like it used to.

[Hoi Polloi]

I think an interesting angle to take your presentation is in what impact individuals can have in our disposable economy.

The biggest place we see disposable items is actually in electronics. Most people won't think of these items as disposable. While a watch or radio was previously designed with mechanical parts and with care would last generations, they are now designed with electronic parts that are intended to be discarded after some short period of time. The iPhone is a perfect example because they don't allow the consumer to do any work on his own property. He is expected to have this property for 2 years, during which time he'll never do any maintenance, and at the end of that time, he'll upgrade to a new one. Computers are expected to be replaced in the same time frame. Even our cars are moving to this model. That's a lot of toxic and needless stuff building up in our landfills!

I encourage you to spread your research out to this field so you can see how little direct choice an individual has in our consumer-driven economy to purchase sustainable and worthwhile products and to see how much industrialization has complicated things to the point our greatest individual ability is in collectively lobbying industry to become more sustainable. But as long as we're eating fast food, they're going to keep making paper packages to wrap it in (intended use period before being thrown away: <5 minutes). An entire cultural shift will have to happen before individuals have sustainable choice as a mainstream. Re-washing a disposable yogurt cup or water bottle to store food or liquids in while exposing oneself to harmful toxins that leach out of them when they're in hot water doesn't seem like the most effective choices in the mean time. And yet the average consumer is left to believe that actions like this will save the planet. They're a drop in the bucket.

[lonewolf]

Use clean plastic butter tubs for left overs instead of buying the ones on the supermarket shelves.

Use dishrags instead of paper towels when you can. You can wash them with your clothes. No extra water needed.

Save old clothes and turn into rags.

The good old "compost pile" instead of landfill fodder, then use as mulch/fertilizer/garden mix.

Reload used brass......

Buy a garden hose that lasts longer than a year. Don't buy one of those plastic things that you roll up the hose on, they just break and get thrown out. Roll it up and hang it up.

When planning to go out to different places, think about the most efficient routing. You should never cross your own path running back and forth.

Keep it simple. If 300+ million people do a lot of little things, it adds up to a fair number of big things with a large impact.

[Thomas]

Use clean plastic butter tubs for left overs instead of buying the ones on the supermarket shelves.

Use dishrags instead of paper towels when you can. You can wash them with your clothes. No extra water needed.

Save old clothes and turn into rags.

The good old "compost pile" instead of landfill fodder, then use as mulch/fertilizer/garden mix.

Reload used brass......

Buy a garden hose that lasts longer than a year. Don't buy one of those plastic things that you roll up the hose on, they just break and get thrown out. Roll it up and hang it up.

When planning to go out to different places, think about the most efficient routing. You should never cross your own path running back and forth.

Keep it simple. If 300+ million people do a lot of little things, it adds up to a fair number of big things with a large impact.

THANK YOU! Great ideas for me to pass along, and great reason for a call to action ("300 million ...")

EDIT: What do you mean by "landfill fodder"?

[glbedd53]

I know about that lead paint. I ate a lot of it as a kid and I'm the only person I know that did it and doesn't have dain bramage.

[lonewolf]

I had to re-read my post to see what I meant by "landfill fodder". That just refers to waste that is accumulated and could be otherwise useful is simply dumped, never to be really useful again. Just filler material, really.

On another note, there is some concern that the idea of compacting landfills and layering them with soil to the extent that it is done actually retards the decomposition processes that would otherwise naturally occur. The layering and compaction can reduce the available oxygen and other gases in the soil that promote the natural process, meaning that the material remains in its original state for a much longer period of time.

[Thomas]

Thank you all for your suggestions and ideas. I hope it has given you the opportunity to think about how to be thrifty and less wasteful.