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paganel 18 hours ago

Without plastic modern consumerist society as we now experience it wouldn't be possible, as such, that party-goer from the movie The Graduate was very correct in the assumptions he made towards the end of the 1960s.

Which is to say, are you sure that the current powers that be are ready to withstand the backlash of their political constituencies once that consumerist policy is actively reversed?

strogonoff 17 hours ago | parent [-]

The consumerist part of society may not be capable of generating as massive of a backlash as you might think. The key is in the name. :)

People will do the next convenient thing, whatever it is. Re-use containers made of sustainable materials, not buy something on a whim that they do not need, pay more for plastic as an indulgence (obviously it should not be banned, just taxed), etc.

Also, not a psychologist, but I reckon if you dig into what drives people to exhibit consumerism I suspect you’d find things like 1) wealth/status signaling, 2) virtue signaling, 3) just socially having a good time out with friends (shopping is common), 4) stress relief. None of that would be substantially hindered even if disposable plastic is banned outright (which is perhaps a questionable strategy), it would just find other avenues for expression.

Cases where plastic does enable some things that are otherwise infeasible I believe are numerous, but drink containers is not one of them.

paganel 16 hours ago | parent [-]

That's the thing, plastic is not an "indulgence", is part of everyday life now, more than any other material.

strogonoff 16 hours ago | parent [-]

I described the state of affairs that would follow a hypothetical taxation of plastic, not that plastic today is an indulgence. Today plastic is a necessity to buy a drink or even clean water in many places. That’s the problem.

CaptainFever 15 hours ago | parent [-]

Can't you buy canned drinks?

strogonoff 15 hours ago | parent [-]

The drink in every can is actually held in an inner plastic container, aluminium is only the outside. You can look up videos of people dissolving just the metal with drain cleaner and revealing the plastic “can”, or do it yourself (carefully). It’s thin and the amount of plastic is less, that’s true; but then I have never seen water sold in cans, for example.