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Comment by crote | Hacker News Reader

> Like for instance how China banned single serving plastic usage.

Even that probably isn't sensible. Banning single-use plastic leads to a shift to single-use paper, single-use wood, or single-use metal - all of which are even worse for the environment. The problem isn't the "plastic" part, the problem is the "single-use" part.

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Bad for the environment has multiple facets to it.

For example, we already know that plastics form a lot of the trash in the ocean; but now we also know that these plastics shed microplastics pervasively as well.

How is single use paper even worse for the environment than single use plastic?

Paper is environmentally expensive to produce and recycle. If it's worse than plastic is surely debatable but it's definitely not significantly better.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-scienc...

but paper that ends up in the environment is almost surely better

I can imagine paper bag rotting away and producing methane while plastic bag inert for centuries.

Short term global warming seems far bigger issue than plastic waste (which is manageable)

Microplastic seems to be a public health issue.

Nothing conclusive tho. More like - it's everywhere, some of it might be dangerous.

Rather than bans, all these materials with environmental externalities should be taxed at an appropriate rate. Then the market can find the optimal material for each use case.

This presumes that the process which establishes taxation levels is completely independent of the current profitability and power of those companies involved in their present creation.

The history of negative-externalities-generating industries --- lead, asbestos, tobacco, alcohol, CFCs, amongst others --- suggests that this may not be the case.

All the straws here in China are made from PLA… the polymer. Not sure how well that breaks down though, but hey, at least you get a free plastic bag with insulation with it!

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