r/pics • u/lnfinity • Aug 12 '21

The majority of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is discarded fishing gear.

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u/readmond Aug 12 '21

Based on the noise of the last couple years I expected plastic straws to be like 95% of it.

7

u/Mirrorflute88 Aug 12 '21

Plastic straws were the poster child because they're the easiest target. The idea was that if we could get the public to give up something as small as straws then they'd be more understanding of other zero waste actions such as bringing your own containers for bulk goods. Unfortunately that didn't work because a lot of people didn't understand that straws alone are not the end-all be-all of environmental issues.

2

u/readmond Aug 12 '21

Basically, it was a stupid idea probably generated by some psychology noob. It just made the whole plastic avoidance look silly.

Pricing plastic bottles properly (50 cents or so) and having recycling at every grocery store would have more impact.