plastic bags and recycling

[heavymetalwagons]

hi all (this is not a rant but)!!

I've been buying bits and bobs lately and the amount of plastic bags I've collected !

Does everything have to be in a bag and then the bags in another bag ! etc.

Can "we" not have the option to not end up with 100s of bags which seem to end up in the ocean(god knows how i put mine in the bin)

also the cardboard boxes should really be non shiny plastic coated

i understand loco boxes need to be of good quality and many keep them anyway 

but i remember the airfix kits plain cardboard box bit of tissue paper and plain paper instructions (still got a few)

 

     

[AY Mod]

Why is this in Smaller Suppliers? 

[heavymetalwagons]

Couldnt put it in the main section

Unless the mods can move it 

[polybear]

12 hours ago, heavymetalwagons said:

Can "we" not have the option to not end up with 100s of bags which seem to end up in the ocean(god knows how i put mine in the bin)

     

 

I recall a programme several years ago that investigated what happened to recycling.  They dug up a load of  rubbish on farmland in India (I think), some of which had names and addresses on (not a good idea  - anything identifiable on mine gets torn off and shredded, with some items shredded completely - the shredding also goes for recyling).  They went to interview people in the UK whose rubbish they'd found - all items were going in their recycling bins for the local council to collect.....

 

[dogbox321]

Whilst I don't wish to discredit your environmental credentials, and certainly its good to limit the amount of plastic used.  The "but" is that packaging does perform a vital role and its often dreaded plastic that performs this function best.  As per Polybear - I think you will find much of the problem comes from recycling itself, and obviously seaside rubbish around the world (including litter from our beaches).  If you youtube ships being broken up, you will see that many countries, especially the poorest, have very few environmental safeguards in place.  It is also very true in my opinion that the first world is very good at seemingly solving its environmental problems by passing them to the third world, with money the lucrative sweetener!

 

Getting back on topic - as to why plastic....

 

If you recall, from many years ago - if you got one of the old boxes wet (or even slightly damp - lofts, sheds etc..) then the box either ripples, tears or disintegrates when you try and open it.  With the coatings -  If you spot any wet, then you do have a chance to wipe it off before it penetrates the box!  On model railway products it would certainly be a backward step, just like certain Hornby items internal packaging is now a glorified hospital sick bowl! 

 

If you are on about small accessory/detail items then small plastic bags are often used for presentation, to allow easy inspection of the product prior to purchase, allow rapid packing and as a method of containment. Any other form of packaging would not meet these criteria, or be as effective.  Personally, I always find a use for small sealable plastic bags.  

 

Parcels often come with plastic protection - bubble wrap, expanded polystyrene "turds" and the like.  Again its to protect, as often with the postal service a cardboard outer is not enough to ensure a product or its box gets to a customer undamaged.  Some may use shredded paper but that is terrible leaving dust over the over the boxes, which then with movement in transit then gets into the boxes and into models, including oiled mechanisms !

 

If you are on about when you go shopping then obviously the option is to take a bag with you.  Personally, we always have one or two in the car.

 

Best Regards,

 

C.

 

[Nick C]

3 hours ago, dogbox321 said:

Parcels often come with plastic protection - bubble wrap, expanded polystyrene "turds" and the like.  Again its to protect, as often with the postal service a cardboard outer is not enough to ensure a product or its box gets to a customer undamaged.  Some may use shredded paper but that is terrible leaving dust over the over the boxes, which then with movement in transit then gets into the boxes and into models, including oiled mechanisms !

 

Some companies are getting a lot better at this nowadays - I've recently had a couple of parcels with the box packed with a kind of expanded paper (not shredded, but cut into a sort of trellis pattern), and some packed with a starch-based version of the expanded polystyrene, which is then composible.

[Tim Dubya]

17 hours ago, heavymetalwagons said:

... 100's of bags which seem to end up in the ocean(god knows how i put mine in the bin)...

 

Plastic bags are extremely easy to recycle at your local supermarket, most have recycling bins for used carrier bags, chuck 'em in those

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by Tim Dubya
Putin

[Andy Hayter]

3 hours ago, Nick C said:

 

Some companies are getting a lot better at this nowadays - I've recently had a couple of parcels with the box packed with a kind of expanded paper (not shredded, but cut into a sort of trellis pattern), and some packed with a starch-based version of the expanded polystyrene, which is then composible.

Allegedly.

 

Work by Plymouth Uni on the same polymer in plastic bags failed to show and visual degradation after 3 years when stored in air (as in in your understairs cupboard), buried in earth ( a bit like the compost heap) or submerged just below the surface of sea water (as in blown or washed out to sea).

[Rockalaucher101]

13 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

Allegedly.

 

Work by Plymouth Uni on the same polymer in plastic bags failed to show and visual degradation after 3 years when stored in air (as in in your understairs cupboard), buried in earth ( a bit like the compost heap) or submerged just below the surface of sea water (as in blown or washed out to sea).

I think what he's on about thought is those little packing peanuts that dissolve in water

[heavymetalwagons]

polybear there's been quite a few of those programs on national tv and a lot more on regional so it happens a lot 

the "recycling industry" is the wild west full of dodgers (some of the stories I could tell)!!

 

dogbox321 

wouldn't say i'm very good at recycling but i do try a bit  

as for plastic bags been needed for display what about kadee couplers paper bags seems to work ok ish 

as for reusing the bags .I got a load of little jam jars (from wilkos) for my bits 

 

Tim 

didn't know those little clear bags where recyclable ! . mind you they are made different  plastics so could end up getting it wrong!!

don't want the recycling police coming after us !!

 

as for general shopping i have a ruck sack/cotton bag/old army bag etc and for the big food shop i use one of those old lady shopping trollies !!

[petethemole]

6 hours ago, Rockalaucher101 said:

I think what he's on about thought is those little packing peanuts that dissolve in water

They also dissolve in mice.

[Butler Henderson]

Seems to me there is still a big recycling issue to sort out, bags marked as type 4 can be recycled with supermarket bags but what of the rest?

[Nick C]

21 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

Allegedly.

 

Work by Plymouth Uni on the same polymer in plastic bags failed to show and visual degradation after 3 years when stored in air (as in in your understairs cupboard), buried in earth ( a bit like the compost heap) or submerged just below the surface of sea water (as in blown or washed out to sea).

 

21 hours ago, Rockalaucher101 said:

I think what he's on about thought is those little packing peanuts that dissolve in water

 

The ones I'm talking about certainly dissolve in water, I've tried it! Don't know how quickly they compost, we'll find out next year when we empty that compost bin... We've not tried throwing the compostable bags (which I think is what Andy's talking about) into the compost bin, but some mixed plastic/paper bags that claimed to be recyclable didn't fully break down after two years.