Posted by
selda
17 yrs ago
Too lazy to shake your umbrella?
First the dispensers of disposable plastic sheaths appeared in shopping malls and office towers, now even facilities directly managed by government departments, such as museums and libraries proudly display them.
Before the appearance of these dispensers, people used to shake their brollies, or put them in the nylon sheath that comes with any umbrella you buy. Not anymore. If you are too lazy to shake it, you can slip it into a disposable plastic cover every time you enter a building.
Multiply this action several time on a rainy day, and imagine millions of people doing the same, and you have a mountain of plastic waste to dispose of in a landfill. Not to mention the environmental impact of producing all those plastic sheaths.
Environmentally-irresponsible decisions are made everyday by people who don't think about the consequences of their actions.
It's even more annoying to see that taxpayers' money is used to pay the salaries of people who should know better.
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I completely agree! It's very troubling to see us destroying this planet in our many ways!
Starbucks now also proudly exhibits these things too.
Tell you what though, I've recently been introduced to a cleaning product that cleans a person's entire home or business with only water, no chemicals and has been proven to be 6 times cleaner than conventional cleaning.
You would think that this would take off like crazy when people are so 'environmentally conscious' and the fact is while it has done very well, I'm just really surprised at how much difficulty people and businesses have to stop their old bad habits and begin really considering our environment for a change.
I went to MIX juice with these products and told them they could save money on chemicals, hugely help save the environment and promote themselves better as an environmentally caring business and even said we would conduct a lab swab test of our cleaning against theirs to see which is better. What happened, they denied.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to the people...the Joe, Sam, John and Sally who choose to not say anything and change the way they live. Or even worse, the ones who pretend and talk about being environmentally sensitive but when it comes to action, doing nothing about it.
If we keep it up at our current rate, our future generations will have a very tough time of it...makes you really hope there's no such thing as re-incarnation, huh.
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selda
17 yrs ago
It's very sad. The so-called 'solutions to improve our life' invariably turn out to be extremely wasteful, harmful to other species, and ultimately to humans as well.
Let's just take plastic shopping bags as an example. The government should have imposed a tax on plastic to make biodegradable bags more competitive and discourage excessive packaging. . Instead, shoppers will be charged 50 cents on the current plastic bags, and shops are giving out non-woven 'recyclable' bags everytime people buy something. First of all these bags are non-biodegradable, are used as an advertising vehicle for shops that dish them out liberally (they cost them a dollar) and end up being more polluting to produce and dispose than thin bags. Besides, they cannot be used for domestic waste.
The idea was that people should have only one or two of these 'recyclable' bags and take them along when they go shopping, the reality is that most people i know now have dozens of them and throw them away. Hardly a solution.
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selda
17 yrs ago
Something else that really bugs me is the fact that now more and more people use liquid soap at home, instead of soap bars. Liquid soap comes in disposable plastic containers, and the reason why one can hardly find soap bars in local supermarkets is simple: liquid soap is more expensive and doesn't last as long as ordinary soap bars...hence higher profit for manufacturers and retail chains.
Am i the only person using soap bars in HK??
Yesterday i looked everywhere for a small box to carry my bar of natural soap when i travel, and couldn't find any. I ended up buying an expensive metal box overly decorated, obviously designed for a completely different purpose.
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That's not the only reason for liquid soap. Liquid soap, at least in my opinion, is less messy. Also, the soaps that work well with my skin cannot be found in bar form.
I would be glad to see "refill" type packaging that avoids buying the pump every time though!
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selda
17 yrs ago
Axpatguy,
In other parts of the world they have umbrella racks where you can leave your umbrella at the entrance of a building. Some even come with a lock, so that you can be sure nobody steals your umbrella.
As to marble floors in public areas where thousands of people walk everyday, this is a most idiotic design choice, IMHO.
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selda
17 yrs ago
sorry, the above for Green Valleys.
Dick Hunter,
i saw the tupperware, but the size wasn't right for my soap bar, either too small or too big.
I am now quite pleased with my silly metal box...my friends in Europe will be proud to see it in their bathrooms :-)
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selda
17 yrs ago
Axptguy38,
while looking for a soap box, I saw that Watson sells Cetaphil soap bars, one the gentlest soaps for sensitive skin. In liquid form it costs about 90 dollars, the soap bar costs approximately 40!
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"In other parts of the world they have umbrella racks where you can leave your umbrella at the entrance of a building. Some even come with a lock, so that you can be sure nobody steals your umbrella."
There are places with umbrella racks here actually. I have seen them in 7-11 and Japan Home.
"As to marble floors in public areas where thousands of people walk everyday, this is a most idiotic design choice, IMHO."
I disagree. Stone, including marble, is a great choice. Easy to clean, very durable. The alternatives are carpet, which get pretty disgusting + wet if it rains, or wood, which requires a fair bit of maintenance.
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selda
17 yrs ago
i never suggested carpet or wood. I think that for the kind of pedestrian flow that we get in HK malls and office buildings, they could use varnished concrete for a more arty look (this is the material of choice for contemporary art galleries and museums) matt tiles, or stone tiles such as slate, limestone etc.
In the case of public buildings, form should follow function. Why should a shopping mall or a library look like someone's living room??? It's not functional, nor sustainable.
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Oh I see. Well I'm all for other kinds of stone.
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selda
17 yrs ago
The ubiquitous polished floors in HK common areas might give the impression of "luxury" but are actually the dumbest choice in terms of functionality and design finesse. As soon as it starts raining, ugly plastic mats and carpets are rolled out to prevent accidents, as these floors become extremely slippery when wet.
So, if we take into account the plastic mats and carpet, the plastic umbrella sheaths and the polishing products used everyday to keep these floors shiny, it's obvious that these floors are a disaster for the environment.
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selda
17 yrs ago
If you think that large billboards are a form of visual pollution, that's nothing compared to the environmental pollution caused by the new generation of plastic billboards and adhesive PVC. These huge adhesive prints stick to vehicles (buses, trams, MTR trains), and can be wrapped around buildings. No size is too big, with adhesive vinyl you can cover a football pitch, if needed. No surface can escape the invasion of these sticky 2-D monsters. As you might have noticed, banks, airlines, and developers are engaged in a billboard size war, the escalation has now resulted in MTR stations being covered from floor to ceiling with huge vinyl prints.
You can ignore them, if you like, but after the advertising campaign is over, somebody will remove these vinyl wraps from the walls, and chuck them into our landfills.
If you ever felt guilty about using too many plastic bags, and have switched to a canvas bag for your grocery shopping, you will probably feel that your little effort is tantamount to rearranging chairs on the sinking Titanic.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is present in countless household products like shower curtains, bags and toys, not to mention piping and automobile interiors. Sadly, PVC is among the most eco-unfriendly plastics and some varieties can release brain-damaing lead and hormone-disrupting phthalates. Its disposal is particularly problematic given that, if incinerated, it will release carcinogenic dioxin and other contaminants into the environment.
The advertising and marketing industry is raking in millions, and nobody is holding it accountable for the pollution it causes. Where is the much trumpeted "Polluters pay" principle? If it was applied, this industry would be forced to clean up its act and find a different way to reach people.
Those who work in that industry consider themselves "creative", if they really are so creative, they can come up with a better idea than sticking PVC on any available surface.
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selda
17 yrs ago
very good question. To create a level playing field, biodegradable bags that are more expensive to produce, should not be taxed, while non-biodegradable ones should be taxed more than 50 cents.
We still need some bags to dispose of waste, so it would be better if they were the less damaging type of bags.
I would tax plastic at the source, in order to make excessive packaging a thing of the past.
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selda
17 yrs ago
Retailers charge 50 cents for each plastic bag. This alone is predicted to cut plastic bag use in Hong Kong.
Though i am in favour of this tax, i can't stop thinking that it comes short of hitting the nail on the head.
A more effective move would be to ban all non-bio-degradable bags, so that retailers would switch to the slightly more expensive bio-degradable ones, and charge consumers 50 cents to recoup the cost.
We would buy only the bags we need as bin-liners, and learn to bring our own bag.
But why stop at plastic bags?? HK lawmakers should tax the even more polluting styrofoam cups and lunch boxes (from every fast food outlet), and plastic bottles.
Such a tax would force fast-food outlets to opt for recycled cardboard boxes instead of styrofoam ones, or to give a discount to people who bring their own re-usable lunch box, or cup.
Most office workers have coffee in disposable cups from the same coffee shop everyday. If they were charged for the disposable cup, they would certainly start bringing their own flask!
And if the government were serious about the environment, it would set clear guidelines for the import of goods, requiring producers to reduce excessive packaging. There is no reason why fruit should be individually wrapped in a styrofoam mesh, or consumer products come in fancy boxes twice as big as the product itself. As most goods are imported, it would not hurt the local economy (the usual excuse for inaction!)
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we should also look into those receipts that stores give specially for one item bought at supermarkets.
when you keep all the receipts for every little thing you buy, it could pile up plenty
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