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LettersSingle-use alternatives to plastic distract from real solutions
Readers discuss the dangers of quick fixes to plastic pollution, the importance of understanding soft power, and the growing urgency of the climate crisis
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To tackle the plastic waste crisis, degradable plastic and non-plastic products have been widely promoted as an eco-friendly alternative to single-use plastic. Some businesses are even willing to pay more for degradable packaging.
However, degradable products are also problematic. Oxo-degradable plastics, for example, are bad for the environment as they degrade into harmful microplastics. Although Hong Kong finally banned such plastics last year, we have found that packaging and bags made of them are still widely used (“70 Hong Kong retailers allegedly sold oxo-degradable plastics despite ban: NGO”, April 22).
I recently came across yet another kind of supposedly green packaging. The maker claimed the product does not contain plastic and can be dissolved by soaking it in hot water at 90 degrees Celsius or above, and the solution can be poured harmlessly down the drain.
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