People want to pretend just the things that are convenient to them are an issue. They say government and companies need to take action, then complain about actions taken. It's really wild to see.

This is a list of end-consumer items put together by a government body beholden to fishing and other industries. And it’s not even about pollution levels, it’s specifically about beach pollution. Plastic lids on cartons of heavy cream are “also a problem” if we focus only on reducing plastic waste in the kitchen, but implying it’s even relevant compared to industrial plastic waste is disingenuous

No, someone else is doing something worse than me so I'm absolved. I can do what I want.

Yeah, I simultaneously want to comment that the left panels are a wild fantasy, as I've never seen an actual human say that we should focus on plastic straws. As far as I can tell, that's propaganda put into the world by companies trying to discredit genuine efforts.

But at the same time, it's not even like you have to focus on straws. You can simply not use them, because it is just a stupid concept to produce something that's immediately trash, and then also go and do other things in life. Believe it or not, most activities in life don't involve straws.

From my understanding, this is basically the case for all recycling aside from aluminum and glass

Oil companies have known this for decades,

fun fact: BP created the carbon footprint to turn the guilt onto the end consumers, and away from them.

It requires lifting fishermen out of poverty

Bruh. These aren't 1 dude in a boat with a long line. These are billion dollar corporations running fleets. And yes, we need international cooperation to bring them to heel. Like with farmers, however, make no mistake that the people doing this kind of pollution are at all ignorant or unaware of what they are doing.

the average person has very little way to reduce the number of plastic nets in the water

Besides the obvious and 100% viable option of just not eating fish.

Or organise a boycott on eating fish.

You could go the rest of your life without eating another fish and you would be fine.

Car tyres are also significant contributors to terrestial microplastics and particulate matter!

What if dispenser machines had a pay by volume model? You bring your own thing, they fill it, and charge you by how much you use. Would probably need something added to measure flow and set prices, but it's not like a McDonalds built in the 70s is still using exactly the same machines they were back then.

stop eating all animals tbh.

Noticed the same thing, how can one be concerned about the plastic straws but not the cups? I almost thought that was the joke.

My conspiracy theory is it was chosen to deliberately harm the optics of environmentalists. Something with minimal useful impact and maximum inconvenience would turn people against the whole idea of environmentally friendly alternatives.

Getting rid of plastic straws, but not cups and lids was such a stupid thing. There are substitutes for cups, but they cost more, so they weren't a good option for greenwashing.

If you're already minimizing seafood intake because of the lead content, you're already minimizing your personal impact of fishing net use. What we need to do is legislate the use of hemp nets. Hemp was the primary net maternal before the oil industry put their weight behind making hemp illegal under the guise of "The War On Drugs!" and made plastic/nylon nets the default.

That would be ideal, but each person has limited time and attention. Advocate for both, but put your efforts into figuring out how to change the thing with the larger impact.