The device known as shoyu-tai (or soy-sauce snapper in Japanese) was invented in 1954 by Teruo Watanabe, the founder of Osaka-based company Asahi Sogyo, according to a report from Japan’s Radio Kansai.
It was then common for glass and ceramic containers to be used but the advent of cheap industrial plastics allowed the creation of a small polyethylene container in the shape of a fish, officially named the “Lunch Charm”.
The invention quickly spread around Japan and eventually worldwide, and it is estimated that billions have been produced.
I’m gonna say it:
The problem is not the fish-shaped plastic per se, but the fact that so much of it ends up in the ocean: Why do we still not collect and burn plastics properly? People throw their waste everywhere because there’s not enough waste bins in comfortable walking distance. In Vienna, where waste bins are frequent on the streets (you basically never have to walk more than 30 meters to one, no matter where you sit and pause, somehow), there is literally no litter in the environment. No plastic articles or metal cans on the streets. Very rare cigarettes laying around. That’s because Vienna has enough trash cans. Many cities don’t have that and people have literally no choice to dispose of their trash properly because there’s simply no trash cans around, so you either carry your dirty plastic packaging in your backpack and therefore sully your backpack with the grease on the packaging, or throw it into the environment.
Then, there needs to be strict laws that say that all plastic waste has to be burned, not dumped into the environment.
Then, biodegradable bioplastics would also mitigate this problem a lot.
I don’t think you even begin to understand what it’s like to have billions of people on the earth.
No matter what we do, people will still slip through the cracks and this litter will get out.
People throw their waste everywhere because there’s not enough waste bins in comfortable walking distance
I see almost daily people throwing trash on the street in front of an empty recycle bin. I think the issue is more about people not giving a shit than convenience of finding a trashcan or keeping stuff in your pocket until you do.
I think the issue is more about people not giving a shit
but do these trash cans have funny jokes on them like these ones:
“mist” is trash in german
Eh. No jokes, no. The most engaging thing I remember seeing around in the city was a “vote” panel for cigarette butts with silly questions; but even that has gone away.
It is unfortunate that we’re at this point. Hopefully other places do fare better.
In addition, too many people don’t even care enough to use the correct bin. Every bin day my neighbours bins are overflowing with no recyclables in their recycling bin. I wouldn’t be surprised if the bins were meaningless and it all went in a hole in the ground
it practically does all go to the same incineration site. the recycle bins are mostly to make you believe otherwise, for political reasons, sothat you look at plastic in general more favorable. but practically none of it gets recycled.
That was true a long time ago. And remains true in some places, but since we started pushing the different bins, things progressed on that front. Plenty of place have actual recycling facilities (although their efficiency is another topic). Of course, in some far away area, it is not practical to sort stuff, but it’s kind of a chicken and egg problem. Infrastructure see no point in making large facilities for processing recyclable if they’re not sorted, and people see no point in sorting their trash if the infrastructure isn’t available. Putting colored recycling bins everywhere to initiate the process was cheaper.
Ironically, Japan has almost no trash bins. You’ll find them next to vending machines - you’re expected to consume there and throw away packaging immediately, or take the rubbish with you.
So pick a lane. 100 bins per square kilometer, or none.
Anywhere in between evidently sucks.
Burning plastic does not mitigate its environmental effects, and infact would increase air pollution and microplastics exponentially if we were to start.
I fully agree with the rest, but burning plastic is definitely not the answer.
i too would like any kind of reasonable source about this, because i’ve heard very different from a many colleagues who work in this field.
modern incineration sites are very clean and produce no significant air polluting output. at least in modern sites. microplastics is also not an issue with these. the problem is that the trash gets thrown in rivers and forests where it breaks into microplastics, but that isn’t an issue if it’s all collected and incinerated.
So, did you just come up with that, or do you actually know something about industrial incinerators used for power generation?
Date rapists in shambles
For context, these containers are really popular for storing drugs like GHB
I’m not defending the use but should mention that these are convenient over traditional sauce packets. They allow precise application in a droplet form, don’t spill everywhere, and can be closed with the included cap.
But offer no benefit over a simple serving bottle.
Correct. These are often found in takeaway containers.
I’ve never seen these things before but it does seem like a waste of plastic. Even sachets of sauce shouldn’t be handed out in most circumstances, at least for dine-in food in fast food places - use dispensers and paper cups. I wonder if there is a biodegradable sachet material which has a couple of years shelf life but degrades thereafter.
The “fish-shaped” is rather irrelevant. The point is that it is a single -use plastic thing. With very little content in relation to the plastic used.
I thought it would have been very relevant.
It looks like a fish lure.
If this is floating around at sea I don’t see why other fish (and maybe certain sea birds?) wouldn’t think it’s prey, and it even has a bright red indicator that makes it easy to spot.
Only relevant for countries that still “recycle” plastics by throwing them into the sea.
So all of them.
All of them participate, yes, but on vastly different levels. There are countries that actually collect and recycle.
There are countries that actually collect and recycle.
And we do that in Australia, we just don’t have the capacity to process all the waste (Between 85%-90% of plastic waste goes to landfill instead), and even then the recyclability of plastic is vastly overstated.
It’s a much better idea to just prevent the plastic waste being produced in the first place.
You misunderstand. I’m saying those countries that think they’re doing a good job, their shit’s going straight to the water too. They’re all fooling themselves. Or more accurately they’re fooling you the consumer and thosr believing recycling works. It doesn’t for the vast vast majority of plastics. So all of them are dumping Plastics in the water.
Some thrash will end up in nature no matter what you do, especially small and light items. That’s why it’s good practice to design packaging do that it does minimal harm if it ends up in nature.
I was thinking about these literally just yesterday. I’m wondering if they could be essentially replaced with something like those wax bottle candies. Maybe not the best for places that reach extreme temperatures but some places could do it without issue.
Wonder if you could put soy sauce in wax like those wax bottle candies instead
If it exists, I can’t wait to hand these out during Halloween
I’ve got a fridge drawer for these.
Al Gore is going to have a field day with this.
Scrolling by I literally thought “Man, that candy looks delicious, what’s this article about?” And then read the headline… 🫠
What is the issue with this form compared to others?
South Australia will be the first place in the world to ban them under a wider ban on single-use plastics that comes into force on 1 September.
They aren’t banning the packets tho… I can see how the plastic pouches could be better for the environment than the polypropylene fish tho, but certainly not by much.
Man, it sounds like the ultimate first-world problem, but how are they gonna get soy sauce with takeout sushi without single-use plastics? I imagine the people who get takeout sushi and the people who have a bottle of soy sauce in their fridge are largely different groups. Not to mention the people who get takeout sushi for lunch at work. This may degrade the takeout sushi experience for all of South Australia.
We can make tiny glass bottles if the market demands it.
Glass is only better when it is reused something like 5 times. Otherwise it is worse, as the energy needed to make it is just so high plus all the shipping.
True, but at least glass breaks down into sand, and metal caps don’t pollute, they are just unsightly. The plastic cap liners can be made of bioplastics. The energy aspect could be mitigated by mandating 100% renewables in production and transportation, maybe? I know it’s not easy to transition to these, but we don’t have many options.
As I mentioned in a prior comment, there are companies making bioplastic containers, in commercial production now.
Glass is made essentially exclusively with natural gas as the fuel source and there is no easy way to transition to something else to directly use electricity at these scales, conditions and temperatures. Before transitioning such high hanging fruit, we first need to stop burning it to heat homes, which is really easy to replace with electricity.
These companies use plastic because of its weight and ease of manufacturing and I assume it’s also cheaper than glass. The weight may seem a weird metric but when they are shipping billion of them every year it adds up.
If they were forced to change to glass they would definitely increase the price to compensate.
I would love to save the world from ecological collapse, but not if I have to pay for it in any way shape of form whatsoever!
Banning the soy sauce packets would force a mindset change. A new solution would be restaurants having the full size bottles and when you pick up, you can bring a Tupperware to fill.
Well, they claim capitalism is the best driver there is for invention, so this should be sorted before Wednesday!
I imagine the people who get takeout sushi and the people who have a bottle of soy sauce in their fridge are largely different groups.
Tbh there’s your answer, fix that. Buy some damn soy sauce, they sell it at the most basic stores.
But that doesn’t solve the issue for people eating it at a third location, like work, their car, or an unprepared friend’s house, can’t buy bottles of soy for literally everywhere you go “just in case” and such.
Maybe we still need them for that, but we can also be mindful of our circumstances and prepare/choose appropriately. Would require people to change personally however, so keep waiting lol.
Hell maybe we just make it common for them to sell little 4oz resealable glass bottles of kikkoman at the Chinese spot, then one can still be unprepared and still get the sauce there (though it’d be cheaper if they prepare next time), and whatever sauce isn’t used is retainable. Still not perfect since those bottles have plastic tops, but it’s something! Maybe make the caps out of hemp plastic for added bonus?
If my wife wasn’t soy intolerant I’d have a bottle of soy sauce in my fridge (her issues with soy mean I really only get east Asian food when going out) and if she liked fish I’d get takeout sushi sometimes. Though honestly if she liked fish and could eat soy sauce I’d’ve learned to make sushi by now, so maybe I’m not the default here
A decent question. Especially if this ban allows the ripper pouch style single serve sauces.
I have collected a tonne of the fish shaped bad boys at river clean ups, so maybe they’re somehow worse. Tbh takeaway sushi could improve in a lot of ways to reduce single use plastics, so kinda funny that the cute fish copped it.If it hasn’t already been broken down into microplastics yet and it’s floating around in its whole form, then other organisms that eat fish that size could think it is a fish and then eat it,” Wootton said.
And:
“Since they are quite a thick plastic, it does take quite a while for them to degrade.”
The issue is that you didn’t read the article 😊
I barely even read this comment
I need the tldr of this entire thread
TLDR: Stuff happens. People reacted and then went to bed.
Oh no! How are people supposed to sneak G into parties now?
Based
Contact lens case is how they did it around here.
I have an idea, just stop putting them in the ocean.
oh fuck, i wasnt supposed to save all my plastic containers until my next day at the beach???
I love productive comments.
Those are cute and I can see how they would be popular. And I see why they should also be banned. I live in the Midwest and I’m not sure I have seen these. Ours just comes in a little sauce packet.
yeah, i’m thinking about our taco bell sauce packets. would they put them in little soy sauce bottles at every table? little cholula bottles with the cute wooden stoppers? what would they do if they couldn’t
bribelobby their way out of this?Essentially a less cute plastic wrapper, no?
Kind of but it’s still a fraction of the waste created. Not perfect but I’d say the polyethylene ones take up 5 to 10 times more space in a landfill or ocean.
Yeah but as another person from the American Midwest, the article seems to indicate south Australia is moving to the packets we have as they’re larger and use less plastic, though the goal is for bulk soy sauce in refillable containers
In Australia we have these or the packets, for take away. You don’t use them for dine in, we have larger refillable glass/plastic containers for that.
I have never once seen one of these. Interesting.
