EU takes aim at plastic pellets to prevent their nightmare cleanup
19 comments
·November 10, 2025time4tea
hexbin010
The water companies are too busy lobbying for price rises/manufacturing consent in the media (of which these stories are a part of. The water companies will again claim they are a victim of low bills meaning they can't invest which is what causes these events...)
It's all so insidious
UK gov will permit bills to rise and nothing will fundamentally change when it comes to water in the UK except how much we pay
fennecfoxy
UK government makes me sick, and what makes me even more sick is that no political party in the UK seems capable of fixing what needs to be fixed; they all focus on the particular populist opinions within their particular voter bases.
It's really quite sad. I just wish people would work together to compromise but it seems all over the world there's this intense tribal effect. I guess evolution is to blame, we never evolved to live in such large groups as we are now and as individuals modern life is far too complicated to have enough attention span to worry about every little thing, especially when governments and corporations often purposefully make it very difficult.
lukan
"we never evolved to live in such large groups as we are now"
Then maybe this is the problem? And the solution to build smaller societies again where the individual can have meaningful impact and not give up from the start to even try to move the buerocratic leviathan even a little bit in the right direction?
symbogra
The UK has a clear path to overcome the failure of democracy when people vote along purely tribal lines; the King should retake power and rule benevolently for the good of the UK.
HPsquared
From a wastewater treatment plant no less.
"This is the one thing we didn't want to happen"
postepowanieadm
It's about non-tax barriers on pellets import :)
Havoc
Thought they’re talking about airsoft lol
HPsquared
Are those biodegradable?
GOD_Over_Djinn
They’re marketed that way, but there’s a giant asterisk. They’re biodegradable in an industrial composter, and similar conditions are incredibly unlikely in nature. So they are, effectively, not biodegradable.
There is a new manufacturer called Terra that has apparently made “true” biodegradable Airsoft pellets
ReptileMan
Kinda. I think that modern airsoft balls degrade in a couple of years. Which shouldn't be an issue in a dedicated venue.
Sharlin
Would think it's trivial to make those from cellulose or something, but I guess it's always about money. Most "biodegradable" plastics are just turned into smaller pieces of plastic by UV.
amelius
[flagged]
fredrikholm
Biobeads are not a natural phenomenon; they are produced for and used by water treatment plants and therefore it's the responsibility of their owners to ensure that they don't leak into the ocean where they don't belong.
This type of legislation is in the same line as the USA's Clean Water Act; don't shit where you eat/live.
eric-burel
Weird comment. Anyway I am so proud to see so many French names in the article.
andrepd
Yep, and in the air too. I can't even burn leaded gasoline. When will the madness end?!
preisschild
Yeah, reducing pollution is "extremist insanity" /s
Relevant recent incident:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/08/environmenta...
Obvs, uk gov does nothing