So that's where they're from.

[Dan S. MacAbre]

After years of wondering where all those little grey plastic tubes in the garden come from, the light has finally dawned...

[Andy Burns]

They used to be cardboard ...

[Tim+]

I?ve noticed that too. It?s a bit odd given that the firework makers seemed to have gone to some lengths to make the rest of the fireworks out of biodegradable materials. Many of the parts that look like plastic (rocket nose cones and launcher tubes) seem to be made of that corn starch based plastic and disintegrate pretty quickly.

The motors however all seem to be a translucent rigid hard plastic tubes that don?t *look* biodegradable. I could be wrong though.

Tim

[Me]

It's hardly rocket science...;-

[Bob Henson]

The centre of till rolls? I saved loads of them at the shop - never did find a use for them and eventually threw them away.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Whoosh!

(literally)

[Brian Gaff]

Huh, nothing hearable, so what on earth are you on about? Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Oh I see, well in my day its was mostly cardboard as has been said. Seems a bit ofdd to use plastic. Brian

[Dan S. MacAbre]

[Nightjar]

Probably less susceptible to damp and hence to the firework that doesn't appear to be going off, until somebody approaches it to check.

[damduck-egg]

Those who go game or clay pigeon shooting with shotguns have come across similar issues . Many cartridges have been plastic cased rather than thick card for years but they tend to fall within a few feet of the Gun after ejection or need to be removed by hand anyway and so are easily collected , here is a little bit of brass whose scrap value may build up eventually once hundreds are accumulated. More of a problem are the wads which are ejected from the barrel and land yards away , at a clay pigeon site a clean up afterwards is often done but with game shooting the wads "disappear " into the undergrowth. They were paper at one time and rotted away but then manufactures found it was cheaper to use polyethylene and in some cases it has been used for ballistic characteristics as well as some shooters feel plastic is more consistent and like the firework example doesn't get affected by damp.

Hence a good part of the countryside now has plastic disks littering it.

The problem hasn't gone unnoticed and many shoots now ban cartridges with plastic wads though in some cases it was Landowners who imposed the condition and they had to conform or shoot elsewhere.

G.Harman