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The big plastic glass debate. The government are trying to bring in a law, backed by many who work in the industry to try to ban the use of glass in bars or restaurants to try and reduce the number of injuries caused by glasses and bottles by using plastic glass. Due to the increasing drinking culture in the UK there has been an increase in the number of violent acts in which some have involved the use of bottles or glasses as a weapon. Plastic glass should reduce this problem

Plastic Glass and Clubbing Central

Many clubs and busy bars have replaced glass bottles with a range of plastic ones because bottles have for a while been the weapon of choice for many drunken brawls. However, in the absence of bottles people have started using glasses instead, producing equally damaging effects. There has been a marked rise in the number of incidents occurring with the bouncers and staff in the pubs trying to control rowdy situations. This seems to be a fair argument in clubs and bars where people go to drink and be noisy but what about the quiet country pub where holding a pint of beer in a heavy glass pint glass is part of the general enjoyment. It is unlikely that the people who frequent these venues are going to get hammered and smash a glass in someone%u2019s face. So, it begs the question where do you draw the line?

Plastic glass - Lies Damn Lies and Statistics?

There have been countless statistics wheeled out over the question of glass Vs plastic bottles, many of these come from those inside the health profession claiming that the number of injuries caused by glass drops significantly when they trial the use of plastic bottles across the town centres. Everyone from the casualty nurse through to the eye specialists have come out in support of banning the dreaded glass. Here they are yet again talking about the use of glass in the city centres where violence caused by alcohol is at its highest. What does seem strange is that our drinking culture has been high for many years with many people in the 1980%u2019s and 1990%u2019s going out and getting drunk to the same levels as they do today but why has there been an increase in drink related crime? Stronger drinks could potentially be the problem rather than the glass or it could be that pubs and clubs are not managed as well as they could be with a couple of bouncers on the door menacingly staring at the punters as they walk through the door. The culture has become one of us against them and the encouragement of people to drink until they are no longer physically functioning is a worrying development.

Plastic Glass and the Country

It seems that these attacks are primarily centred in the rowdy centres of town where the intention is not one of going out for a drink with friends but to go out and to get incredibly drunk and see where the night will take you! There could be a definite case for banning glass in the centre of towns because being attacked can ruin someone%u2019s life or even end it. However, banning glass pint glasses in the country pubs would not produce the same results because there is a significant difference in the level of violence between the two different situations.

New Measures in Plastic Glass

In order to prevent the number of glass related incidents the government propose the use of plastic instead, many clubs and alcohol companies have changed their bottles to plastic bottles because they are typically used in clubs and bars where the highest level of violence occurs. In fact many of these venues have already embraced the use of plastic glasses for the same reasons; the ones who are resisting are doing so because they believe that the experience will not be the same for the drinker, drinking out of a plastic glass. To try and combat the problem the government and glass manufacturers have come up with a range of alternatives including reinforced glass that will not break or shatter when it is smashed and plastic that has a similar weight and feel so minimising the difference experienced by the customers.The big question that comes in to play again here is personal choice and the nanny state that we live in, should everyone be walking around cushioned from life or should they be allowed to make the choices at the grass roots level. People are not just getting stabbed because there is glass available what we should be looking at is what motivates this action in the first place and why people feel the need to drink as much as they do. This is a debate that has been raging for the last few years and yet nothing significant has been done to tackle the root causes of the problems and it looks set to continue with there being no solution to the main problems.