Re:Just 10% of U.S. plastic gets recycled. A new kind of pla...
by Joakal on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @08:41PM
(#19734502)
Simple solution: make producers take back the waste as a condition for selling.
External cost now internalised.
In fact, new companies that are environmentally friendly (refills, product last years, etc) would be on a competitive level with former extremely cheap single use disposable companies.
Downside? Increased consumer costs and decreased shareholder value.
Once a government adopts this or plans to adopt this, expect to see massive and intense lobbying by packaging/consumable industry. In Australia, Coca Cola spent a lot to fight container deposit schemes which I think is a bandaid solution. The above solution could work with anything, not just plastics.
External cost now internalised.
In fact, new companies that are environmentally friendly (refills, product last years, etc) would be on a competitive level with former extremely cheap single use disposable companies.
Downside? Increased consumer costs and decreased shareholder value.
Once a government adopts this or plans to adopt this, expect to see massive and intense lobbying by packaging/consumable industry. In Australia, Coca Cola spent a lot to fight container deposit schemes which I think is a bandaid solution. The above solution could work with anything, not just plastics.