Re:Reycling Plastic from the Inside Out
by TeMPOraL on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @07:27AM
(#19848417)
I'm in the "reuse over recycle" camp myself, and heard plenty of stories about milk bottles from my parents and grandparents, so I understand this point.
Instinctively, I'd wish we got back to reusable glass bottles for most things; as inconvenient as they are when shopping, maybe we could get that back in the era of increasing home delivery of groceries. That said, I recall someone on HN bringing up the following point: plastics are probably energetically cheaper to manufacture than their reusable equivalents. For plastic bags, I think the ratio was around 1000 uses before a reusable "eco" bag started to come ahead of disposable plastic bags, energy-wise. I suspect the calculation for glass bottles will be similar, once you account for the costs of cleaning.
Ecologically speaking, AFAIK the main problem with disposable plastics isn't their carbon footprint, but microplastics getting into the food chain. That means better garbage management is the crucial issue here.
I'm not saying this to defend the proliferation of disposable plastics - in fact, I have an instinctive and deep hate for single-use items where reusable alternatives could exist. I'm only saying this problem is nontrivial once you start accounting for energy use, or negative externalities. If there's some detailed analysis that tackles this issue thoroughly, I'd love to read one and update my views.
Instinctively, I'd wish we got back to reusable glass bottles for most things; as inconvenient as they are when shopping, maybe we could get that back in the era of increasing home delivery of groceries. That said, I recall someone on HN bringing up the following point: plastics are probably energetically cheaper to manufacture than their reusable equivalents. For plastic bags, I think the ratio was around 1000 uses before a reusable "eco" bag started to come ahead of disposable plastic bags, energy-wise. I suspect the calculation for glass bottles will be similar, once you account for the costs of cleaning.
Ecologically speaking, AFAIK the main problem with disposable plastics isn't their carbon footprint, but microplastics getting into the food chain. That means better garbage management is the crucial issue here.
I'm not saying this to defend the proliferation of disposable plastics - in fact, I have an instinctive and deep hate for single-use items where reusable alternatives could exist. I'm only saying this problem is nontrivial once you start accounting for energy use, or negative externalities. If there's some detailed analysis that tackles this issue thoroughly, I'd love to read one and update my views.