Re:85% of People Want Global Ban on Single-Use Plastics
by kragen on Wednesday June 05, 2024 @05:27PM
(#40590824)
> There is absolutely no way that rinsing out a container uses more resources than creating and transporting new disposable containers.
that's what i thought, too, until i did the math, and it turns out that i was wrong. rinsing out a bottle with hot water uses several times more energy than manufacturing a brand new plastic bottle from petroleum and transporting it (they're generally transported as preforms until the bottling plant, which keeps the costs down). in most cases, though, rinsing it out with cold water does use less
the high bit here, though, is not that you should stop using hot water to wash your dishes, or using reusable dishes. it's that the resource usage of food packaging is an irrelevant distraction from the real environmental devastation that's going on all around you
(actually no, the high bit is that you should base your beliefs and actions on objectively verifiable information and rational analysis rather than superstition)
that's what i thought, too, until i did the math, and it turns out that i was wrong. rinsing out a bottle with hot water uses several times more energy than manufacturing a brand new plastic bottle from petroleum and transporting it (they're generally transported as preforms until the bottling plant, which keeps the costs down). in most cases, though, rinsing it out with cold water does use less
the high bit here, though, is not that you should stop using hot water to wash your dishes, or using reusable dishes. it's that the resource usage of food packaging is an irrelevant distraction from the real environmental devastation that's going on all around you
(actually no, the high bit is that you should base your beliefs and actions on objectively verifiable information and rational analysis rather than superstition)