3 ms·

Relative to other things like travel, commuting, home energy usage, electronics, etc, I'm guessing the environmental cost of a pair of glasses is very, very low

Relative to other things like travel, commuting, home energy usage, electronics, etc, I'm guessing the environmental cost of a pair of glasses is very, very low. It is important to focus on effective actions. For example, a lot of people think that somehow recycling affects climate change, which (AFAIK) is not true in any meaningful sense. That isn't to say one shouldn't recycle -- there are plenty of reasons to do so in many cases.

soperj 8y ago
It helps the amount of garbage put into the environment, which is good regardless.
fwip 8y ago
I believe that recycling aluminum takes significantly less energy than smelting it in the first place. I don't have any idea about plastics/papers.
- JJMcJ 8y ago
  Aluminum is the only part of recycle that is really profitable. That's way people picking through trash take the cans and nothing else.
  - kd0amg 8y ago
    Everyone I've seen do this takes bottles too, and it's because they can redeem the bottles and cans to collect a state-mandated deposit.
- sitharus 8y ago
  Post-consumer paper can be recycled in to some forms of low-density card that doesn't require high quality pulp. Egg cartons come to mind, and as a percentage in some packaging, newsprint and sanitary papers. Post-consumer paper cannot easily be recycled in to anything resembling printer paper due to the contaminants. Pre-consumer paper is recycled heavily as it's of known quality. I'm not aware of any plastics that are recycled in to the same form. I know that PET (1) and HDPE (2) are recycled in to fibres. It's a similar story to glass, certainly where I live a large amount of glass is recycled in to crushed aggregate rather than new bottles. The energy costs of cleaning don't make it worthwhile.
  - samatman 8y ago
    Glass bottles used to be reused, which is the responsible thing to do. Consumers didn’t like it because scratches accumulate on the outside of the bottles.
    - ConceptJunkie 8y ago
      I always thought it was a shame that we stopped doing that, but plastic has taken over pretty much for all the glass bottles that used to be recycled.
irrational 8y ago
Plus you can probably donate the glasses. There is probably some poor person out there with a prescription close to yours.
giovani 8y ago
I think the broader point was that buying something only because it's cheap is generating unnecessary waste. I'm not saying this is the case here because the original pair of glasses can still be used, but isn't avoiding this kind of behaviour a good thing?

soperj 8y ago

It helps the amount of garbage put into the environment, which is good regardless.

fwip 8y ago

I believe that recycling aluminum takes significantly less energy than smelting it in the first place. I don't have any idea about plastics/papers.

JJMcJ 8y ago
Aluminum is the only part of recycle that is really profitable. That's way people picking through trash take the cans and nothing else.
- kd0amg 8y ago
  Everyone I've seen do this takes bottles too, and it's because they can redeem the bottles and cans to collect a state-mandated deposit.
sitharus 8y ago
Post-consumer paper can be recycled in to some forms of low-density card that doesn't require high quality pulp. Egg cartons come to mind, and as a percentage in some packaging, newsprint and sanitary papers. Post-consumer paper cannot easily be recycled in to anything resembling printer paper due to the contaminants. Pre-consumer paper is recycled heavily as it's of known quality. I'm not aware of any plastics that are recycled in to the same form. I know that PET (1) and HDPE (2) are recycled in to fibres. It's a similar story to glass, certainly where I live a large amount of glass is recycled in to crushed aggregate rather than new bottles. The energy costs of cleaning don't make it worthwhile.
- samatman 8y ago
  Glass bottles used to be reused, which is the responsible thing to do. Consumers didn’t like it because scratches accumulate on the outside of the bottles.
  - ConceptJunkie 8y ago
    I always thought it was a shame that we stopped doing that, but plastic has taken over pretty much for all the glass bottles that used to be recycled.

irrational 8y ago

Plus you can probably donate the glasses. There is probably some poor person out there with a prescription close to yours.

giovani 8y ago

I think the broader point was that buying something only because it's cheap is generating unnecessary waste. I'm not saying this is the case here because the original pair of glasses can still be used, but isn't avoiding this kind of behaviour a good thing?