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Counterargument: Aluminum is crazy recyclable. I don't see people talking about single use aluminum (maybe I'm just not in those conversations). Plastic is grea
by sailfast 8y ago
Counterargument: Aluminum is crazy recyclable. I don't see people talking about single use aluminum (maybe I'm just not in those conversations). Plastic is great for a whole bunch of applications, and making it easily recyclable / recoverable seems like a big win.
How would you prefer Coca Cola get their product to you? I suppose don't drink Coke or anything else you need to ship in a bottle at volume to prevent pollution when people throw things in the ocean.
In general, I think we will find more success in pragmatic alternatives that make sense in the market (which could obviously include applying the cost of externalities like pollution on companies that use single-use plastics) so a recycling option that allows for more efficient re-use to reduce the overall volume created seems like it would only help the cause?
- pitaj 8y agoAluminum makes sense to recycle for many reasons: - Extracting aluminum from ore is very expensive - That makes recycled aluminum cheaper than fresh aluminum - Aluminum is a metal, you can melt it down to burn off or separate any impurities None is those is true of plastic.
- rpedela 8y agoThe article said that this new research makes plastic recycling like aluminum recycling in that it can separate impurities. I don't see any reason why recycled plastic wouldn't be at least price competitive with virgin plastic if this technology works at scale.
- jak92 8y agoAluminum cans are typically BPA lined, FYI.
- sailfast 8y agoYeah - not a perfect solution by any means, but better than the whole container I guess?