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Recycling is such a farce. Anything where you have mixed streams going into the recycling bin is quite likely to end up buried somewhere in a developing country

Recycling is such a farce. Anything where you have mixed streams going into the recycling bin is quite likely to end up buried somewhere in a developing country. Even when they are recycled they end up being turned into insulation or some other secondary product. Growing up in Scotland we had a recycling system which was great. Irn Bru bottles were glass bottles with metal lids. The lid proudly announced that you could get 20p back for returning it (in the form of credit towards other purchases). The same trucks delivering stock took the empty bottles back to the distribution centre when they were cleaned, inspected and reused.

monk_e_boy 7y ago
Glass and metal are a nightmare on the beach and in parks. Plastic sucks bad, but going back to glass isn't much better.
- VBprogrammer 7y ago
  The system has been in place for at least 50 years. In my mum's day it was a common past time for her and her brothers to go hunting for what they called "glass cheques". The idea is to avoid it ending up where it shouldn't by incentivising good behaviour. If people can return the glass for money then few of them end up on the beach.
- welly 7y ago
  I feel like that is a pretty insignificant issue compared with 8-20 million tons of plastics ending up in the sea.
- lm28469 7y ago
  It's much better in almost every way besides weight. Much more reusable, not leaking any chemicals in soil/water/our bodies, &c.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  Not really. Both break down and are mostly inert.
- magduf 7y ago
  Glass is inert and doesn't break down; anyone can pick up glass bottles that have been on the beach for decades, wash them out, and recycle them along with new glass. Metal degrades slowly if it's ferrous (iron/steel), but that isn't environmentally harmful. And it can all be readily recycled.
  - paulmd 7y ago
    I think the implication was what if some jackass smashes the bottles and you find them with your foot.
bluenose69 7y ago
I grew up in Canada, several decades ago. At that time, everyone returned glass soft-drink bottles and beer bottles to the stores where the items were purchased. Milk was delivered in bottles, and the delivery person picked up the empty bottles we left on the porch the night before. Nobody would have thought of throwing the glass into the trash, even if there were no refunds. I think part of this was that so many people had a memory of the great depression, and waste was viewed as sinful. When plastic came in, the older folks washed plastic bags out so they could reuse them. You'd see them on the clothes lines, drying out. (Sure, people had indoor dryers, but clothes dried on the line not only saved on the electric bill but smelled so damned wonderful that it's hard to erase the memory of the delight in bringing things in off the line.)
- VBprogrammer 7y ago
  Yes, we seem to have lost something in the last few generations. The mantra used to be reduce, reuse, recycle. The order is significant, recycling should be a last resort.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  The problem is that environmental people bikeshed and argue about everything. They don’t like glass or reuse because water is used for washing and you need to haul the empty bottle. Especially with the rise of e-commerce, there’s no reason why most consumer products couldn’t be delivered in reusable glass containers.
  - technotony 7y ago
    The problem is the return of the reusable containers. I've collaborating with several startups working on this problem. Shipping costs are 20-40% of COGS for many ecommerce catagories and you are basically doubling them when you require return for reuse and consumers don't want to pay the price premium that requires.
  - ntsplnkv2 7y ago
    What number of items actually need rewashing? Sure, foodstuffs. But why can we not refill our soaps, chemicals, etc. Laundry detergent? There is no need to wash those with water.

monk_e_boy 7y ago

Glass and metal are a nightmare on the beach and in parks. Plastic sucks bad, but going back to glass isn't much better.

VBprogrammer 7y ago
The system has been in place for at least 50 years. In my mum's day it was a common past time for her and her brothers to go hunting for what they called "glass cheques". The idea is to avoid it ending up where it shouldn't by incentivising good behaviour. If people can return the glass for money then few of them end up on the beach.
welly 7y ago
I feel like that is a pretty insignificant issue compared with 8-20 million tons of plastics ending up in the sea.
lm28469 7y ago
It's much better in almost every way besides weight. Much more reusable, not leaking any chemicals in soil/water/our bodies, &c.
Spooky23 7y ago
Not really. Both break down and are mostly inert.
magduf 7y ago
Glass is inert and doesn't break down; anyone can pick up glass bottles that have been on the beach for decades, wash them out, and recycle them along with new glass. Metal degrades slowly if it's ferrous (iron/steel), but that isn't environmentally harmful. And it can all be readily recycled.
- paulmd 7y ago
  I think the implication was what if some jackass smashes the bottles and you find them with your foot.

bluenose69 7y ago

I grew up in Canada, several decades ago. At that time, everyone returned glass soft-drink bottles and beer bottles to the stores where the items were purchased. Milk was delivered in bottles, and the delivery person picked up the empty bottles we left on the porch the night before. Nobody would have thought of throwing the glass into the trash, even if there were no refunds. I think part of this was that so many people had a memory of the great depression, and waste was viewed as sinful. When plastic came in, the older folks washed plastic bags out so they could reuse them. You'd see them on the clothes lines, drying out. (Sure, people had indoor dryers, but clothes dried on the line not only saved on the electric bill but smelled so damned wonderful that it's hard to erase the memory of the delight in bringing things in off the line.)

VBprogrammer 7y ago
Yes, we seem to have lost something in the last few generations. The mantra used to be reduce, reuse, recycle. The order is significant, recycling should be a last resort.
Spooky23 7y ago
The problem is that environmental people bikeshed and argue about everything. They don’t like glass or reuse because water is used for washing and you need to haul the empty bottle. Especially with the rise of e-commerce, there’s no reason why most consumer products couldn’t be delivered in reusable glass containers.
- technotony 7y ago
  The problem is the return of the reusable containers. I've collaborating with several startups working on this problem. Shipping costs are 20-40% of COGS for many ecommerce catagories and you are basically doubling them when you require return for reuse and consumers don't want to pay the price premium that requires.
- ntsplnkv2 7y ago
  What number of items actually need rewashing? Sure, foodstuffs. But why can we not refill our soaps, chemicals, etc. Laundry detergent? There is no need to wash those with water.