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It doesn't need to be cheaper than virgin PET, it just needs to be cheaper than virgin PET plus the cost of landfill/"recycling". With more countries now refusi
by snovv_crash 6y ago
It doesn't need to be cheaper than virgin PET, it just needs to be cheaper than virgin PET plus the cost of landfill/"recycling". With more countries now refusing to be dumping grounds the cost of getting rid of old bottles stands to rise considerably.
- piker 6y ago...to the extent that such cost of landfill/recycling is internalized to the producer.
- nordsieck 6y ago> ...to the extent that such cost of landfill/recycling is internalized to the producer. It's enough for the costs to be internalized by consumers.
- anamexis 6y agoDo you expect a consumer's garbage bill to affect how many and what type of plastic bottles they buy?
- nordsieck 6y ago> Do you expect a consumer's garbage bill to affect how many and what type of plastic bottles they buy? Broadly speaking, I think people prefer to spend less money on equivalent goods. So, yes. I do. I think the effect will probably be less strong than if the entire cost were concentrated at the point of purchase.
- anamexis 6y agoI don't mean in the "economics spherical cow" sense, but in the real world.
- oh_sigh 6y agoMy garbage company here in Boulder(Western Disposal) determines your fees based on the bin size you have: bigger recycling or trash bins cost more than cheaper ones on an ongoing basis. Compost is free always though. But really though, there have been weeks where we filled up our bin with lacroixs and beers and I stopped buying canned beverages because of that(for the next 7 days)
- xxpor 6y agoThat's interesting. Here in Seattle, recycling is free but compost costs money.
- BobbyJo 6y agoThey'd have to eat the cost of the more expensive plastic BEFORE their bills would go down, which means it is a decision most consumers will never know to make.
- snovv_crash 6y agoRecycling collection companies will pay them to take the old PET off their hands.
- indecisive_user 6y agoThe US is doing more stateside recycling these days, and from this article it sounds like recycling bottles is actually a profitable business. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/what-actually-happens-to-a-recycled-plastic-bottle/418326/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/what-...
- NikolaeVarius 6y agoThat was written in 2015. It is no longer the case https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/750864036/u-s-recycling-industry-is-struggling-to-figure-out-a-future-without-china https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/750864036/u-s-recycling-indus...
- loeg 6y agoYou may be overestimating the cost of landfills.
- stuartd 6y agoLandfill costs (understandably) vary between countries. Got a lot of empty space? Cheap. Crowded? Not cheap at all.
- londons_explore 6y agoEven in crowded countries, landfill land area is still a tiny percentage. Its more environmental laws and how strict regulations are about seepage.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- fulafel 6y agoUnsorted waste cost is often regulated to be higher than what the immediate costs are. And landfills are banned in a lot of places so the unsorted waste has to be resorted and the uncrecycleable parts incinerated[1]. [1] eg see third column of table 3.1 at https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/waste/waste-management/municipal-waste-management-across-european-countries https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/waste/waste-management/muni...
- rsynnott 6y agoSome European countries have essentially banned landfills; waste must be either exported (expensive, increasingly difficult), recycled (expensive) or burned (expensive, controversial).
- floatingatoll 6y agoIt needs to be cheaper than cost of ‘virgin PET’ including the taxes levied on the material itself, technically. I haven’t done the math to incorporate the tax duties of the hydrocarbons used to form non-recycled PET but I assume currently most countries levy no tax whatsoever on PET itself, regardless of source?