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How do you determine that personal waste or packaging waste is a big problem relative to others? I admit as a non-expert, I always hear about huge statistics of

by mlthoughts2018 6y ago

How do you determine that personal waste or packaging waste is a big problem relative to others? I admit as a non-expert, I always hear about huge statistics of packaging waste and my first reaction is extreme skepticism that it’s actually a meaningful problem, and that sorts of confounders around rate of product breakages, lost items, sanitary transit, etc. would just mean it’s not worth it to try to reach a more global optimum of supply chain waste compared to the local optimum that modern efficient logistics are incentivized to meet. It seems like one of those things that sounds like a big deal, like recycling, but when you look into it, it’s actually not cost effective to address it except a few special cases.

colordrops 6y ago
I and at 3 different sets of friends of mine have all tried and stopped using home meal delivery services due to disgust with all the packaging that comes with them. Now I might live in a bubble, but I do believe there is sentiment out there that it's not only an issue of quantity of waste generated, but also an aesthetic and philosophical issue as well. I personally find generating trash in any quantity to be offensive, and the idea of plastic floating around in the ocean disgusts me. Some will call it irrational but that doesn't mean there's not a need.
- mlthoughts2018 6y ago
  On one hand I really respect your directness because you’re admitting it’s purely an aesthetic preference and not data-driven optimal environmental policy. That’s a perfectly good point of view and a fine reason to take something up as a business, especially if many other people feel like you do too. On the other hand, waste is a literal side-effect of all possible life, going all the way to level of entropy always increasing. All life processes produce waste, even digital life would produce waste heat and whatever electricity generating process it consumes from can’t be 100% efficient. I view modern packaging as a really amazing invention. People can mail me a fragile piece of art from across the world and it can reach me quickly and safely. Factories can massively produce safely sealed food items that prevent literally tons of food waste through packaging, increasing nutrition availability, water availability and more. Most modern packaging is virtually a miracle. Where I agree with you about packaging waste though is when it is used for branding and designed around aesthetic form or market testing rather than utility. Disposability is not a harmful goal at all, but waste generated purely to support branding is hard to defend.

colordrops 6y ago

I and at 3 different sets of friends of mine have all tried and stopped using home meal delivery services due to disgust with all the packaging that comes with them. Now I might live in a bubble, but I do believe there is sentiment out there that it's not only an issue of quantity of waste generated, but also an aesthetic and philosophical issue as well. I personally find generating trash in any quantity to be offensive, and the idea of plastic floating around in the ocean disgusts me. Some will call it irrational but that doesn't mean there's not a need.

mlthoughts2018 6y ago
On one hand I really respect your directness because you’re admitting it’s purely an aesthetic preference and not data-driven optimal environmental policy. That’s a perfectly good point of view and a fine reason to take something up as a business, especially if many other people feel like you do too. On the other hand, waste is a literal side-effect of all possible life, going all the way to level of entropy always increasing. All life processes produce waste, even digital life would produce waste heat and whatever electricity generating process it consumes from can’t be 100% efficient. I view modern packaging as a really amazing invention. People can mail me a fragile piece of art from across the world and it can reach me quickly and safely. Factories can massively produce safely sealed food items that prevent literally tons of food waste through packaging, increasing nutrition availability, water availability and more. Most modern packaging is virtually a miracle. Where I agree with you about packaging waste though is when it is used for branding and designed around aesthetic form or market testing rather than utility. Disposability is not a harmful goal at all, but waste generated purely to support branding is hard to defend.