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Option 2. Or am I missing something? Is it more polluting to manufacture or transport glass? If it's transport, our trajectory is heading to EVs, so that would
by tcldr 6y ago
Option 2. Or am I missing something?
Is it more polluting to manufacture or transport glass? If it's transport, our trajectory is heading to EVs, so that would leave the cost of recycling/manufacture which seems like it would scale well and also benefit from lowering costs of green energy in the long-term.
- cassianoleal 6y agoAnd even if it ends on landfill it's not as bad as plastic as far as I'm aware.
- FreeFull 6y agoGlass is made out of the same stuff that's already in some very common minerals. The two main risks are sharp pieces, and the potential to focus sunlight and start a fire. Otherwise, it's about as dangerous as sand.
- alquemist 6y agoGiven how prevalent plastic is, my suspicion is that glass is more expensive than plastic. Single use glass seems like a waste, though I haven't run the numbers. Unless we can get to reusable glass. Living in US and walking the aisles of the local supermarket, I don't see how that's possible. The glass-packaged foods come from all around the world, with each company apparently intent on having its own distinctive glass shape. As 'recyclable' material ends up in the landfill more often than not for cost reasons, it seems a monumental task to build a 'reverse distribution' path to send back glass containers thousands a miles away to their original producer for reuse.
- tcldr 6y agoWe use tons of bottles for alcoholic beverages without issue. Most of the problems you state can be overcome with fairly simple processes. Standardisation of jar/pot sizes is one, ease of glass sorting and recycling when compared to plastic is another. Humans are smart enough to solve this, what we're missing is policy.