4 ms·
> consumers assume recycling works as a kind of magical "Get out of Pollution Free" card. Consumers were told that by the local authorities who put these recyc
by throwawayboise 5y ago
> consumers assume recycling works as a kind of magical "Get out of Pollution Free" card.
Consumers were told that by the local authorities who put these recycling programs in place. They were not told that behind the scenes it all goes to the landfill anyway. If they knew the truth they might actually make more effort to reduce the amount of stuff they throw out and be more aware of wasteful packaging.
- amatecha 5y agoI really see this as a problem further up the chain - why is wasteful packaging even on the shelves? Why is there so much crap to throw out? Why was it legal to wrap a product in another 25% of its weight in useless, non-recyclable packaging? I'm not sure why I as an individual am forced to bear the brunt of colossally wasteful pipelines and processes that I had no say in. I can do a bit and reuse bags, buy stuff with minimal packaging (or avoid buying new stuff etc.), but broadly, I have no choice most of the time.
- jacquesm 5y ago100% agreed, this is exactly the problem. Just take a pack of yoghurt, we had good paper packaging and now they've glued a useless plastic port to it. Boom, no longer recyclable. Same with cheese and other bread toppings, all used to be packaged in perfectly recyclable paper and now it's sold in see-through plastic.
- YokoZar 5y agoFood-soiled paper was never recyclable.
- adrianN 5y agoSee through plastic can be both recycleable and biodegradable and might even use less ressources to produce, and improve the shelf life so that less food is wasted. Details are very important in these matters, which is why it's a bad idea to put the burden of figuring this all out on consumers.
- epistasis 5y agoI've started to give bad reviews to products with wasteful packaging that I couldn't see before purchase. If there's multiple cubic feet of styrofoam, I will leave a bad review mentioning only the packaging complaint so that future purchasers will know too.
- User23 5y ago> why is wasteful packaging even on the shelves? Shrinkage. It's to the point where you need a screwdriver to get a kid's toy car out of the box.
- alisonkisk 5y agoConsumers are complicit in the scam.