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Yeah looks like fully recycled glass at best requires 30% less energy input than virgin glass. And the single-stream logistics are enough to make that uneconom
by foobarian 5y ago
Yeah looks like fully recycled glass at best requires 30% less energy input than virgin glass. And the single-stream logistics are enough to make that uneconomical, unfortunately.
Aluminum recycling energy input is 95% less than smelting - that is a very nice gain, meaning you get 20x the material for the same energy cost vs. 1.42x.
- numpad0 5y agoGlass bottles are also 10-20x heavier for capacity than aluminum or plastic bottles, like <60% content fraction vs >95%. Absolute amounts of that recycling energy inputs are apples and oranges, but with as much as 50% mass and 25% volume worth for delivered products having to be recovered in order for glass bottles to be recycled, or even reused, I can't picture microscopic oranges here.
- neltnerb 5y agoYes, glass and metal packaging are appropriate in different use cases and glass is much heavier than either plastic or metal. We're not really trying to find the one true packaging material right? Some are better than others depending on the context. Glass is pretty amazing material but weight is not where it holds an advantage, nor in tensile strength. Edit: Heck, even steel versus aluminum depends on the situation. Cans of stuff are usually steel still while beverages are almost always aluminum.