4 ms·

Probably because in most of the US recycling is fake and it all ends up in the landfill anyway, or the amount of energy spent recycling outweighs the savings.

by vxNsr 4y ago

Probably because in most of the US recycling is fake and it all ends up in the landfill anyway, or the amount of energy spent recycling outweighs the savings. Recycling is something the oil companies came up with to whitewash their image, and justify single use plastics, it doesn’t work, has never worked and it’s hard to see how it would work. This is the real “Inconvenient Truth.” If you really wanna “do your part to fight climate change,” you’re better off trying to live like someone out of 1890 before plastics was a thing, and people repaired/patched 100x before even considering replacements. You’ll have less time for arguing with idiots like me online but you’ll be much happier and actually be making a positive contribution.

mikeyouse 4y ago
> Probably because in most of the US recycling is fake and it all ends up in the landfill anyway, or the amount of energy spent recycling outweighs the savings. > Recycling is something the oil companies came up with to whitewash their image, and justify single use plastics, it doesn’t work, has never worked and it’s hard to see how it would work. No, it's because he's an idiot whose brain is turned to mush from obsessing about culture war politics. The plastic recycling history is vaguely interesting for some plastics and completely irrelevant for glass and metals which are profitably recycled due to the economics of recycling them vs. creating them from scratch. In any case, the local waste plant recycles what they can and then burns the rest for energy so I'll let them make the call on what's profitable to process.
- hinkley 4y ago
  In the case of glass it’s also the physics. All fired silicon materials are more stable when they have been fired at least twice. If you make ceramics, you save all your failures to make grog, which is basically ceramic sand or dust. Mixed in with fresh clay it reduced the expansion ratio and the internal stresses. Bottles with recycled material are more sturdy than those without. I don’t know how the process of bringing a bottle plant online works, but if it doesn’t include either buying grog from a supplier or feeding all the glass from the test runs into a hopper I would be very surprised. I have never heard a physicist explain this phenomenon, but if you crush something it tends to break along the weakest points, so crushed silicon has selected out many of the weakest grains and left the strongest ones. Then either they continue to grow or they just increase the ratio of strong to weak.
cptskippy 4y ago
The symbols we've come to associate with plastics being recyclable actually just indicate the material composition. And it isn't by accident that we assume that symbol means it's recyclable either. Plastics like PET and HDPE are recyclable but sorting recyclable materials from non-recyclable ones is costly which meant a lot of recycling does end up as waste. We need to start penalizing manufacturers and retailers for single-use plastics. Laws like those passed in Maine banned most single-use plastic bags and mandates that anyone offering them must also provide recycling a drop off bin. Consumers mostly do not have a choice about how their products are packaged so the onus must be shifted onto retailers and manufacturers who make those decisions.
nebula8804 4y ago
There is a quickly growing movement for multi-use consumables. Its become a huge thing among the youngest complete with Instagram "influencers" peddling reusability to consumer brand companies releasing products that are meant to be "re-filled" instead of just tossing out containers and buying another. In the cities stores are popping up that specialize in selling "refills" to consumables that you come by with your own container and pay by weight. Things such as refillable water bottles are simple examples of this as well. Of course MAGA country is a laggard so this will probably take another 5-10 years to become adopted after it becomes the norm in the left cities->suburbs>rural.
- archon1410 4y ago
  In the third world and perhaps depending on your income levels, all containers are refillable. we used to take Coca Coca bottles as water bottles to schools, the same for years. I think they would be usually thrown out.
  - nebula8804 4y ago
    Yeah you are right, this is not a new idea. In fact even in the US it used to be the norm. (ie. The Milk man making a milk delivery and you leave your old bottles out for him to collect and reuse). The plastics era is slowly ending and being replaced by ideas that used to work fine.
- vxNsr 4y ago
  > Of course MAGA country is a laggard so this will probably take another 5-10 years to become adopted after it becomes the norm in the left cities->suburbs>rural. Perfect example of an unnecessary vile comment. Most rural people already reuse and repurpose many things, they don’t have trash pick every week if at all and like to have a clean area for their children and grandchildren. It’s in their blood to find innovative ways to use something again in a different way. Your hate is coming from somewhere gross and you should consider some introspection on why you have so much of it in your heart.
  - 4y ago

by vxNsr 4y ago

mikeyouse 4y ago

> Probably because in most of the US recycling is fake and it all ends up in the landfill anyway, or the amount of energy spent recycling outweighs the savings. > Recycling is something the oil companies came up with to whitewash their image, and justify single use plastics, it doesn’t work, has never worked and it’s hard to see how it would work. No, it's because he's an idiot whose brain is turned to mush from obsessing about culture war politics. The plastic recycling history is vaguely interesting for some plastics and completely irrelevant for glass and metals which are profitably recycled due to the economics of recycling them vs. creating them from scratch. In any case, the local waste plant recycles what they can and then burns the rest for energy so I'll let them make the call on what's profitable to process.

hinkley 4y ago
In the case of glass it’s also the physics. All fired silicon materials are more stable when they have been fired at least twice. If you make ceramics, you save all your failures to make grog, which is basically ceramic sand or dust. Mixed in with fresh clay it reduced the expansion ratio and the internal stresses. Bottles with recycled material are more sturdy than those without. I don’t know how the process of bringing a bottle plant online works, but if it doesn’t include either buying grog from a supplier or feeding all the glass from the test runs into a hopper I would be very surprised. I have never heard a physicist explain this phenomenon, but if you crush something it tends to break along the weakest points, so crushed silicon has selected out many of the weakest grains and left the strongest ones. Then either they continue to grow or they just increase the ratio of strong to weak.

cptskippy 4y ago

The symbols we've come to associate with plastics being recyclable actually just indicate the material composition. And it isn't by accident that we assume that symbol means it's recyclable either. Plastics like PET and HDPE are recyclable but sorting recyclable materials from non-recyclable ones is costly which meant a lot of recycling does end up as waste. We need to start penalizing manufacturers and retailers for single-use plastics. Laws like those passed in Maine banned most single-use plastic bags and mandates that anyone offering them must also provide recycling a drop off bin. Consumers mostly do not have a choice about how their products are packaged so the onus must be shifted onto retailers and manufacturers who make those decisions.

nebula8804 4y ago

There is a quickly growing movement for multi-use consumables. Its become a huge thing among the youngest complete with Instagram "influencers" peddling reusability to consumer brand companies releasing products that are meant to be "re-filled" instead of just tossing out containers and buying another. In the cities stores are popping up that specialize in selling "refills" to consumables that you come by with your own container and pay by weight. Things such as refillable water bottles are simple examples of this as well. Of course MAGA country is a laggard so this will probably take another 5-10 years to become adopted after it becomes the norm in the left cities->suburbs>rural.

archon1410 4y ago
In the third world and perhaps depending on your income levels, all containers are refillable. we used to take Coca Coca bottles as water bottles to schools, the same for years. I think they would be usually thrown out.
- nebula8804 4y ago
  Yeah you are right, this is not a new idea. In fact even in the US it used to be the norm. (ie. The Milk man making a milk delivery and you leave your old bottles out for him to collect and reuse). The plastics era is slowly ending and being replaced by ideas that used to work fine.
vxNsr 4y ago
> Of course MAGA country is a laggard so this will probably take another 5-10 years to become adopted after it becomes the norm in the left cities->suburbs>rural. Perfect example of an unnecessary vile comment. Most rural people already reuse and repurpose many things, they don’t have trash pick every week if at all and like to have a clean area for their children and grandchildren. It’s in their blood to find innovative ways to use something again in a different way. Your hate is coming from somewhere gross and you should consider some introspection on why you have so much of it in your heart.
- 4y ago