3 ms·

It might be true for glass, but as far as I know aluminium cans and tetrapak packaging are better solutions than plastics for a lot of beverages.

RC_ITR 4y ago
On what metrics? Based on what data? And btw, tetra pak is 15% plastic by weight! They're just plastic film laminated onto paper (that makes the paper unrecyclable) And aluminum cans are also plastic vaneered! Like I said, it's a miracle material that we cannot escape because it is so useful!
- louhike 4y ago
  This data: https://digital.detritusjournal.com/articles/in-press/life-cycle-assessment-of-beverage-packaging/368 https://digital.detritusjournal.com/articles/in-press/life-c... For Tetra Pak, It's not paper, it's cardboard, and it is recycled.The three parts of tetra pak (aluminium, cardboard and plastic) are separated and recycled separatly.
  - RC_ITR 4y ago
    So just some thoughts on that data. The three factors that PET scores poorly on are Ozone depletion (not a critical concern in 2022), depletion of oil reserves (good!), and depletion of “other abiotic resources.” I mean it’s fine that those are the factors that the authors chose for their LCA, but I respectfully disagree with their choices. Take away those factors and PET wins by a mile. And speaking of what wins: yeah, a 100% recycled aluminum can that has no net new mining?Unfortunately that’s infeasible for a lot of reasons, most notably the fact that we are producing an ever increasing amount of packages, so there are literally not enough already-mined aluminum atoms to recycle for our needs. So we go back to PET being the best feasible option even under their framework. As for Tetra, welcome to the world of “shipping things to other countries is recycling” * Team Recology was at pains to point out that not all recycling is equally good for the planet. Aluminum cans and glass bottles are great; easy to reuse, handled locally, they can be back on store shelves within a week. Tetra Pak cartons, however, are shipped in giant bales to a facility in Mexico. Two giant 18-wheel trucks stuffed full of them make the 2,000-mile journey every few months, just from San Francisco alone. And that's just the first part of a carbon-intensive process of separating those plastic, paper, and aluminum layers.* [0] And that’s San Francisco. Imagine Topeka. Also, just lol at the cardboards isn’t paper thing. I’m sure it’s meaningful to you but not recyclers [1] [0] https://mashable.com/article/tetra-pak-recycle https://mashable.com/article/tetra-pak-recycle [1] https://www.afandpa.org/priorities/recycling https://www.afandpa.org/priorities/recycling

RC_ITR 4y ago

On what metrics? Based on what data? And btw, tetra pak is 15% plastic by weight! They're just plastic film laminated onto paper (that makes the paper unrecyclable) And aluminum cans are also plastic vaneered! Like I said, it's a miracle material that we cannot escape because it is so useful!

louhike 4y ago
This data: https://digital.detritusjournal.com/articles/in-press/life-cycle-assessment-of-beverage-packaging/368 https://digital.detritusjournal.com/articles/in-press/life-c... For Tetra Pak, It's not paper, it's cardboard, and it is recycled.The three parts of tetra pak (aluminium, cardboard and plastic) are separated and recycled separatly.
- RC_ITR 4y ago
  So just some thoughts on that data. The three factors that PET scores poorly on are Ozone depletion (not a critical concern in 2022), depletion of oil reserves (good!), and depletion of “other abiotic resources.” I mean it’s fine that those are the factors that the authors chose for their LCA, but I respectfully disagree with their choices. Take away those factors and PET wins by a mile. And speaking of what wins: yeah, a 100% recycled aluminum can that has no net new mining?Unfortunately that’s infeasible for a lot of reasons, most notably the fact that we are producing an ever increasing amount of packages, so there are literally not enough already-mined aluminum atoms to recycle for our needs. So we go back to PET being the best feasible option even under their framework. As for Tetra, welcome to the world of “shipping things to other countries is recycling” * Team Recology was at pains to point out that not all recycling is equally good for the planet. Aluminum cans and glass bottles are great; easy to reuse, handled locally, they can be back on store shelves within a week. Tetra Pak cartons, however, are shipped in giant bales to a facility in Mexico. Two giant 18-wheel trucks stuffed full of them make the 2,000-mile journey every few months, just from San Francisco alone. And that's just the first part of a carbon-intensive process of separating those plastic, paper, and aluminum layers.* [0] And that’s San Francisco. Imagine Topeka. Also, just lol at the cardboards isn’t paper thing. I’m sure it’s meaningful to you but not recyclers [1] [0] https://mashable.com/article/tetra-pak-recycle https://mashable.com/article/tetra-pak-recycle [1] https://www.afandpa.org/priorities/recycling https://www.afandpa.org/priorities/recycling