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I totally relate to waste aversion but that’s also why I feel like this particular topic seems like it brings out all kinds of weird irrational instincts. There

I totally relate to waste aversion but that’s also why I feel like this particular topic seems like it brings out all kinds of weird irrational instincts. There isn’t anything wasted here, just something that affords a little extra for an incomplete set of scenarios. Sometimes it’s a little more screen space for a menu to sit a little bit higher than an equivalent spec screen. Sometimes it’s just blank space with no backlight, and the remaining screen area is the same as if you never had the space to begin with. Maybe you can make better use of that space, but I’d put good odds on it being overall more wasteful to expend those resources (human and everything their efforts demand) than just waiting a few more years until the notch vanishes behind its inevitable under-screen evolution.

throwaway290 4y ago
It's not irrational in case of toothpaste. Leftover toothpaste mean you buy more and encourage more waste in the environment. This stuff adds up.
- MrJohz 4y ago
  It can be kind of irrational. If toothpaste waste is important to you, there are better ways to avoid it. My local no-packaging store, for example, sells toothpaste tablets, completely without plastic or packaging of any kind (and I'm sure you could buy something similar online in bulk with minimal packaging). The effect on waste production that using the last few drops of every toothpaste tube will be negligible compared to the use of a waste-free or waste-minimising alternative, but I get the impression that a lot of people do the former without trying the latter out of a misplaced sense of utility.
- eyelidlessness 4y ago
  I’m reasonably sure that arguing about leftover toothpaste on the internet does more damage to the environment than leaving trace amounts of toothpaste in its tube.
  - throwaway290 4y ago
    Argument about toothpaste on a public forum is not about toothpaste. Positive result of such argument is not one person buying less toothpaste but many more becoming aware about wastefulness and how mindless consumption and buying stuff in environmentally harmful packaging and not using it all (and therefore making yourself buy more) causes a lot of harm when everyone does it etc. Besides, you are using the term "trace amounts" wrong. The amounts people routinely leave are enough for at least a week of toothbrushing.

throwaway290 4y ago

It's not irrational in case of toothpaste. Leftover toothpaste mean you buy more and encourage more waste in the environment. This stuff adds up.

MrJohz 4y ago
It can be kind of irrational. If toothpaste waste is important to you, there are better ways to avoid it. My local no-packaging store, for example, sells toothpaste tablets, completely without plastic or packaging of any kind (and I'm sure you could buy something similar online in bulk with minimal packaging). The effect on waste production that using the last few drops of every toothpaste tube will be negligible compared to the use of a waste-free or waste-minimising alternative, but I get the impression that a lot of people do the former without trying the latter out of a misplaced sense of utility.
eyelidlessness 4y ago
I’m reasonably sure that arguing about leftover toothpaste on the internet does more damage to the environment than leaving trace amounts of toothpaste in its tube.
- throwaway290 4y ago
  Argument about toothpaste on a public forum is not about toothpaste. Positive result of such argument is not one person buying less toothpaste but many more becoming aware about wastefulness and how mindless consumption and buying stuff in environmentally harmful packaging and not using it all (and therefore making yourself buy more) causes a lot of harm when everyone does it etc. Besides, you are using the term "trace amounts" wrong. The amounts people routinely leave are enough for at least a week of toothbrushing.