3 ms·
I assume you mean GLASS bottles (since the plastic ones are part of the current problem), we recycle about 1/3 of those in the US[1], but in the EU the rate is
by blacksmith_tb 3y ago
I assume you mean GLASS bottles (since the plastic ones are part of the current problem), we recycle about 1/3 of those in the US[1], but in the EU the rate is more than twice that at present[2]. Paper is even better, depending on the form, for example 96% of all cardboard is recycled in the US (which I take it is driven primarily by businesses).
1: https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/glass-material-specific-data https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-...
2: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1258851/glass-recycling-rate-in-europe/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1258851/glass-recycling-...
- dboreham 3y agoGlass bottles can be re-used, not recycled. That's how milk was delivered when I was a kid. Milkman took the empty bottles.
- blacksmith_tb 3y agoFor sure, I know in Germany reuse of beer bottles is still common, if not without a few gotchas[1]. Clearly one advantage of glass and paper both is that they are not nearly as polluting as plastics when the aren't recycled, glass is just silica, paper breaks down pretty quickly. 1: https://www.dw.com/en/german-beer-producers-running-out-of-bottles/a-44778328 https://www.dw.com/en/german-beer-producers-running-out-of-b...
- jmclnx 3y agoYes, glass bottles.