5 ms·
There's glass. Has been around for 3000+ years.
by morsch 3y ago
There's glass. Has been around for 3000+ years.
- veave 3y agoGlass sucks. That's why we stopped using it. It's expensive, it's brittle, it's heavy, it takes up a lot of space.
- chaxor 3y agoDon't forget, often contains lead or other heavy metals.
- adrian_b 3y agoThis is true only for old or expensive crystal glasses. Most common soda-lime glass has negligible amounts of undesirable impurities, while borosilicate glass, like I use for my food and drinks, is even more pure and it contains almost nothing besides oxides of silicon, boron, sodium and aluminum, and it is inert in contact with food.
- arp242 3y agoThe only thing I can find on this: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/toxic-substances-found-in-the-glass-and-decoration-of-alcoholic-beverage-bottles https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/toxic-substances-found-in-th... In short, only the enamelled decorations may contain heavy metals, which leech in the environment after use. This is a serious problem, but not with glass as such.
- arp242 3y ago> That's why we stopped using it. Except we didn't; wine and spirits come almost exclusively in glass bottles, beer is frequently in glass (although cans are also used), almost every store will have some sodas and bottled water in glass, most people at home and restaurants use glasses made from, well, glass, etc.
- Ekaros 3y agoI don't use drugs. But my understanding is that plastic bottles aren't exactly uncommon even for spirits. And then with wines you get the boxed stuff. A carboard box, with plastic/foil bag inside.
- throwbadubadu 3y agoHm... I think in Europe most if not all of the alcohol comes in glass (or also still sometimes a tin can). Only some beer is in plastic bottles, but most would say that is a sin and a no go and never touch it.
- arp242 3y agoI've only seen plastic bottles for very small bottles: the type you get in a mini-bar or airplane. If you go to a supermarket or off-license you typically won't find non-glass bottles for regular-sized wine or spirits.
- domh 3y agoOr strangely enough in the US cheap spirits often come in very large plastic bottles... think Costco brand tequila and vodka in 1.5l containers.
- Balero 3y agoI do use drugs. I have never seen spirits in a plastic bottle, even own brand super market vodka. Boxed wine exists, and is a bit under half the market (by volume). Wine in glasses is still the majority of sales. Beer/cider/larger is sold in cans or bottles, with cans being about 2/3rd by volume.
- doubleg72 3y agoI do drugs as well, but I don't typically drink alcohol. Maybe I am not qualified to speak on this, but in the US most of the cheap vodkas have been coming in plastic bottles for around 15 years now at least.
- omnicognate 3y agoGlass is awesome. It's reusable many times over and recyclable after that. We used to have systems to allow that reuse (bottle return) before somehow we ended up throwing away a plastic bottle (recycled at best) every time we buy a pint of milk. And contrary to sibling comment, glass containers don't leach heavy metals (or anything else) into food.
- sneak 3y agoIt's much heavier to cart around, which must be factored in. There's absolutely nothing inherently harmful in single use plastics if they get properly disposed of in landfill. Driving heavy glass back and forth from the bottling plant burns a lot of diesel unnecessarily.
- morsch 3y agoIn either case it's better not to transport bulk liquids more than necessary. Tap water, locally brewed beer.
- devoutsalsa 3y agoTo "recycle" glass, all you have to do is wash it.
- morsch 3y agoThat's what the grandparent sensibly referred to as reuse; you can do that, but you after you're done reusing it, you can also recycle it, that is, melt it down and make new glass from it.
- jdietrich 3y agoPlastic bottles are more environmentally friendly. Glass requires massively more energy to manufacture, even using 100% recycled glass. Glass is heavy, so it's more expensive to transport. Collecting and washing bottles for re-use consumes a substantial amount of energy, which greatly increases the number of trips required to break even on the higher manufacturing impacts. The lifespan of a re-usable glass bottle is relatively very short, because glass is fragile. Glass compares poorly to HDPE when we factor in a realistic lifespan for glass and a realistic recycling rate for HDPE.
- glimshe 3y agoGlass is amazing. You haven't tasted a beverage until you had it in a glass cup or bottle.
- veave 3y agoNeither glass nor plastic add or detract from the flavour of a beverage.
- throwbadubadu 3y agoWhat? Definitely happens, latest when one of the cheaper thinner bottle types have been sitting a bit too long in the hot the plastic taste becomes intense. And even if below noticing levels I think plastic molecules have been detected in such beverages, but uncertain here.
- veave 3y agoDo I really need to specify "unless you have put the bottles in the sun, which the label tells you not to do"?
- throwbadubadu 3y agoWhich is sometimes unavoidable, but to be precise, the same even on hot days without direct sun exposure, lets stop pea counting. You will easily find studies that stuff from PET production like acetaldehyde goes into the beverage and impacts taste. But certainly also kind of what you are used to, always surprising for some folks to learn that for others chlorine water is associated with freshness, while clean water is a bit foul.
- arp242 3y agoIt does influence the flavour as coloured glass prevents the loss of flavour due to light radiation.
- prepend 3y agoThey affect the mouthfeel and experience of the beverage and the brain conflates all those with flavor.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- vladvasiliu 3y agoThe issue is that while you can drink out of glassware or ceramics (I enjoy those for my coffee and tea), basically everything is carted around in plastic. If you want to buy water when you're out and about and want it in a glass bottle, your only choices are the "premium" brands that cost an arm and a leg. And, more generally, it's pretty darn hard to avoid plastics when buying food. When I was a kid, when my parents bought meat from the butcher, it would be wrapped in actual paper, or close enough that it would become unusable once home, and they had to move the meat to solid containers. Nowadays, that "paper" seems to be able to withstand whatever you throw at it. Packaged meats and cheeses always come wrapped in some kind of plastic. The only food I still see in glass containers are "canned" vegetables.
- dghughes 3y ago> Nowadays, that "paper" seems to be able to withstand whatever you throw at it. I'd say it's silicone impregnated paper like parchment paper or probably is parchment paper which is paper coated with silicone.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- internet_user 3y agoParchment paper is typically full of PFAS. way worse than PLA.
- checkyoursudo 3y agoEven if you avoid plastic in the final retail product, there is a pretty good chance the raw materials were transported from the source or within processing facilities in plastic or plastic-lined containers.
- 3rd3 3y agoIn this study recycled glass bottles were not better when it comes to microplastics. It's everywhere. In lids, detergents etc. In fact, single-use plastic bottles did best! http://igui-ecologia.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Small-sized-microplastics-and-pigmented-particles-in-bottled-mineral-water.pdf http://igui-ecologia.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/202...