3 ms·
It is really difficult to recycle plastic, because there are just so much different materials that we call plastic. Some can be reshaped with heat and others ne
by ManBeardPc 3y ago
It is really difficult to recycle plastic, because there are just so much different materials that we call plastic. Some can be reshaped with heat and others need chemicals. Packaging often contains multiple different plastics and it is REALLY hard to separate them. Also the molecules break down over time/use, degrading the quality of the material.
Another nasty property is that some chemicals used to make plastic soft or change other properties (additives) often don't chemically bind with it and they leak out over time.
"Recycled" could probably be removed from the title. Plastic and its additives are very likely bad for you period. "A path towards safer reuse of plastics" is missing a more useful point: reduce single use plastic and replace if other materials make more sense for the use-case. Sure, there a many points we could improved regarding to the usage cycle but some problems are just inherent to the current set of plastics.
I try to avoid plastic as much as possible, especially for food or beverages (even more important if hot).
It's sad that such a useful and versatile group of material also has so many downsides.
- nostrebored 3y agoEven not hot — the recent spectroscopy studies on plastic particles in bottled water should be enough to convince people to avoid them if possible