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There are actual reasons different plastics are used in different situations… it’s not just companies saying “ha ha this will be extremely difficult on the recy
by dwighttk 2y ago
There are actual reasons different plastics are used in different situations… it’s not just companies saying “ha ha this will be extremely difficult on the recyclers!”
Some plastic needs to be heat resistant, some, it doesn’t matter. Some plastic needs to be easy to tear, some needs to resist tearing. Some plastic needs to be flexible, some needs to be stiff.
Easily removable labels often fall off before they are actively removed.
Restaurants probably tried only paper and their customers complained when the food soaked through and/or the container collapsed.
- BurningFrog 2y agoSo what might square this circle is to develop several materials that all can be broken down/recycled by a common process. Far easier said than done, I'm sure. But someone has to say it before it can happen.
- XorNot 2y agoInsert XKCD standards comic here Manufacturing works very much like software in this regard - i.e. VHS vs BetaMax
- Certhas 2y agoOf course there are always reasons. But as long as the costs of recycling are not borne by businesses doing the packaging, the business will always go with the 1 cent cheaper option, even if it makes recycling 100 times harder.