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Didn't Penn and Teller do a video about this 20 years ago showing that glass and metal cans are the only real recyclable products? I'm guessing not much has cha

Didn't Penn and Teller do a video about this 20 years ago showing that glass and metal cans are the only real recyclable products? I'm guessing not much has changed since then.

ekianjo 1y ago
Metal cans also contain a plastic layer inside.
- sevensor 1y ago
  I imagine they burn it off along with the food residues when they go to melt the can.
- cassianoleal 1y ago
  There's no escape, is there? I'm not even talking about recycling at this point. If metal cans are plastic-lined inside, is there any way to avoid microplastics in drinks? I guess glass, but that's exceedingly rare and some drinks don't have a glass option where I live. Mostly it's sugary soda that does, or alcoholic beverages.
  - hiAndrewQuinn 1y ago
    You can just drink water?
    - loloquwowndueo 1y ago
      Water destroys bridges and roads, imagine what it would do to your intestines :) (old drunkards joke)
    - PinkSheep 1y ago
      drum roll...... bottled water! > In fact, 34 percent of the growth in bottled water sales during the past 11 years (from 2012 to 2023) has come from people switching from soft drinks and fruit drinks to bottled water. U.S. consumers now drink an average of 46.4 gallons (176 liters) of bottled water per person, compared to 34.4 gallons (129 liters) of carbonated soft drinks. -- https://wcponline.com/2024/10/01/2024-state-of-the-bottled-water-industry/ https://wcponline.com/2024/10/01/2024-state-of-the-bottled-w... PS: To be fair, I switched from the (acidic!) soft drinks to tap water. Almost always boiled water. Despite being comparatively confident in the quality of our tap water, the pipes mustn't be great. According to our city's water supplier, the tests come out classifying the water at their end as "soft" (bordering very soft). Yet on our end, there's a lot of chalk build up in the water kettle. I am entertaining the idea to send a sample of the tap water to a lab.
      - tallanvor 1y ago
        My understanding is that soft water is classified as 0-60 mg/L of CaCO₃ equivalent, so there's no such thing as "very soft"). Maybe they're claiming "Moderately hard" is actually soft water?
      - mschuster91 1y ago
        > Yet on our end, there's a lot of chalk build up in the water kettle. That's practically unavoidable, rapid changes in temperature cause the limescale to crash out of solution. Get a water filtration device.
      - altusbrown 1y ago
        If you really want to avoid getting anything in your water - even essential vitamins and minerals - you can always distill your water. It’s worse for you though, much worse. That ‘chalk’ in your carafe is just small amounts of minerals you need anyway that come out of solution. Bottled water has it too. If they build up to the point it’s bothering you, a little vinegar will dissolve them right out.
      - cassianoleal 1y ago
        I live in a hard water area as well. I researched about this, and the best solution is to get a water softener. These are devices that mix salts with the water that break down the limescale minerals. That said, most reputable manufacturers and installers of these devices will recommend you have an unsoftened tap for drinking water. The minerals in the water are actually good for you, and removing them could have deleterious effects on your health. Watering plants is generally best done with unsoftened water as well.
      - Scoundreller 1y ago
        > To be fair, I switched from the (acidic!) soft drinks to tap water. Almost always boiled water. Despite being comparatively confident in the quality of our tap water, the pipes mustn't be great. if you’re making hot drinks, sure, but by boiling, you’re going to concentrate the minerals (and anything else in there that doesn’t like to evaporate, like PFAS)
    - cassianoleal 1y ago
      Of course I can, and tap water, filtered or not, constitutes most of my liquid intake. That said, I also like to drink other things every now and then. Sparkling water, kombucha, the eventual beer or cider...
  - ekianjo 1y ago
    Perrier used to sell water in glass bottles. Not sure if it's still a thing
    - cassianoleal 1y ago
      Yes, they do. It's not everywhere but I can find them. That's what I mean though, there are alternatives - only fewer and far between. As another user pointed out, even those still probably have plastic in the lid. That's not great, but at least the lid is a very small contact area, whereas a lining of the entire interior of a metal can is about as large as it gets.
  - owenversteeg 1y ago
    I avoid microplastics by drinking only water and wine. I was never really one for other types of beverages, so this isn’t very limiting to me. Keep in mind that any closure other than natural cork contains plastic or other noxious chemicals: in theory there’s also metal, wood, natural waxes and rubbers, but they are rarely used without plastic.
PaulDavisThe1st 1y ago
And in the USA, at least, glass containers that could be re-used are instead crushed and then either (a) used to create new glass, significantly more energetically costly than re-use OR (b) used for applications like asphalt.
- sroussey 1y ago
  Erewhon is a grocery store in LA and makes its own sauces. You return the bottles back to the store and they reuse them. Reminds me of my childhood when a milkman delivered milk to your home in bottles and you washed and left the old bottles for him to pick up. (Plus, as a kid, you would tease your friends that the milkman was your real father).
  - Scramblejams 1y ago
    [flagged]
  - AStonesThrow 1y ago
    Straus Family Creamery uses glass bottles for many products, and the farmer's market refunds a $3 deposit when they're returned. The bottle caps are plastic, and there's an address where you can send them by mail. https://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/sustainable-manufacturing/packaging/ https://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/sustainable-manufacturi...
    - wkat4242 1y ago
      Sending a few bottle caps by mail probably causes more environmental pollution than sending them back (after which still even more energy needs to be spent to recycle them).
SoftTalker 1y ago
Cardboard and paper are also recyclable.
- IAmBroom 1y ago
  Theoretically, but not in practice.
  - barbazoo 1y ago
    Yes, I’m practice.
wkat4242 1y ago
And even glass is a problem because people don't just throw bottles in it but also broken windows, vases etc. Those things are made of different types of glass than the bottles and too much mix means the batch needs to be discarded.

Didn't Penn and Teller do a video about this 20 years ago showing that glass and metal cans are the only real recyclable products? I'm guessing not much has changed since then.

ekianjo 1y ago

Metal cans also contain a plastic layer inside.

sevensor 1y ago
I imagine they burn it off along with the food residues when they go to melt the can.
cassianoleal 1y ago
There's no escape, is there? I'm not even talking about recycling at this point. If metal cans are plastic-lined inside, is there any way to avoid microplastics in drinks? I guess glass, but that's exceedingly rare and some drinks don't have a glass option where I live. Mostly it's sugary soda that does, or alcoholic beverages.
- hiAndrewQuinn 1y ago
  You can just drink water?
  - loloquwowndueo 1y ago
    Water destroys bridges and roads, imagine what it would do to your intestines :) (old drunkards joke)
  - PinkSheep 1y ago
    drum roll...... bottled water! > In fact, 34 percent of the growth in bottled water sales during the past 11 years (from 2012 to 2023) has come from people switching from soft drinks and fruit drinks to bottled water. U.S. consumers now drink an average of 46.4 gallons (176 liters) of bottled water per person, compared to 34.4 gallons (129 liters) of carbonated soft drinks. -- https://wcponline.com/2024/10/01/2024-state-of-the-bottled-water-industry/ https://wcponline.com/2024/10/01/2024-state-of-the-bottled-w... PS: To be fair, I switched from the (acidic!) soft drinks to tap water. Almost always boiled water. Despite being comparatively confident in the quality of our tap water, the pipes mustn't be great. According to our city's water supplier, the tests come out classifying the water at their end as "soft" (bordering very soft). Yet on our end, there's a lot of chalk build up in the water kettle. I am entertaining the idea to send a sample of the tap water to a lab.
    - tallanvor 1y ago
      My understanding is that soft water is classified as 0-60 mg/L of CaCO₃ equivalent, so there's no such thing as "very soft"). Maybe they're claiming "Moderately hard" is actually soft water?
    - mschuster91 1y ago
      > Yet on our end, there's a lot of chalk build up in the water kettle. That's practically unavoidable, rapid changes in temperature cause the limescale to crash out of solution. Get a water filtration device.
    - altusbrown 1y ago
      If you really want to avoid getting anything in your water - even essential vitamins and minerals - you can always distill your water. It’s worse for you though, much worse. That ‘chalk’ in your carafe is just small amounts of minerals you need anyway that come out of solution. Bottled water has it too. If they build up to the point it’s bothering you, a little vinegar will dissolve them right out.
    - cassianoleal 1y ago
      I live in a hard water area as well. I researched about this, and the best solution is to get a water softener. These are devices that mix salts with the water that break down the limescale minerals. That said, most reputable manufacturers and installers of these devices will recommend you have an unsoftened tap for drinking water. The minerals in the water are actually good for you, and removing them could have deleterious effects on your health. Watering plants is generally best done with unsoftened water as well.
    - Scoundreller 1y ago
      > To be fair, I switched from the (acidic!) soft drinks to tap water. Almost always boiled water. Despite being comparatively confident in the quality of our tap water, the pipes mustn't be great. if you’re making hot drinks, sure, but by boiling, you’re going to concentrate the minerals (and anything else in there that doesn’t like to evaporate, like PFAS)
  - cassianoleal 1y ago
    Of course I can, and tap water, filtered or not, constitutes most of my liquid intake. That said, I also like to drink other things every now and then. Sparkling water, kombucha, the eventual beer or cider...
- ekianjo 1y ago
  Perrier used to sell water in glass bottles. Not sure if it's still a thing
  - cassianoleal 1y ago
    Yes, they do. It's not everywhere but I can find them. That's what I mean though, there are alternatives - only fewer and far between. As another user pointed out, even those still probably have plastic in the lid. That's not great, but at least the lid is a very small contact area, whereas a lining of the entire interior of a metal can is about as large as it gets.
- owenversteeg 1y ago
  I avoid microplastics by drinking only water and wine. I was never really one for other types of beverages, so this isn’t very limiting to me. Keep in mind that any closure other than natural cork contains plastic or other noxious chemicals: in theory there’s also metal, wood, natural waxes and rubbers, but they are rarely used without plastic.

PaulDavisThe1st 1y ago

And in the USA, at least, glass containers that could be re-used are instead crushed and then either (a) used to create new glass, significantly more energetically costly than re-use OR (b) used for applications like asphalt.

sroussey 1y ago
Erewhon is a grocery store in LA and makes its own sauces. You return the bottles back to the store and they reuse them. Reminds me of my childhood when a milkman delivered milk to your home in bottles and you washed and left the old bottles for him to pick up. (Plus, as a kid, you would tease your friends that the milkman was your real father).
- Scramblejams 1y ago
  [flagged]
- AStonesThrow 1y ago
  Straus Family Creamery uses glass bottles for many products, and the farmer's market refunds a $3 deposit when they're returned. The bottle caps are plastic, and there's an address where you can send them by mail. https://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/sustainable-manufacturing/packaging/ https://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/sustainable-manufacturi...
  - wkat4242 1y ago
    Sending a few bottle caps by mail probably causes more environmental pollution than sending them back (after which still even more energy needs to be spent to recycle them).

SoftTalker 1y ago

Cardboard and paper are also recyclable.

IAmBroom 1y ago
Theoretically, but not in practice.
- barbazoo 1y ago
  Yes, I’m practice.

wkat4242 1y ago

And even glass is a problem because people don't just throw bottles in it but also broken windows, vases etc. Those things are made of different types of glass than the bottles and too much mix means the batch needs to be discarded.