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Post-industrial recycling tends to be much more efficient than post-consumer recyling since the inputs tend to be much more uniform. Wasted fiber costs manufa
by bryanlarsen 5mo ago
Post-industrial recycling tends to be much more efficient than post-consumer recyling since the inputs tend to be much more uniform. Wasted fiber costs manufacturers a lot of money -- more efficient operation will go straight to their bottom line.
In other words, this is a case where governments should focus on research, not regulation. Manufacturers may not have the money to do the research themselves, but are highly incentivized to incorporate the improvements if somebody else figures it out for them.
- janpot 5mo agoRight, privatize the profits, socialize the costs. The fast fashion industry makes billions in profit every year, what do you mean exactly by "Manufacturers may not have the money to do the research"?
- bryanlarsen 5mo agoMost companies in the fast fashion industry aren't manufacturers, they use contract manufacturers. And if they did figure it out, they'd keep it secret as a competitive advantage. This is what government is for. Tax everybody to provide benefits to everybody. This is infrastructure spending, just like roads.
- janpot 5mo ago> This is what government is for. Tax everybody to provide benefits to everybody. This is infrastructure spending, just like roads. This is not roads, this is waste management. I pay proportional to the amount of waste my household produces to have it disposed correctly, the more waste I produce, the more I pay. That is what government is for, steering behavior through taxation, instead of letting the most morally depraved enrich themselves on the rest of society.
- bryanlarsen 5mo agoThis isn't roads, it's something much more valuable, it's public domain research. A road can only be used by a small number of people, public domain research can be used an infinite number of times, benefiting all. Letting a single manufacturer get a patent on the process would be harmful.
- janpot 5mo ago> Manufacturers may not have the money to do the research themselves, but are highly incentivized to incorporate the improvements if somebody else figures it out for them. Which incentive is this exactly then if the cost is bore by society? "Polluter pays" creates both that exact incentive and the required funds for public research.
- bryanlarsen 5mo ago"Manufacturer" is typically a mom & pop owned facility in Pakistan.
- janpot 5mo ago"mom & pop owned facility" is a very charitable term for the kind of sweatshops western countries love to hide their modern variant of slave labor in.