A study comparing the environmental impacts of various single-use beverage containers has concluded that glass bottles have a greater overall impact than plastic bottles
But… but… Glass is not single use. That is the whole point. I don’t like this article.
When used for mass-produced beverages it very much is. Hell, plenty of beverages still use disposable glass bottles today, and that’s not even getting into the fact that glass bottles use to be the standard, which is part of the reason why there’s so much nostalgia around them.
In the same vein, plastic is not inherently single-use. If we’re comparing multi-use plastic and multi-use glass, then the same calculus applies.
I know, what I’m saying is no glass bottle is explicitly non recyclable there’s just a lack of ability to recycle in the us for whatever dumb business monster reasoning.
Single-use bottles includes recyclable bottles. The point of single-use is that they’re discarded in some way by the consumer at the end of use, including discarded via recycling, not retained.
But as these bottles are largely single-use, many of them are discarded and dumped in the earth’s ecosystems, where they constitute a significant portion of all environmental waste.
They only counted recyclable bottles as single use if discarded anywhere but a recycling center assuming they may or may not be recycled so they assume it’s trash until it’s recycled or degraded.
Lots of countries have deposits on bottles and they will very much be reused. If that’s not being done it’s a cultural/political problem not a glass bottle problem.
But… but… Glass is not single use. That is the whole point. I don’t like this article.
When used for mass-produced beverages it very much is. Hell, plenty of beverages still use disposable glass bottles today, and that’s not even getting into the fact that glass bottles use to be the standard, which is part of the reason why there’s so much nostalgia around them.
In the same vein, plastic is not inherently single-use. If we’re comparing multi-use plastic and multi-use glass, then the same calculus applies.
It’s mostly just the us that no longer have recycling for bottles. Most modern countries have automated collection machines.
Recycling is explicitly mentioned in the link.
I know, what I’m saying is no glass bottle is explicitly non recyclable there’s just a lack of ability to recycle in the us for whatever dumb business monster reasoning.
Single-use bottles includes recyclable bottles. The point of single-use is that they’re discarded in some way by the consumer at the end of use, including discarded via recycling, not retained.
They’re only single use if they aren’t recycled, the article states that as well.
… would you care to quote that, because I’m pretty sure it says otherwise.
They only counted recyclable bottles as single use if discarded anywhere but a recycling center assuming they may or may not be recycled so they assume it’s trash until it’s recycled or degraded.
Lots of countries have deposits on bottles and they will very much be reused. If that’s not being done it’s a cultural/political problem not a glass bottle problem.
But in the meme it’s the kind of milk bottle you return to the store for $ and they wash and refill it. Not really covered by that study I don’t think
Maybe the mass produced soft drinks are the problem.
The tiny individual-use bottles, at least.
If you have single use bottles, aluminum like soda cans is lowest impact. But any reusable solution (meal, plastic, or glass) is much much better.
What about the plastic lining in the can?
I think that’s a whole lot less plastic than if it was the whole thing.