this post was submitted on 11 May 2024
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[–] JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I wonder why we shifted away from things like waxed paper milk cartons(like the small ones you'd get in school) and waxed butcher paper?

Is waxed paper/cardboard product really that much more expensive than plastic in terms of packaging?

[–] ricdeh@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Here in Germany, all milk is still distributed in cardboard packages

[–] maniii@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you mean cardboard packages with plastic linings ?

[–] Wanderer@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They are a fucking nightmare to recycle. You'll be lucky if they get burnt and I mean that.

[–] maniii@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Yep. You can get it composted quickly enough, you can get the plastic film out of the composting bin, but the microplastics are already seeped in and contaminated the biomass.

[–] Sidyctism@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, but the inner lining of tetrapacks is plastic

[–] Aux@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Because wax production has numerous negative impacts on the environment: higher energy costs (which lead to higher product costs), deforestation (in case of soy or palm based wax), impact on bee population (in case of bee wax), etc.

Plastics are just better materials for pretty much everything.