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Why don’t we take a look at how the plastics industry handled the public? Here’s Climate Town (YouTube link).
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle isn't a joke, and is in order of what should take precedence. And as for plastic recycling, https://text.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled (tl;dr it's total bullshit. it's expensive to do, and recycled plastic is worse and more expensive than virgin plastic. It probably cannot even handle two recycles before becoming totally worthless, that's how crappy recycled plastic is)
The dumbest part is how we are disallowed from reusing many things. One small example out of a limitless number: Every time I buy milk I have to buy a brand new plastic container, because that is the only way I can purchase it. And it is the exact same as the old kind of plastic container. I can't just go to the store and pour a refill and pay for that.
I don't buy milk regularly, but where I live there are dairies that use glass bottles. You get charged a deposit for a new bottle, and get the money back when you return it to the store. The glass bottles are washed and reused; although the plastic cap & seal are disposable. Also, the milk sold this way is a little more expensive than the milk sold in plastic jugs or paper cartons.
Obviously this produces less trash than plastic disposable jugs. Whether it is more "environmentally friendly" depends also on energy consumption, though. Plastic jugs are really cheap to make, and they are lighter to ship than glass bottles and thus use less fuel in the delivery trucks. So there's a tradeoff, and I expect the dairies have a better idea of this tradeoff than I do.
But, hey, that's not going to stop NPR from blaming the public for not re-using that yogurt cup. Soo sooo quick to blame the public and not the useless corporations who can't be bothered to spend the research to figure out how to improve recycling programs.
I'm pretty sure I first heard about this problem on NPR.
I hate linking this video, because it's an insulting take. They interview a bunch of recycling companies, and only show their side of things, while blaming the consumer for not reusing their own trash.
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That was what a week ago? Still can't believe npr actually wasted their time investigating fucking yogurt/ice cream cups.
Author cheerypicks a few examples and falls victim to the idea that since one problem is difficult to solve literally nothing can be done. I found it particularly interesting that the article on lithium ion battery recycling wasn't about the project failing, it was about it getting funded. If I were going to make an argument that something is impossible I would use examples of it failing not of it just starting out. Like for example if I was attacking astrology that would be my method.
It is true however that lithium battery recycling is going to struggle for a bit. Those batteries were not made with recycling in mind. The engineering is going to take some time but the principles are rock solid. You mechanically break the battery down, solvent out what you want, extract it, recirculate it. This is hardly new.
People who think companies like the Ocean Cleanup will solve the problem annoy me.
So, the author's preferred solution apparently involves completely overhauling our society, down to the mindsets and living conditions of every single person. (Note that this would goes beyond even the usual canard of "overthrowing capitalism"; socialist countries have historically polluted just as bad, or worse.)
If that's the best alternative, I say we keep shoveling money at Big Tech's waste management ideas; maybe some of them might actually pay off.
That picture looks like it was drawn by the guy who does Dance Gavin Dance's album covers
Then don't use them
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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