• Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    8 months ago

    The two tobacco companies Altria and Philip Morris International combined made up 2% of the branded plastic litter found, both Danone and Nestlé each produced 3% of it, PepsiCo was responsible for 5% of the discarded packaging, and 11% of branded plastic waste could be traced to the Coca-Cola company.

    Imagine how much plastic waste could be eliminated if Coke and Pepsi just went back to glass bottles?

    • ForestOrca@kbin.social
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      8 months ago

      Imagine how much plastic waste could be eliminated if we just boycotted these companies.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Is glass litter better?

      We should also account for extra emissions due to higher weight and lower density in transportation. Glass is significantly heavier, and you need more of it per item for the same strength, so you’ll be moving fewer total bottles per truckload.

      Aluminum is also recyclable, durable, light, and cheap, though I don’t know if aluminum litter is better than plastic. I assume it is since I’ve not heard of micro-aluminum causing environmental damage (yet).

      • el_bhm@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        Aluminium and glass is close to infinitely recyclable.

        Better yet, glass bottles can be reused up to 7 times.

        But it costs more than a returnable plastic bottle. Which obviously costs more than a sturdy as a trashbag plastic bottle.

          • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            That’s just a number based on experience. Some bottles break first time out of the factory… others last 15 times. They are used untill they are too degraded for reuse.

            • TheEntity@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Ah, so this was about melting the bottle down and making a new bottle 7 times? As opposed to washing the bottle and reusing it as it was. Makes much more sense now. :)

              • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                No 7 times is for washing. Melting and reshaping is a new bottle. But with glass bottles break and scuff

      • blackfire@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Unfortunately the coating they put on the inside of alu cans is pretty terrible so they are slightly less good than glass in that regard

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        We should also account for extra emissions due to higher weight and lower density in transportation.

        That’s more a consequence of business efforts to minimize labor costs. There’s very little reason not to produce, recycle, and dispose of glass waste locally, unless you’re trying to leverage cheap fossil fuel energy in order to get around the domestic wage rates.