Tracking Starbucks' 'widely recyclable' cups: none ended up at recycling

Post by School-Cotton » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:24 PM UTC

nozzlegear wrote: post #15

School-Cotton wrote: post #5

Recycling is largely a scheme to make people feel better about themselves without actually meaningfully addressing their environmental impact. If you care about the environment, BY FAR the most important thing you can do is reducing your carbon footprint. Everything else is really a rounding error compared to that. But that requires a materially poorer existence: living in a smaller home, eating meat less frequently,…

I don't think calling it a scheme to make people feel better is fair. Grand scheme of things, you'd do more "harm" to the planet (however minuscule on the personal level) by choosing not to recycle than choosing to recycle; a portion of it does get recycled in the end. As for whether or not people use it to absolve themselves of environmental guilt in other aspects of their lives, I personally doubt a significant num…

Post by bell-cot » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:24 PM UTC

nozzlegear wrote: post #7

Slightly related, but my town has sent out several flyers recently chastising everyone for recycling things that aren't recyclable. If this overambitious recycling continues, the privilege of recycling itself shall be taken away. Unwanted elements include any kind of glass or glass bottle (my wife and I are guilty of recycling cleaned jars of spaghetti sauce); certain types of plastic; and pizza boxes that are "too g…

Post by dylan604 » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:25 PM UTC

malfist wrote: post #9

nozzlegear wrote: post #7

Slightly related, but my town has sent out several flyers recently chastising everyone for recycling things that aren't recyclable. If this overambitious recycling continues, the privilege of recycling itself shall be taken away. Unwanted elements include any kind of glass or glass bottle (my wife and I are guilty of recycling cleaned jars of spaghetti sauce); certain types of plastic; and pizza boxes that are "too g…

IIRC any grease is considered a contaminate. So any cardboard with grease splotching should be discarded instead of recycled. Interesting my municipality recycles glass, but like, why? Silica is the most common mineral in the crust, easily accessible almost everywhere, and recycling it takes as much energy if not more than just making new. It's not like aluminum or steel where there are significant energy savings to…

Post by gritspants » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:26 PM UTC

antran22 wrote: post #24

All this greenwashing effort by big brands are laughable. The cost of actually recycle any used cups would far exceed the cost to manufacture them. When just the act of using those cups has already give them all the "environmentally aware" credit, why would they bother follow through with the rest of the process. The biggest scam is the paper straw. You still need a certain plastic liner, otherwise the straw will mel…

Post by malfist » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:28 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #25

malfist wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC any grease is considered a contaminate. So any cardboard with grease splotching should be discarded instead of recycled. Interesting my municipality recycles glass, but like, why? Silica is the most common mineral in the crust, easily accessible almost everywhere, and recycling it takes as much energy if not more than just making new. It's not like aluminum or steel where there are significant energy savings to…

I've seen articles lately about the sand becoming harder (more expensive) to get. Even though it is abundant, it is not necessarily clean. It still needs to be refined similar to other raw ores. If the glass has already been made, I would expect the contaminants are easier to eliminate from crushing and melting it back down.