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Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

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Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#111

Post by Euphorbium »

blitzar wrote: post #50
strogonoff wrote: post #5

Thinking that recycling would address the problem of plastic pollution is wishful thinking. Plastic recycles very poorly. Companies like plastic because it means thicker margins for them, environment be damned; the proper solution is not to buy into the “consumers should be recycling” narrative but to thin out their margins so that using more sustainable and recyclable materials is financially attractive again.

> Thinking that recycling would address the problem of plastic pollution is wishful thinking People putting their rubbish in the bin rather than throwing it in the nearest gutter / river / garden would get us 90% of the way there.

All of that gets solved by adding a deposit fee to packaging, that you get back when you return the packaging. This works in Europe.

Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#112

Post by strogonoff »

CaptainFever wrote: post #106
strogonoff wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I described the state of affairs that would follow a hypothetical taxation of plastic, not that plastic today is an indulgence. Today plastic is a necessity to buy a drink or even clean water in many places. That’s the problem.

Can't you buy canned drinks?

The drink in every can is actually held in an inner plastic container, aluminium is only the outside. You can look up videos of people dissolving just the metal with drain cleaner and revealing the plastic “can”, or do it yourself (carefully). It’s thin and the amount of plastic is less, that’s true; but then I have never seen water sold in cans, for example.

Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#113

Post by gadders »

PittleyDunkin wrote: post #44
gadders wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Companies like plastic because it means thicker margins for them Consumers like plastic because it is better than the alternatives.

Nonsense. There are no alternatives consumers can buy. Try it and you'll find it's virtually impossible. A globalized economy has effectively destroyed the idea of voting with your wallet to reduce waste and production of trash.

They were all tried in the past - glass, metal etc - and were largely replaced.

If you think there is a new material out there that we are prevented from using, I'd be interested to hear what it is.

Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#114

Post by strogonoff »

gadders wrote: post #113
PittleyDunkin wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense. There are no alternatives consumers can buy. Try it and you'll find it's virtually impossible. A globalized economy has effectively destroyed the idea of voting with your wallet to reduce waste and production of trash.

They were all tried in the past - glass, metal etc - and were largely replaced. If you think there is a new material out there that we are prevented from using, I'd be interested to hear what it is.

Some might say they were only replaced because it was more profitable for the manufacturers to use plastic (due to surplus of cheap oil), not for any actual qualities of the material as container for food and drinks and its environmental impact.

Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#115

Post by strogonoff »

dagw wrote: post #80
fmajid wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not wishful thinking, a deliberate greenwashing scam. Aluminum is actually recycled, and should replace PET for all drinks packaging.

Aluminum is actually recycled, and should replace PET for all drinks packaging To the best of my knowledge, no one has made a resealable aluminium can. Until that is solved aluminium is inferior to PET for many use cases. In fact this is the primary reason I hardly ever buy soda in cans.

Screw-on-cap aluminium bottles and glass bottles both exist.

Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#116

Post by 9o1d »

This is a problem when the product is sealed in plastic that does not allow air to pass through. This is very harmful to the environment, dangerous bacteria multiply in such packaging. It would be better to wrap the product in paper or cardboard, as in previous years. In any case, it is necessary to make holes in the plastic packaging for ventilation. Chinese companies are very fond of sealing products in plastic film, but forget to make holes for ventilation. Such a product is very harmful and can cause mass epidemics. It is very harmful when people drink a drink from a bottle, screw it on and throw it away. Such an empty bottle is very dangerous if it is opened. Do not do this. Bottles should strip the threads when opened so that they cannot be resealed.

Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#117

Post by actionfromafar »

strogonoff wrote: post #109
actionfromafar wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's the problem of plastic being literally poison, too.

I think that may be an exaggeration. Xenoestrogens like BPA are shown to be hormonal disruptors, there were some studies allegedly showing that people with IBD have more microplastic in their poop, etc., but it is difficult to exactly assess the impact from it accumulating in bodies. Some plastics do meet the definition of literal poison, but those used in bottles do not seem to, and BPA is at worst supposedly to be…

Flame retardants from TVs ending up in recycled plastic being used for food storage, etc, etc.

It's a jungle out there and if not unregulated, then very much un-policed. PFAS was seen as completely benign for decades, turns it isn't and that is bio-accumulates.

Specific chemicals like BPA being banned in certain applications, only to be replaced by some other, very similar chemical, which then legislators play whack-a-mole with (or whack-a-sloth) very slowly, over decades.

Plus imports from China. (And some other countries, but hey, China has the volume. Shouldn't they care even just a little themselves too?)

Heck, toys from there still sometimes contain lead, which should really not be a thing in this day and age, but the fact that it sometimes still happen should indicate how little the producers and importers know or care.

Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#118

Post by dagw »

strogonoff wrote: post #115
dagw wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aluminum is actually recycled, and should replace PET for all drinks packaging To the best of my knowledge, no one has made a resealable aluminium can. Until that is solved aluminium is inferior to PET for many use cases. In fact this is the primary reason I hardly ever buy soda in cans.

Screw-on-cap aluminium bottles and glass bottles both exist.

Never seen drinks sold in screw-on-cap aluminium bottles. In what country or what type of drinks use them?

Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#119

Post by andrepd »

blitzar wrote: post #50
strogonoff wrote: post #5

Thinking that recycling would address the problem of plastic pollution is wishful thinking. Plastic recycles very poorly. Companies like plastic because it means thicker margins for them, environment be damned; the proper solution is not to buy into the “consumers should be recycling” narrative but to thin out their margins so that using more sustainable and recyclable materials is financially attractive again.

> Thinking that recycling would address the problem of plastic pollution is wishful thinking People putting their rubbish in the bin rather than throwing it in the nearest gutter / river / garden would get us 90% of the way there.

It most certainly would not; what a ridiculous concept. Plastic that is "properly" disposed of ends up in landfills or incinerated, only a minority is recycled. And the vast majority of plastic that is "improperly" disposed of is done so by companies, not individual people with their rubbish.

Re: Five Companies Produce Nearly 25 Percent of All Plastic Waste Worldwide

#120

Post by kalleboo »

dagw wrote: post #118
strogonoff wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Screw-on-cap aluminium bottles and glass bottles both exist.

Never seen drinks sold in screw-on-cap aluminium bottles. In what country or what type of drinks use them?

In Japan they are very common for canned coffee, I dunno if it's because plastic bottles are unsuitable for warm drinks or something? (the drinks are kept hot ready to drink in the vending machine/store aisle)

https://dol.ismcdn.jp/mwimgs/d/e/-/img_def751445b616015211f3...

https://img.kurashinista.jp/get/2023/01/06/c4cc391408c0f5663...

https://cafe-no-chishiki.club/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/アルミ...

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