Earlier quoted context omitted.
I go through a 64 gallon trash bin a week. By my back of the envelope calculation thats about 1.3 chevy tahoes worth of trash a year, and that's just me one American out of 400 million so all told we are dealing with maybe half a billion chevy tahoes of trash a year we need to do something with or put someplace if most Americans consume like I do.
That's an insane amount of generated trash. My husband and I combined might fill our 13 gallon kitchen trash can once every four days. Is your lifestyle primarily eating out/prepackaged foods?
Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
461–470 of 472 posts
Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
#462Earlier quoted context omitted.
I go through a 64 gallon trash bin a week. By my back of the envelope calculation thats about 1.3 chevy tahoes worth of trash a year, and that's just me one American out of 400 million so all told we are dealing with maybe half a billion chevy tahoes of trash a year we need to do something with or put someplace if most Americans consume like I do.
> I go through a 64 gallon trash bin a week. That seems absurdly large to me. 64 gallons is 250 litres. We're four and we use about one 30 litres (8 gallons) bag for "rest" trash per week (everything not recyclable, including diapers which take a lot of space, so hopefully soon we can at least halve that trash volume) one 30 litres bag for recyclable plastic/metal every two weeks and maybe one 30 litres bag for compo…
Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
#463Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I go through a 64 gallon trash bin a week. That seems absurdly large to me. 64 gallons is 250 litres. We're four and we use about one 30 litres (8 gallons) bag for "rest" trash per week (everything not recyclable, including diapers which take a lot of space, so hopefully soon we can at least halve that trash volume) one 30 litres bag for recyclable plastic/metal every two weeks and maybe one 30 litres bag for compo…
We nominally go through a garbage bin a week... but if you compact it down it isn't anywhere near full. It's just effectively impossible to compact as an end user without special appliances. I think a lot of people make the mistake of looking at a quantity of trash and measuring it by apparent visual volume, but that's not a very useful measure. Mass is a lot closer to a useful number. Many things that visually appea…
Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
#464Earlier quoted context omitted.
I go through a 64 gallon trash bin a week. By my back of the envelope calculation thats about 1.3 chevy tahoes worth of trash a year, and that's just me one American out of 400 million so all told we are dealing with maybe half a billion chevy tahoes of trash a year we need to do something with or put someplace if most Americans consume like I do.
And my household of two produces 20l of regular non-recyclable trash every month, 40l of plastic trash every month, maybe a couple of kilos of organic waste per week. But we buy a lot of organic and glass where possible.
Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
#465you know what could be sustainable? A bring-your-own bottle policy in stores. Deliver big dispensers to stores, and let people refill. All the rest is a very marginal reduction unlikely to have an effect in the long run. In a complex environment, where we can't make predictions, is better to be cautious.
The term I have heard used is Refillery. I have seen small businesses do this for soaps, shampoos, and conditioners at farmers markets. Check your local area!
Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
#466you know what could be sustainable? A bring-your-own bottle policy in stores. Deliver big dispensers to stores, and let people refill. All the rest is a very marginal reduction unlikely to have an effect in the long run. In a complex environment, where we can't make predictions, is better to be cautious.
Bottle exchange is better than that. People don't want people bringing filthy containers into the store.
Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
#467Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a cost associated with bottle return as well. Consumers also may feel weird about buying used packaging. What I have seen work quite well is bulk filling stations in hippie groceries. So far liquid dispensing is limited to non-food e.g. laundry detergent but if people can grasp that model I think it can expand to a lot more items.
Consumers _always_ feel weird about reused packaging? That is probably not true. Here in Swede we used to have an awesome system of plastic containers for a about 20 or so glass bottles of soda. These were always recycled (and so much cheaper than PET for some reason!), and it was obvious due to the wear on the glass bottles. Literally nobody cared about it. Google for "drickaback" to see how it looked like.
Do you have a sense for what the collection and reprocessing costs were for the reused glass containers where you are?
I suspect that the warehousing and distribution systems we use in the US complicate collection of empty containers, i.e. there are several warehousing and stocking steps between the manufacturer and the retailer.
If you have a product made locally and distributed in a van, it's no problem to collect the empties. If you supply a distributor who supplies a supermarket chain that warehouses product regionally... It's a lot of steps for the bottle to get back to the manufacturer for reuse.
Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
#468Earlier quoted context omitted.
eli5: The bottle is PET and is easily and commonly recycled, if it actually makes it to the recycling facility. About 30% of PET sold in the US actually gets recycled. It's the clear soda bottle plastic. The cap was previously 99% PP and 1% Silicone and was not recyclable at all. The cap is now 100% PP and therefore recyclable in theory, but in practice there are limited facilities that can recycle PP.
but the 30% is the tip of the spear of a scam so fuck them because plastic recycling is a joke and they've put the burden and blame on us for failing when they never had the science or the tools to do it at scale and won't any time soon. that you're so easily sucked into their scam with selective statistics is sad but don't spread your imaginary industry to others. got an STD, keep it to yourself. this is no differen…
Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
#469Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bottle exchange is better than that. People don't want people bringing filthy containers into the store.
how would that work? Would dirty containers be washed or recycled?
Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
#470Earlier quoted context omitted.
the seal is waste depending what it is made of. ramune uses some kind of plasticy stuff, for example
Historically it was pure glass but modern retro recreations usually adds that plastic cap, pusher rod and a plastic wrapper for easier manufacturing as well as for corporate liabilities. Those aren't technically necessary.