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Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap

lumafield.com

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Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap

#71

Post by sbierwagen »

obmelvin wrote: post #6
throw1231312 wrote: post #2

> Heinz has taken a major step forward for sustainable packaging with the introduction of .... > The new cap's uniform composition of polypropylene (PP) simplifies recycling and ... > Currently only about 3% of PP products are being recycled in the United States.

Until someone develops some sort of multi-spectral imaging that can reliably sort plastic based on it's composition there's little hope of recycling plastic. And then you still need different enzymes that can break down different compositions. It's sad, but realistically almost all plastic one disposes of needs to go in the trash can rather than recycling. You can't even rely on dedicated collection - https://abcnews…

>Until someone develops some sort of multi-spectral imaging that can reliably sort plastic based on it's composition

Funny you phrase it like that, because that's exactly what the STEINERT UniSort does. Plastic waste is finely shredded, dumped onto a conveyor belt, imaged, then passed over air puff sorters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3QHa9oQshw

Is it worth it? Of course not. Far cheaper and easier just to burn it. But for EU nations that are really dedicated to recycling, it can be done.

Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap

#72

Post by rapnie »

skriticos2 wrote: post #46
defrost wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Step one: virtually eliminate uneccesary plastic so there's far less waste and ideally most is of the type that can be recycled. I've not been in Germany for a long while, but I was impressed when last there by a near complete absence of excess packaging, nails in big boxes sold by weight rather than pre sorted into tiny plastic packets, etc. No idea if they kept that up. Addendum: Apparently so, and they have 5 type…

Yea, that's basic culture here. The bins are also sized according, and using the recycle bins is cheaper. There is still unsorted/compound waste, but plastics + metals go into the yellow/recycle bin automatically. Same for paper. Municipal waste centers are basically recycling sorters, where you have to declare waste type. You can offload recyclables for free and other waste costs you an arm and a leg, so there most…

Culture and regulation, and.. enforcement. In the Netherlands we have separate garbabe bins for various waste streams for many years. Culturally accepted by now. But there's not much enforcement of people who make a mess in these bins. In Switzerland when hiring a vacation appartment I noticed how people are frantically trying to separate correctly, and you receive strict instructions to do so too. There's enforcement and fines if you are too lax.

Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap

#73

Post by _cenw »

seszett wrote: post #63
_cenw wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the demand for non-virgin plastic is practically zero, while the cost is higher there are no economic incentives to use recycled plastic, and regulation mandating its use is minimal to non-existing. so most plastic that could be recycled isn't, and not because it isn't available/collected/sorted.

It seems though like many of the throwaway plastic containers I can find here like shampoo, water bottles, containers for sauces - NOT the Heinz ketchup bottle in my fridge though (which does say the body is recyclable but the cap is not) mention some percent of recycled plastic contents, from 90% to 20% in the items around me. So maybe it's more expensive but there seems to be some kind of incentive for these compan…

Food containers are tricky. Huel ready-to-drink seems to be 49%, because they need the inner coating to be virgin plastic.

Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap

#74

Post by throw1231312 »

rocqua wrote: post #37
throw1231312 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container-deposit_legislation I can't even begin to imagine the discourse (and "experts" brought on-air at Fox News) that would take place if such legislation was proposed in the US.

A few states in the US as per your link, do have this system

Differences:

* Single-use plastic bottle have a 25 cent deposit in Germany. This is 5x the 5cents in California.

* Germany has enacted this legislation federally.

* The legislation also requires that any retailer that sells plastic bottles (and glass bottles) must also facilitate the return of these bottles.

I lived in California for a couple of years. I never saw a recycling machine at any Safeway, Walgreens or even Whole Foods while I was there. The closest thing to a "recycling machine" is the army of homeless people pushing trollies filled with bottles to take to a recycling center. I don't think that really counts.

Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap

#77

Post by Culonavirus »

lucioperca wrote: post #62

Is recycling really worthwhile and is burning such waste and using it to generate energy not more efficient?

Last time I looked this up, I found out that recycling being worth is is highly dependent on where you live and what laws and regulations apply there. Don't quote me on this, do your own research, but I think some of the "recycled" plastic just ends up being shipped overseas and then ends up in the ocean.

Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap

#78

Post by 4gotunameagain »

frereubu wrote: post #28
4gotunameagain wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does Germany recycle 60% of its plastic waste? There is obviously hope, just not enough incentive because it costs.

Do you have a source for that? I'd be interested to read more, because there are similar statistics that only count the percentage collected, not the percentage actually recycled. e.g. there's quite a bit of "mixed" recycling in the UK, which firms count as "being recycled", but when they get to the recycling plant if there's "too much" contamination (e.g. food, non-recyclable plastic etc.) then it's sent to the inci…

https://www.sustainableplastics.com/news/germanys-plastic-re...

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/waste-recyc...

I am unaware of the percentage of rejected contaminated plastics you mentioned, but Germans being Germans I assume it is not scandalous

Re: Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap

#79

Post by rad_gruchalski »

asdff wrote: post #31
lp4vn wrote: post #4

Very nice. I live alone and often I'm baffled by the sheer amount of garbage that my urban lifestyle generates. I was not alive in the 80's but I was told that people used to use more environment-friendly packaging like glass bottles. Sometimes I wonder why this massive change to everything-should-be-packed-in-plastic happened.

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

#80

Post by thrdbndndn »

lp4vn wrote: post #4

Very nice. I live alone and often I'm baffled by the sheer amount of garbage that my urban lifestyle generates. I was not alive in the 80's but I was told that people used to use more environment-friendly packaging like glass bottles. Sometimes I wonder why this massive change to everything-should-be-packed-in-plastic happened.

> I wonder why this massive change to everything-should-be-packed-in-plastic happened

I don't get why people keep pretending plastic being widely used today is due to some conspiracy instead of it's just better at its main function, even without factoring in cost.

Compared to glass container, plastic ones are much lighter, harder to break, flexible, malleable, .. the list goes on.

In the 1980s, the use of glass containers was more out of necessity than preference. People didn't opt for heavy glass containers to be environmentally friendly; they simply lacked alternatives.

The appeal of single-use (plastic) containers lies in their convenience. Although they are undoubtedly more wasteful, their ease of use cannot be denied. People favor them for this convenience, with their wasteful nature being an unfortunate byproduct. If we refuse to acknowledge this fundamental truth, progress in environmentalism will never be done.

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