this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle isn't a joke, and is in order of what should take precedence. And as for plastic recycling, https://text.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled (tl;dr it's total bullshit. it's expensive to do, and recycled plastic is worse and more expensive than virgin plastic. It probably cannot even handle two recycles before becoming totally worthless, that's how crappy recycled plastic is)
The dumbest part is how we are disallowed from reusing many things. One small example out of a limitless number: Every time I buy milk I have to buy a brand new plastic container, because that is the only way I can purchase it. And it is the exact same as the old kind of plastic container. I can't just go to the store and pour a refill and pay for that.
I don't buy milk regularly, but where I live there are dairies that use glass bottles. You get charged a deposit for a new bottle, and get the money back when you return it to the store. The glass bottles are washed and reused; although the plastic cap & seal are disposable. Also, the milk sold this way is a little more expensive than the milk sold in plastic jugs or paper cartons.
Obviously this produces less trash than plastic disposable jugs. Whether it is more "environmentally friendly" depends also on energy consumption, though. Plastic jugs are really cheap to make, and they are lighter to ship than glass bottles and thus use less fuel in the delivery trucks. So there's a tradeoff, and I expect the dairies have a better idea of this tradeoff than I do.
But, hey, that's not going to stop NPR from blaming the public for not re-using that yogurt cup. Soo sooo quick to blame the public and not the useless corporations who can't be bothered to spend the research to figure out how to improve recycling programs.
I'm pretty sure I first heard about this problem on NPR.
I hate linking this video, because it's an insulting take. They interview a bunch of recycling companies, and only show their side of things, while blaming the consumer for not reusing their own trash.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=iBGZtNJAt-M
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That was what a week ago? Still can't believe npr actually wasted their time investigating fucking yogurt/ice cream cups.