• grue@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    We need to go back to washing and reusing (not recycling, reusing) containers. It’s absolutely insane that we invent some of the most durable and resilient materials known to man and then make “disposable” single-use packaging out of them.

    WTF happened to bottle deposits, anyway? Bring them back, especially at a price high enough to get people’s attention (say, 50¢ or more), and watch the problem solve itself.

    • theneverfox@pawb.social
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      1 year ago

      Totally. Reduce and reuse all the way - although with plastics, reuse unfortunately often means mechanical and chemical stress, which makes it shed that much more microplastics

      Unfortunately, even with glass it’s cheaper to just buy new ones. Inspection and cleaning isn’t easy, and it takes more energy to work with this less pure glass than it would to just start fresh. Unless we crack something like fusion and power becomes basically free, it’s not going to be the economical option

      It’s exactly the kind of situation where companies need to be forced into it. The savings aren’t so extreme that they couldn’t do it - but they’re never going to take that step voluntarily