Back in the day, my father worked as a researcher for a large, old dairy company. He was tasked with finding out what was environmentally friendly for packaging milk; whether they should start offering milk in washable glass bottles instead of their current cartons, for environmental reasons.

He found that the environmental impact created by the washing of the glass bottles was worse than the impact of the entire production and disposal cycle for the cartons. If you added in the production of the glass, the recycling of glass when it broke, and the extra impact from transport (less space due to not being able to pack as well, heavier) there was no competition at all - glass was way, way worse.

Plastic was a bit better than glass, and carton was the best available option. So they stayed with carton.

This was ~30 years ago, mind, so the equation may have changed. But I still find it important to check before deciding "Let's go glass" is the right option.

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anonzzzies 7 months ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, but we aren't going back to this anyway. Also ; it's not only about drinks; everything comes packaged in plastic in supermarket. Now more reusable bags and paper bags are used over here, but you fill them with plastic nonetheless. It seems hard to believe that me being able to throw everything in the yard and it being gone vs throwing away bags of plastic is worse. And need to take into account that plastic recycling isn't great to begin with.

But agreed: all factors have to be taken into account. Maybe there are better plastics that are reusable easier and faster.

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Iulioh 7 months ago | parent | prev [-]

The only problem with plastic is when it does end up in the environment.

Burn it and the problem ia solved, at the end of the day it's still oil.

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actionfromafar 7 months ago | parent [-]

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

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strogonoff 7 months ago | parent | next [-]

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 classified as “substance of very high concern”. Can’t believe that I would write the above as good news, but there we go.

	▲	actionfromafar 7 months ago \| parent [-]
		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.

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Iulioh 7 months ago | parent | prev [-]

My counterpoint is: Everything is poison.

Maybe we should just eat gold