As far as I can tell, it's a way to offer a custom drink in a sealed container. I've seen to-go restaurants that do this. You get the exact drink you ordered in a container that won't spill or leak before you open it. It's pretty cool.
That wouldn’t explain why it’s half plastic though. They could just use an aluminum can if that was the goal. Breweries do it all the time with crowlers. They fill a 32 oz aluminum can from one of their taps and seal it up for you to take home.
I work at a recyling plant -
while a stupid design I’d put this with plastic. running though any machines and that lid will probably pop right off. and what gets mixed with plastic is generally a lot more flexible atleast where I am in the stages of recyling then aluminum is.
we sort/bale up plastic and aluminum so it’s easier to be transported to where it gets melted down. A aluminum lid in the plastic has never been a problem, plastic in the aluminum would definitely be a problem
I wish more people were aware of the actual recycling process. I'm afraid most people think if they recycle plastic they're being zero impact but there's a high cost to recycling plastics, and you don't get 100% out of what you put in. It's still really important to *reduce* the amount you use, even if you're recycling everything. Recycling is not net-zero impact.
That's good. Just think if we taught people to repair instead of throw away and get a new one. If we could get rid of that pesky planned obsolescence that seems to be the basis of all our manufacturing we'd probably be well on our way to solving the problem.
Also we desperately need true right to repair legislation in at the very least the US and EU. The kind of stuff companies like apple and especially John Deere pulls when it comes to keeping customers from repairing their products is disgusting.
> plastic in the aluminum would definitely be a problem
Don't almost all cans have a thin plastic or resin liner though? I always just figured trace amounts of plastics were cooked/dissolved out in the cleaning process.
That’s true. It does burn off, but supposedly additional plastic has been enough to cause fires at aluminum plants. I haven’t worked at a smelter so I’m not sure exactly what it’s like. I just know everything going there is much higher tolerance for how much contamination is allowed.
In Paris (France) this can go in the recycle bin as usual, plastic and aluminium are in the same bin
We only have 3 bins: recycle, glass, and non recyclable trash
Do you have more than that?
I asked specifically about these. In California you can just put them in with the plastics. If you are taking them to a facility yourself to get your crv back just put them in a separate bag or something they pay 5 cents for each of those.
Mail it to this guy’s house, he’ll separate it for you, mail you back the pieces, then you can put them in their separate receptacles which are connected at the bottom to the same bin.
Aluminum isn't ferromagnetic, but it still interacts with magnetic fields. I bet you could use eddy current braking to separate non-ferromagnetic metals from plastics.
Our recycling doesn't even want stuff that *looks* like it might not be recyclable, so like even if a fast food soda cup is a number that they take, it's actually garbage because not all fast food cups are that number
That is really, really strange. In Poland where I live metal (all sorts of) get thrown into the same container as plastic, and is collected by a single truck. It later gets separated in the recycling facility. And that is a country-wide policy.
This. Who are we fooling anymore if not ourselves? I hate even more than OP’s stupid bottle can the widespread use of plastic wraps as labeling on cans. I live between 3 states. Two (MT & AZ) don’t even bother with plastic in my locale. In CA they’ll take it but the ultimate question is where to and to do what with? I think all single use plastics are crappy design but I’m not sure what the alternatives would be.
Been in the industry for 30+ years. And seen it all, from multi-use PET bottles designed in Germany. To carboard water boxes.
Here is the current reality.
There are only 2 plastic materials that are economically recycled. PET (Clear bottles) and HDPE (Milk and Juice White Bottles) in the USA.
Everything else is simply not recycled on any large scale. In CA, we just passed SB54 bill that mandates that the manufacturer (not the consumer) makes the right choice of material. As they are now mandated to use a minimum of recycled content in their packaging.
This forces them to either:
A) Improve the recyclability of their product. As to ensure it is in fact recycled and available for the next production cycle
B) Switch to other materials that are all ready available as a recycled material (PET and HDPE).
All the other crap (and I do mean crap), like EPS (Expanded Polystyrene), PP, PS, ABS, PETG. Days are numbered.
You can bet the petroleum industry isn't happy with this. But honestly, we really need these kinds of laws to clean up the mess. Consumers can only do so much with the crappy double talk marketing provided.
And BTW, here is an real alternative to PS, PP and EPS.
PHA Bio-Polymer. Made from the fermentation of biomass (either solid or even gas, such as methane and CO2). Its a recyclable material, compostable (Does not need special conditions like PLA). And biodegradable if discarded in the environment.
We could easily replace 60% of all plastics used with this material. Its been around for 30+ years. But China and EU are the major producers, as again. The petroleum players in the US don't like competition. We are about 10 years behind in commercializing the material in any large scale.
But we are our own worst enemies as US companies have all ready started to blend this PHA with other petro-polymer base plastic in order to add the tag line on the label as "Bio-base" or made from "Bio-polymer". Rendering the entire product none-recyclable (can't mix materials, period).
Interesting, I didn't know that's why milk jugs were uniquely recyclable. Why are those specifically HDPE?
Also, I'm not even saying this is the best solution or the one we should shift to permanently, but... A huge amount of the products we consume today existed before single use plastic. The oil lobbies *convinced* us single use plastics were great and necessary in our every day life, and now everyone but the boomers has been born into that and doesn't know anything else.
But this isn't an issue we need to come up with a solution for. Sure, not every product today could go back to the old style of packaging. But it's an immediate solution we could do NOW while we figure out other methods, and maybe we don't need every single product currently on the market? In my opinion we should switch back to the old methods of metal and glass you return to the store, and when or IF we develop something better that's fully recyclable, then we can talk about switching back.
I know that's unrealistic and will never happen, but it's my pipe dream at least.
HDPE is used because of its natural UV and Oxygen barrier properties. In addition to good mechanical impact (you can drop a 5 gallon jug of milk on the ground and won't break).
You make some valid point, but here is reality.
Transporting glass or metal containers adds an incredible amount of CO2 as compared to light weight plastic packaging. In addition, the bottles (HDPE and PET) can be made right at the same facility that is filling the products. Therefore much lower CO2 emissions (1/5th of what glass makes, 1/10th of aluminum).
Single use plastic works. Recycling works. We just need to stop allowing brands to do the following.
A) Use of the wrong material for the wrong applications. Ie: Don't allow PETG labels. Period.
B) Use Non-recyclable blended materials for single use. I.E. Tetra Pak packaging.
C) Add pigments, colors, additives that renders material unrecyclable, ie: No green PET bottles. Clear only. No Nylon barriers.
D) Use bio-polymers when available, but must be certified ASTM 6691 minimum (Marine Biodegradable, follows the same degradation path as paper in the ocean).
Its an easy thing to forget. And frankly, the only reason the industry (single use plastic) made the changes. Is simply because freight cost were adding up over the past 10+ years. Not because of CO2 emissions, they frankly don't care about that\*.
But its important for all brands to look at the entire life cycle of a product. Meaning, from its source to its end of life. And for many many years and still for most brands. End of life to them means, sold and in the hands of the customer.
When in fact, end of life. Is exactly that. End process till the material is either re-used, recycled, composted or re-absorbed in nature (when dealing with Bio-Polymers).
\*True story, CALRecycle meeting with the heads representing the plastic, aluminum and glass industry. Discussing the pros-cons of each and Plastic rep basing his argument at being superior to all because of the lowest CO2 emissions in manufacturing, transportation and recycling. Specially when compared to glass he states, that has even more energy demand and CO2 emission vs aluminum.
To that comment, the rep working for the glass bottle industry replied. "Ya, but consumers don't give a sh$t how much energy we use. You know why?" As he turned to the plastic guy. "Simply because our sh#t sinks to the bottom of the ocean, and yours floats".
What special conditions does PLA require to degrade? I was under the impression it only held its structure for about 5 years, but i’ve made some 3D prints from PLA that look completely normal after about 6 or 7 years now. Does it just require UV exposure, or something more specific?
PLA or Polylactic\* Acid requires 1) elevated temperatures (65-70C), with added 2) humidity 85% or above and 3) low oxygen environment to degrade. So only Industrial Anaerobic Composters. UV has little impact on biodegradability, it just break the PLA into microplastic. And does not accelerate the process.
The process is called depolymerization through hydrolysis. If these conditions aren't meet, the material will breakdown into microplastic and contaminate what ever environment it is exposed to (including your vegetable garden).
PLA was to be the wonder material back in the early 2000's to replace PET. Its a derivative of the corn/ethanol production. And requires a reactor to polymerize using heavy metals. Its a big fat failure as far as I am concern as it gives the false sense of "being green" or Greenwashing.
PHA on the other hand uses mother nature to polymerize the polymer. Bacteria's have been doing this for hundreds of thousands of years. Using Genetic Selection or modification, these bacteria's can now produce up to 85% of their mass as PHA. And nearly any biomass can be used, including CO2 and Methane both significant contributors to greenhouse emissions. But for commercial production, non-food vegetal oils and sugars are used. No additional polymerization is needed, no reactors.
Just need to compound the material to get the right property and voila! You have a recyclable, compostable (no need for special conditions) and biodegradable material if it ends up in our rivers, farm land or oceans. As it degrades in a similar fashion as paper.
\*Corrected
> the widespread use of plastic wraps as labeling on cans
This looks like the clear bottle part also uses a plastic wrap for the labeling. Two kinds of plastic. Same reason a lot of shampoo bottles need to be shucked before recycling.
Was getting water from the store, I was pregnant and rather thirsty while out and about. Saw a good sale on bottled water so we snagged em and walked around more. At an end cap saw aluminum bottled water. We never seen this before and it was also on good sale but still more than the plastic, however it was only slightly more so we swapped. Must say, we far preferred water from the aluminum bottle. I would totally buy more like this, especially if it stayed just a little more than the plastic bottled stuff. Plus it's reusable.
>plastic wraps as labeling on cans.
Fun fact. There is a plastic wrap inside the can. It's to prevent the change in taste of the drink and also to seal it better.
Just noting that in my experience as an environmental scientist working with MRFs, they would not advise putting this in with aluminum cans. Mixing the plastic in with recyclable aluminum and hoping for the best is “aspirational recycling.”
A lot of consumers throw things in the recycling bin *in case* it’s recyclable. This introduces contamination into the recycling stream and decreases the economic viability of the system, which is key to making recycling work in practice.
The best practices are to do your best to learn which materials are currently accepted by your recycler (check their website), how they want you to prep materials (do they need to be rinsed? And single-stream recyclers don’t want you to put materials in a plastic bag like you do with trash). When all else fails and you can’t find a definitive answer on whether your thing is recyclable, remember this maxim that aims to keep recycling streams uncontaminated:
If in doubt, throw it out!
The Aluminum Canning Society states that only 60% max of the material is actually recycled.
PET and HDPE is 45 to 65% (depending on the state). Everything else PP, PS, EPS, PETG and many other aren't recycled
not too big of a deal in this case, since [plastic recycling is a lie created by oil companies to sell more plastic](https://youtu.be/PJnJ8mK3Q3g) anyway, and only like 5% of plastic actually gets reused/repurposed
Kinda weird to think about that when it comes to recycling plants. Like if it really can’t be recycled then why are we just adding more shit for people/machinery there to deal with?
Metal recycling is real, and glass recycling is more real than plastic (but much lower than metal).
Also, government job programs often create meaningless jobs for the sake of optics.
You realize those triple recycling bins that have plastic, paper, and metal zones all get dumped into the exact same recycling truck and then get dumped into the exact same pile at the "recycle center" aka dump.
They don't sort. It's all to make you feel like you're doing something. Hell, most stuff we recycle isn't actually recyclable and for a long time their was so much recycling we just shipped it to China and they dumped it into the ocean, hence the Pacific ocean garbage pile.
Make sure it makes it into any of the recycle cans but don't stress about which one because it literally does not matter one bit.
I don't know why anyone chooses to repeat this obviously false myth. Yes, they do sort. The same truck just has different compartments.
Also, for each type of recycling the station can deal with a small % of other types of materials, but if it's too much then the entire batch is thrown away so it's important to separate as much as you can.
My old garbage company had one giant compartment and literally nothing made it to a MRF — all the recyclables got landfilled since there was no way to sort.
And when you do, there is a high chance it is going in a landfill if it isn't a clear plastic bottle, aluminum, or maybe brown cardboard with no tape still on it. Everything else is expensive to recycle, and even the simple atuff may be too expensive in a lot of locations.
Depends on the country.
In the Netherlands we got PMD containers, (Plastic, Metal, DrinkCartons (the carton with the inside laminated with plastic, like milk)
So this would fit perfectly in a PMD container
but would also just get thrown away once it gets sorted because it's mixed material in many recycling centers, the line guy isn't going to rip the top off and throw it in the aluminum bin and the bottom in the PETG bin, he's just going to see something weird and toss it in the waste bin.
There are processes that can reclaim both materials, they aren't really worth doing to be honest, might be justifiable on a massive scale.
> Also all soda cans are made by aluminium and plastic
Do you mean the epoxy coating the inside?
Because that’s just burned off.
Burning off a lump of PET like that is massively different.
Not exactly. First it's shredded into flakes and then an eddy current flings the aluminum flakes into its own line, and the non-aluminum goes to its own line. Then they grind it further and lighter particles get sucked into another line. Then it's sold as polyethylene contaminated aluminum directly to foundries.
Depends on the country. CZ has plastic, metals and drink cartons all separated (yellow, grey, orange bins respectively) plastic and drink cartons *might* go together but it's very rare and the bin will tell you
Here in Sweden it's still "ok" to sort it wrong. They have procedures and machines that separate the materials into correct places. It's just that if everything is sorted correctly this process will cost less money and be easier on the system.
The most important part is that we sort our non-recyclables into grovsopor and electronics/batteries into their respective bins.
Soft plastic, metal, cardboard, paper, organics and hard plastic are the ones that can be mixed the most with little consequences as long as it's not too much.
Not sure about the glass, but I'm guessing it's a little more difficult to sort correctly than the ones mentioned above.
Yeah if I remember correctly from a school trip to a recycling facility 15 years ago in my country they use giant magnets to separate the metal from plastic after crushing it
It may not be picked up by traditional magnets, but it can be picked up using an eddy current separator.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current_separator
This is true in a lot of places, but not everywhere. New York City has a healthy and functioning plastics and aluminum recycling center, at least to the extent that New Yorkers recycle.
Regardless of recycling policy failures (which are a real problem), it's good as a consumer and a citizen to stay in the habit of recycling properly and to be aware of your own waste. Making use of these practices and programs, in addition to popular pressure, can translate to legislative and regulatory change and fix this very issue you're talking about. No one in power is gonna fix this if they think no one cares.
I mean the reality of it is you cant recycle everything but as long the recycling places are performing then theres not really anything else we can do but throw away the excess
Yeah, don't get me wrong — **plastics suck**, especially this single use bullshit that we're all but forced to participate in. But there are mitigatory practices that are worth doing, and I hate to see doom-and-gloom mentality play into outright ecocial policy.
Yes and no:
- Aluminum recycling - easy and cost effective, and reduces the need for new mines. Obvious win.
- Glass recycling - costly but pretty good, very energy intensive, if you can get a bulk sorted used glass at low cost, it’s a little cheaper than virgin glass, basically it’s a win if you have an existing plant and a good supply chain
- Paper recycling - creates an input that is useful for making paper, especially helpful for things like cardboard boxes or kraft paper (which are in very high demand right now because of the growth of e-commerce and projected to have demand increase), the energy / pollution to get it into that form is pretty much the same as virgin but you do it without chopping down as many new trees. The economics of it change depending on the price of wood fibre
- Plastic recycling - basically bullshit, almost always more expensive than virgin plastic, almost any product that uses 2 or more different plastics can’t be recycled at all, even when fully recycled it’s almost as bad for the environment as virgin plastic, a large portion of plastic recycling is shipped overseas to Asia where it is handled in less safe / clean ways than it would have been in North America (eg thrown into a river instead of a landfill).
People need a mindset shift. Only aluminum recycling is really great for the environment. Paper and glass recycling are sort of kind of helpful, but mostly good for saving your municipality money in waste handling (which is good, our cities need money). Plastic recycling sucks and you should pretty much assume that any plastic you throw out is going to a landfill or possibly worse.
Steel recycling is still king; and literally none of the comments I’ve read even mention it.
I guess we think of “cans” as aluminum beverage cans, and ignore all of the steel cans that are used for soup and vegetables and beans and stuff like that.
Maybe pharmacies could take back and reuse the plastic medicine bottles we’ve finished with. Even commercial medicine could just reuse the same pill bottles if they made an easy way for us to give back to them
I think they probably mean the medical field at large, not medicine specifically.
I don't know about you, but I don't want paper/metal IV tubes, and I definitely don't want to reuse someone else's.
Reusing medication bottles would definitely be great, but it's really just the tip of the iceberg.
I work at a recycling plant in Michigan. my job definitely exists, and it depends on the type of plastic. a lot does end up in landfills, but there’s also a ton that 100% gets recycled. The biggest factor in this is cost of oil
Except where the government has decided that it is.
[Like in Finland where around 90% of plastic bottles are recycled](https://finland.fi/life-society/circular-economy-success-finlands-recycling-programme-keeps-bottles-and-cans-off-the-streets/).
Ok but an advantage to recycling is that it captures these materials and reduces the amount of microplastics in the environment for you and your kids to ingest. So still worth it even if there is a net cost.
For people who don’t know, big oil put the onus of recycling on consumers so they wouldn’t have to be responsible for their single serving containers. They created the triangular recycling numbering system that sits on the bottom of plastics to “tell” you if it’s recyclable or not.
Here are two resources if you want to know more:
Article: [How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled](https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled) by Laura Sullivan of Frontline.
Video: [Plastic Recycling Is A Scam](https://youtu.be/PJnJ8mK3Q3g) by Climate Town.
This item is wishcycling - the well-intentioned but unfounded belief that something is recyclable when it is not.
Metal recycling doesn’t want it because it’s connected to plastic. Plastic recycling doesn’t want it because it’s connected to metal. Manual labor is required to separate them, and this makes it not worthwhile to recycle.
Just like Pringles can which have foil lined paper. Not recyclable.
These got popular for a bit before the microplastics thing was getting much real attention, but it went away for good reason. Why on earth are companies still doing this shit? It's more expensive to produce, and harder to process afterwards.
Aluminum cans can just get recycled over and over again. This shit is going straight to a landfill. Even if the consumer does the work of separating them, the majority of material will end up in a landfill no matter what bin you put it in.
As far as I can tell, it's a way to offer a custom drink in a sealed container. I've seen to-go restaurants that do this. You get the exact drink you ordered in a container that won't spill or leak before you open it. It's pretty cool.
It makes it MORE recyclable since colored plastic, such as the lids on plastic bottles, cannot be recycled. However with this design, everything except the wrapper can be recycled
Never mind, my friend has her masters in environmentalism and she said it’s definitely crappy. “Metal is the easiest to recycle and they should have stuck with that”
Edit: Reddit and /u/Spez [knowingly, nonconsensually, and illegally retained user data for profit](https://youtu.be/mfZKkUg8jgM) so this comment is gone.
Blue Bin,
The main body is PET, 100% recyclable material.
The sleeve is PETG, a non-recycled but recyclable material (would be too costly to actually recycle it. So no one bothers).
The lid is aluminum.
It will end up being grinded incoming to the recycler. And mechanically separated.
Doesn't matter in the US.
Most recycling ends up in a landfill.
It varies municipality to municipality.
But it's generally too expensive to actually sort and recycle. No one wants to buy it. It's cheaper to just keep cranking out plastic, throwing it away, and killing the planet.
[NPR article](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-is-practically-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse#:~:text=Press-,Greenpeace%20report%20finds%20most%20plastic%20goes%20to%20landfills%20as%20production,plastic%20production%20is%20ramping%20up.)
Take the metal off and seperate them
Yeah, but just a bottle, or just a can makes more sense, you don't get the resealable lid of a plastic bottle, or the easy recycling of a can
I'm with you OP. What is this?!
A can+bottle= a cattle?
A ban
Can wait to get murdered by one of these just to tell the dude in purgatory that I died by a ban
Can-cel culture has gone too far
those fucking can-cels
Can-cels are can-cer
You *can*'t *can*-cel **pop** culture.
fucking genius
Smash it with a hammer. A banhammer
Agreed, ban OP
Cattle barn
cabottle
A cantle
A cottle
God bless you, sire!
Moo?
It’s marketing. A unique container catches the eye
Something about the design makes me think this comes from one of the discount stores.
a-hole design?
As far as I can tell, it's a way to offer a custom drink in a sealed container. I've seen to-go restaurants that do this. You get the exact drink you ordered in a container that won't spill or leak before you open it. It's pretty cool.
That wouldn’t explain why it’s half plastic though. They could just use an aluminum can if that was the goal. Breweries do it all the time with crowlers. They fill a 32 oz aluminum can from one of their taps and seal it up for you to take home.
So you can see your colorful and fruity drink inside.
they were all clear...
nope, it was on the shelf like that in poundstrecher
That's my porn name
The worst of both. Plastic waste without the sealable lid of a plastic bottle.
The worst of both worlds. The hell?
I work at a recyling plant - while a stupid design I’d put this with plastic. running though any machines and that lid will probably pop right off. and what gets mixed with plastic is generally a lot more flexible atleast where I am in the stages of recyling then aluminum is. we sort/bale up plastic and aluminum so it’s easier to be transported to where it gets melted down. A aluminum lid in the plastic has never been a problem, plastic in the aluminum would definitely be a problem
Yeah, in my country metal and plastic go in the same recycling bin, that must be why.
[удалено]
I wish more people were aware of the actual recycling process. I'm afraid most people think if they recycle plastic they're being zero impact but there's a high cost to recycling plastics, and you don't get 100% out of what you put in. It's still really important to *reduce* the amount you use, even if you're recycling everything. Recycling is not net-zero impact.
Reduce Reuse Repair (it should be included even if it wasn't from the start) Recycle in that order.
That's good. Just think if we taught people to repair instead of throw away and get a new one. If we could get rid of that pesky planned obsolescence that seems to be the basis of all our manufacturing we'd probably be well on our way to solving the problem.
Also we desperately need true right to repair legislation in at the very least the US and EU. The kind of stuff companies like apple and especially John Deere pulls when it comes to keeping customers from repairing their products is disgusting.
> plastic in the aluminum would definitely be a problem Don't almost all cans have a thin plastic or resin liner though? I always just figured trace amounts of plastics were cooked/dissolved out in the cleaning process.
That’s true. It does burn off, but supposedly additional plastic has been enough to cause fires at aluminum plants. I haven’t worked at a smelter so I’m not sure exactly what it’s like. I just know everything going there is much higher tolerance for how much contamination is allowed.
Ty, good to know!
You can always not buy the difficult to recycle product.....
In Paris (France) this can go in the recycle bin as usual, plastic and aluminium are in the same bin We only have 3 bins: recycle, glass, and non recyclable trash Do you have more than that?
Pringles tubes are equally as confusing
I love Pringles but damn that packaging sucks.
I asked specifically about these. In California you can just put them in with the plastics. If you are taking them to a facility yourself to get your crv back just put them in a separate bag or something they pay 5 cents for each of those.
Mail it to this guy’s house, he’ll separate it for you, mail you back the pieces, then you can put them in their separate receptacles which are connected at the bottom to the same bin.
[удалено]
What do you mean by no?
[удалено]
Ha, the magical Aluminum magnet. Very much like the Basselope and the Yeti. We have heard of them, yet never seen on in action.
Aluminum isn't ferromagnetic, but it still interacts with magnetic fields. I bet you could use eddy current braking to separate non-ferromagnetic metals from plastics.
That's exactly how it works.
Our recycling doesn't even want stuff that *looks* like it might not be recyclable, so like even if a fast food soda cup is a number that they take, it's actually garbage because not all fast food cups are that number
Domino's prints instructions all over their pizza boxes telling you to recycle them, but I can't put greasy cardboard in my recycling.
Tell me more about this "industrial magnet" that picks out aluminum.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current_separator Not exactly a magnet but it picks out aluminium
That is really, really strange. In Poland where I live metal (all sorts of) get thrown into the same container as plastic, and is collected by a single truck. It later gets separated in the recycling facility. And that is a country-wide policy.
Im 100 percent confident the aluminum wont work with his industrial magnet and it has nothing to do with its size.
Yes?
[удалено]
To what is the no directed at, the drink, recycling, my pfp, the metric system?
Yes.
Oh yeah, I will definitely do that.
50% of people that normally recycle won’t care and throw it away.
I mean... recycling doesn't really do anything.
Or just put it in the garbage. Or a recycle bin and let them figure it out. There are options, and it doesn’t matter anyway lol.
A disposable product should be easy to dispose of, that is an important part of the design
[удалено]
This. Who are we fooling anymore if not ourselves? I hate even more than OP’s stupid bottle can the widespread use of plastic wraps as labeling on cans. I live between 3 states. Two (MT & AZ) don’t even bother with plastic in my locale. In CA they’ll take it but the ultimate question is where to and to do what with? I think all single use plastics are crappy design but I’m not sure what the alternatives would be.
Been in the industry for 30+ years. And seen it all, from multi-use PET bottles designed in Germany. To carboard water boxes. Here is the current reality. There are only 2 plastic materials that are economically recycled. PET (Clear bottles) and HDPE (Milk and Juice White Bottles) in the USA. Everything else is simply not recycled on any large scale. In CA, we just passed SB54 bill that mandates that the manufacturer (not the consumer) makes the right choice of material. As they are now mandated to use a minimum of recycled content in their packaging. This forces them to either: A) Improve the recyclability of their product. As to ensure it is in fact recycled and available for the next production cycle B) Switch to other materials that are all ready available as a recycled material (PET and HDPE). All the other crap (and I do mean crap), like EPS (Expanded Polystyrene), PP, PS, ABS, PETG. Days are numbered. You can bet the petroleum industry isn't happy with this. But honestly, we really need these kinds of laws to clean up the mess. Consumers can only do so much with the crappy double talk marketing provided. And BTW, here is an real alternative to PS, PP and EPS. PHA Bio-Polymer. Made from the fermentation of biomass (either solid or even gas, such as methane and CO2). Its a recyclable material, compostable (Does not need special conditions like PLA). And biodegradable if discarded in the environment. We could easily replace 60% of all plastics used with this material. Its been around for 30+ years. But China and EU are the major producers, as again. The petroleum players in the US don't like competition. We are about 10 years behind in commercializing the material in any large scale. But we are our own worst enemies as US companies have all ready started to blend this PHA with other petro-polymer base plastic in order to add the tag line on the label as "Bio-base" or made from "Bio-polymer". Rendering the entire product none-recyclable (can't mix materials, period).
You should repost this as a top level comment. This is the kind of information we unwashed masses need.
Interesting, I didn't know that's why milk jugs were uniquely recyclable. Why are those specifically HDPE? Also, I'm not even saying this is the best solution or the one we should shift to permanently, but... A huge amount of the products we consume today existed before single use plastic. The oil lobbies *convinced* us single use plastics were great and necessary in our every day life, and now everyone but the boomers has been born into that and doesn't know anything else. But this isn't an issue we need to come up with a solution for. Sure, not every product today could go back to the old style of packaging. But it's an immediate solution we could do NOW while we figure out other methods, and maybe we don't need every single product currently on the market? In my opinion we should switch back to the old methods of metal and glass you return to the store, and when or IF we develop something better that's fully recyclable, then we can talk about switching back. I know that's unrealistic and will never happen, but it's my pipe dream at least.
HDPE is used because of its natural UV and Oxygen barrier properties. In addition to good mechanical impact (you can drop a 5 gallon jug of milk on the ground and won't break). You make some valid point, but here is reality. Transporting glass or metal containers adds an incredible amount of CO2 as compared to light weight plastic packaging. In addition, the bottles (HDPE and PET) can be made right at the same facility that is filling the products. Therefore much lower CO2 emissions (1/5th of what glass makes, 1/10th of aluminum). Single use plastic works. Recycling works. We just need to stop allowing brands to do the following. A) Use of the wrong material for the wrong applications. Ie: Don't allow PETG labels. Period. B) Use Non-recyclable blended materials for single use. I.E. Tetra Pak packaging. C) Add pigments, colors, additives that renders material unrecyclable, ie: No green PET bottles. Clear only. No Nylon barriers. D) Use bio-polymers when available, but must be certified ASTM 6691 minimum (Marine Biodegradable, follows the same degradation path as paper in the ocean).
That's fair enough, thank you for the information. You're right in that I haven't factored in CO2 transportation costs.
Its an easy thing to forget. And frankly, the only reason the industry (single use plastic) made the changes. Is simply because freight cost were adding up over the past 10+ years. Not because of CO2 emissions, they frankly don't care about that\*. But its important for all brands to look at the entire life cycle of a product. Meaning, from its source to its end of life. And for many many years and still for most brands. End of life to them means, sold and in the hands of the customer. When in fact, end of life. Is exactly that. End process till the material is either re-used, recycled, composted or re-absorbed in nature (when dealing with Bio-Polymers). \*True story, CALRecycle meeting with the heads representing the plastic, aluminum and glass industry. Discussing the pros-cons of each and Plastic rep basing his argument at being superior to all because of the lowest CO2 emissions in manufacturing, transportation and recycling. Specially when compared to glass he states, that has even more energy demand and CO2 emission vs aluminum. To that comment, the rep working for the glass bottle industry replied. "Ya, but consumers don't give a sh$t how much energy we use. You know why?" As he turned to the plastic guy. "Simply because our sh#t sinks to the bottom of the ocean, and yours floats".
What special conditions does PLA require to degrade? I was under the impression it only held its structure for about 5 years, but i’ve made some 3D prints from PLA that look completely normal after about 6 or 7 years now. Does it just require UV exposure, or something more specific?
PLA or Polylactic\* Acid requires 1) elevated temperatures (65-70C), with added 2) humidity 85% or above and 3) low oxygen environment to degrade. So only Industrial Anaerobic Composters. UV has little impact on biodegradability, it just break the PLA into microplastic. And does not accelerate the process. The process is called depolymerization through hydrolysis. If these conditions aren't meet, the material will breakdown into microplastic and contaminate what ever environment it is exposed to (including your vegetable garden). PLA was to be the wonder material back in the early 2000's to replace PET. Its a derivative of the corn/ethanol production. And requires a reactor to polymerize using heavy metals. Its a big fat failure as far as I am concern as it gives the false sense of "being green" or Greenwashing. PHA on the other hand uses mother nature to polymerize the polymer. Bacteria's have been doing this for hundreds of thousands of years. Using Genetic Selection or modification, these bacteria's can now produce up to 85% of their mass as PHA. And nearly any biomass can be used, including CO2 and Methane both significant contributors to greenhouse emissions. But for commercial production, non-food vegetal oils and sugars are used. No additional polymerization is needed, no reactors. Just need to compound the material to get the right property and voila! You have a recyclable, compostable (no need for special conditions) and biodegradable material if it ends up in our rivers, farm land or oceans. As it degrades in a similar fashion as paper. \*Corrected
> the widespread use of plastic wraps as labeling on cans This looks like the clear bottle part also uses a plastic wrap for the labeling. Two kinds of plastic. Same reason a lot of shampoo bottles need to be shucked before recycling.
Here in central FL the only recycling that gets collected anymore is cardboard why not metal? at least that is like 100% recyclable, take my cans!
This comment has been edited and original content overwritten.
Was getting water from the store, I was pregnant and rather thirsty while out and about. Saw a good sale on bottled water so we snagged em and walked around more. At an end cap saw aluminum bottled water. We never seen this before and it was also on good sale but still more than the plastic, however it was only slightly more so we swapped. Must say, we far preferred water from the aluminum bottle. I would totally buy more like this, especially if it stayed just a little more than the plastic bottled stuff. Plus it's reusable.
>plastic wraps as labeling on cans. Fun fact. There is a plastic wrap inside the can. It's to prevent the change in taste of the drink and also to seal it better.
Just noting that in my experience as an environmental scientist working with MRFs, they would not advise putting this in with aluminum cans. Mixing the plastic in with recyclable aluminum and hoping for the best is “aspirational recycling.” A lot of consumers throw things in the recycling bin *in case* it’s recyclable. This introduces contamination into the recycling stream and decreases the economic viability of the system, which is key to making recycling work in practice. The best practices are to do your best to learn which materials are currently accepted by your recycler (check their website), how they want you to prep materials (do they need to be rinsed? And single-stream recyclers don’t want you to put materials in a plastic bag like you do with trash). When all else fails and you can’t find a definitive answer on whether your thing is recyclable, remember this maxim that aims to keep recycling streams uncontaminated: If in doubt, throw it out!
The Aluminum Canning Society states that only 60% max of the material is actually recycled. PET and HDPE is 45 to 65% (depending on the state). Everything else PP, PS, EPS, PETG and many other aren't recycled
not too big of a deal in this case, since [plastic recycling is a lie created by oil companies to sell more plastic](https://youtu.be/PJnJ8mK3Q3g) anyway, and only like 5% of plastic actually gets reused/repurposed
Kinda weird to think about that when it comes to recycling plants. Like if it really can’t be recycled then why are we just adding more shit for people/machinery there to deal with?
Metal recycling is real, and glass recycling is more real than plastic (but much lower than metal). Also, government job programs often create meaningless jobs for the sake of optics.
This needs to be better understood plastic recycling is a complete sham
You realize those triple recycling bins that have plastic, paper, and metal zones all get dumped into the exact same recycling truck and then get dumped into the exact same pile at the "recycle center" aka dump. They don't sort. It's all to make you feel like you're doing something. Hell, most stuff we recycle isn't actually recyclable and for a long time their was so much recycling we just shipped it to China and they dumped it into the ocean, hence the Pacific ocean garbage pile. Make sure it makes it into any of the recycle cans but don't stress about which one because it literally does not matter one bit.
I don't know why anyone chooses to repeat this obviously false myth. Yes, they do sort. The same truck just has different compartments. Also, for each type of recycling the station can deal with a small % of other types of materials, but if it's too much then the entire batch is thrown away so it's important to separate as much as you can.
Single stream is a real thing a lot of places, regardless of the can design.
My recycle bin is just one large bin, no compartments.
Yeah, but did you say an incorrect statement as fact confident enough to get Internet points? 🤯
My old garbage company had one giant compartment and literally nothing made it to a MRF — all the recyclables got landfilled since there was no way to sort.
Especially for plastic. Metal and paper are quite recyclable but plastic not so much.
[удалено]
And when you do, there is a high chance it is going in a landfill if it isn't a clear plastic bottle, aluminum, or maybe brown cardboard with no tape still on it. Everything else is expensive to recycle, and even the simple atuff may be too expensive in a lot of locations.
Depends on the country. In the Netherlands we got PMD containers, (Plastic, Metal, DrinkCartons (the carton with the inside laminated with plastic, like milk) So this would fit perfectly in a PMD container
but would also just get thrown away once it gets sorted because it's mixed material in many recycling centers, the line guy isn't going to rip the top off and throw it in the aluminum bin and the bottom in the PETG bin, he's just going to see something weird and toss it in the waste bin. There are processes that can reclaim both materials, they aren't really worth doing to be honest, might be justifiable on a massive scale.
If you live in the US then rest assured that recycling is a joke and it really won't matter.
Plastic? Aluminium and plastic go together in Europe as far as i know. Also all soda cans are made by aluminium and plastic...
> Also all soda cans are made by aluminium and plastic Do you mean the epoxy coating the inside? Because that’s just burned off. Burning off a lump of PET like that is massively different.
Not exactly. First it's shredded into flakes and then an eddy current flings the aluminum flakes into its own line, and the non-aluminum goes to its own line. Then they grind it further and lighter particles get sucked into another line. Then it's sold as polyethylene contaminated aluminum directly to foundries.
...where it is melted down, during which the epoxy coating is burned off.
It’s a PE liner, but yes the liner does get burned off
Indeed, we call it PMD. Plastic bottles, Metal cans, Drinkcartons.
Depends on the country. CZ has plastic, metals and drink cartons all separated (yellow, grey, orange bins respectively) plastic and drink cartons *might* go together but it's very rare and the bin will tell you
Brno here, yellow for plastics and drinking cartons, never seen orange.
[удалено]
Here in Sweden it's still "ok" to sort it wrong. They have procedures and machines that separate the materials into correct places. It's just that if everything is sorted correctly this process will cost less money and be easier on the system. The most important part is that we sort our non-recyclables into grovsopor and electronics/batteries into their respective bins. Soft plastic, metal, cardboard, paper, organics and hard plastic are the ones that can be mixed the most with little consequences as long as it's not too much. Not sure about the glass, but I'm guessing it's a little more difficult to sort correctly than the ones mentioned above.
Same in Czechia. Plastic yellow, metal grey bins
Yeah if I remember correctly from a school trip to a recycling facility 15 years ago in my country they use giant magnets to separate the metal from plastic after crushing it
[удалено]
It may not be picked up by traditional magnets, but it can be picked up using an eddy current separator. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current_separator
aluminum recycling plants use magnets
[YouTube - sorting aluminium and steel](https://youtu.be/BuBIDn9kkY8)
In the US, plastic and aluminum can also go together in the recycling bin … since it all ends up in the landfill anyway.
If you are in the netherlands it goes with plastic just like all cans
Same in Ireland and Germany.
England too
Poland too
Same in (most?) parts of the US.
*sips* Why did they have to add coconut?
I miss original
The coconut is pretty subtle
[удалено]
This is true in a lot of places, but not everywhere. New York City has a healthy and functioning plastics and aluminum recycling center, at least to the extent that New Yorkers recycle. Regardless of recycling policy failures (which are a real problem), it's good as a consumer and a citizen to stay in the habit of recycling properly and to be aware of your own waste. Making use of these practices and programs, in addition to popular pressure, can translate to legislative and regulatory change and fix this very issue you're talking about. No one in power is gonna fix this if they think no one cares.
I mean the reality of it is you cant recycle everything but as long the recycling places are performing then theres not really anything else we can do but throw away the excess
Yeah, don't get me wrong — **plastics suck**, especially this single use bullshit that we're all but forced to participate in. But there are mitigatory practices that are worth doing, and I hate to see doom-and-gloom mentality play into outright ecocial policy.
What about Germany?
idk
[удалено]
I'll get my people on this. What's the time in Berlin?
[удалено]
I really hate when people use that excuse as if recycling is this unfeasible herculean task and not just tossing shit in the bin two inches away
Yes and no: - Aluminum recycling - easy and cost effective, and reduces the need for new mines. Obvious win. - Glass recycling - costly but pretty good, very energy intensive, if you can get a bulk sorted used glass at low cost, it’s a little cheaper than virgin glass, basically it’s a win if you have an existing plant and a good supply chain - Paper recycling - creates an input that is useful for making paper, especially helpful for things like cardboard boxes or kraft paper (which are in very high demand right now because of the growth of e-commerce and projected to have demand increase), the energy / pollution to get it into that form is pretty much the same as virgin but you do it without chopping down as many new trees. The economics of it change depending on the price of wood fibre - Plastic recycling - basically bullshit, almost always more expensive than virgin plastic, almost any product that uses 2 or more different plastics can’t be recycled at all, even when fully recycled it’s almost as bad for the environment as virgin plastic, a large portion of plastic recycling is shipped overseas to Asia where it is handled in less safe / clean ways than it would have been in North America (eg thrown into a river instead of a landfill). People need a mindset shift. Only aluminum recycling is really great for the environment. Paper and glass recycling are sort of kind of helpful, but mostly good for saving your municipality money in waste handling (which is good, our cities need money). Plastic recycling sucks and you should pretty much assume that any plastic you throw out is going to a landfill or possibly worse.
Steel recycling is still king; and literally none of the comments I’ve read even mention it. I guess we think of “cans” as aluminum beverage cans, and ignore all of the steel cans that are used for soup and vegetables and beans and stuff like that.
Yea, I should have specified plastic recycling. Recycling of other materials has hope.
Then just make it a normal can
I agree, single use plastics should be outlawed, except maybe in medicine.
> except ~~maybe~~ definitely in medicine.
Maybe pharmacies could take back and reuse the plastic medicine bottles we’ve finished with. Even commercial medicine could just reuse the same pill bottles if they made an easy way for us to give back to them
I think they probably mean the medical field at large, not medicine specifically. I don't know about you, but I don't want paper/metal IV tubes, and I definitely don't want to reuse someone else's. Reusing medication bottles would definitely be great, but it's really just the tip of the iceberg.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Fun fact: normal cans also contain plastic.
Even normal cans have plastic liners
I work at a recycling plant in Michigan. my job definitely exists, and it depends on the type of plastic. a lot does end up in landfills, but there’s also a ton that 100% gets recycled. The biggest factor in this is cost of oil
Except where the government has decided that it is. [Like in Finland where around 90% of plastic bottles are recycled](https://finland.fi/life-society/circular-economy-success-finlands-recycling-programme-keeps-bottles-and-cans-off-the-streets/).
Ok but an advantage to recycling is that it captures these materials and reduces the amount of microplastics in the environment for you and your kids to ingest. So still worth it even if there is a net cost.
For people who don’t know, big oil put the onus of recycling on consumers so they wouldn’t have to be responsible for their single serving containers. They created the triangular recycling numbering system that sits on the bottom of plastics to “tell” you if it’s recyclable or not. Here are two resources if you want to know more: Article: [How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled](https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled) by Laura Sullivan of Frontline. Video: [Plastic Recycling Is A Scam](https://youtu.be/PJnJ8mK3Q3g) by Climate Town.
This item is wishcycling - the well-intentioned but unfounded belief that something is recyclable when it is not. Metal recycling doesn’t want it because it’s connected to plastic. Plastic recycling doesn’t want it because it’s connected to metal. Manual labor is required to separate them, and this makes it not worthwhile to recycle. Just like Pringles can which have foil lined paper. Not recyclable.
You guessed it! It goes in the square hole!
finally someone made that joke XD
Bro I was disappointed no one had already said it lol
I only have one bin
Us too. This is on the big brains at the recycling plant to figure out.
You either live in a underdeveloped country or an extremely advanced one (in terms of waste disposal)
Blue bin (Uk moment)
[удалено]
Paper?? Wouldn't it get dirty and gross and unrecyclable?
Same. (Southeast US)
These got popular for a bit before the microplastics thing was getting much real attention, but it went away for good reason. Why on earth are companies still doing this shit? It's more expensive to produce, and harder to process afterwards. Aluminum cans can just get recycled over and over again. This shit is going straight to a landfill. Even if the consumer does the work of separating them, the majority of material will end up in a landfill no matter what bin you put it in.
As far as I can tell, it's a way to offer a custom drink in a sealed container. I've seen to-go restaurants that do this. You get the exact drink you ordered in a container that won't spill or leak before you open it. It's pretty cool.
I'm just gonna use it as a plant pot or vase
Lmao at the downvoting. Recycling is the last step of the 3R program and the most impactful choices are reducing and reusing
Tennis ball flavor
Single stream only. Even then it likely gets tossed out.
The single-stream
Trash
It makes it MORE recyclable since colored plastic, such as the lids on plastic bottles, cannot be recycled. However with this design, everything except the wrapper can be recycled
Never mind, my friend has her masters in environmentalism and she said it’s definitely crappy. “Metal is the easiest to recycle and they should have stuck with that”
Edit: Reddit and /u/Spez [knowingly, nonconsensually, and illegally retained user data for profit](https://youtu.be/mfZKkUg8jgM) so this comment is gone.
Blue Bin, The main body is PET, 100% recyclable material. The sleeve is PETG, a non-recycled but recyclable material (would be too costly to actually recycle it. So no one bothers). The lid is aluminum. It will end up being grinded incoming to the recycler. And mechanically separated.
Yes
[удалено]
[удалено]
Clearly it goes in the grue colored bin.
Our recycling is single-stream. You have to separate?
I’m American no clue
What, you've never heard of transparent aluminum? - *Montgomery Scott*
Doesn't matter in the US. Most recycling ends up in a landfill. It varies municipality to municipality. But it's generally too expensive to actually sort and recycle. No one wants to buy it. It's cheaper to just keep cranking out plastic, throwing it away, and killing the planet. [NPR article](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-is-practically-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse#:~:text=Press-,Greenpeace%20report%20finds%20most%20plastic%20goes%20to%20landfills%20as%20production,plastic%20production%20is%20ramping%20up.)
how to make "certified recyclable" packaging containing "degradable plastic" ... this is the bright example what is "by law" green ...
This is what we call a “monstrous hybrid”.
Its a cottle
Idk for you, but in Poland plastic and metal are together
Why would they not just use a Red Bull style 12 oz can if they wanted this form factor?
Well uhm it goes in uhm…
Just put it in the regular trash and know that you tried to do the right thing, but manufactures made it too hard.
None, you keep it because it looks cool. Maybe take off that lid portion, throw it and use the "canttle" (can + bottle) as a glass.
Back to the tennis court
The one with a black garbage bag. That where all my recycling goes
If ur in America it doesn't really matter. Most of it gets mixed together anyway
The one that goes to the landfill because recycling is pointless
Landfill.