I’ve been thinking about this especially as tariffs are set to make non-plastic even more expensive, and we’re going to see EVEN MORE products that traditionally were glass/aluminum become plastic…Not just from an ‘ecowarrior’ thing but micro/nanoplastic pollution, what are your tips to avoid plastic packages as it seems increasingly the ‘only’ option for so many products now… even 75% of veggies at my local super are plastic wrapped with no alternative!!! Yes, I use the bulk section… what other tips/hacks do you have, if any?
Then energy consumption is again not the important metric. The amount of existing plastic is.
Going round in circles here.
It costs less, takes less energy, and therefore creates less climate-heating CO2 pollution, to make plastic out of virgin petroleum than it does to create plastic out of plastic. That should not be surprising: a thermoplastic is just petroleum with the molecules fixed into hard-to-break bonds. Of course it’s going to be more efficient to start with the raw product.
We all agree that we should be using less plastic. But assuming an equal amount of plastic usage, and assuming that waste plastic is kept out of waterways in sealed landfills (plastic does not biodegrade so it will not produce methane), then it makes more sense from an environmental perspective to simply use virgin plastic.
Maybe that’s uncomfortable but it’s true. Plastic recycling is a mirage: it serves mainly to make consumers feel better about themselves. The closed loop just makes no sense due to the energy problem. That is not the case with glass, paper and especially aluminum, all of which are very efficiently recycled.
Read this. I’ve said enough here.
PS: added emphasis
Oh, sure, if you assume used plastic is tightly and cleanly tucked away after use then creating new plastic doesn’t create more plastic, and energy becomes important.
But if we can’t get recycling right, why do you think we would get storage right? In fact, there are plenty of stories that show we don’t get storage right.
Recycling keeps the plastic out of the waste stream which otherwise just ends up in the environment.