Glass production may be as bad for the environment as plastic(bbc.com)
bbc.com
Glass production may be as bad for the environment as plastic
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230427-glass-or-plastic-which-is-better-for-the-environment
9 comments
> Although plastic cannot be endlessly recycled, the manufacturing process is less energy-intensive, as there is a lower melting point for plastics compared with glass.
And a glass container is probably 10-100x as heavy as an equivalent plastic container.
> Even though glass containers can be reused an average of 12-20 times, glass is often treated as single-use.
In Norway soda-bottles where reused before, but it's many years since this practice stopped. I can not think of a single commonly used consumer glass container which is reused.
I would think a container could be reused alot more the 12-20 times though. Or is breakage during transportation and handling common enough to compress this number?
And a glass container is probably 10-100x as heavy as an equivalent plastic container.
> Even though glass containers can be reused an average of 12-20 times, glass is often treated as single-use.
In Norway soda-bottles where reused before, but it's many years since this practice stopped. I can not think of a single commonly used consumer glass container which is reused.
I would think a container could be reused alot more the 12-20 times though. Or is breakage during transportation and handling common enough to compress this number?
Mason jars (pasta sauce) are regularly reused.
And glass is actually recyclable. Plastic is all shipped overseas and most of it is not recycled at all.
And glass is actually recyclable. Plastic is all shipped overseas and most of it is not recycled at all.
> Extracting sand for glass production may also have contributed to the current global sand shortage.
Since sand is also used as a concrete aggregate my suspicion was that glass usage accounted for tiny fraction of the use, but according to https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/silica-sand-market-1... glass accounts for ~1/6 of the volume (eyeballing the shitty chart)
Since sand is also used as a concrete aggregate my suspicion was that glass usage accounted for tiny fraction of the use, but according to https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/silica-sand-market-1... glass accounts for ~1/6 of the volume (eyeballing the shitty chart)
The difference is that it's infinitely reusable. Heat it up, reshape it, bing bang boom. Plastic can go back to oil via pyrolysis but it's hardly the same.
Glass also doesn't turn into infinite microscopic pollutants that leach chemicals over time and get into the bloodstreams of all living things.
I'd rather have glass and less people to be honest.
Glass also doesn't turn into infinite microscopic pollutants that leach chemicals over time and get into the bloodstreams of all living things.
I'd rather have glass and less people to be honest.
> Heat it up
That’s kind of the issue here
That’s kind of the issue here
Well you'll never guess what pyrolysis is...
Glass might not be so great. Specially if it is coloured with heavy metals and then ground up. It can then end in lungs and cause diseases...
Around where I live glass goes into one recycling box and is used as aggregate to make roads, at least that is what I’m led to believe.
Seems like a huge waste to me, roads are probably the least environmentally helpful thing to make, glass fibre insulation is a big step up.
Seems like a huge waste to me, roads are probably the least environmentally helpful thing to make, glass fibre insulation is a big step up.
It made me very excited to learn that it could automate the yogurt-making process because I've eaten one serving of yogurt every day (except when traveling) since mid-2003 so I bought 14 glass mason jars and made my first batch on Sunday, April 7th, 2019. Since then I have made a two-week batch of yogurt every other Sunday, except when traveling.
That means that those 14 jars have been used once every two weeks for 213 weeks, which means each one has been reused 107 times. It is extremely rare for me to drop and break something and the jars do not seem to be degrading (I have replaced several lids-- made of steel) so I by my calculation I would estimate that they can be reused at least an infinite number of times.
If I had purchased yogurt in single serving containers that would mean I have saved 1,493 single-serving plastic containers from being placed into the waste stream. But I bought yogurt in 5-serving containers so that means I have saved 299 plastic containers from being placed into the waste stream.
When I started, I sourced milk in paper cartons and wasn't too concerned about the thin polyethylene film lining within the cartons but since then I have gone anti-plastic global thermonuclear war and get my milk from a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) organization and it comes in 1/2 gallon glass jars, which are turned in, washed, and reused.
It seems unlikely that 14 glass mason jars have a larger environmental impact that 1,493 single-serving plastic yogurt cups or 299 multi-serving plastic yogurt containers, and even if they do I don't know if that will hold true over the next 50 years as I intend to continue reusing the 14 glass mason jars until I, or they, die.
I think that instead of favoring plastic for single-use items due to energy concerns the standardization, effective capture, and reuse of glass items should be incentivized.
I know it's "really hard" but I'm a lazy piece of shit and I'm doing it...