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this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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A fuck ton of products could be shipped in reusable/recyclable glass container but no govt will ever force it. All condiments, dressings, jams, pickles etc. could fit in a dozen standard sized container that could be returned for a deposit (like beer bottles) and then reused by manufactures.
Yeah I've often wondered about stuff like bringing back "the milkman" and other such things. People could put out their old glassware for cleaning/re-use and have fresh product delivered in a new container. Stores are already back to doing home delivery for groceries.
It'd also bring back a whole genre of bad jokes about parentage.
Up until the bridge was built PEI had reusable glass bottles for pop, it saved the cost of shipping trash back to the mainland by boat. So it is very much doable in modern Canada. If rolled out nation wide it could be sold as a system to other countries. Because you'll never get it done here unless there is some ROI other than 'we dont all die in a mountain of plastic.'
Mandate the Mason/Bernardin form factors. Plenty of sizes, swappable lids, and afaik an open standard. /nod
That said, aluminum is super cheap to recycle and very light. I think that might be as good if not better. Crank up the deposit on the cans.
I like aluminum cans as well but I think it is more energy intense to melt them down and re-manufacture them compared to cleaning and refilling glass. It also has to be used to store products that are under pressure, most of a beer can's strength comes from the pressure inside!
Yeah, though aluminum also has the advantage of being orders of magnitude lighter, so you save a lot on fuel for shipping at every stage of the process. Plus a glass bottle can only be used as a bottle: recycled aluminum is more flexible.
So it could easily tilt in favour of aluminum I think. BUt you're right that it's not clear-cut.
There used to be a glass plant near the town where I grew up.
The bottles don't just get washed and refilled. They're melted down and recast, just like aluminum. But the process is much less energy intensive.
Aluminum oxide (the natural form of aluminum as it reacts with the atmosphere) just so happens to have an extremely high melting point. Aluminum smelters must use all three of pressure, heat, and electrolysis to get the oxygen to burn off and liquefy the aluminum. Glass and even steel need only heat. I don't know what the final environmental impact is, but the energy input at the point of smelting is much higher for aluminum.