Materials and Waste

There are some who want to replace single use plastics with single use aluminum or glass containers, noting the greater recycablity of both materials. But I think it’s a bad idea:

• Glass and metal, once produced last forever in the environment.
• A glass or metal object doesn’t just rot, it also doesn’t doesn’t burn. A discarded plastic bottle may be incinerated, burned in a burn barrel or campfire or be destroyed by a wildfire
• Plastics, especially outside of a landfill have a much shorter life than metals or glass thanks to the combustible nature of hydrocarbons
• Metals and glass discarded can lead to cuts in children and adults when they step on the glass, are working in the woods or swimming in the creek
• Metals and glass discarded can puncture car tires both on and off the road
• Metals and glass discarded can get into pasture and cause painful death from hardware disease in cows and other livestock
• Traditional deposit for recycling programs do increase recycling rates but still don’t eliminate litter or even ensure most of the material is recycled
• Recycling is great but even with glass and metal which is said to be 100% recyclable, material is lost when the metals and glass are melted down for reprocessing
• Glass and metal makes a lot more sense with true rewash and reuse programs – like milk delivered by a milk man
• Milk in glass is colder and purer
• As would be other beverages such as soda or beer produced and distributed in reused growlers