Some poorly made reusable shopping bags rip or otherwise break before they get used enough times to break even with the single use disposable plastic shopping bags they are supposed to replace. Especially the cheap ones bring given out as freebies.
Comment on I'm doing my part
qevlarr@lemmy.world 1 month ago
There’s so much plastic lining that paper otherwise everything would get too soggy anyway. Yay for glass and metal. Reusable beats disposable, no matter what it’s made of
wunami@lemmy.world 1 month ago
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
That’s bullshit from the oil companies. They did a “study” that concluded that but if you read the methodology, they made the assumption that the reusable bag would be unusable after 20 uses.
Meanwhile I’ve been going to the grocery store every week for quite a few years using the same bags without much issue. I’ve had one strap on a bag break after ~10 years of use, so there’s that I guess. Still haven’t thrown it out, keep meaning to repair it which I never get around to doing.
Anyway, if you read between the lines of the study conducted by the oil companies, if you reuse the bag more than 20 times (half a year of going to the grocery store every week) you are reducing plastic waste.
content_educator_94@thelemmy.club 1 month ago
Those damn oil companies really grind my gears
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Electric motors don’t use gears… we have gears to grind because the oil companies have made a lot of people think they’re necessary.
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 month ago
No, that’s no bullshit, we just recently had a reusable shopping bag’s handles literally rip off after only the third use…
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Consider buying less shitty bags then.
autriyo@feddit.org 1 month ago
If they’re made from fabric they’re pretty repairable though.
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Don’t tell that to the anti-repair folks, they’ll end up banning sewing needles and thread…
basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
we already defederated threads
diaphragmwp@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
Glass is glass and glass breaks. Win win for overpopulation, though.
spicehoarder@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
A German talking about overpopulation. I don’t like where this is going…
diaphragmwp@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
Why would you assume I am German?
calcopiritus@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Because the instance your account is on ends in
.deteslekova@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Yeah, but a lot of the others were from Prussia, and as I’m sure you love hearing, Prussia invented Germany! 😄
mushroomman_toad@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
Yeah, I want to be able shove my McDonald’s cups up my ass without ending up like the jar guy
agent_nycto@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Unlike plastic which never breaks ever
diaphragmwp@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
Sheet thin bendable plastic like that is difficult to break without tools. Especially while you are in progress of drinking from it. I was referring to glass shard going into people if it wasn’t clear. There’s already microplastics in people (for various reasons, not just straws), not much to loose there.
Phantaloons@piefed.zip 1 month ago
Yay for glass and metal
MrSmith@lemmy.world 1 month ago
You’re discounting transportation and manufacturing costs.
Reusable only works if it’s manufactured fairly locally and actually gets recycled, which a lot of stuff doesn’t, even if it’s made from glass or metal.
We need to move away from packaging altogether.
Bring-your-own-container is the only way.
basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
Wat? It’s great if it gets recycled, but it works if it gets reused
MrSmith@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Glass = heavy. More transport pollution, more manufacturing pollution.
While glass is high in recyclability, all hinges on where it’s coming from and where it’s going (to be recycled).
Best container is the one you can bring from home.
basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
Still the point stands that you can reuse glass a lot than plastic before you have to recycle it. (Glass up to 50 times and PET up to 25 times.) Transport pollution is a solvable problem, but they definitely require more energy to get transported.
And the point is still that reusable works no matter how it gets produced and recycled, since it avoids the production of a lot of new bottles.
Bringing your own stuff is definitely the best way, yes. That would require special filling stations, which I don’t see coming anytime soon. I’ve only seen tests for bringing your own container with dry and pourable stuff, but that may require standardized containers for weighing if I remember correctly. At least in supermarkets.
peetabix@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Theres a plastic lining in aluminium cans too. So glass a the way.
alanjaow@lemmy.world 1 month ago
It’s quite thin for aluminum, and the downside with glass is the high energy cost of melting it. I’d like if we went back to washing and reusing bottles, but I suppose that’s a big shift in processing capabilities.
MeThisGuy@feddit.nl 1 month ago
there are plenty of beverage companies that simply wash and reuse glass bottles
manuallybreathing@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
There’s plastic in bottle caps :)
basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
McD should have a deposit system in Germany, but haven’t been there since ragulations cganged
Vittelius@feddit.org 1 month ago
Germany doesn’t but French McD has
EarJava@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Not 100% win though:
Glass bottles of lemonade, iced tea, soft drinks and beer contained on average around 100 microplastic particles per litre, which is between five and 50 times more than plastic bottles or cans. Source
nforminvasion@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Forgive any ignorance or arrogance on my part, I’m not a materials scientist at all, but wouldn’t the plastic caps on plastic bottles also have the same deleterious effect?
I didn’t read anything in there about them exploring the source of the plastic particulates in plastic bottles. Whether from the bottle or from the cap too.
turtlesareneat@piefed.ca 1 month ago
The cap is actually much worse than the bottle because the mechanical twisting motion abrades the surfaces, so yes it turns yes out you can badly contaminate a whole bottle of liquid with a simple bottlecap.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 month ago
and tin cans. i think with tin it might be wax though
meekah@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
Epoxy resin. Which is basically plastic. Arguably worse because of BPA