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Comment by deegles | Hacker News Reader

It seems like such a waste of plastic and cardboard. Makes me think of Keurig k-cups and how it's been deemed an environmental mess. I'm sure the Soylent bottles are recyclable but it's still a waste to be shipping all that weight around (including the water).

I hope they make a vending machine that mixes it on the spot.

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Do you have the same criticism for all bottled drinks?

For instance if you were buying juice would you get a regular carton or a concentrate? (not exactly the same - not adding water vs removing it)

I think your point is a valid one; this just wouldn't be the first place I would apply it. There are countless examples of wasteful products. Excessive packaging alone generates so much garbage.

I do think they are wasteful, but it doesn't bother me as much because the consumption pattern is different. I'll have maybe 3 bottled drinks per month.

On the other hand, Soylent 2.0 means I'd consume about 6 bottles per day (2400 calories). That's 2,190 bottles per year.

What are you eating instead of Soylent that is packaging free?

Depending on where you live (certainly not SF or NYC) it's quite common to get most or a large portion of your vegetables from the back yard. It could easily account for 10-25% of one's diet during the growing season.

You can just donate the used plastic and cardboard to charity alongside your dirty laundry. Charities can use these things without further cleaning, so you're not harming the environment.

I fear that people aren't going to get the reference here...

I don't. Care to explain ?

Snarky reference to this amazing blog post by the Soylent inventor:

http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1331

It uses less water to order new clothes from cheap labor in China than to launder them, so therefore the right thing to do is to buy new clothes and ... donate the old ones to charity where ... magically they don't have to be washed???

If this was from anyone other than the guy who thought inventing Soylent was a good idea, I'd call it a masterful work of satire.

If you look at other posts of the guy, it's more clear that is satire. Hard to say from just that post.

http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1005

Thanks ! Well played, actually.

The problem with Keurig k-cups is that you can't use them for anything else and you can't use them with other coffee machines. These bottles look like you could save them as water bottles in the worst case.

Being realistic, nobody is going to use these for water bottles either. And even if they did how many water bottles do you really need?

K-Cups are wasteful, but at least they ship three months (90 K-Cups) at a time and there is very little wasted space during shipping (it is just packed coffee). Is it a waste of plastic/foil? Absolutely. But in terms of shipping waste, K-Cups aren't near the worst.

These on the other hand are shipping around tap water. That uses up fuel, it uses up space, and it arguably wastes even more plastic. There's no reason this couldn't be shipped as a powder and sell you months and months of the stuff.

The saddest part is that they USED to sell the product like that. They're moving to this method to increase the price (and let's not pretend: It is a marked increase).

As someone who has boxes of the powder sitting around, I'm thrilled to get it pre-mixed in a bottle. The entire convenience factor of Soylent was largely eroded by the mixing and cleaning process, and I'll be happy to have ready-to-drink bottles that I don't have to scrub down for tomorrow's meal.

For me that's not the case (even as someone who loathes doing dishes).

I use a quart size glass mason jar. Usually get away with just adding some water after I'm done and shaking to clean (even after letting it sit for a while)

> The saddest part is that they USED to sell the product like that.

They still do. They've said they will for the foreseeable future, and will continue to update it.

IMHO, the new bottles are to aim at a more casual demographic. They at least seem more convenient.

After seeing a dead albatross with a bunch of plastic in its stomach; I look at all this, non essential, for convince sake--plastic garbage in a worse light than before.

I am guilty of using those plastic tooth picks, actually know the spoiled brat who made millions from his dad's invention, and seed money 30 years ago. I now see them disguarded everywhere. They must make it into the oceans?

Anyways, I hope consumers stop buying products that aren't reusable?

http://ocean.si.edu/slideshow/laysan-albatrosses’-plastic-pr...

Each bottle replaces a traditional meal. How much water/plastic/cardboard is needed for most normal meals?

Almost none? Produce can be purchased in reusable bags, and the water comes from your faucet so it doesn't need to be shipped cross-country.

It's possible that Soylent is replacing meals that would have otherwise been fast food or takeout, both of which waste both cardboard and plastic.

I don't imagine a lot of people are eschewing home-cooked meals for meal replacement shakes.

I'm not sure that's the appropriate comparison. Why not compare directly with powdered soylent?

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