Could we make standardized durable containers that can simply be scrubbed, optionally polished and reused? Or just melted down and reused. Seemed to work ok for the dairy industry decades before my birth.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
Go to a developing country and the deposit on the beer bottle costs more than the beer in it. They are all clean and reused. Tons of countries charge money for plastic bags, or have even made them illegal. We need to catch up.
Anyone even semi educated or over 55 recalls that when they grew up, most items came in glass containers, containers that you were required to place a deposit, and return for a refund.
It's only recent history, that a non conservative society which values expediency at a price of disposability and non ownership for freedom has become the norm.
More than this, the recycle scam is finally being exposed, and not soon enough in my estimation.. Islands of plastic in the Pacific ocean, so that people in cities feel better about themselves while driving to and from yoga in their prius while finger wagging truck driving hillbillies in the middle of the country.
Meanwhile, mayors, local reps, and governors try to export the problems somewhere else while millenials look to the federal govt and the administrative state as their saviours, so nothing really has to get done. Cue the food/milk/bag/whatever delivery as a service folks. This has cash cow written all over it..
And that's before we even mention sachets. The very devil.
It isn't that simple though, I have relatives that worked for coke back in the glass bottle days and they would never drink coke from a glass bottle - they knew first hand how hard it was to get those bottles clean again. New plastic bottles and cans are always clean.
Sometimes the concentrated syrup will be transported to the bottling company; I think this is probably the usual case for smaller markets.
It can be done
Consider a neighbourhood where everyone has a lawn to mow. The lawnmover companies want to increase (not reduce) sales. So we end up with everyone having their own mower, which sits idle 95% of the time, instead of one community mower that's shared by neighbours. It's just a little example, but it extends to everything.
1. Everybody wants to mow at the same time
2. Community goods are often treated careless, leaving me with a dirty or non-functional mower when it is my turn
3. Who is responsible for repairs
Off topic, but when I bought a new mower last year, I couldn't believe how far the technology has come. No more primer bulb, starts easily on the first pull, and a few other items I don't recall off the top of my head. Same with cars, for example if you get out of it while it is still in gear it automatically puts itself in park, and it can limp home with loss of coolant (it fires every other cylinder pushing air through the others for cooling).
The neighborhood mower would cost 10x as much last just as long and serve the needs of 20 people - so a better deal in the long run. However what price are you willing to pay to not have to use the mower on your neighborhood's schedule - owning your own is probably worth it for you.
If the engine reaches a preset
over-temperature condition, the engine
automatically switches to alternating
cylinder operation. Each disabled cylinder
acts as an air pump and cools the engine.
When this occurs, your vehicle still
operates, however:
• Engine power is limited.
• The air conditioning system turns off.
Continued operation increases the engine
temperature, causing the engine to
completely shut down. Your steering and
braking effort increases in this situation.It doesn't really let you operate with no coolant. Might get you farther before you die if you push it.
Wow, this really cheered up my morning. Thanks.
And over the long run, sharing lawnmowers wouldn't even reduce total lawnmower production. The shared lawnmowers would run more hours per week and need replacement sooner.
This is only true if people fully utilize their personal lawnmower before discarding it. I doubt this is the case. It seems that sharing would result in less discarding of under-utilized lawnmowers, and thus reduce the number of lawnmowers needed. Of course, I'm not saying anyone should be forced to do this.
But, they're also a great example: we shouldn't have lawns which add nothing to the ecosystem and require resources to maintain.
[edited]
But plants are "weeds" and insects are "pests." So people spray neurotoxins, and see how much biodiversity they can destroy.
And most other non-carbonated liquids?
[1]https://www.horizon.com/faqs?f%5B5%5D=field_faq_category%3A9...
I do buy cheap wine in tetra boxes. They have a spigot to limit air-intake, so you can take your time to finish it.
As we can see, it worked really well. The environment was saved, waste and littering are things of the past.
Some people still believe it's a grass roots organisation simply trying to improve the beauty of the country. Edit: founding members Philip Morris, Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola
I’d prefer a straight tax instead so it goes into general revenue instead of bribing industry.
So I'd prefer manufacturers responsible for every last cent of running a full-scale return and reuse programme. If that makes fizzy drinks more expensive, well, I'm not sure that's a bad thing either. Externalities are what started us on the way to this mess in the first place.
Beer growlers are a similar concept. Maybe this just spreads to more and more products.
That's called recycling
Based on this article, it looks like "Or just melted down and reused" doesn't work very well.
And what is the role of democracy in regulating global public goods? How are you going to vote on environmental protections on other continents?
"How are you going to vote on environmental protections on other continents?"
Trade negotiations? Or are you asking if invasion and war are an option, which they absolutely are not.
Tea came in chests, sugar and potatoes in sacks, there'd be large jars for the shop owner to measure out from. Most things went to the shop in bulk.
Only a few were pre-packed right from the start, like bars of soap and bottles for instance. Those bottles would almost certainly have a deposit scheme. Most of the individual packaging, and variance of packaging, came with supermarkets.
It also allowed for easy adulteration of products (ever read old formulary books that were popular back then? They had a ton of "recipes" in them on how to extend or change a product to make more money from it, or sell expired goods, etc).
Imagine bulk flour sold by a company. Shop owner pays some money for it. Then reads how to "extend" the product using wood flour (aka sawdust). The shop owner reaps a much high profit, but the company that milled the flour gets a bad rep.
This kind of thing still goes on today with a variety of products that are sold to the consumer in bulk, especially where the consumer can't easy see what they are getting (or can't test it properly; for instance, it happens with gasoline occasionally).
It certainly made adulterating super easy, and in no small part led to the food safety laws both sides of the Atlantic, and the UK's trading standards. Things like alum in flour, or other equally unpleasant additives.
More recent variations on the theme have been more aware of the tendency to cheat, so have tried to make it a little more difficult. We'll always need spot checks from trading standards for restaurants and shops as someone will always try.
If laundry detergent doesn’t go bad, why aren’t I buying it in 25L or 50L barrels?
We buy 10year supplies of other products (the machines themselves), why not their consumables? They go up in price every year too.
That or buying the concentrate and diluting it yourself with the old container. That bottle of windex (spray glass cleaner) is 95% water.
Put a nice big tax on consumables, reduce the lowest rates of income tax with the revenue (or write cheques) and voila.
Instead of bigger containers, reusable containers. I have a 4 L container for laundry detergent that I fill up at the store on my walk home from work, fits nicely in my backpack.
Instead, I just buy 10x 5L containers when they’re on sale. A big waste of plastic.
Barring that, plastic foil is more friendly. Buy a refill if available.
I’m not sure if it’s just a scam to sell me liquid detergent tho.