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Comment by 0xDEFC0DE | Hacker News Reader

Is it bad that I actually like this core idea because of plastics pollution?

The solution to the bottled water epidemic is (to return to) reusing water bottles, not to manufacture yet more millions out of a different material.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. In that order

I bought four cheap water bottles from supermarket, one for work, one for home office, one for bedroom and a spare.

Drinking bottled water in the UK is insane, we have some of the best water in the world and people spend a pound on something they could get out the tap basically free.

How about ensuring tap water is actually drinkable and stop water bottles altogether?

It still boggles my mind that people continue buying water bottles where tap water is totally ok (and in some case, better than bottled water).

Did you know that aluminum cans have a plastic liner?

Plastic bottles are made from a plastic that can be recycled into carpets and other synthetic materials fairly well. Plastic pollution comes largely from lower grades of plastic (think plastic bags, etc) that break apart into smaller pieces that filter feeders eat

Is the liner similar to bottles or is it lower grade plastic?

If it's lower grade, is there something better than can be used?

I did not

Aw man :(

Apparently, alumimum can cause neurodegenerative diseases [1]. Therefore perhaps it's a good thing that these cans have a plastic liner (?)

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28429887

Definitely! I was just providing information that using aluminum cans isn't a viable way to reduce exposure to plastic

I wouldn't worry about the plastic liner, TBH. Afaik this plastic lining is burned off/removed when recycling the aluminum. Unlike plastic, and like steel, aluminum is very economical to recycle, so it mostly is and has been for decades.

Do you think burning plastic is an environmentally sound practice?

That depends on how complete the combustion is and how well the produced gasses are filtered.

Aluminium its not economical to recycle at all. It takes a lot of energy to recycle it, which is done only because processing bauxites is even more expensive.

Buy a metal/glass bottle and fill it yourself. It's the most convenient / least polluting way to go. Depending on where you live some bottles might be consigned and reused (I know they do it that way in berlin)

It's "reduce, reuse, recycle" for a reason, "reduce" has a much bigger impact then "recycle".

Aluminum cans have a plastic liner.

Is that better or worse than disposable bottles?

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