We should straight up give up on much of recycling and go back to focusing on the recycling that matters and is worthwhile, and begin to heap scorn on plastics the same way we have done on styrofoam (remember when every big Mac came in it’s own styrofoam container?).
(Note that what we generically call styrofoam is expanded polystyrene (XPS), which isn't quite the same material as the original 'Styrofoam' brand of extruded polystyrene (EPS) insulation board. The commonality is the polymer they're made from, polystyrene (PS), which is also used as "normal" moulded plastic.)
Virtually no polystyrene foam is recycled (and most municipal recycling rejects PS entirely). This is because of the same economic unviability of recycling that plagues most plastics, just greatly exacerbated by the low density of foams. Similarly, the issue with Styrofoam food containers is much more immediate than microplastics in general: PS releases its toxic monomer styrene when heated, which just about makes coffee cups and fast food containers its worst possible use case. But the low price and insulative properties of the foam render it popular still in jurisdictions where it's legal.
Also: Rigid polystyrene is used in food containers, too (e.g., yoghurt containers and disposable plastic cups). And another popular polymer, ABS, also contains styrene (hence the recommendation for ventilation when 3D printing it).
Sadly this doesn't seem stop people from jamming up our building's recycling bins with tons of the stuff. Or IKEA, Samsung, and their ilk from producing tons of it to use in product packaging. Horrible stuff!
https://www.intelligentliving.co/ikea-mushroom-based-packagi...
On eggs: Polystyrene is also very reusable and recyclable in sorted recycling (aka taking back to the grocery store)
Better or worse than paper-based cups and food packaging laced with PFAS ("forever" fluorochemicals) to make them waterproof and greaseproof?
I mean yeah it would be much better if we didn't use it at all but I don't think that genie is going back in the bottle anytime soon.
I'm right now drinking from a bottle that's been filled dozens of times. And the best feature of a reused bottle is that it has less aromatics to leach out than the newly-manufactured bottles have - they've already leached out.
"Bacteria inoculated onto Plastic blocks were readily recovered for minutes to hours and would multiply if held overnight. Recoveries from wooden blocks were generally less than those from plastic blocks, regardless of new or used status; differences increased with holding time."
So plastic gives you more bacteria, and plastic shavings. Stick to wood.
Note to use solid wood. I've seen cutting blocks of wood strips glued together - impossible to clean and easy to warp. All the disadvantages of every type of cutting board in one overpriced scrap ))
I think that's a little ambitious of a conclusion given that the study you cited didn't (at least as described in the abstract) involve cleaning.
My thick HDPE boards can survive the dishwasher's high temperature cycle without warping, and the HDPE is better for my knives.
I do cut down on washing by using the same cutting board for produce and meats, but raw meat is always the last thing on the board before cleaning.
You will see hoards of people loading palettes of 1cu. and 0.5L water bottles into their minivans/suvs. It is depressing a/f because my city has fantastic water.
The 1cu bottles are just an insult to everything good in this world.
Better would be to replace as many places where it’s used as possible with other materials.
Probably because of public unease about sustainability, specifically running out of landfills.
>GONZALEZ: There were all these stats coming out at the time that showed that the number of landfills in America was plummeting. Landfills were closing, and people kept citing these stats in stories about the garbage barge.
>KINNAMAN: And so people put it all together, and in their minds, the conclusion was that the United States is running out of landfill space. The United States was full - that we couldn't store any more.
Of course, that was never going to happen.
>And even hardcore environmentalists reluctantly agree that, yeah, we have a lot of space left. But people thought we were running out of space, and that was what mattered.
But this generalization is incorrect. Aluminum, cardboard, steel are easy to transport and recycle. Glass is too.
For styrofoam, It was not shame, or environmentalism that caused that change it is price and convenience.
styrofoam sucked for most of the uses in fast food. Plastic and Plastic coated paper, was cheaper, more durable, and preferred by most customers.
Want to stop plastic, invent something better. Something that does not break down in liquid or grease...
It's only a scam because it became a thing so recently.
Recycling of glass is no more economically viable than plastic recycling and even it was a thing until we started making domestic labor and industry ludicrously expensive.