Comments on: Forget Plastic – Let’s Go Back To Using Glass. http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/ Sustainability, Environment, Progressive Politics, Peak Oil, Going Green. Thu, 16 May 2013 17:44:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: wendy http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-14634 wendy Wed, 10 Oct 2012 20:24:13 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-14634 Soda, milk etc. all taste better from a glass bottle. The product also does not go flat so quickly, and stays fresh longer. I am sick to death of buying soda in the plastic bottle only to have it go flat before it is used. Usually goes flat within 1 day. I may start returning my unused flat soda to the store and demand a refund. Maybe then someone will get the picture. Soda, milk etc. all taste better from a glass bottle. The product also does not go flat so quickly, and stays fresh longer. I am sick to death of buying soda in the plastic bottle only to have it go flat before it is used. Usually goes flat within 1 day. I may start returning my unused flat soda to the store and demand a refund. Maybe then someone will get the picture.

]]> By: david http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-2225 david Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:41:45 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-2225 Most don't fully biodegrade 100% (nothing does, really). Degrade, yes. But biodegrade, not normally and not all the time. A lot of these "bioplastics" bother me though because A. we are now using food to package things in, when millions go hungry every day and B. we need to focus on reducing all packaging rather than just reformulating it. I suppose it's better than regular plastic, but I do have my concerns. Most don’t fully biodegrade 100% (nothing does, really). Degrade, yes. But biodegrade, not normally and not all the time. A lot of these “bioplastics” bother me though because A. we are now using food to package things in, when millions go hungry every day and B. we need to focus on reducing all packaging rather than just reformulating it. I suppose it’s better than regular plastic, but I do have my concerns.

]]> By: EarthyChick6 http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-2224 EarthyChick6 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:55:19 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-2224 Bioplastic don't come from petroleum check out the world centric website; they have biodegradable plastics that are sugar cane based. Then there is hemp oil (but that is illegal) that can be made in to strong plastic that also biodegrades ... how many years does a plastic grocery bag or soda bottle need to be here anyway? RE: Comment by david on 10 March 2009: Plastic comes from petroleum, and there really isnt anything that can replicate the strength and longevity of it. Bioplastic don’t come from petroleum check out the world centric website; they have biodegradable plastics that are sugar cane based. Then there is hemp oil (but that is illegal) that can be made in to strong plastic that also biodegrades … how many years does a plastic grocery bag or soda bottle need to be here anyway?

RE: Comment by david on 10 March 2009:

Plastic comes from petroleum, and there really isnt anything that can replicate the strength and longevity of it.

]]> By: Christine http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-2223 Christine Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:51:55 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-2223 The usual argument I hear against your excellent idea is that it will be more expensive to transport glass than plastic in trucks. Which brings me to the next question--why aren't we using freight trains to transport all this stuff, instead of trucks? The usual argument I hear against your excellent idea is that it will be more expensive to transport glass than plastic in trucks.

Which brings me to the next question–why aren’t we using freight trains to transport all this stuff, instead of trucks?

]]> By: Jeneva http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-2222 Jeneva Fri, 15 May 2009 18:18:29 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-2222 "It”™s not a glass vs plastic issue; it”™s a social issue. If someone doesn”™t recyele the plastic bottle, what makes you think they are going to recylce a glass one." Except that it IS a glass vs plastic issue, because of all the non-recycled plastic that ends up in the environment, never biodegrading and only breaking down into smaller and more toxic pieces of plastic. Glass and metal are better alternatives because they are inert, don't leach or absorb toxins like plastic does, and don't float like plastic does. Glass and metal eventually break down, by weathering and rusting, into mostly sand and iron molecules. Plastic never does -- nearly every bit of plastic that has ever been manufactured is still in existence today, and will be for thousands of years into the future, absorbing and transporting persistent organic pollutants everywhere it travels. Even if nobody EVER recycled their glass bottles or returned them for refilling (which is unlikely -- even those thrown away by people who don't care will often be picked up by people who want the refund or recycling money, there's practically a cottage industry in it), they would still at least not end up floating in a Texas-sized patch of garbage in the middle of the ocean, being eaten by and poisoning/shredding from the inside all varieties of sea life, the way that plastic does in the Pacific Garbage Patch. “It”™s not a glass vs plastic issue; it”™s a social issue. If someone doesn”™t recyele the plastic bottle, what makes you think they are going to recylce a glass one.”

Except that it IS a glass vs plastic issue, because of all the non-recycled plastic that ends up in the environment, never biodegrading and only breaking down into smaller and more toxic pieces of plastic. Glass and metal are better alternatives because they are inert, don’t leach or absorb toxins like plastic does, and don’t float like plastic does. Glass and metal eventually break down, by weathering and rusting, into mostly sand and iron molecules. Plastic never does — nearly every bit of plastic that has ever been manufactured is still in existence today, and will be for thousands of years into the future, absorbing and transporting persistent organic pollutants everywhere it travels.

Even if nobody EVER recycled their glass bottles or returned them for refilling (which is unlikely — even those thrown away by people who don’t care will often be picked up by people who want the refund or recycling money, there’s practically a cottage industry in it), they would still at least not end up floating in a Texas-sized patch of garbage in the middle of the ocean, being eaten by and poisoning/shredding from the inside all varieties of sea life, the way that plastic does in the Pacific Garbage Patch.

]]> By: Roger http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-2220 Roger Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:21:23 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-2220 Wht can't we use a natural wax on the cartons, And wouldn't it be better for the environment to incinerate said cartons? Couldn't we find good filters to protect the air from the pollution burning cartons would emit? I mean it would be cleaner than continue use of plastic. How bout a non petroleum hard plastic substitute with a deposit refund? Wht can’t we use a natural wax on the cartons, And wouldn’t it be better for the environment to incinerate said cartons? Couldn’t we find good filters to protect the air from the pollution burning cartons would emit? I mean it would be cleaner than continue use of plastic. How bout a non petroleum hard plastic substitute with a deposit refund?

]]> By: david http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-2221 david Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:43:02 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-2221 Plastic comes from petroleum, and there really isnt anything that can replicate the strength and longevity of it. Plastic comes from petroleum, and there really isnt anything that can replicate the strength and longevity of it.

]]> By: Stewart O'Marah http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-2218 Stewart O'Marah Fri, 28 Nov 2008 01:36:10 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-2218 Man, you guys are old. It's not a glass vs plastic issue; it's a social issue. If someone doesn't recyele the plastic bottle, what makes you think they are going to recylce a glass one. Aluminum cans cuerrently has a cash value if recycled, how many of them do you see thrown away or on the roadside. This would just speed up gloabl warming because of the inceased energy usage/demand to create and transport the glass containers, spelling the death of us all! Get real, would you? Gees! Man, you guys are old. It’s not a glass vs plastic issue; it’s a social issue. If someone doesn’t recyele the plastic bottle, what makes you think they are going to recylce a glass one. Aluminum cans cuerrently has a cash value if recycled, how many of them do you see thrown away or on the roadside. This would just speed up gloabl warming because of the inceased energy usage/demand to create and transport the glass containers, spelling the death of us all! Get real, would you? Gees!

]]> By: David http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-2219 David Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:42:44 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-2219 Its about reuse, not recycling. - geez. Its about reuse, not recycling. – geez.

]]> By: Veshengro http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/04/09/use-glass-instead-of-plastic/#comment-2217 Veshengro Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:26:12 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=1662#comment-2217 @David... While this may be the case, e.g. everything, basically, in glass bottles in mainland Europe you will, unfortunately not find that here in the UK. On the other hand you can still get milk delivered by the dairies in glass bottles. Do not try to buy it in glass bottles though in the stores. David, you are also so right about the wax coating on the cardboard milk containers (and the cardboard coffee take-out cups). People think "oh, cardboard - can be recycled"... erm, sorry, no it can't. The coffee beakers over here in the UK now are actually lines with a thin plastic film which makes it even worse. Rather then have plastic take out cups.. @David…

While this may be the case, e.g. everything, basically, in glass bottles in mainland Europe you will, unfortunately not find that here in the UK. On the other hand you can still get milk delivered by the dairies in glass bottles. Do not try to buy it in glass bottles though in the stores.

David, you are also so right about the wax coating on the cardboard milk containers (and the cardboard coffee take-out cups). People think “oh, cardboard – can be recycled”… erm, sorry, no it can’t. The coffee beakers over here in the UK now are actually lines with a thin plastic film which makes it even worse. Rather then have plastic take out cups..

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