Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution
Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution
Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution
The two tobacco companies Altria and Philip Morris International combined made up 2% of the branded plastic litter found, both Danone and Nestlé each produced 3% of it, PepsiCo was responsible for 5% of the discarded packaging, and 11% of branded plastic waste could be traced to the Coca-Cola company.
Imagine how much plastic waste could be eliminated if Coke and Pepsi just went back to glass bottles?
Imagine how much plastic waste could be eliminated if we just boycotted these companies.
Is glass litter better?
We should also account for extra emissions due to higher weight and lower density in transportation. Glass is significantly heavier, and you need more of it per item for the same strength, so you'll be moving fewer total bottles per truckload.
Aluminum is also recyclable, durable, light, and cheap, though I don't know if aluminum litter is better than plastic. I assume it is since I've not heard of micro-aluminum causing environmental damage (yet).
Aluminium and glass is close to infinitely recyclable.
Better yet, glass bottles can be reused up to 7 times.
But it costs more than a returnable plastic bottle. Which obviously costs more than a sturdy as a trashbag plastic bottle.
Glass litter? Not necessarily, but glass is essentially infinitely recyclable, unlike plastic.
Unfortunately the coating they put on the inside of alu cans is pretty terrible so they are slightly less good than glass in that regard
Yes.
We should also account for extra emissions due to higher weight and lower density in transportation.
That's more a consequence of business efforts to minimize labor costs. There's very little reason not to produce, recycle, and dispose of glass waste locally, unless you're trying to leverage cheap fossil fuel energy in order to get around the domestic wage rates.
Don’t worry about these big guys. The straws are gonna save the planet.
You could always not buy their completely non essential products, but suggesting that rarely gets a good reception from the "obsessively whining about straws" crows.
Oh yay, blame the consumers not the ones making the trash, worked so well the past 50 years
You could always not buy their completely non essential products
I've been trying this for decades, but it hasn't put a dent in the global growth of waste.
That's what's always a bit maddening about these conversations. It's not like companies are just shredding plastic into the atmosphere because they're cartoon villains who love evil.
They're making cheap plastic shit because we love cheap plastic shit. They're making this stuff in response to explicit consumer prioritization of low costs above all other factors. If consumers broadly demanded soda in glass bottles and expressed a willingness to pay the extra cost that this entails, every soda company would use glass.
I'm not saying that you individually should be blamed for all environmental pollution, but we have to realize that companies are responding to the exact same incentives that we do. They're obviously operating at a much larger scale, but they use cheap plastic shit for the exact same reason we do. If you're looking for policy solutions, a great option would be to introduce an externality tax on plastic so that this environmental cost is actually factored into the production and end price and can fund remediate the damage, similar to carbon taxes. Of course though, the moment you say the word 'tax' people's brains completely shut off, so this is probably a non-starter.
Yay, all the ones to their eyeballs in regulatory capture.
Again? Guyyyyyys 🙄
But won't somebody think of the mega corps?! 😭😭😭
One of that firm is Taylor swift?
It's less to do with these companies and more to do with their consumers.
Could Coke and Pepsi cut plastic waste by switching back to glass bottles? Sure, but their shitty customers would just increase GLASS waste.
Changing the substance of the waste isn't going to miraculously decrease waste. You have to change consumer habits to do that.
Those are not the same things... Glass is better for the environment, for one it doesn't break down into microplastics which get everywhere. And glass can be recycled indefinitely (minus some loss due to impurities) whereas plastic can be recycled up 0-1 times usually.
Plus the whole "it's up to consumers to solve this" is just corporate propaganda to absolve themselves of any responsibility, all the while not offering any alternatives that a consumer could pick from. Like literally, they paid for marketing campaigns to convince the public that it was our fault.
Yup and these 60 companies are using their insane profits to lobby the government to ensure nothing ever changes.
Yay capitalism.
Lobby? They basically own government. I don’t think people realize how big business’s only fight is amongst other big business. They don’t fight with law makers, they make them.
Yes. Lobby. That is HOW corporations own the government.
They pay people off. They even plant them. Either way they are using their huge sack of cash to manipulate the world around them to their benefit.
What? Do you think recycling is the answer?
If you don't want the world to drown in its own filth, it is your personal responsibility to boycott everything these 60 firms produce. Since at least one of them is an electronics company, that means I'm allowed to say you're responsible for this mess because you're using a computer.
Yes, we are all responsible for using toxic products that we need to survive in the modern world. More responsible then the companies producing these toxic products, who should be required to research non-toxic alternatives. Let's all band together and take a step back from the information age. Surely that will fix the problem.
In our little town, we have a shop that is plastic free. We refill everything we can there: detergent, dishwashing soap, shampoo, deodorant, shampoo, shaving cream, you name it. On top of that Ive minimized as best I can (although a work in progress) my use of single use plastics.
Plenty of people around me just don't give a shit. It's cheaper and easier to just go to target and get it or order it off of Amazon.
Too many people using the excuse of "I can't be perfect, so it's not my responsibility" as a reason to do nothing.
Don't be those people.