Before the advent of disposable packaging, the norm for many products was glass that was cleaned and reused. I’m thinking sodas, milk, and wooden apple crates. The companies were responsible for their own packaging post-consumer. When they switched to disposable packaging, they even at times ran ad campaigns to shift blame to consumers instead of confronting the fact that they had created a problem.
I mean, that wasn’t because they cared beforehand. It was just that disposable packaging wasn’t cost effective. They switched the instant they could, which is a clear indication that they didn’t care.
Oh, sure. Yeah, they weren’t doing it because they were perfect angels or anything. Glass was the option, glass was expensive, so they put in place the infrastructure to recover and reuse the glass.
Personally, I’d like to see a system where companies can choose from a large variety of containers that are both highly durable and recyclable, but still generic. The purchase price of any item would include a substantial deposit to truly incentivize returning it. Returns could be done via either a drop off location (e.g. grocery store) or some sort of curbside service. Cleaning centers would then forward the cleaned containers or recycle them at the end of their lifetime.
Before the advent of disposable packaging, the norm for many products was glass that was cleaned and reused. I’m thinking sodas, milk, and wooden apple crates. The companies were responsible for their own packaging post-consumer. When they switched to disposable packaging, they even at times ran ad campaigns to shift blame to consumers instead of confronting the fact that they had created a problem.
I mean, that wasn’t because they cared beforehand. It was just that disposable packaging wasn’t cost effective. They switched the instant they could, which is a clear indication that they didn’t care.
Oh, sure. Yeah, they weren’t doing it because they were perfect angels or anything. Glass was the option, glass was expensive, so they put in place the infrastructure to recover and reuse the glass.
Personally, I’d like to see a system where companies can choose from a large variety of containers that are both highly durable and recyclable, but still generic. The purchase price of any item would include a substantial deposit to truly incentivize returning it. Returns could be done via either a drop off location (e.g. grocery store) or some sort of curbside service. Cleaning centers would then forward the cleaned containers or recycle them at the end of their lifetime.