Re: [GreenYes] recycling plastic ... -Why makeit at all?

["Pete Pasterz" <ppasterz@pplant.msu.edu>]

Michelle--

don't you really mean plastic packaging here, since that's the vein of the discussion so far?    If so, there are MANY options for many products which would not make the waste stream heavier[though I'm not sure this is the most problematic waste factor]--through the "old technology" of REUSE.     Beverages in particular [but other products, too]  have/can/are successfully distributed around most of the world in REFILLABLE glass [and plastic]  bottles.  All credible studies have shown the lifecycle impacts are best minimized through reuse.

The real issue is that material manufacturers have chosen to make their profits through high-volume sales of their particular material, not through the service of providing safe and effective containment for products.

This has also, in the case of "bottle bills" been a slam dunk success in engendering "producer responsibility" in this area.


>>> "Michele Raymond" <michele@raymond.com> 12/14/01 09:34AM >>>
The waste stream would be 4 times heavier without plastic.

 From the lifecycle standpoint its not worth it to go back to old 
technology.  Its a shame the people in plastics that read this list serve 
do not stand up for their product.

I have been following the issue for 13 years.  The problem is not so much 
the product but the poor management of a complex issue.

The guys at the top of the chemical companies are pretty insulated, and 
don't really understand today's trends.

Michele Raymond


At 10:37 AM 12/12/01 -0800, Paul Goettlich wrote:
>For real solutions to the problem of plastics recycling, the appropriate
>question(s) must be asked. In this case, a more appropriate question would
>be "Should plastic be made in the first place?"


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