[GreenYes] Re: Refillable Glass Bottles

[KirbGood@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/1/02 1:00:59 AM, pine_eng@hotmail.com writes:
<< in some countries, the glass recycling is deemed not feasible just because 
there isn't enough cullet to feed the plant, while they use bottles over and 
over (scuffed or not) as long as they are not obviously damaged >>

What countries might those be?
I think this doesn't make sense for at least three reasons:
1) Once the system reaches steady state, the only bottles needing to be 
manufactured are those being rejected from the washing system, i.e. a bottle 
washed is a bottle that doesn't need to be manufactured.

2) Any system that had an efficient enough collection scheme to capture most 
of the bottles for washing would, ipso facto, have an efficient glass 
recycling system.

3) If the reason you're interested in bottle washing is for resource 
efficiency, it has been demonstrated by several studies that bottle washing 
is the most efficient system.  To not wash bottles in order to make more 
cullet seems suspiciously like making milk to dump into the ocean in order to 
support dairy farmers.

Finally, in a study I helped with years ago, my recollection is that there is 
no way for a bottle washer to know how many "trips" an individual washed 
bottle actually has, except mathematically by modelling the system.  The 
bottles are rejected for defects, not for trips.

Bob Kirby
******************************************
To post to the greenyes list,
email to: greenyes@grrn.org

subscription, faq and netiquette info for
this list are available here:
http://greenyes.grrn.org/
Please be sure to read the faq and netiquette
pages before posting.
******************************************