9
votes
Accepted
Are used "blister packs" recyclable?
Yes, blister packs are recyclable (for example with machines like this one) but chances are there's no recycling company in your area that will accept and recycle it unless you are able to separate ...
- 14.5k
8
votes
What is the most sustainable packaging for milk?
Depends a lot on where you live, but if you have the possibility to refill your own glass bottle, then I would call that the most sustainable option. In this part of Europe (Hungary/Romania) there are ...
- 261
5
votes
Is it ethical to dump packaging of products at the same store you bought them from?
If a store offers a publicly accessible rubbish bin, then it would be ethical to ask the store for permission to discretely transfer their product to your own containers inside or near the store and ...
- 8,835
5
votes
Accepted
Does it matter whether I recycle packaging as one contiguous chunk or as separated parts?
Yes, it matters
You should avoid cutting or shredding plastics before sending them to recycling.
It depends on the recycling center as to how exactly your plastics are handled, but MOST modern plastic ...
- 1,317
4
votes
Are used "blister packs" recyclable?
There are blister packs which appear to be made entirely from aluminium and I put these in the recycle bin in their entirety. I have also been recycling the blister packs made from plastic and ...
- 41
4
votes
Accepted
Can I recycle waxy cardboard (in Greater Vancouver)?
The City of Vancouver’s Waste Wizard says put them in the green bin. They also have a hotline you can call. Why wait for an answer here?
- 56
4
votes
Accepted
What is this candy wrapper made of? Solely plastic or mixed with something else?
As with most candy wrappers, it's a combination of plastic and aluminium also known as metallised plastic or metallised film. The material is hard to recycle because it's difficult to separate the two ...
- 14.5k
4
votes
Organic or packaging free food?
It's all a matter of how you do the counting! If you take into account how much diversity you destroy, non-organic food is worse than "too much" cardboard packaging. But how do you count this? Life ...
- 1,437
4
votes
Paper packaging once a day or plastic every second day?
TLDR: the packaging makes next to no difference; even a small reduction in your cheese consumption will greatly outweigh the impact of the packaging (see the table further down)
Let's estimate the ...
- 1,082
4
votes
Accepted
Seaweed snacks without lots of packaging
You can make them yourself fairly easily by buying full sheets of seaweed in bulk at an Asian grocery store (some regular chain grocery stores carry them too). The big packs of seaweed do still ...
- 156
4
votes
What is the most sustainable packaging for milk?
You forgot about a fourth option: The tube. Originally it looked like this:
It was a bit flimsy and is easier punctured than the TetraPaks, so it isn't produced anymore (at least not in Germany, at ...
- 587
3
votes
How can I support the recycling, but not the new production of aluminum?
You can advocate for a carbon tax. When fossil fuel energy costs more, recycling is more economically valuable. Cheap power means easier to mine new aluminum. We really need a carbon tax for many ...
3
votes
How can I support the recycling, but not the new production of aluminum?
You (probably) cannot do it on demand side.
The reason this is impossible is that 99% of aluminum users don't care if their aluminum comes from recycled sources.
Let's say there's need for 100 units ...
- 5,144
3
votes
Re-usable packaging options for cheese?
Depends the type of cheese (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_cheese).
Hard (type gouda) to half-hard half-soft (type monastery cheese) cheeses have a more or less hard crust (rind?). There is ...
- 81
3
votes
Are used "blister packs" recyclable?
I've experimented with soaking foil-backed blister packs in caustic soda solution, commonly sold as a material to unclog drains. Caustic soda (sodium hydroxide, NaOH) dissolves the aluminium foil. ...
- 31
3
votes
What sustainable packaging can be used for meat in the freezer?
Many folks don't realize that glass canning jars (also known as preserving jars) are made to be freezer safe (4 oz, 8 oz, 12 oz, 16 oz, and 24 oz). If you look closely most of the wide mouth straight ...
- 31
3
votes
Accepted
Why is hybrid packaging so frequently used to package bread?
More reasons:
The plastic makes it possible to see the bread. Shelf appeal.
The paper allows them to be bagged warm. This gives a fresh bread smell around the shelf, and it feels warm in the ...
- 7,227
3
votes
Are used "blister packs" recyclable?
Only thermo plastics have a recycle value, thermoset plastics do not. Even the thermo plastics are limited as recyclate - grade 1 recyclate, by grade 2 the polymers strands will no longer bond and the ...
- 31
3
votes
Environmental impact of vegan food packaging
Actually, all packaging materials can be recycled in the following way:
Burn it to energy, releasing carbon dioxide and preferably using that energy to create electricity or district heating (or ...
- 5,144
2
votes
Relative merits of 'milkman' glass vs. 'supermarket' plastic milk bottles?
The two options are not exclusive. We have supermarkets in Vancouver that sell milk in glass bottles.
Tradeoffs:
Glass is cheaper if you have the infra-structure in place.
* You have the crates to ...
- 7,227
2
votes
Are used "blister packs" recyclable?
In my household unfortunately we must take a number of tablets daily on permanent repeat prescriptions, mainly from plastic/aluminium bubble packs. But some are supplied in totally aluminium packs, ...
- 29
2
votes
What sustainable packaging can be used for meat in the freezer?
I don’t eat meat but anything I need to freeze, I normally slice it up and keep it in reused glass jars and freeze it . It works perfectly and you end up reusing old glass jars. Although i believe ...
- 21
2
votes
Is it ethical to dump packaging of products at the same store you bought them from?
Where I live, stores do not recycle as thoroughly as people do. Therefore, when I buy meat on a Styrofoam tray, I want to put that (rinsed) tray in my home recycle, not the stories generally mixed-...
- 1,955
2
votes
Is it ethical to dump packaging of products at the same store you bought them from?
This is not ethical.
From an economic ethics point of view, you are throwing away your own trash (which you bought and thus acquired a responsibility for) in someone else's dumpster. This basically ...
- 1,077
2
votes
Is it ethical to dump packaging of products at the same store you bought them from?
I don't think so and I do not think it would be an effective statement. The store will likely have practical reasons for packaging and could not change their ways even if they wanted to. And they ...
- 131
2
votes
Accepted
Which packaging has less negative impact to the environment, foil paper or plastic + cardboard?
Of the two options that you mentioned I believe that the second would be better. However, there are a number of 100% biodegradable plant-based packaging options for food products such as coffee.
...
- 135
2
votes
Any succesful initiatives for packaging material reuse?
The German Post did offer the Post Box, basically a yellow plastic box with a lid. It‘s mostly used in large organisations like big companies but at least one ecologically aware online shop offered it ...
- 121
2
votes
Accepted
Are foam netting sleeves recyclable?
Actually I think I can answer my own question.
The answer is probably yes and no.
It looks like most of those foam netting sleeves are EPE, i.e. expanded polyethylene.
The soft plastic recycling ...
- 3,312
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible