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b763e622 ,

I think you are on to something, mr Whistleblower. Keep digging and call Greta when you have drawn conclusions! In the meantime, move stealthily, they may be watching! :-)

Eggyhead ,

Okay. So they do this in Japan. The plastic used in the wrapper is different than the plastic in the bottle. They require different processes to recycle. It’s also far more efficient for regular people to just rip it off and throw one in one bin and the other in another bin in their own homes than it is for a sorting facility to go through mountains of this stuff trying to get it right every single time. Frankly I wish more places did it this way.

I hope this explanation will make things even less infuriating.

wesker ,
@wesker@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Recycling in Japan is a very involved process. You end up with like, 4 different bags of recyclable types, depending. I appreciate it.

sonovebitch ,

Most European countries I've visited have at least 3 bins/bags : paper, plastic, everything else. Most cities also separate glass and aluminium. Some townhalls offer bags/containers for bio trash, that's turned into compost.

lud ,

Where I live (EU) most single family homes have two bins, one for burnable normal trash and one for food and biological waste.

Recycling especially cardboard and paper, but also plastics is very common but those will have to be brought to either a very local drop off point or a local recycling/waste disposal site.

The drop off points usually have small containers for paper, plastics, metal, glass and small boxes for non rechargable batteries.

The recycling facility accepted pretty much everything that one could ever want to throw away.

glimse ,

Minnesota is like that, too. At least near St. Paul/Minneapolis

ChapulinColorado ,

Many cities just burn a lot of it. Technically “recycled” according to the definition and generates some energy, but plastic is just not great no matter how you look at it.

Source for some cities burning non-pet plastics in Japan: https://youtu.be/sAu3LVktMwE?si=30PgjrPFFiFFF7Tt&t=55s

Mr_Blott ,

It's like this in Europe too, it's just one, ahem, country that's a decade behind everyone, every time

naeap ,
@naeap@sopuli.xyz avatar

I don't have different plastic recycling bins, but only one.
Where in Europe do you have different ones?
Never have encountered those, at least I didn't realize it (in Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland - although with some countries I'm maybe not completely up to date)

Evil_Shrubbery , (edited )

Edit: I was replaying to the wrong message, clicking is hard.

Sorting is way easier if you have to just pick stuff (semi automatically) from a conveyor belt vs having to pick individual object and separate the plastics (first figuring it how to do that, and also objects are all damaged).

Like plastic bottles and plastic bottles caps - it would be (or it partially is) immensely costlier to separate them by employees at the sorting site vs each of us taking the the ... or not taking the time end effort to screw the cap back on.

naeap ,
@naeap@sopuli.xyz avatar

Did you answer the wrong guy?

Yeah, I absolutely do get that and didn't say anything against it

I just never saw them anywhere in Europe and would be interested where and how that recycling works.

Evil_Shrubbery ,

Oh, lul, totally did that.

But to you point, in the last decade+ I only encountered non-sorted trash collection in like coastal/smol island communities (that are still developing & slowly getting recycling services).

DessertStorms , (edited )

Truth is, it doesn't matter anyway, because over 90% of plastic isn't being recycled.
This whole thing (the removable label to supposedly make the bottle more recyclable) is an exercise in futility and virtue signalling to the "green" demographic for profit, aka greenwashing.

Edit to be clear: the answer is to abolish capitalism, which is why all of this is happening in the first place.

Evil_Shrubbery ,

Imagine doing something slightly inconvenient, let alone something that can take a whole second.

skuzz ,

I think the point was, you're removing plastic from plastic to recycle plastic. The plastic you removed won't be recycled. So...what's the point? It's terrible package design.

Habahnow ,

The plastic you're removing can't be recycled. if left on the bottle, some recycling centers (maybe most actually) just throw out the bottle because it's more cost effective then preparing the bottle for recycling.

Any and all plastic bottles experience this problem (plastic bottle caps are bad too). This is a company making it more likely your bottle will be recycled, by making it easier to remove the non recyclable materials.

Evil_Shrubbery ,

Yes.

They don't recycle even the recyclable part or alternatively the unrecyclable part gets burned off in the process (both bad options).

Evil_Shrubbery ,

In a world where 'more brands = more freedom' for some reason companies just compete on fancy packaging, and we support by buying them (bcs of lack of alternatives).

We don't need oil based plastics at all, only if we let the market innovate.

Decoy321 ,

Welcome to Mildly Infuriating.

Evil_Shrubbery ,

Yeah, I guess you are right.

The whole system is (intentionally) super infuriating & inconvenient.

ToastedPlanet ,

Do people not enjoy ripping the paper off of plastic water bottles? This looks like the same kind of fun to me.

StopSpazzing ,
@StopSpazzing@lemmy.world avatar

Quicker to just throw it in the fire place... ya know?

THE_MASTERMIND ,

Oh no ! Anyway .

PatFussy ,

Hideakikarate ,

At least yours has a perforated line to try and tear before giving up and just getting a knife. My family keeps buying the bottles with no perforation and isn't a smooth bottle. Tedious getting them ready for recycling.

jordanlund ,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

2 different kinds of plastic.

Not all plastic is recyclable. John Oliver (nsfw) has a good bit on it here:

https://youtu.be/Fiu9GSOmt8E

eager_eagle ,
@eager_eagle@lemmy.world avatar

Not this one, every one. The only difference is that they bother to put this info on the label.

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