Assuming my municipality accepts it, are they actually being recycled?
I see them being touted as recyclable. However, it seems like it would be difficult and resource-intensive to recycle but I’m not a recycling expert.
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Technically they’re “downcyclable”. The materials can be separated and used for other purposes, but they’re not “cycled” back into being another tetrapak.
It’s also a very energy intensive procedure so even if it’s possible to use some of the materials again, it’s by no means as environmentally friendly as products that can be recycled for their purpose. Take for instance glass bottles and aluminium cans, they can both be recycled into glass bottles and aluminium cans.
Some places also reuse glass bottles by cleaning them. This also costs energy, but not as much as grinding it down and heating it to produce new glass.
Aluminium cans are probably the best single use beverage container as of now.
The best one is not to get one in the first place. Reduce, reuse, recycle, reclaim.
Tetrapak is in the “reclaim”.
Carrying a personal reusable water bottle is a good idea, because it reduces the production of singular use containers.
What we really need is an increase in growler culture. I want to be able to bring my own bottle to a shop and have my beer/wine/liquor/soda/whatever dispensed and priced by volume from their keg/cask/dispenser. It was just a thing with beer when I lived in Kentucky and it’s something I wish was more of a thing where I live now. I’m sure it was partly due to their lax alcohol laws, but it was striking to see such an environmentally responsible habit in the heart of coal country
In places where glass is reused, it’s definitely the best option. It’s heavier so it has a higher co2 output during transport but glass bottles can be reused up to 50 times, saving co2 in the long run.
But I have to concede, in america aluminum is probably the best option.
Yeah, iirc TetraPak advertised as being an eco-friendly packaging and was prohibited to do so (at least in some countries, dunno) exactly because of that.
Look into your municipality’s recycling process, see how it’s done, what the inputs are, what the total energy use is, etc, etc.
I’d bet a year’s salary it’s far less effective (if at all) than most people think.
“Recycle” was/is a marketing grift developed by the oil industry in the 70’s. It largely isn’t effective.
As someone else mentioned, aluminum (and steel) are very recyclable, and are already extensively recycled in manufacturing (don’t forget that reusing scrap within a factory is considered recycling).
Everything else largely isn’t, yet. Glass is very recyclable, but the transport costs are exorbitant, so I suspect it’s a negative for things like drink bottles, while the energy costs on most plastic recycling makes it not yet viable, from what I’ve read.
Someday, just not today.
If the 3 R’s, Reduce is the one that truly makes a difference.
Mate, if you don’t actually know then don’t just make stuff up. Virtually everything you wrote is wrong. (Except if you live in a 3rd world country like america). Massive levels of recycling in Europe. The process is also about reducing waste going to landfill, as well as reducing the need for raw materials.
