What currently trendy recyclables could there be that we should just eliminate?

Question

Recycling seems to be a big item in today's environmental solution set. Maybe it would have helped a lot more 30 years ago, when the usage rate for say, aluminum cans, wasn't so high. Have we passed the 'point of no return' on these things, where it only makes sense to stop using them altogether?

I used aluminum cans as an example because there's a huge energy output in finding and mining bauxite into aluminum, and the relationship between aluminum and Alzheimers may prove to be as harmful as that of lead for drinking goblets was for the Roman Empire. We don't 'need' aluminum cans; it's a major expense to society to manage them.

Then, the cans use up tremendous amounts of separation, washing, and other water-intensive tasks to recycle. Can't we just stop producing things not in our best interests? Like aluminum cans?

Answer 1

Very smart point Nora! The thing is that aluminum is still in use cause is cheaper for the manufacturers to use it. The point will be then to find other alternatives that can also be cheap in order to use that info to pressure these manufacturers to do the change.

It is not an impossible task to make the big companies to make changes. For example: the documentary "Super Size Me", made the whole fast food industry to make changes in their menus to more healthy alternatives; The documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" is making our government, many private companies, and ordinary people to make changes in order to save our planet. Other campaigns against the use of tobacco, or against the contamination that certain companies cause to our enviroment are being made by private citizens that know that one voice can become many and that changes can be made. Maybe these examples appear to not be related but they are. When we talk about something and raise a concern about a problem pleople will start to meditate about it and eventually will take action about it.

So as you, I think that eventually, toxic materials like aluminum will not be use anymore cause the negative effects on the human health will grow, and more people will be againt its use.

Answer 2

Sure we can. But if aluminum is the cheapest material to make a can than I don't think the makers of soda pop will "can" the technique. And even if there is a cheaper and better way to "bottle" pop, a company would be reluctant to pay the cost of a manufacturing changeover. Cost is always the first consideration, not the morality issue.

Answer 3

Sure, it's a great idea. But try suggesting it in Washington, and then sit back and watch the aluminum miner's union and the lobbyists for the aluminum mining companies scream bloody murder. In the end, the almighty dollar is what matters to them...and to most politicians. Sad, eh?

Answer 4

It would be wonderful if there was legislation to reduce uneccesarry waste but unfortunatley the bottom line is that consumption is what drives our nation. In the early ninties disposable diapers were going to be made illegal but proctor and gamble and other companies that made them did "studies" to prove that cloth was more enviromentally damaging( in other words they padded the pockets of the right government officials) It's really all about the interests of the big corporations. I just don't use the items that aren't necessary myself .

Answer 5

I think that disposible diapers pose more of a threat to our society than cans, consider all the chemicals in the diapers, the emissions that the diapers create in manufacture, and the toxic waste when they are disposed. Diapers wont disolve for 500 years, and each child will go thru 10,000 diapers in their first 3 years. Thats a lot of waste. Also you have to consider that disposible diapers are proven to increase childhood breathing problems. Using reusable products like all natural cloth diapers is much less expensive and is much safer for children. And it saves the environment from thousand of diapers of waste.

Answer 6

its not just cans alot of food that we eat and drink even if its not stored in cans at some point in its production its held in vats of aluminum... so almost nothing is safe deodorant can have traces of aluminum... as well as soy milk and other things you wouldnt think of as bad for you.. its a matter of educating yourself and making good consumer dicisions I personally dont drink soda or beer from cans I get them from glass or plastic bottles and when you buy things your dollar will speak volumes if we all stopped buying products that were bad for the environment big buisness would follow and give us products that we could buy that were better for us... if we wait for the government to make good decisions for us its gonna take forever its about educating ourselves and telling friends what they dont know...

Answer 7

wait a minute! if we get rid of aluminum cans, how can the grannies knit together those precious hats w/ the pop/beer can fronts used as panels in the hats :) or when you cook 'Beer in the Butt Chicken' on the grill. you need that aluminum can shoved half full w beer and spices up the 'butt' of the chicken, the can helps the chicken stand up on the grill. tasty!

Answer 8

because of the oil from the foodstuff & base that receives contained in the cardboard & ruins it for recycling applications also foodstuff scraps in all bins no longer in simple terms pizza bins ruins the recycling procedure. continuously rinse out and sparkling each thing in the previous setting up recycle bin

Answer 9

Recycled TV News stories always strike me as unnecessary.

Answer 10

It was the lead water pipes in Rome, not the goblets that did them in.