What container should I buy my beverage in?

Question

I see at the stores 3 general containers for the same beverage, Metal Can, Glass, or Plastic.

What is the best in terms of Total Cost of Ownership the planet?

How would you rate them?

Plastic seems hard to recycle, and its made of Oil based products.

Glass is natural, seems to be very re-usable. It would be my gut.

Metals seem costly to re-use, and lots of it are in dumps.

I would bet Glass. Are there any studies on what I should buy at the local store?

Thanks,
Geoff
http://www.travelschemer.com

Answer 1

The Container Recycling Institute has a summary directed at this issue. Studies have established that a reusable container is more environmentally responsible than a recyclable container.

Glass is reusable, as you have noted, and a study showed that a refillable glass bottle refilled as few as eight times consumed less energy than any other container including recycled containers.

This study was conducted by the National Association for Plastic Container Recovery.

Link:

http://www.container-recycling.org/glassfact/reducing.htm

Answer 2

The cost of producing the different containers should be priced into the product. The cost of disposal/recycling isn't included. So, you'll need to compare the prices and adjust for disposal/recycling costs.

If all three types were priced the same, then metal would be best, as it has the highest recycling value and potential. Plastic fetches a high price per ton, but plastic bottles are pretty light. The main savings with glass would be energy costs. Reusing glass bottles, while stretching the cost of the original bottle over a lot of uses, is not costless itself. The bottles must be collected, washed, and transported back to the bottling plant.

Your analysis will become more complicated if the the price of bottled drinks is lower than the cost of canned drinks.

In the end, you cannot come up with a set hierarchy. While the EPA has done this for waste management, their reasoning ignores the other costs associated with reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Answer 3

Metal is the worst. It has the highest cost to produce, and the highest cost to recycle. Aluminum may contribute to Alzheimer's, autism, and Asperger's Syndrome also.

Plastic is next. as it comes from a non-renewable resource, fossil fuel. Even recycling doesn't recover enough, as the amount of potable water that must be spent and the uses for the recycled plastics never fully recovers a significant amount of value or money.

Glass is good, but a lot of potable water must be expended to reuse the glass bottle.

What container is best? Paper. Get fountain drinks whenever possible. Otherwise, get large plastic containers (example: a few 2 or 3 liter bottles instead of dozens of single-serve 12 oz. bottles). Even get a keg of beer instead of wasting all those small containers.

I see people take enough drinks into the checkout to open their own convenience store. I think those people should get home fountain service installed and stop lugging all those containers home in the first place.

Answer 4

I like the taste of Coke or Pepsi best from glass bottles. The canned is too fizzy. Plastic bottles are most likely to be converted into, not more bottles, but other composite plastics like lawn chairs and mail boxes. Cans are easily the most recyclable with every grocery store paying for the aluminum which will be turned into more cans and foil. So there are two ways to approach it. One is, use the one that tastes best. Personally, my number one choice is fountain drinks that mix the syrup and carbonated water at delivery of the product. The second is the recycle question. Cans can be made into more cans, but remember glass bottles can be washed and re-used. I would return to the day when you paid deposits on soft drink bottles and got your deposit back when you cashed in the empty bottle.

Answer 5

I think aluminum. It does require a lot of electricity to make, but its also the most likely to be recycled. Glass cost a lot of energy to transport and it cost more to transport glass than to make plastic. Plastic is not 100% recyclable. It's usually shredded to make polar fleece or plastic logs for construction. I think glass is typically recycled by grinding down to make sand. Its also the least recycled. I personally perfer drinks from galls container, but it's usually hard to find and more expensive.

Answer 6

Chemicals can bleed out of clear plastic bottles, but if you dont mind swallowing that then ok. Glass is the best., or china/pottery.

Answer 7

Plastic and aluminum bins value the beverage producer a techniques under glass bottles according to unit. subsequently, they make a bigger earnings. each thing a company does is often introduced on via a maximization of earnings. study it and undergo in ideas it -- you will see it in action on a daily basis of your existence! even whilst the mega-companies provide away billions of greenbacks a 365 days in charity, they are basically utilising tax code loopholes to reason a bigger return on investment. Write-offs, stable will, and different names basically become attentive to different the thank you to make funds!

Answer 8

As long as you recycle, any should be fine.

Answer 9

the biggest container you can find. kegs are recyclable.