Years ago, Coca-Cola excitedly debuted a new formula for its soda, dubbing it “New Coke.” Consumers hated it, and sales plummeted – a marketing fiasco.
Plastic, that is, and it's our kids and grandkids who will ultimately pay the price and curse my generation for incompetent custody of this old planet.
Back in "the day," I liked the glass coke bottles, if not necessarily the coke itself. I'm guessing that today "coke bottle (eye-)glasses" would have absolutely no meaning - plastic isn't that thick! One long-term solution - don't buy soft drinks in plastic bottles! Disclosure - in the summer I do buy tonic water for G & T's :). Re: Rosan's comment - reading through retirement investment statements is an activity that makes my eyes glaze over, and I still have no idea what those funds are invested in! Plus, don't forget that, as Jim says, plastic is an "oil industry" product, so in addition to less plastic waste and healthier bodies, not buying drinks in plastic bottles helps, if EVER-SO-SLIGHTLY, reduce fossil-fuel emissions.
Suggestion to the world. Stop buying Coca-Cola, drink water and there will be 2 benefits. Less plastic waste and healthier people. On the other hand how much of my pension and social security is tied up in soda drinks.
We get the results of the tests the water company runs -- or at least a yearly summary. We filter everything and also use a reverse-osmosis system for drinking water and to feed the ice maker.
RECYCLING PLASTIC IS A SCAM perpetrated by petro/chem corporations.
They knew 95% could never be reused and that of the types that could be it was only once or twice at an energy and air pollution cost even greater than the original production. The idea was to sell the belief that single use plastics weren't a problem. Or if they were, it was the lazy consumer's fault. So then make it mandatory--a distraction away from outright corporate fraud while elected officials could look like they're doing something positive.
BTW, that horrible train wreck in Ohio a year ago was hauling vinyl chloride, a chemical used in plastic manufacturing. It's a carcinogen...but no prob, right?
PS--Yes, glass, steel, and aluminum can be recycled.
If product comes in plastic and glass, I buy the one in glass. As for the "soda" industry. like tobacco, it markets beverages in different flavors, loaded with sugar and chemicals--and like smoking, Americans are addicted to soda. It's as toxic as cigarettes, but you can drink it anywhere!... I don't know the solution to this -- I just don't buy/drink any of it. I am surprised to know, tho, that the notion of recycling plastic is a lie! How did THAT happen? Municipalities nation-wide collect garbage in one bin and paper, tin, glass, and PLASTIC separately. So what's with THAT?
Every company that sells products in plastic packaging should be responsible for recycling it. That's the way it was in the "old days" when soda came in glass deposit bottles.
We can buy water filters and eliminate a lot of plastic also use refillable containers in gas stations. When people stop buying plastic containers is When they will stop being made.
Like Lyle, I remember glass Coke bottles. When I lived in Nicaragua, they made sure bottles were returned for refilling by not letting you have the bottle. If you bought a Coke from a vendor, they poured it into a plastic bag. You bit off a corner and sipped through the hole. Still wasted plastic, but less of it than a plastic bottle.
I just don't buy beverages in plastic, l choose aluminum cans which are so recyclable that whole programs could run from the proceeds and even buy them back from people. Our 4H Club received the 2007 WV DEP Youth Environmental Program first place for the Summers County recycle program. Then the dropped the price for aluminium from 96cents a pound to 10 cents or something and the program eventually failed because we were being covered up with plastic and the producers of new didn't want the competition from recycle marketing. The shift from glass recycling programs to plastic came because the plastic was creating problems in the landfills. Now we have a wonderful recycling program in our County and the truck, trailers , etc.equipment that the Extension Service wrote grants for in supporting our 4H community efforts are there and being put to their best use for planet Earth. And then there's the cancer causing dioxins that are released into the atmosphere when plastic burns, l could go on and on about it. Ban Fracking Now
Pinellas County FL issued a statement months ago that "Pinellas County will not recycle plastic." The reasons were much of what your have revealed, and to avoid landfill, which is rapidly filling everywhere in FL.
Rather than let plastic gather, scatter or fill land. I've decided that incineration at least captures some of the latent energy which helps electricity generation;, Pinellas County's incinerator is (one of the cleanest in the nation), though the County also says the incinerator is nearing capacity & exceeds capacity at times.
I'm OK with all that, since it's far FAR better than just ignoring the realities of plastic.
A new study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances has pinpointed some of the major brands responsible for plastic pollution across six continents. CocaCola is BY FAR, the worst offender on labelled plastic pollution.
I recently discovered the best tasting water in my 66 years on earth. It's called "Flow". The containers are amazing because they are boxes with plant based lids! If a small company is able to use this method than Why can't the huge companies do the same. The cartons are great for gardening and the lids are sustainable! And no pfa's! Let's change our old habits and seek out the wonderful alternatives. Thank you Jim Hightower.
If we were sane, we would outlaw the production of plastic altogether, and concentrate on rounding up and finding a safe way to destroy it.
Plastic is forever. It should have been outlawed back in the days of the movie 'The Graduate'.
Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes
It's a little secret, just [nobody's] affair
Most of all, you've got to hide it from the kids.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Plastic, that is, and it's our kids and grandkids who will ultimately pay the price and curse my generation for incompetent custody of this old planet.
I'm 92 years old. The last time I drank a Coke was when I was 6. Maybe that's why I'll make it to 93 next month.
Back in "the day," I liked the glass coke bottles, if not necessarily the coke itself. I'm guessing that today "coke bottle (eye-)glasses" would have absolutely no meaning - plastic isn't that thick! One long-term solution - don't buy soft drinks in plastic bottles! Disclosure - in the summer I do buy tonic water for G & T's :). Re: Rosan's comment - reading through retirement investment statements is an activity that makes my eyes glaze over, and I still have no idea what those funds are invested in! Plus, don't forget that, as Jim says, plastic is an "oil industry" product, so in addition to less plastic waste and healthier bodies, not buying drinks in plastic bottles helps, if EVER-SO-SLIGHTLY, reduce fossil-fuel emissions.
Glass was better, and less invasive.
Suggestion to the world. Stop buying Coca-Cola, drink water and there will be 2 benefits. Less plastic waste and healthier people. On the other hand how much of my pension and social security is tied up in soda drinks.
How clean is our water? How do we know?
We get the results of the tests the water company runs -- or at least a yearly summary. We filter everything and also use a reverse-osmosis system for drinking water and to feed the ice maker.
You can't escape the micro plastics. It's even in the air you breathe.
I was thinking of that also. Your extension office can find someone to do an analysis. Shame on me, I haven’t had my well checked for many years.
RECYCLING PLASTIC IS A SCAM perpetrated by petro/chem corporations.
They knew 95% could never be reused and that of the types that could be it was only once or twice at an energy and air pollution cost even greater than the original production. The idea was to sell the belief that single use plastics weren't a problem. Or if they were, it was the lazy consumer's fault. So then make it mandatory--a distraction away from outright corporate fraud while elected officials could look like they're doing something positive.
Don't believe it? see https://theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/recycling-plastics-producers-report Or even better, the original investigation titled The Fraud of Plastic Recycling https://climateintegrity.org/plastics-fraud.
BTW, that horrible train wreck in Ohio a year ago was hauling vinyl chloride, a chemical used in plastic manufacturing. It's a carcinogen...but no prob, right?
PS--Yes, glass, steel, and aluminum can be recycled.
Let's go back to glass, or maybe better, do what's best for the environment and your body, drink water!
If product comes in plastic and glass, I buy the one in glass. As for the "soda" industry. like tobacco, it markets beverages in different flavors, loaded with sugar and chemicals--and like smoking, Americans are addicted to soda. It's as toxic as cigarettes, but you can drink it anywhere!... I don't know the solution to this -- I just don't buy/drink any of it. I am surprised to know, tho, that the notion of recycling plastic is a lie! How did THAT happen? Municipalities nation-wide collect garbage in one bin and paper, tin, glass, and PLASTIC separately. So what's with THAT?
Every company that sells products in plastic packaging should be responsible for recycling it. That's the way it was in the "old days" when soda came in glass deposit bottles.
We can buy water filters and eliminate a lot of plastic also use refillable containers in gas stations. When people stop buying plastic containers is When they will stop being made.
Like Lyle, I remember glass Coke bottles. When I lived in Nicaragua, they made sure bottles were returned for refilling by not letting you have the bottle. If you bought a Coke from a vendor, they poured it into a plastic bag. You bit off a corner and sipped through the hole. Still wasted plastic, but less of it than a plastic bottle.
QUIT BUYING!
I just don't buy beverages in plastic, l choose aluminum cans which are so recyclable that whole programs could run from the proceeds and even buy them back from people. Our 4H Club received the 2007 WV DEP Youth Environmental Program first place for the Summers County recycle program. Then the dropped the price for aluminium from 96cents a pound to 10 cents or something and the program eventually failed because we were being covered up with plastic and the producers of new didn't want the competition from recycle marketing. The shift from glass recycling programs to plastic came because the plastic was creating problems in the landfills. Now we have a wonderful recycling program in our County and the truck, trailers , etc.equipment that the Extension Service wrote grants for in supporting our 4H community efforts are there and being put to their best use for planet Earth. And then there's the cancer causing dioxins that are released into the atmosphere when plastic burns, l could go on and on about it. Ban Fracking Now
Pinellas County FL issued a statement months ago that "Pinellas County will not recycle plastic." The reasons were much of what your have revealed, and to avoid landfill, which is rapidly filling everywhere in FL.
Rather than let plastic gather, scatter or fill land. I've decided that incineration at least captures some of the latent energy which helps electricity generation;, Pinellas County's incinerator is (one of the cleanest in the nation), though the County also says the incinerator is nearing capacity & exceeds capacity at times.
I'm OK with all that, since it's far FAR better than just ignoring the realities of plastic.
A new study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances has pinpointed some of the major brands responsible for plastic pollution across six continents. CocaCola is BY FAR, the worst offender on labelled plastic pollution.
I recently discovered the best tasting water in my 66 years on earth. It's called "Flow". The containers are amazing because they are boxes with plant based lids! If a small company is able to use this method than Why can't the huge companies do the same. The cartons are great for gardening and the lids are sustainable! And no pfa's! Let's change our old habits and seek out the wonderful alternatives. Thank you Jim Hightower.
Green-washing runs amok. I listen to former EPA, Judith Enyck ( sp) and her group Beyond Plastics.