I believe that glass is more of a solution than a problem. Compared to plastic, it is more durable, its production process has less impact on the environment and not to mention that in the case of beverages, returnable glass packaging is better in several aspects
Multi-use glass is were it’s at. Producing glass is an energy intense process, the more you use it the bettet it gets. Single use glass packaging is a crime. (Same goes for plastics multi-use>single-use)
glass is theoretically more sustainable, while its production does not involve the same kind of problems as plastic it is a lot more energy intensive so without proper energy infrastructure it is trading plastic pollution for carbon emissions, also heavier contributing to transport costs. With proper infrastructure for reusing the bottles the energy impact of production can be mitigated significantly.
and even without proper reusage infrastructure the options for the glass is 1. resmelted into new glass 2. landfill->glass shards quickly become essentially just sand 3. environment where it also becomes sand
so while even without proper infrastructure the pollutans are essentially just emissions if properly treated just co2 (though modern kilns can be electric arc reducing emissions just to that of the country’s electricity infrastructure) and gravel.
In contrast plastic has lower production emissions but the waste in environment is to put it lightly quite a bit more harmful than gravel and the effects are still not fully understood especially ones of microplastics
I believe that glass is more of a solution than a problem. Compared to plastic, it is more durable, its production process has less impact on the environment and not to mention that in the case of beverages, returnable glass packaging is better in several aspects
Multi-use glass is were it’s at. Producing glass is an energy intense process, the more you use it the bettet it gets. Single use glass packaging is a crime. (Same goes for plastics multi-use>single-use)
Glas is not used anymore because it’s much heavier (= more expensive when freight is charged by weight) and breaks when you drop the palett.
glass is theoretically more sustainable, while its production does not involve the same kind of problems as plastic it is a lot more energy intensive so without proper energy infrastructure it is trading plastic pollution for carbon emissions, also heavier contributing to transport costs. With proper infrastructure for reusing the bottles the energy impact of production can be mitigated significantly. and even without proper reusage infrastructure the options for the glass is 1. resmelted into new glass 2. landfill->glass shards quickly become essentially just sand 3. environment where it also becomes sand
so while even without proper infrastructure the pollutans are essentially just emissions if properly treated just co2 (though modern kilns can be electric arc reducing emissions just to that of the country’s electricity infrastructure) and gravel. In contrast plastic has lower production emissions but the waste in environment is to put it lightly quite a bit more harmful than gravel and the effects are still not fully understood especially ones of microplastics