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Saith_Cassus t1_ivtyhx7 wrote

Reply to comment by Malawi_no in [OC] World's Largest Plastic Polluter Now 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference Sponsor by haboo213

It largely boils down to economics. Plastic recycling facilities operate on a shoestring budget, and often can’t or don’t turn a profit. It also doesn’t help that we’re only allowed to use a relatively small percentage (~30%) of recycled materials in containers intended for human consumption, like soda or water bottles. That reduces the profit margin even further.

I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert on the subject matter and have the solutions. But the simple fact of the matter is, there’s a reason that the three R’s list “recycle” after reduce and reuse.

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Malawi_no t1_ivumhbw wrote

The main goals of refunds are to take the bottles away from the regular waste-stream, avoid littering and possibly reuse them.

Here in Norway we have had refunds for a long time. In the time of glass bottles, it meant that they were reused. Now we have kinda gone full circle, and many bottles (like all from Coca Cola) are made from 100% recycled material.

It's basically about nudging the companies towards the goal of lowering waste.

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Saith_Cassus t1_ivunkfp wrote

Ah, I see the reason for the confusion.

Coca-Cola actually has a large number of seats in our Congress and dictates policy for the US government on a regular basis. They’ve bought and paid for almost all of our congressional res in some capacity or another, typically with gifts of just a few thousand dollars.

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Malawi_no t1_ivuokxk wrote

In normal US fashion I guess.

Anyways, if they say they cannot recycle the plastic bottles, they already do over here.

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