While aluminum and glass may be infinitely recyclable, without a proper LCA done, it is hard to say whether something such as glass is better than plastic from an environmental standpoint. It's possible the actual environmental damage due to excessive energy requirements in processing things such as glass (ie-pure glass melts at 2300C) whereas polymers typically melt at a temperature that's a whole orer of magnitude lower. I believe a classic example is the plastic bottles versus glass, and it is often said that glass is actually worse for the environment. Well, I can't recall if recycling is taken into account. But I hope my point is made.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
aron @ Mar 4th 2008 11:39PM
While aluminum and glass may be infinitely recyclable, without a
proper LCA done, it is hard to say whether something such as glass is
better than plastic from an environmental standpoint. It's possible
the actual environmental damage due to excessive energy requirements
in processing things such as glass (ie-pure glass melts at 2300C)
whereas polymers typically melt at a temperature that's a whole orer
of magnitude lower. I believe a classic example is the plastic
bottles versus glass, and it is often said that glass is actually
worse for the environment. Well, I can't recall if recycling is taken
into account. But I hope my point is made.