The small questions thread

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Smpl Mnmlst
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#3267816 3-Aug-2024 10:50

Geektastic: In Europe, they’ve introduced rules that require the tops on plastic drinks bottles to be captive so that they can be recycled together.

Every NZ recycling point I’ve ever been to requires tops to be removed.

I foresee a standards issue as well as one of curiosity: how come Europe can recycle tops from bottles without separation and we can’t do it at all?

May be wrong but my understanding is that the ban on tops in NZ is due to the size of small tops being incompatible with the sorting machines - nothing to do with plastic type or whatever. Begs the question as to whether tops are OK here if replaced on the bottle before sorting. However I guess the top on a PET bottle is a different plastic - so maybe I have it all wrong. Milk bottles … ?

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Rikkitic

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#3267820 3-Aug-2024 11:03

eracode:

Geektastic: In Europe, they’ve introduced rules that require the tops on plastic drinks bottles to be captive so that they can be recycled together.

Every NZ recycling point I’ve ever been to requires tops to be removed.

I foresee a standards issue as well as one of curiosity: how come Europe can recycle tops from bottles without separation and we can’t do it at all?

May be wrong but my understanding is that the ban on tops in NZ is due to the size of small tops being incompatible with the sorting machines - nothing to do with plastic type or whatever. Begs the question as to whether tops are OK here if replaced on the bottle before sorting. However I guess the top on a PET bottle is a different plastic - so maybe I have it all wrong. Milk bottles … ?

I was just in the local recycling centre the other day. They now have dozens of different containers for different kinds of plastic and metal tops, with magnifying glasses and magnets available to help sort through them. I want to do the right thing and I imagine most others do as well, but this is ridiculous. How many people will have the time and patience for this? If you want to encourage people to recycle, you need to make it as easy as possible, not some kind of Rubik cube puzzle. Something needs to be done at the source to prevent all this crap from getting into the eco-system in the first place.

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eracode

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#3267825 3-Aug-2024 11:15

Rikkitic:

I was just in the local recycling centre the other day. They now have dozens of different containers for different kinds of plastic and metal tops, with magnifying glasses and magnets available to help sort through them. I want to do the right thing and I imagine most others do as well, but this is ridiculous. How many people will have the time and patience for this? If you want to encourage people to recycle, you need to make it as easy as possible, not some kind of Rubik cube puzzle. Something needs to be done at the source to prevent all this crap from getting into the eco-system in the first place.

Sounds like that’s the situation when you take your recycling to the place yourself? Yes, crazy.

The situation I was talking about is when you put your recycling into a bin at home for the recycling truck to pick up - and what happens re bottle tops at the sorting centre in that case.

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jrdobbs

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#3267840 3-Aug-2024 12:47

eracode:

The situation I was talking about is when you put your recycling into a bin at home for the recycling truck to pick up - and what happens re bottle tops at the sorting centre in that case.

We get told off for putting the bottle tops in the recycling - that's a smack on the wrist from the local council.

What really confuses me is when they say plastics 1,2 & 5 okay but no lids. Some container lids are category 1 so what's the overriding factor?

I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to.

MadEngineer

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#3267841 3-Aug-2024 13:39

The sorting process, apparently.

Our local council is the same but we can collect the lids and take them to the recycling centre

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Bung

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#3267866 3-Aug-2024 18:14

jrdobbs: What really confuses me is when they say plastics 1,2 & 5 okay but no lids. Some container lids are category 1 so what's the overriding factor?

Size, 50mm gets mentioned. Maybe the sorting equipment has mesh grills that small items would fall through.

Jase2985

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#3267876 3-Aug-2024 19:12

Bung:

jrdobbs: What really confuses me is when they say plastics 1,2 & 5 okay but no lids. Some container lids are category 1 so what's the overriding factor?

Size, 50mm gets mentioned. Maybe the sorting equipment has mesh grills that small items would fall through.

that is correct, there are a few videos talking about it on YouTube.

Geektastic

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#3267896 3-Aug-2024 21:39

MadEngineer: The sorting process, apparently.

Our local council is the same but we can collect the lids and take them to the recycling centre

We get no home recycling. If we go to the tip ourselves, there are big signs telling you to remove lids and tops and put them in the general rubbish bin.

If the makers of bottling equipment start making only captive tops because they’re making for the large markets, we’ll end up having to convert our systems too.

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3267910 3-Aug-2024 22:12

Bottling equipment is usually pretty heavily customisable and region-specific; shipping both empty bottles/cans and filled bottles is very expensive relative to the cost of goods.

cddt

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#3267933 4-Aug-2024 09:14

SomeoneSomewhere:

Bottling equipment is usually pretty heavily customisable and region-specific; shipping both empty bottles/cans and filled bottles is very expensive relative to the cost of goods.

Indeed. The margins on imported beverages are very, very thin (or negative).

My referral links: BigPipe | Mercury

Rikkitic

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#3267945 4-Aug-2024 10:03

Bavaria beer imported from Holland is relatively inexpensive.

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eracode

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#3267950 4-Aug-2024 10:46

Rikkitic:

Bavaria beer imported from Holland is relatively inexpensive.

Probably would be more expensive if it was the real stuff from Germany.

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Rikkitic

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#3267952 4-Aug-2024 10:52

eracode:

Probably would be more expensive if it was the real stuff from Germany.

Doesn't have to be. It is excellent pilsener beer.

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Bung

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#3267975 4-Aug-2024 12:02

A friend of mine that had a small vineyard in Martinborough once ran through the cost of bottle, cap, bottling, label and carton. Unless the wine was selling for more than $15 at the time, the wine was almost being given away. The price of beer is probably the marketing cost of the brand.

networkn

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#3268593 6-Aug-2024 12:22

Why would Microsoft lay off 10's of thousands of jobs for cost reasons and then issue a bonus of ~~25% to it's remaining staff?

I mean, I can surmise reasons, but it seems fairly counter intuitive.

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