Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

The article is kind of hysterical, but has some interesting information in. I always wondered what to do with plastic bags and bottles and stuff in places where there is no rubbish collection. Burning seems popular, but despite looking up DIY home incineration it seems like not much effort is being put into this.

I also wondered why there aren't deposits on plastic bottles like there are on glass bottles. In the end it should probably be up to the companies who produce them, like Coca Cola to deal with them, but there probably needs to be an incentive to return them.




Here in Germany there are deposits on plastic bottles for things like coke. The bottles are more sturdy and get re-used multiple times.


What happens if someone poops in the bottle and then recycles it. I guess that's just the American in me probably. Probably why those efforts die here.


Everything should be sterilized by the bottler before reusing, but I'm guessing that any bottle to suffer that destiny would be discarded either by the store owner, the pick up crew, or the bottling facility

It's pretty similar in my country


Does it matter? You need to sterilize it anyway, because of the other million environmental factors.


I guess you'd smell it? And if not does it really matter?

Probably you'd be surprised at how much you poop you consume, both your own and other people's or animal's.


I imagine the bottles are cleaned before refilling.


Plastic and glass is ground up


That's cool, is it mandated by law or did it just work out as more economical?


Knowing the Germans, it's a law.


I agree




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: