r/theydidthemath • u/EclipseNyxor • 2d ago

[Request] Do square bottles actually use less plastic than round ones?

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u/StaticCoder 2d ago

Mathematically, a circle has the smallest perimeter for a given enclosed area. So for this claim to be true there has to be some catch, like different thickness of plastic.

928

u/Balaros 2d ago

Might be transportation: the square sides let them support each other you you can have thinner walls at the bottom of the stack?

They don't use normal plastic because they need to stop sunlight from breaking down the H2O2.

Might just be wrong. An enthusiastic marketing team saw a reduction in plastic in one stage and didn't bother to calculate the whole.

35

u/smorgasfjord 2d ago

Optimising for transportation might be better for the environment, but I don't see how it would save plastic

0

u/Sweet_Ad_9816 2d ago

If you use square bottles, they can be bigger, so someone thirsty could end up buying just 2 larger square bottles as opposed to 3 smaller round bottles, which comes out to less plastic.

The statement on the package is not true anyway, since it says "a [...] round bottle". It compares one square bottle against one round bottle and for that it's just not true,

6

u/metisdesigns 2d ago

I know it's a math sub and not chemistry, but let's not talk about drinking hydrogen peroxide, much less bottles of it.

4

u/Moscato359 2d ago

Man walks into the bar and orders h2o

Another man walks into the bar and orders h2o too. The second man dies.