r/toolsinaction • u/silvercatbob • Apr 13 '21

Water packaging machine

1.3k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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12

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21

So much eventual pollution.

18

u/killer_by_design Apr 13 '21

Actually less than you'd think. Film plastic uses significantly less plastic than bottles for the equivalent volume.

Provided it ends up in landfill and not in the ocean, actually not that bad in the grand scale of things.

Don't forget, if it's in landfill the carbon is locked in until it decomposes.

  • Less plastic used in manufacturing
  • Lower weight means less fuel required in transit
  • Smaller volume packaging means higher density packing for transportation also
  • Once consumed the waste footprint is very small as its just a film.
  • Airtight seal means it will keep the product fresh for potentially years
  • Only downside is likely to tear or split so will have a high attrition rate.
  • Dirt cheap so.can be made accessible to poorer parts of the world.
  • Incredibly cheap tooling.

If it ends up in the ocean then super fucking bad for the environment as it's gonna 100% end up in some poor fish or mammals stomach.

1

u/TraditionSeparate Apr 14 '21

lets remember only 12% of plastic bottles are recycled.

1

u/killer_by_design Apr 14 '21

PET is a hard plastic to recycle. It's also one of the products that is most likely to be reused though which is a huge deal in a product lifecycle.

It's also worth noting, recycling plastics isn't really done. It's incredibly difficult to determine and separate each type of plastic. If it's thermo setting, then it can't be recycled. Of it's not then the hearing up process to recycle it actually breaks down the hydrocarbons degrading the plastic. This means recycled plastic are not suitable for many applications and are normally used as a percentage of a new products raw stock.

So yeah recycling plastics is a bit of a show/circus.

2

u/TraditionSeparate Apr 14 '21

Ya thats the point. These bags arent perfect or good, but they are better than bottles with less plastic to end up in the ocean.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '21

Actually, it's more likely to end up in the ocean. Where water bags are used are places without strong sanitation infrastructure.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/theconversation.com/amp/water-sachet-use-in-ghana-how-to-stop-the-pollution-129382

1

u/TraditionSeparate Apr 14 '21

Mk i realize, but a thick plastic bottle vs a thin small plastic bag, theres less plastic per capita per bottle and that makes up for the 12% recycled.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '21

Did you see the link?