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Comment by andrewstuart | Hacker News Reader

The real problem is that we manufacture garbage and buy it at a virtually infinite pace.

Everything you see in the supermarket is garbage - one what is in it has been consumed.

Tell you what is garbage - recycling is garbage.

Our planet is already awash in plastics and that isn't going to stop until we put a stop to the garbage manufacturing industry - i.e. the packaging industry.

"Recycling" is the concept that the packaging industry maintains so that you don't scream in anger at how that industry is polluting the planet.

The truth about recycling came out recently when China stopped accepting recycling from overseas and now the "recycling" i.e. garbage is piling up in incredible mounds here in Melbourne.

Local recycling companies have started to admit they are just throwing it all in landfill.

We need to turn off the garbage manufacturing tap.

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So much this. There is a reason why recycle is the 3rd in "reduce, reutilize, recycle"

It's important people start using more ecological solutions to package and carry stuff around.

Hmm, in the US, I have only heard it "recycle, reuse, reduce".

https://youtu.be/JqUm3M1cpi8?t=691

I actually think it's because the most common phrasing is "reduce, reuse, recycle", the pronunciation of which comes out as "re-duce, re-use, re-cy-cle". The 2-2-3 cadence just sounds more natural than 2-3-2 or 3-2-2.

that's lovely, but thats not the point ;) first you try to not buy it. if you have to buy and have extra garbage, try to do something with it to avoid disposing. if you can't, then try to recycle it. it makes sense

It’s absurd how much goes into the bin. Why can’t restaurants especially use cloth napkins that are cleaned off-site and also silverware, plates and cups like what was done for centuries? Getting all restaurants’ service paraphernalia away from disposable-like-Ikea-furniture to nearly zero waste seems entirely doableb because that’s how it was before. Even store beverage containers like seltzer water are refilled without melting them down, why can’t more manufacturers go back to the deposit system and just clean containers instead of completely destroying and remaking them for every use?

Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Destroy, remake, dispose.

I can't think of one sit-down restaurant that doesn't use cloth napkins.

Napkins as coasters; now that's a different problem.

Most of the more indie places seem to use disposable napkins.

That's true now that I think of it. Mom and pop's don't have that laundry service budget.

There’s a term for this, greenwashing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing

> Everything you see in the supermarket is garbage - one what is in it has been consumed

Only when you buy junk, which I assert is not actually food anyway.

Stick the outside and you'll buy fruit, vegetables, meat, beans, rice and pasta.

You can put all of those into re-usable bags or containers and buy everything you need to eat very healthy meals with no waste at all.

If it comes in a shiny plastic package, plastic bottle or tin can, you shouldn't be eating it anyway (in general)

Do you carry chicken breasts uncovered in your cloth bag or do you just carry them in your bare hands?

You can bring a container that they can weigh and use like a Mason jar.

I live between two major supermarkets, and neither of them provide any way for me to do this. All the meat in both is pre packaged (in store) before it hits the shelf. If you go to the butcher counter, they will package it in front of you.

But this is something which could be changed.

AS far as I know, meat MUST be labeled, which kind of necessitates a container for the label to affix to.

They can just use ... butcher paper.

I'm pretty certain you can't recycle waxed butcher paper.

The UPC revolution is entirely against this - i.e. you are directly opposing the last 40 years of supermarket evolution. Good luck with that.

(remember, Walmart won't even carry products without UPCs, and this is nothing new - as of the 80s)

We have a shop called Nude Foods [1] in Cape Town that is setup like that. They unfortunately don't do meat, but most everything else is covered.

[1] http://nudefoods.co.za/

Idk mate, I just kill my own chickens. /S

Unfortunately, I've never seen unpacked pasta or rice around here. Beans yes, but only a few types (e.g. no lentils).

> If it comes in a shiny plastic package, plastic bottle or tin can, you shouldn't be eating it anyway (in general)

This is a stupid assertion. Plenty of healthy food comes in shiny plastic packages, plastic bottles, or tin cans. You're essentially just shaming people for wanting more convenient food options.

Packaging is absolutely necessary for convenience and safety. You can't sell raw meat without a package, for instance; that idea is absurd and stupid. Do you really want to go back to the days when people were constantly suffering from and dying of easily-prevented food-borne illnesses?

For non-food items, packaging is necessary to minimize breakage in shipping. How much more garbage would there be if half the manufactured items were broken in transit?

Recycling is the proper answer to the proliferation of packaging. That we, as a society, aren't setting things up properly to facilitate this and minimize landfilling is our own failure, not that of the Chinese. There is absolutely no reason we can't have companies building large plants to collect recyclables and automatedly sort them and break them down for reprocessing into new packaging. If this isn't happening, it's because of a failure of governance.

> You can't sell raw meat without a package, for instance; that idea is absurd and stupid.

Here in [some european country] preferred way of getting quality meat is at the market, where it is not prepackaged. Larger supermarkets also sell non-packaged meat. What did you mean by such strong assertion?

I mean, it probably still gets packaged in something, it's just not pre-packaged with needless amounts of plastics. (Although I guess I could probably hand them a box I brought in at the supermarket and they'd use it if I asked nicely. Never seen anyone do that though)

Here in the US, the better cuts of meat you get at a market, where they cut and weigh and package it for you on the spot. The keyword here is: "package". They still have to wrap it up in something, even if it's a special coated type of paper. That's a package. They're not going to just hand you a slab of bare meat with their bare hands.

Animal Agriculture Industrial Complex I believe is the worse offender of our planet anyway. Then there's the threat of another H1N1, Avian Flu, Food and Mouth, etc. only a matter of time before they rapidly evolve and overcome anti-biotics and cause a worldwide pandemic.

So may I suggest we simply do what we can to reduce our consumption of meat. As it is simply not sustainable right now.

Instead, try this, Cauliflower that looks like Chicken! Taste is close too!

http://sweetpotatosoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Vegan-...

Or burger pattie that is made from Banana flower (i'm from the tropics).

I am hunting for it right now, but I recently read about how soy production has equalled or is getting really close environmental impact of beef.

You must remember that most of these Soy are not for us, but for beef.

> Soybean meal is the largest source of protein feed in the world, and is generally used in animal feed. Therefore, most of the world's soybeans are consumed indirectly by humans through products like meat (chicken, pork and beef), dairy, eggs and farmed fish.

http://wwf.panda.org/our_work/food/agriculture/soy/consumers...

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