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The problem with glass is that it isn’t biodegradable. If it gets broken, it can cause a hazard for humans and wildlife. If it gets thrown away, it’s not going
by netfire 7y ago
The problem with glass is that it isn’t biodegradable. If it gets broken, it can cause a hazard for humans and wildlife. If it gets thrown away, it’s not going to break down. Glass is good for the ideal case, but not great for the other use cases. For milk and juice, it’s seems like thick paper might be a better option, since it’s biodegradable and recyclable.
- xyzzyz 7y agoGlass is literally molten sand. It will break down just like the rock breaks down. It's not toxic or hazardous, except when it's freshly shattered, but these super sharp edges weather relatively quickly, after which they aren't any sharper than natural found rock. This not to say that we should just don't care and throw away glass anywhere we want, but it's really not a huge deal, unless you hate seeing glass pebbles among normal rock pebbles.
- markdown 7y ago> It's not toxic or hazardous, except when it's freshly shattered, but these super sharp edges weather relatively quickly, after which they aren't any sharper than natural found rock. Glass actually takes a long time to lose its sharp edge unless it's dumped in a river or the ocean, which is in fact a great way to dispose of glass. There really is no better way to dispose of garbage than dumping glass in the ocean... returning silica to its source in a way that doesn't look bad.
- codedokode 7y agoIf you throw it into a water then somebody can step on it and hurt their feet.
- cr1895 7y agoPresumably they don't mean to scatter freshly shattered glass along swimming beaches. There's a lot of ocean where people aren't walking.
- topmonk 7y agoThis all hinges on what you mean by “relatively fast”. If glass is being shattered and ends up being a hazard for years, this is much worse than a goopy old discarded plastic bottle, regardless of the perceived ugliness of the latter.
- dodobirdlord 7y ago> this is much worse than a goopy old discarded plastic bottle No, over time the plastic bottle will weather into cell-scale microplastic particles and play indefinite havoc with local wildlife. Glass will not.
- topmonk 7y agoGlass will cut my feet and shred my tires. The wildlife is largely unaffected. There'd still be trees, birds, animals, etc. You're blowing it out of proportion.
- athenot 7y agoGlass is essentially sand. Sure it may be sharp when it just broke, but it gets dull pretty fast in nature. Of all the things that got dumped onto this beach at Ft Bragg, glass was the least problematic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_Beach_(Fort_Bragg,_California) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_Beach_(Fort_Bragg,_Calif...
- joshlegs 7y agoadditionally, isnt glass a semi natural occurring substance? Im pretty sure ive heard of lightning strikes in deserts/sand that created glass.
- athenot 7y agoI never heard of that but TIL it's called Fulgurite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite
- thaumasiotes 7y agoGlass is also created by volcanoes; we call that obsidian.
- tomohawk 7y ago> dull pretty fast in nature Especially when a critter chews on it accidentally, or it gets crushed under foot and some ends up in the foot. It's the dulling process that sucks.
- darkpuma 7y agoI once got a stick stuck in my foot. Maybe we should ban those.
- kaybe 7y agoInteresting, there is a community for sea glass.. https://seaglassassociation.org/ https://seaglassassociation.org/