Let’s see - Bottled vs Tap; Guinness Stout vs Michelob Light; Ichiban Sushi vs Long John Silvers… Need I say more? What’s good is good, what sucks really sucks.
Well, they’ve been recycling bottles for over 100 years. What is the problem with these water bottle nuts who think the recycling laws don’t apply to H2O? I see water bottles thrown in the city, in parks, along the roadside,l and yes, by the reservoir. Don’t even say it’s imported.
zsrogers: the difference between the first item on your list and the other two is that Guinness and Ichiban are really better tasting than Michelob Lite and Long John Silverfish. But, as many have demonstrated (my favorite is Penn & Teller’s “Bullbleep” segment), people generally prefer the taste of tap water over the taste of fancy bottled water… when they can tell at all. And, tap water is subject to purity requirements that bottled water isn’t.. and anyway, the biggest selling bottled waters (Aquafina, Dasani, and those various Sam’s Club and Walmart brands) are just municipal tap water in a bottle anyway (read the labels)!
Lewreader: the problem with water-bottle (and pop bottle) recycling is that (a) people don’t have enough incentive to recycle, so a lot of bottles go in the trash or on the ground, and (b) plastic bottles aren’t really recyclable in the sense that aluminum cans and glass bottles are–you can’t melt them down and make new plastic bottles from them. Plastic doesn’t REcycle, it DOWNcycles. One grade of plastic can be “recycled” into a lower grade, and then a lower grade than that, until it ends up worthless. In Japan, the last step of plastic recycling is to burn the stuff in high-temperature incinerators that generate electricity–effectively recycling it into the oil it was originally made from, and using that oil to generate power.
@puddleglum1066, Here in Fairfax County, VA an incinerator burns unrecycled trash to electricity also. It also separates metals and glass automatically before burning the organics. A bunch of saleable stuff is distilled from the smoke by the scrubbers too. It is a very impressive and sophisticated plant.
One thing such a plant ccould do is actually make oil. Burning the organics in reduced oxygen creates CO+H2 which is called “coal gas” or “wood gas” and turns into oil under heat and pressure in the presence of an Iron catalyst. This is how the Nazis made gas and diesel for their war machine despite having no oil resources (they had lots of coal).
Towns used to be heated and lighted by coal/wood gas, which was then called “town gas”, until natural gas took its place (the CO is toxic, much nastier than natural gas in the event of leaks).
pschearer Premium Member over 13 years ago
I tried carrying a water tap in my backpack, but it didn’t work and my carpet got ruined.
zsrogers over 13 years ago
Let’s see - Bottled vs Tap; Guinness Stout vs Michelob Light; Ichiban Sushi vs Long John Silvers… Need I say more? What’s good is good, what sucks really sucks.
lewisbower over 13 years ago
Well, they’ve been recycling bottles for over 100 years. What is the problem with these water bottle nuts who think the recycling laws don’t apply to H2O? I see water bottles thrown in the city, in parks, along the roadside,l and yes, by the reservoir. Don’t even say it’s imported.
Plods with ...™ over 13 years ago
Evian spelled backwards is NAIVE
puddleglum1066 over 13 years ago
zsrogers: the difference between the first item on your list and the other two is that Guinness and Ichiban are really better tasting than Michelob Lite and Long John Silverfish. But, as many have demonstrated (my favorite is Penn & Teller’s “Bullbleep” segment), people generally prefer the taste of tap water over the taste of fancy bottled water… when they can tell at all. And, tap water is subject to purity requirements that bottled water isn’t.. and anyway, the biggest selling bottled waters (Aquafina, Dasani, and those various Sam’s Club and Walmart brands) are just municipal tap water in a bottle anyway (read the labels)!
Lewreader: the problem with water-bottle (and pop bottle) recycling is that (a) people don’t have enough incentive to recycle, so a lot of bottles go in the trash or on the ground, and (b) plastic bottles aren’t really recyclable in the sense that aluminum cans and glass bottles are–you can’t melt them down and make new plastic bottles from them. Plastic doesn’t REcycle, it DOWNcycles. One grade of plastic can be “recycled” into a lower grade, and then a lower grade than that, until it ends up worthless. In Japan, the last step of plastic recycling is to burn the stuff in high-temperature incinerators that generate electricity–effectively recycling it into the oil it was originally made from, and using that oil to generate power.
Iwa Iniki over 13 years ago
A dollar per year??? Guess you have not noticed the price of H2O in California.
stuart over 13 years ago
@puddleglum1066, Here in Fairfax County, VA an incinerator burns unrecycled trash to electricity also. It also separates metals and glass automatically before burning the organics. A bunch of saleable stuff is distilled from the smoke by the scrubbers too. It is a very impressive and sophisticated plant.
One thing such a plant ccould do is actually make oil. Burning the organics in reduced oxygen creates CO+H2 which is called “coal gas” or “wood gas” and turns into oil under heat and pressure in the presence of an Iron catalyst. This is how the Nazis made gas and diesel for their war machine despite having no oil resources (they had lots of coal).
Towns used to be heated and lighted by coal/wood gas, which was then called “town gas”, until natural gas took its place (the CO is toxic, much nastier than natural gas in the event of leaks).