Wither Thou Goest, Glass?

I was fascinated by this recent article regarding the viability of recycling glass: http://lancasteronline.com/news/loc...cle_77b6c596-5203-11e7-9cfa-3f74791360b0.html

The recyclability of glass has long been one of its strong suits, but according to the article, it is becoming less profitable & more problematic. I CAN remember, as a young lad, taking deposit glass bottles back for return, but that practice is (mostly) long gone.

I CAN also remember, on one of several visits to the late, great Doc Ogg (@mentor), taking his recycling to the local facility in CO. There were color-coded bins for EVERYTHING! It took us a good half-hour to get it all sorted. Glass' fragility was in evidence that evening as we dumped in his screw-top bottles (the WORST!) since he could not reuse them as a homebrewer & shattering of glass was deafening.

If one CANnot recycle glass, what is a person to do with it? Do you simply put it in with the rest of the trash & send it out? Ugh. That does not seem to me to be a viable, sustainable option. It will quickly CANtribute to the overwhelming of landfills & dump sites, especially due to its bulk & its inability to deCANpose quickly.

The article mentions the beverage industry, especially the producers of alcohol, as being the last bastion of glass CANtainer CANsumption. This begs the Q: Would you be down with a CANplete & total shift to Al CANs?

My dismissive maternal aunt & uncle scoffed at me as wine drinkers, saying that wine will NEVER be CANned. I simply smiled, as I am wont to do, & pulled out some Underwood CANs from Union Winery that I had recently procured in their city of D.C. Their flabbergasted looks were worth the price of admission.

I hear the hue & cry, given the recent article on the dangers (?) of Bisphenol A (BPA), but we are all doomed to die of something, someday. Do you wish to be crushed under the mountain of spent glass bottles that your local recycler now refuses to accept?

I leave you for the time-being, as Bro. Woody with The Order of Disorder, creator & founder of The CANQuest (tm), my stated desire to drink & review EVERY CANned beer in existence while bringing brothers & sisters into the fold of the worship of fermented malt beverages CANtained in sealed aluminum cylinders. These are glorious times, my friends, as the once-non-believers join us every day. Blessed be the CAN & its CANtents with its inherent portability & recyclability! CAN I get a "Hallelujah!" from the CANgregation?!?

 

Perhaps an alternate thread title: "Quo Vadis, Glass?"

 

@JackHorzempa I wonder. Will it act as a CANNing increase impetus or will people just commingle their glass bottles with all of their other household waste? Right now, my local recycler will not accept food CANtainers as they are CANtaminated & so those definitely go in with household waste. More glass bottles in the landfills - just what we need.

 

Perhaps, but doesn't each of us look for news pertaining to our particular interests? I am always glad to peruse the "Books" section of the Sunday paper & when I was stationed in Alameda (S. F.'s East Bay), I rarely looked at the "Travel" section of the SF ExaChron as I was happy right where I was.

I no longer take delivery of the local daily fishwrap, but my current position as a taxi dispatcher affords me the opportunity to peruse the holdings-forth of the local journalists while on duty since we get a copy on a daily basis. It was pure happenstance that I read the aforementioned article.

I have not the time nor the inclination to search out articles about CANned beers. I have beat the drum endlessly for over a decade. People know my stance & agree, abide, or disagree & so be it. I only Pop! my head up, ala Whack-a-Mole, when something catches my attention. I was terse in my response to the recent BPA article, but this was one that was more local and possibly indicative of a wider trend.

My apologies, sir, but I respectfully disagree with your assessment of my curation.

On another note, seeing that you are somewhere in NY, I must profess my eternal love for the tabloids! That, as far as I am CANcerned, is where the real journalism exists.

 

Cool! I will package up all of my spent glass bottles, send them to you C.O.D., no return to sender & you may do with them as you see fit or attempt to return them only to see them end up ... who knows where. Bottom line - NIMBY!

 

Yer gettin' what I send you, boy'o!

 

And another point that I wish to touch upon: DON'T just simply put your Al CANs out in the recycling bin! I agree that the mining of bauxite is expensive, damaging & unsustainable, BUT there is enough aluminum in existence that if people would simply get it into the recycling stream, it CAN easily be reused.

Jeez-O, man, do you realize how widely I am laughed at & ridiculed for rescuing CANs from the gutter? Al recycling prices are on the rise! $0.40/Lb currently. Yinz're throwing away $$$! Okay, it keeps us bums in business, but wouldn't you like to have some of it back? Three months for me = $15. Imagine in a large metro area. More Al back into the recycling stream = less bauxite mining. Yinz just have to do yer part.

 

Ah & now we come full zidircle: https://www.beeradvocate.com/articl...ou-be-worried-about-the-bpa-in-your-beer-can/