.6 for the can & the fool I was

This is a subject that really grates my nerves. OK, first thing, we don't redeem cans and bottles in NZ.

But the town I am in has a really big problem with glass. It gets put into the recycling bins but theres no way the council can recycle them. Its just not worth it. But, a glass bottle weighs 200grams, the Ali can weighs 15 grams.
If they shifted to only selling Ali canned alcohol drinks, (can't see that happening) or selling alcohol in Ali cans cold (and glass bottles at room temp, of alcopops or beer) they would sell more Ali cans than they do.

Now, thats a automatic increase of recycled Ali cans, and a automatic increase in recycle revenue.

ie, do something and you end up with free money and less expenses....
Now considering that you can fit more Ali cans full of drink into the same space as you can glass bottled drinks, and the cans are lighter by about 185 grams a container, meaning the transport truck can carry a lot more drink in every trip, AND its a lot cheaper to cool down a Ali can drink than a glass bottle drink, in a chiller/freezer AND they take up less space in the retaIl shop, saving even more money, AND glass can be used as a weapon by drunks, Ali cans can't...
And discarded Ali cans clean themselves up, while discarded glass bottles just get smashed on the roads, ruining car tyres and causing injurys......

Why on earth are we using so many glass containers?

Oh, and we have a Aluminium smelter here in NZ. So we should support it anyway. AND, the price of Ali is dropping, making it even cheaper....
While glass is just a expense after expense that must be paid for by everyone, not just the customer.
Our council has huge piles of glass dumped all over the district because the glass is not allowed to be landfilled. At some time all of this is going to have to be retransported to whereever they can figure out to be a proper resting place for it.

I suggest using the clear glass, crushed and screened, as the reflective matter in the white road marking thats painted onto our roads.
And, use green paint for cycle lanes rather than more confusing white paint. Since cycling is a 'green' thing to do. And we could use the green glass in this paint too.



Weirdly, our council was using crushed glass in pavement tarmac untill they got a cheaper contract by a different company, which uses concrete. And we just closed our concrete (the dry powder base) manufacturing plant in NZ...I dunno where they get the concrete base now, probably imported..

But, glean green rant over. Ali is the future, it can be recycled 12 times for a total cost thats the same as manufacturing it in the first place.
ie, you can make 12 Ali cans from recycled Ali for the same cost that it took to make one Ali can from Bauxite, the Ali oxide that Aluminium is made from.