Types of Beverage Containers We Use - Page 2

Originally Posted by RLS0812

It's more "environmentally friendly" to use plastic over glass .
Glass takes a huge amount of energy to melt and form into new glass containers.
I have worked on projects in glass plants IRL - the amount of natural gas it takes to melt glass is ungodly !
Plastic is also lighter and requires far less fossil fuel to transport.
If you do the math, the amount of fossil fuel required to make and ship 1 glass bottle is far greater than the amount of ( fossil fuel + oil ) to make and ship 1 plastic bottle ( of the same volume ) .

Whew boy ... we've been producing about fifteen 55 gallon drums of broken beverage container glass a week this summer.

This morning a semi trailer truck went 40 miles off it's regular route to come and pick up our glass because it was full to overflowing. They were down yesterday to pick up our plastic and aluminum recyclables but neglected to bring us fresh barrels for the glass.

I hate to think of the cost of that extra trip in terms energy use & carbon footprint.

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

Plastic bags - My sandbar banned them for awhile. Now they are back, an we have a choice of plastic, paper, or reusable bags. I like paper. I can use it in the burn barrel when I feel like burning stuff, cause you know..it's fun to burn things. An I can now, since my main neighbors are bears an alligators an red wolves...oh my! I like plastic bags. I don't like it when people litter with them. Specially down here. Have seen more then one turtle caught up in a bag or the plastic from a 6 pack. Not fun for the turtle or the people who have to clean up after the lazy people who can't be bothered to throw them away properly or recycle them. We have recycle bins/cans and regular trash cans at every beach access an next to every lifeguard stand. People still litter. This to me is lazy, and selfish. It's also why we can't have glass on the beach. Lazy person leaves/breaks it, some kid or adult, or pet steps on it, pays costly hospital bill for stitches and an emergency trip.

It's like with smoking. I'ma smoker. I don't flick my butts, or leave them, or anything else stupid. I put them in my little pouch thing I got for free from my local 7/11(Portable, seal-able butt bag...lol)other places offer them free to by the way. Anyhow back to my rant...pisses me off to see someone flick a butt out the window or throw it to the side or whatever. Why?
1. Because it makes all you non-smokers an ex-smokers ***** at me, an I'm not the one who did it.
2. It's rude.
3. You could start a fire, more then one wildfire was caused by an idiot with a match or lit cigarette.
4. It makes you look like a douche bag. Don't be a douche bag.
5. It's not good for nature, the animals, or your fellow man.
6. The world ISN'T your personal playground the majority of society seems to think it. You share it with others. Human and not. So stop being a **** an respect the planet.
7. see 1 then read this list again.
9. I just wanted to see if you knew there wasn't an 8.
10. I could add more but that would take time away from finding a proper goat for this thread.

Sirscrapalot - I goat this. Just sit baaaack an chill.

I hear ya Bro. Kindred spirit here. I usually flick the cherry off with my fingernail and empty out any remaining tobacco. Where there's nothing to burn ... there's no problem with dropping the butt into the nearest trash container. Been doing this for years now.

I wish one of my co-workers would take a clue. He chews. At first ... i thought all of those balls of stuff all over the parking lot were owl turds.

Well ... to understand the fuel you have to look at the history of how it came to be.

I was young at the time but i remember the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. As i recall ... gasahol was produced in response to that embargo as a way of making us more energy independent.

I remember that i was working for Gibbs Oil Company around 1981 or 1982. We used to sell gasahol at some of the company stations till one fateful winter day. The station i was working was on a busy highway. Something went wrong with the fuel in our gasahol storage tank and there were over ten disabled cars scattered down the highway from us. The company completely discontinued the sale of gasahol within a few days after the incident.

I didn't hear anything about blended fuel for over twenty years after that. GWB was in the oil business before he became president. This is probably why and how the idea came to be revived.

You might keep an open mind about the corrosivity factor. There's a reason why the oil industry had to spend BILLIONS on re-fitting their pumps, pipes and tanks. You should be able to fact check that one.

Think about closer to home though. Didn't you notice that all the gas stations were digging up and replacing all of their underground pipes at one point in time ? It certainly was noticeable here.

Think it through some more. The EPA mandated the change back sometime around 2004. The automobile manufacturers have had plenty of time to re-design their vehicles to work on this new fuel. One thing i noticed was a change in fuel lines. They used to be regular steel tubing. The manufacturers went to stainless steel tubing. The fuel systems appear to be more like a closed loop system. Fuel tanks don't vent directly to the atmosphere like they used to back in the day.

Another thing to consider is that there are seasonal blends. The vaporization properties of the fuel are adjusted seasonally. We had a bad batch of fuel come in about three weeks ago. I don't know what was wrong with it but it was causing hard starts and poor performance when the engine was under load. Point being ... it varies. The blended fuel seems to work okay here in the coldest part of the winter.

Kind of an interesting thing .... when gasoline first came out it was only somewhere in the 50 - 65 octane range. The motors of the time were built with that in mind. Today's motors are designed to run on the fuels that are available today. Flex fuel capability is pretty neat because the ECU can adjust the motor's timing and whatnot to run well on just about all of the fuel choices available out there.

Another fun factoid: Carbon Monoxide is a flammable fuel gas. " City Gas" was originally carbon Monoxide before they shifted over to natural gas.

Ever heard of an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR ) valve ? It pulls exhaust gas up into the motor to be reburned as a fuel when the truck is at an even cruise at highway speeds. They've phased it out now in favor of better technology but it used to boost fuel mileage and keep the engine running cooler.

Granted it is a bit off topic but it's an interesting subject and it's kind of environmental. It it true that it actually takes more calories to produce a gallon of ethanol than the gallon yields in calories when it burns ?

Originally Posted by jimicrk

Please use the Reply With Quote button so we all know who your rant is directed at.

Sorry, I thought I had. I have added the post that tweaked me. I am tired of people making up stories (no necessarily the OP) and false or misleading statistics being used to sway swathes of people into believing there is some kind of problem that can only be fixed by making life harder for the rest of us. Have you ever used one of the new "safe" gas cans? Had the cost of your goods raised due to global warming? Been denied a drink because you are too stupid to know better? Now straws?! Straws, for God sake?! How far down the "everything is YOUR fault and I need to make life better" road do we have to go?

Originally Posted by t00nces2

Now straws?! Straws, for God sake?! How far down the "everything is YOUR fault and I need to make life better" road do we have to go?

I'm not saying that straws shouldn't be used by anybody. But frankly, when I have my usual glass of water with my meal and they automatically give me a straw almost every time, I have to wonder. I absolutely don't need to have a straw every time I drink something, and neither do a lot of people. Also, did you see the video I referenced with the sea turtle having a straw removed from its nose?

Whether there is a Great Pacific Garbage Patch or not is open to debate. The concept of pollution in our waterways and on our beaches due to ignorance or a lack of caring on the part of many is hard to ignore. If you had a dog, took it to the beach, and had it choke on something that some jerk just threw on the ground, you'd probably be pretty miffed at whomever did that. The dog (depending on age and breed) likely wouldn't know any better. I've seen my dog try to eat some really raunchy stuff and actually throw up small pieces of aluminum.

I'd rather err on the side of making my life a bit more difficult rather than assume that everything will work out fine and we don't have to worry about stuff like asbestos, mercury, PCB's, etc. I know that there are always wealthy people who want to change the world to serve their own agendas. I'm willing to take the risk that I might be wrong from time to time and try to balance that with the potential reward that can be achieved by making things truly better in some ways.