increased transportation costs that would come from using glass containers instead
So spend more gasoline to move an order of magnitude more weight around? Just weighed two roughly equivalent containers, ~6 fluid ounces each.
Glass: 105g
Plastic: 7g
(That measurement misses the metal lid on the glass container vs. a plastic lid or wrap. Add 10g and 1g to the totals.)
Ah, but I see you’re proposing to spread manufacturing out some, save on shipping? So thousands of new glass plants splattered everywhere? The shipping costs sound more environmentally effective than splatting thousands of acres of forest, creating more heat islands, etc. And don’t forget all the extra energy infrastructure to power those plants! But what do I know.
Say what you will about capitalism, but it finds ways to use money efficiently. And here’s the thing people miss; Energy = MONEY. That equation exhibits the commutative property. Money = ENERGY.
I’m leaving out the increase in food costs to consumers. Like it isn’t bad enough, we should add more? Also, are we going to add more burden to the people that have to lift and move all that glass?
Posted a time or two that sometime in the future our plastic use will be looked upon as vile, insane. I can rage forever on the subject. But we’re not at a place in history to completely get around it. Not yet. Baby steps.
And BTW, I LOVE glass! I’ve made so many cool things out of waste. But fuck me, there’s only so many drinking glasses, bowls, jewelry, etc., a man can make and use. I’ve got 300lbs of waste glass in the shed to work with, nowhere to put the finished product.
tl;dr: The only way we save this planet is renewable energy, and I include nuclear in that. Any other talk is missing the energy equation, missing the forest for the trees.