In the run up to Earth Day we’re going to blog about recycling! While hanging out on our Twitter Page, I tweeted about this super cool tool from LIME that teaches you how to recycle just about Everything.

Pretty cool!

From there, someone tipped me off about this great video, detailing the life of an aluminum can. While we tend to think “Great, it’s recycled so therefore is eco-friendly”, this takes a look at the amount of energy needed not only to make an aluminum can, but also the carbon footprint created from transporting it all over the world, from its creation to its reincarnation as whatever aluminum cans turn into.

Miles The Can from Natural Step


So if we’re told Plastic is bad, Glass is bad, Aluminum cans are bad… what’s good, or what’s the least-worst?

I’ve started to take my aluminum waterbottle with me wherever I go, and when possible get my drinks poured in there – by reusing the same waterbottle I’m keeping that one piece of aluminum from having to be trucked around and constantly repurposed. That way I don’t feel like I’m contributing to the plastic/aluminum/glass debacle, plus it reminds me to drink water more often! But what about when it’s impractical to carry a waterbottle with you? And what about when you’re purchasing for the home? All I’ve read is that it’s best to buy bulk in those cases, so you’re not repeatedly buying more and more containers, but instead using one container for a large quantity.

What do you think? Any suggestions on how to navigate the beverage container dilemma?

Posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.