Sorry JMG, that’s a reasonable question but I have no experience making stuff like plates or forks, whereas I do engineer some of those automotive products.
I imagine you’re right. I’m thinking of it like paper for copiers and printers. We buy recycled-content paper (in addition to being as paperless as possible and default 2-sided printing) but it does cost a bit more and doesn’t usually have quite the same ‘brightness.’
Feed me them buckets full of chum, Cory. Click, click click.
It probably would take some re-tooling and reoptimization (run speed, temperature). Down time would also be an issue…if lines are stopped, you’re not making money. There is also a lot of “it’s always been this way” and “if it’s working, don’t mess with it.”
For food, there may be issues with other physical properties of the plastic: air and moisture permeability, for example.
But, as Penforhire mentioned with “brightness” it MAY be a purely cosmetic thing. A less transparent wrapper may unconsciously signal “dirty” or “old” to a consumer, who will then opt for the “new” and “fresh” thing. Because: ooooh!shiney!
I really need to know what a racialized person is.
Your first point definitely makes sense. Retooling is definitely a large cost.
My gripe is basically, I have two identical food items, lets say blueberries, one manufacture uses a clear plastic clam-shell container for them with a lovely little recycle triangle on it; it goes in my recycling (admittedly, this may, or may not actually be recycled depending on used plastic prices). The other does not; and it goes directly to the local landfill, there to stay for an indeterminately long period of time. And there are a number of food (and other) products like this, doll clothes, water flavouring containers, meat packaging, etc. So these are not items for which there are differing physical requirements, in fact, at least to my eyes the recyclable and non-recyclable products look and feel almost exactly the same; it just seems either retooling costs/we’ve always done it this way or otherwise it just seems capricious. In many cases, though, I don’t think the producers of the good are making the containers too, they just buy them from other manufacturers; so why not choose the recyclable variety? I suppose I should not be lazy and just ponder these questions, but instead write those other companies and ask why directly.
No harm in asking, in most cases. Any truly persuasive argument for change will, bottom line, be about the bottom line. They may be willing to change, if there is zero cost… but may also want to do zero effort in looking into alternatives. So, phrasing it as “Dear Company A, like your product, but I see company X uses this type of packaging, and that matters to me. I’d like to support a local industry , but I for now I’ll by from X.” If you can do the legwork on locating the info for where X gets/how they do said packaging, it will be easier to convince Company A to effect that change. I think most companies really still do have a sense of pride in what they do, and if they can feel good about doing it (as long as feeling good fits in the budget), they’d rather do that.
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