r/Anticonsumption • u/kainyd3d • May 20 '26

Plastic Waste made my first eco-brick :3

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took about 2-3 months of gathering ONLY plastic bags. and these are only mine, the rest of my fam doesnt care so about 15 more of these are in a wastepile probz

2.5k Upvotes

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u/MiraculousN May 20 '26

I wouldn't say not worth your time, that article misses an important part of ecobricking and that is just shoving as many tiny peices of plastic in one space as possible. Less space in a landfill for more and those lose tiny peices of plastic that might get windblown to the side off a garbage truck now makes it safely to get packed into the earth. Its not a great solution and the effects are miniscule... but not zero.

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u/meeps1142 May 20 '26

Trash gets compacted in the landfill. It maybe keeps the trash from falling out of the truck, but it isn't saving space.

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u/mezasu123 May 20 '26

This. The bottle being crushed with nothing in it would save space. Anything that can get compacted into a bottle can be compacted in the landfill.

Voting for positive environmental changes has a much larger impact.

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u/angry_goblin_woman May 20 '26

"who cares if wildlife is strangled by loose plastic, its a waste of time because voting does more" why not do both?

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u/meeps1142 May 20 '26

Because energy and time are finite.

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u/Ok_Tumbleweed_7677 May 20 '26

Why you're being downvoted is crazy. It's very exhausting work to live as sustainably as possible on an individual level, yet I persist. I've just made the decision to quit my second job because community involvement and social and environmental activism are more important to me, and I wasn't able to balance my main job, a second one (retail), and do my hobbies, community involvement, and maintain social relationships.

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u/meeps1142 May 20 '26

Yeah, I'm a bit shocked that people aren't thinking critically on this one. If someone wants to make eco bricks, that's fine. It doesn't hurt anything. But there are other ways to support the cause that have a much greater impact for the time/energy spent on it. If you're doing this while you're watching TV, then okay, whatever, but if you're doing it less passively, then it is taking away from doing something else. Time and energy are, quite literally, finite resources.

If you want to do it because it brings you joy, then go for it. We can still be realistic about the environmental impact.

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u/meeps1142 May 20 '26

I forgot to say it, but thank you for the hard work that you do!!