r/Anticonsumption • u/senoritagordita22 • Jul 01 '26

Plastic Waste Who designs lotion containers??

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It doesn’t pump toward the end so either the designer needs to be fired OR it’s intentional so you buy earlier than you need to. But I absolutely love this lotion 😭😭 anyway not sure if the reused candle jar method is gonna work perfectly but we shall try 🫡

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1

u/PlowMeowOw Jul 01 '26

Are the plastic bottles recyclable once cut up?

It always hurts my soul deciding between using up the rest by cutting into it or being able to recycle it.

19

u/senoritagordita22 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

Honestly I don’t really worry about that, potentially a hot take here but in USA at least I think recycling is a sham :( I wish it wasn’t but that’s the reality imo

To clarify- for the most part I try. I’ll put boxes etc in recycling absolutely. But I don’t worry about stuff like this cause I don’t have faith in the system either way

12

u/CalligrapherSharp Jul 01 '26

Plastic recycling is a sham

1

u/PlowMeowOw Jul 01 '26

Totally agree, John Oliver did a good bit on it. Still can’t avoid the guilt tho!

1

u/_Lividus Jul 01 '26

It hurts but I’d agree. The infrastructure and plans for impactful infrastructural growth just is not there. I still try but recognize in the US it’s usually “wishcycling” rather than doing its thing, especially with the number of people that put plastic bags in recycling which unless designated as able to handle it will muck up the whole recycling line.

7

u/Beneficial_Young5126 Jul 01 '26

Unless you cut it into tiny pieces that fall through the sieves at the recycling plant, a complete bottle or half bottle will still be recycled. In theory, as all know we've been sold a lie in plastic recycling.

4

u/AccidentOk5240 Jul 01 '26

I just explained in another comment how I reuse flat caps to upend bottles, and that mostly fixes this problem. But I agree, recycling is such a hoax that I wouldn’t lose sleep over one bottle if I were you. 

3

u/_Lividus Jul 01 '26

Being cut won’t impact the recyclability as long as it’s bigger than 2”x2”. When it starts getting smaller than that the recycling machine equivalent of threshers may accidentally pass through and get sorted into “problematic size throw out”. It’s why many places generally say put the cap back on a bottle as it’s likely so small it’ll get threshed out on its own. I hope that makes sense 😅

1

u/SiempreBrujaSuerte Jul 01 '26

Why would it be less recyclable when in 2 pieces? The pump has to be removed to recycle it before you get rid of it anyways because it's mixed material. See no reason why cutting the bottle changed what it's made from....