Glass isn’t always greener: Why we need to relook sustainable packaging design
Over the past decade, society started switching to glass bottles to avoid microplastics.
However, recent research by France’s ANSES reveals that this swap comes with 50 times the microplastic payload.
The war between glass bottles and plastic ones is a red herring.
Going truly green has less to do with the materials used and more to do with how you think about packaging design.
Sustainability needs to move beyond emotional reactions and virtue signalling, as there is a critical misconception between sustainability and recyclability.
While glass is incredibly recyclable, it has a massive carbon footprint, both to produce and to transport.
Author's summary: Rethinking packaging design is key to true sustainability.