Most Earth-friendly way to give myself diabetes

October 17, 2018 10:21 PM

So, I drink a lot of soda. Like a lot. Like too much. A two-liter or most of a twelve-pack per day. I know that aluminum is a better recyclable in general because you can get it back to its elemental state relatively easily, whereas plastic degrades every time it cycles. However, given the amount involved, I'm curious if it would be better from an environmental standpoint to have at the end of the week only five to seven plastic bottles to recycle or forty-eight aluminum cans (plus the associated cardboard). No matter what, I intend to keep ruining my health with fizzy sugar water, but I'd like to do it with as little collateral as possible, y'know?
posted by Scattercat to Science & Nature (14 answers total)

If you like the flavors available for Soda stream, I think that's the most environmentally friendly option, as you're able to reuse the bottles and you're not having heavy and bulky liquid trucked around.
posted by Candleman at 10:26 PM on October 17, 2018 [16 favorites]

Probably you best bet would be to use something like a soda stream which refills HD bottles. For your usage it can be quite reasonable in cost if you set it up to use a refillable CO₂ tank.
posted by Mitheral at 10:26 PM on October 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

I googled it and there are a lot of articles on this - though perhaps not the most scientific. This one, I thought was ok. They had a good point that plastic originates with fossil fuels, so it has a double nastiness.
posted by Toddles at 10:35 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Aluminum, for sure. Plastic is simply something that should not be used for disposable items, period. I know that sounds pretty radical, but it's a fact that even if a piece of plastic is recycled over and over for 10,000 years, it'll still spend about 90,000 years as plastic trash. We know the effects that plastic can have when it's left in the environment, and it ain't good. Plus, the petroleum industry that provides the raw materials in the first place is one of the dirtiest, most rapacious industries on Earth and is pretty much wholly responsible for climate change, so I think it's a good idea to do what little we can to reduce demand for their products. Not that aluminum mining and smelting is all puppies and kittens, but in terms of overall environmental destruction it's just not in the same league as plastics production. And since it's both easier and cheaper to recycle aluminum than to mine and smelt it, you can be pretty well assured that your cans will stay in the cycle for much longer than plastic bottles.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:41 AM on October 18, 2018 [10 favorites]

If something like a soda stream is not at option, maybe soda that comes in glass bottles that the manufacturer takes back to refill? There's a local soda company that does this where I live, and you just take the bottles back to the grocery store and they give you the $10 bottle deposit back for the box full of empty bottles.
posted by abeja bicicleta at 3:10 AM on October 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

A soda stream was my first thought as well (just like several others'). That way the only plastic used is a) the reusable bottles that you fizz the water in, then wash and re-use, and b) the bottles of flavoring, that you only use a little of at a time.

You can even eliminate the second type of plastic by making your own flavored syrups to use with the soda stream. (This is usually as easy as boiling some fruit or other flavoring with sugar and water down to some thick consistency, then straining and keeping in a jar in the fridge.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:27 AM on October 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I’m going to second or third the Soda Stream approach. I’m a constant sipper of carbonated water. I used to buy the 1.25lt bottles at the grocer in bulk. Problem for me was two fold; 1) I don’t drive so have to wheel or carry many many bottles home with a chronic illness, and 2) all the damn plastic, processing and transport involved when my tap water was and is excellent.

I have three Soda Stream / King bottles (they are compatible in AU). Cleaning is easy, I’ve not needed to carry home full or recycle a single drinks bottle (except for my beloved low sodium V8) for years.

I’ve never tried their sweetened flavorings. But if I did try something, it would be things like elderflower cordial.

I’ve reduced my recycled plastic bottle count from 10-15 a week to 3 to 4 a month. Now to get my brother, a Diet Pepsi addict, on the same page.
posted by michswiss at 4:41 AM on October 18, 2018

Given the volume you drink I'm wondering if you could justify an actual soda fountain in your home.
posted by COD at 4:44 AM on October 18, 2018 [14 favorites]

It's entirely possible to put together a DIY carbonation system for not much money - think a scaled-up SodaStream. You can buy them as kits or just pick up the separate components at your favourite online seller-of-everything. Lots of online guides.

One thing I've noticed, though, from my own research (in the UK)... you would think that by making your own DIY carbonator and commercial-sized boxes of post-mix concentrate (Pepsi, Coke, whatever), you could make your favourite drink on the cheap, not to mention without the plastic waste. It turns out that the first assumption is completely wrong: it's almost always cheaper (sometimes by quite a lot) to go into a store and buy the big plastic bottles. The economics of it are beyond me, but I suppose it's just two distinct markets - you're not going to go to a different pub just because their post-mix Pepsi is 5% cheaper.
posted by pipeski at 6:10 AM on October 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

Sodastream has glass bottles.
posted by vivzan at 6:37 AM on October 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Null set/Trivial Solution: Don't drink soda. This is the asshole answer that is the equalivent to telling a hippy to kill themselves if they are really interested in saving the planet due to their impact. I am not seriously presenting this as an option/answer. I just wanted to start from the beginning.

First choice: Get a homebuilt DIY carbonation/fountain setup that runs off a CO2 tank that is as large as you are. Just like a resteraunt. This is probably impractical for a variety of reasons but your environmental impact will approach zero. Your cost will also approximate pennies per cup but upfront cost/maintenance will be higher than other options.

Second: Sodastream with reusable bottles/containers. Bonus points if there's some way/setup that avoids using one-time-use CO2 cylinders but I am unsure if this is a thing that exists.

Third: Aluminum cans. Recycle them. Profit.

Distant fourth: Plastic, in decreasing size order.
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:01 AM on October 18, 2018

If you're willing to mess around a bit with hardware and put up a few hundred bucks initially, a commercial 20lb CO2 tank and a soda-bottle cap is cheaper, a lot more bubbly, and very slightly more environmentally friendly than a soda stream. (Since you don't have to ship little tiny gas bottles.) We get something like 400 2L bottles of soda water for $25 and a trip to the brewing supply store once every two years. (If you try this, wear safety glasses!)

The hard part would be getting the syrup you like. I'm a fan of plain soda, so haven't looked into it, but I gather the big distributors go to some lengths to avoid selling to syrup to consumers. Your best bet might be to befriend a sketchy restaurant or market owner and offer them cash to order a bit more syrup and give you some. Or, lean to love Italian sodas with commercial syrup.
posted by eotvos at 9:29 AM on October 18, 2018

In my area, a lot of gas stations let you refill a 32oz mug. That would probably be the lowest waste option assuming you don't want to make your own soda.
posted by metasarah at 12:20 PM on October 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

Sodastream.
posted by ramix at 5:29 PM on October 18, 2018