Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Maybe it's just me

Have you guys seen this article about disposal of used hypodermic needles in old soda cans? The miracle is in the lid!
.

.
Am I the only one that thinks this is a bad idea?

Aluminum cans:

- aren't known for their durability (at 0.019 thousandths of an inch)
- are an item people are likely to dig through the trash to find
- are made of one of the few endlessly recyclable materials

If the lids work exactly as the designers hope they will, this means thousands of cans in landfills, forever - a waste of perfectly recyclable aluminum.

If scavenging folks collect these cans, will recycling centers accept them with a "totally tamper proof" plastic lid, full of needles? No. When you realize a soda can is readily cut through with a butter knife, how tamper proof is it?

Is this plastic biodegradable? Of course not - that would impede the safety, wouldn't it? Just what we need, more plastic in the landfills.

Is a can better than previous solutions? Yes.
Prize-worthy? A good solution? No.

No comments:

Post a Comment