The reason they left off there: because manufacturers are no longer responsible for the waste from their packaging. This is as much a systemic issue as an individual one.
no longer responsible for the waste from their packaging
They never were lol
Anyway, I agree that this is a systemic issue. But, the individual solution is so simple (carry your damn trash until you find a bin) that I think unlike most systemic issues like car use, replacing electronics every few years or burning fossil fuels to heat their homes, I think it’s perfectly appropriate to admonish individuals for this.
Before the advent of disposable packaging, the norm for many products was glass that was cleaned and reused. I’m thinking sodas, milk, and wooden apple crates. The companies were responsible for their own packaging post-consumer. When they switched to disposable packaging, they even at times ran ad campaigns to shift blame to consumers instead of confronting the fact that they had created a problem.
I mean, that wasn’t because they cared beforehand. It was just that disposable packaging wasn’t cost effective. They switched the instant they could, which is a clear indication that they didn’t care.
Oh, sure. Yeah, they weren’t doing it because they were perfect angels or anything. Glass was the option, glass was expensive, so they put in place the infrastructure to recover and reuse the glass.
Personally, I’d like to see a system where companies can choose from a large variety of containers that are both highly durable and recyclable, but still generic. The purchase price of any item would include a substantial deposit to truly incentivize returning it. Returns could be done via either a drop off location (e.g. grocery store) or some sort of curbside service. Cleaning centers would then forward the cleaned containers or recycle them at the end of their lifetime.
There should be another option
- [ ] I’m not only stupid, I use disposable vapes, too