Are aluminum drink cans better than plastic water bottles?

Are you wondering if you should buy drinks that are packed in aluminum cans or in PET bottles?

It depends on which country you are from and how the recycling rate is like for the packaging involved.  Recycling agents in Malaysia would rather take aluminium cans over plastic as one lorry load of aluminium cans earns more than one lorry load of PET bottles.

I read this article posted on July 20, 2019 by TAPP Water:

Glass vs plastic vs aluminium – what is the most sustainable choice?

This is what it reported:

% recovered for recycling in USA
Glass 80%
ALUMINIUM 45%
PLASTIC (PET) 9.5%

Though the recycling rate in reported is 80% for glass bottle, in Malaysia I am not able to find recycling agents for them.

If you read the report, "Disposable Drinking Bottles- Plastic vs. Glass vs. Aluminum" from Macquarie University in Australia website, the recycling rate is different:

Average Amount Currently Recycled reported in Australia
GLASS 50%
ALUMINIUM 50%
PLASTIC (PET) 60%

Maybe it is easier to make a decision based on your views from this report extracted from the report posted at TAPP Water:

Time to decompose
Glass bottle 1 million years*
Single use plastic 400 years
Carton Never**
Aluminium can 100-400 years

Decomposition residue
Glass bottle - Glass
Single use plastic - Microplastics
Carton - Some microplastics
Aluminium can - Metal scrap

How do you stop microplastics from polluting the environment?  Based on this, I would rather choose aluminium over PET bottles.

If you still cannot make up your own mind on it, read what "The Aluminum Association" has to say about it.

Extracted:
"Nearly 75 percent of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today.

Infinitely recyclable and highly durable, nearly 75 percent of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today. Aluminum is 100 percent recyclable and retains its properties indefinitely. Aluminum is one of the only materials in the consumer disposal stream that more than pays for the cost of its own collection."

Note: Though carton is reported not to decompose and there are microplastics residue when they decomposed, if you google "Tetrapak gets recycled into roof sheets" you can read about their efforts with with local charity in Thailand to turn recycled cartons into roofing sheets to provide emergency shelter for people in need.

See how Tetrapak  is recycled in India to benefit the public.


Tetrapak is working on raising awareness that their cartons can be recycled.  I think that children in school should be taught during their art and craft class lessons on how they can extract paper out of cartons as shown in this video.

Retirement "cave" home. Learn to build your own.

What can you do to reduce the cost of managing a house when you retire?

Steve Rees could still remember how cool it was inside the caves he played in as a kid and decided that he will live off-grid in his make do cave by burying two shipping containers.



His retirement "cave" home attracted so much interest that he decided to write a book about how it was build and you can find it selling at


It is great to know that being kind to the environment by conserving energy and by re-using what could have been abandoned material can also be kind to the pocket.

Container resort home, anyone?

Could you guess just by looking at this photo that this home is made up of six shipping containers?

It is located at Berjaya Hill, Bukit Tinggi in Pahang and took 4 months to complete.  Don't believe me?  Then watch how it is done by Anand Bungalows Sdn Bhd.



Like that?  Here are 15 more container home ideas to drool over.

Plastic containers? Modify and re-use.

What does this empty ice cream tub has in common with the cooking oil container?



Their diameters are close in size. So what?

I cut the top off an empty oil container at the right height and I can store my less often use stuff. Then I placed the ice cream cover over its top, to prevent cockroaches or lizards from running all over and staining them. Got the picture?



They are also handy drawers for my kitchen shelves for storing my 3 in 1 packets drinks.



You have to be blind if you are not able to find your stuff with these modified containers.

Containers that conserve.

I think these are neat containers. There are three different sizes, one bigger than the next so that you can store one inside another thus saving storage space. There is also a handle on top to hold spoons that came with each container.



I like it that the rim at the top of the container can be removed.



I do not have to pour my bag of sugar into the container. I just slip the whole bag into it...



...and then slip the rim on top of the plastic bag...



...before I put the cover back on.



That means that I do not have to wash the inside of the container when that pack of sugar is used up. I just slip a new packet in.

What a great water and time saving idea.