Whither Thee, Syrofoam Cooler?

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blackforest

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For those of you who’d like a break from discussing transgendered unvaccinated genetically-modified Atheist illegal immigrants seeking taxpayer-funded late-term abortions, (or whatever’s the latest outrage), I thought I’d provide some good news. See ya, Styrofoam: We test the Igloo Recool, a $10 biodegradable cooler - CNET

It looks like that eco-nightmare we grew up with as kids may soon become a thing of the past! 👍 We’ve always used the Coleman, but I love hearing about innovations like these.
 
The squeaky sound was like a built in alarm system. That is how i knew someone was going after one of my beers when my back was turned at the grill flipping some burgers.
 
More biodegradability?

So we can spend more resources and energy replacing these things???
 
They need to work on that price and their distro. Whenever I pickup a styrofoam cooler, it’s because I didn’t anticipate needing one but need one in that moment. If I need to pick up some beer at the gas station I can do that, grab a cheap cooler, and a bag of ice all in one go. I’ve never seen an REI store in my entire life. Buying one from an REI store would take some serious forethought. I can pick up a styrofoam cooler for $6-$7, add ice and that is $10 at which point I only just bought the igloo. I can also accelerate the styrofoam decomposition process by a few hundred years by melting it in the bonfire and really getting that greenhouse party started. 😝

But I guess they have a certain market they think will pick these coolers up for an increased price. Cool idea though.
 
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I have been reading lately that a lot of the stuff we have been separating out to recycled does not!!! get recycled!!!

So I am happy to see that someone has come up with another way to use recyclables 🙂

Maybe if we put a tax on using trees it would even out the cost so recycled paper/cardboard wouldn’t cost so much more? (It seems counter-intuitice that using “used” raw materials would cost more than “new” wood…)
 
Annie said:
Maybe if we put a tax on using trees it would even out the cost so recycled paper/cardboard wouldn’t cost so much more? (It seems counter-intuitice that using “used” raw materials would cost more than “new” wood…)
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Not really, it is easier to grind a tree up into pulp and flatten it into sheets than it is to take used paper products of different qualities, degradation, and print, mix them together or separate them apart and make a useful product at the end. And it takes more resources and arguably more carbon emissions to do so. Pulp wood is grown and harvested relatively quickly and actually creates habitats for wildlife during that process- land that might otherwise be used for farms or construction. Recycling is terribly inefficient. Putting a tax on new paper products to make recycled paper more attractive would be severely self defeating and simply drive up prices for all paper products.

Fun fact, all paper is created brown. Printer paper, toilet paper, paper towels, etc are only white because they are bleached that way. So recycled paper is not brown because of the recycling process, but because it looks more “natural” and markets better to the intended consumers that way.
 
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Not counter intuitive at all.

In recycling, it is necessary to.overcome more entropy than in using fresh materials, hence, recycled products cost more and are lower in grade.

ICXC NIKA
 
My parents had a cooler they purchased in the 1960’s they used it for at least 30 years.

It was pale green with a white cover. We could fit a substantial sized picnic in there.
 
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