Graph made using Sankeymatic https://sankeymatic.com/build/ and Data from US Foods and Sysco Invoice Statements

The meaning is a bit lost in discourse. What do the acronyms stand for?

That's kinda mean to Pete, He's doing his best

They are the different kind of plastic that is commonly manufactured eg PETE being polyethylene terephthalate and labeled with a 1 in the recycling triangle, your 2 liter soda and clear juice bottles are usually PETE

Any idea about the metal breakdown?

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He's such a lite weight

But it says Pete is #1.

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Latex gloves. Interesting.

Foil came to mind but what else is the question

Mostly 10# cans and aerosol cans like whipped cream

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and when the dishwasher throws out the utensils so he or she doesn't want to wash them.

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Soda cans maybe

What is the source of your PVC

Latex gloves aren't plastic. Also there must be food and paper waste. And that's a staggering amount of unidentified metal. Sorry pal, this is bad.

You're right latex gloves are not plastic, the metal comes from aerosol (like whipped cream) and 10# cans which weigh a little over a half pound each. In a busy restaurant they add up.

Yea there is obviously food and paper waste but I was more interested in graphing wasteful packaging.

Seran wrap

I believe PVC is being phased out/ has phased out in Saran Wrap production

• PETE (more commonly PET) is PolyEthylene Terephthalate.
• HDPE is High Density PolyEthylene
• PVC is PolyVinyl Chloride
• PP is PolyPropylene
• PS is PolyStyrene

Source: I've been working with plastics for ~10 years.

What about steel sterno type cans?

Are the ketchup packets made of LDPE?

Most are yes, along with a foil liner that prevents their recycling, but helps preserve the ketchup or something.

Thank you for this amazing comment. Do you happen to also have ideas about the recycling implications of these plastics worldwide? I'm curious if they can all be recycled in Norway but some can't be in North America because of lacking technology.

Here I was trying to figure out what Hope did to get left with most of the trash.

From what I know, all are recyclable with caveats, some of which I will mention below. NA doesn't lack the tech, it's more realistically the motivation, there's generally no money in it unless it's sorted, sorting takes money, so very often it is sold to poorer countries or countries like China where it can be sorted relatively cheaply or incinerated as fuel to generate electricity.

Other considerations are things like FDA and others regulations that prevent something that has been to a consumer (all of us) from going back into the production stream for use in medical or food/beverage containers for health/safety reasons. I'm not sure if it's because they fear a virus may survive the manufacturing processes (almost impossible, unless it's purely a clean and reuse type of thing) or because thermal degradation of the regrind material or material mixed with others containing different additives could affect the packaging (far more likely, especially in the case of PolyStyrene [PS] that uses foaming agents often to make Expanded PolyStyrene [EPS]--like foam cups that McDonald's used to have). It's also why mixed material packaging, like ketchup packets with foil liners and milk cartons can't be recycled, the outer carton is paper, but there is a plastic liner inside of it.

Thanks for already answering my question. Always wanted to know how to make them.

What about other latex hmm… things

The foil layer is an oxygen-impermeable layer.

Thin plastics can slowly allow gases to cross, and without the foil layer the shelf life of the contents would be reduced.

Food waste?

I mean, it's titled "weekly plastic and metallic waste" not "weekly waste" not sure why the paper and food needs to be mentioned since it's not the subject.

There is some concern about contaminants in recycled PET leeching into water sold in bottles utilising recycled PET. Theories include printing ink, adhesive, labels and "dirt" - hence a general preference for virgin material.

hello! one question what program do you us?

Not relevant to the data in question

Kudos to you for actually sharing data that is interesting and not just humble bragging about your income.

This is just on-site, correct? Assuming waste generated for take-out orders would be on top of this.

I can’t get the image of OP carefully weighing empty ketchup packets out of my head.

>(unless it's purely a clean and reuse type of thing)

We have the tech for that too.

>It's also why mixed material packaging, like ketchup packets with foil liners and milk cartons can't be recycled, the outer carton is paper

Ketchup packs are just too small and not worth even trying to recycle, inceneration is the best way to dispose of it.

With the proper configuration and air filtration there is no environmental impact for the process

And the milk boxes are made of Tetra Pak, which is recyclable.

Additionally the acidity of ketchup will eat through most plastic. Ketchup bottles are made of PET which isn't affected by the acidity, along with a small amount of EVOH to serve as an oxygen barrier to prevent spoilage.

I read mental breakdown 🙃

Not for the stuff that wraps pallets. I also think not yet in food service, but not sure if that is ongoing or not.

Is this in the US? I was over there recently and was pretty shocked at the quantity of disposable plastic. It’s much more substantial than the disposable plastic I’m used to too - the carrier bags are thicker, and food containers from supermarkets were almost like tupperware.

Only 1.54 packets of ketchup in a week? Not bad!

No idea what the unit is from the graph itself.

Great graph, but can you write the weight also in [kg]? I want to be able to plug my reddit data into my equations without any uneccesary transformations.

This is why I sort some packages as trash because I know there's plastic liners inside them. But people tell me to put them in the recycling bin. I'm like... They can't recycle this.. sigh. I feel like the pre-sorting that happens at home is just a feel good effort.

I am a medical professional and I have been wanting to know where our waste goes. I know most of our trash gets incinerated but it would be great to have a visual like this!

extra virgin olive hoil

where are you using that much poly styrol?

I read lewd gloves, I'll see myself out.

The unit is lbs. It's in the post title but I agree it should be on the graph as well

How did you collect the data?

Well, you need a source of energy for the incinerator, and that has an environmental cost

Plastics are just oil with extra steps, it autofuels itself and produce energy :)

The only problem would be if the stuff got wet and a few days under the sun solves that

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Yeah weird to not use Nitrile since Latex allergies are relatively common. Latex is probably cheaper though.

I'm honestly surprised by the amount of polystyrene waste. What country is your diner in if I may ask? In most parts of Europe PS has virtually disappeared for the end consumer and - afaik - is also mostly replaced by other materials where possible in the commercial sector. But I might be wrong. Again, really surprised to see so much of it in your graph.

Yes, just stating that the possibility of a virus surviving the process was greater instead of chopping up and reusing the plastic in something like injection molding where the melting temperature usually far exceeds the temperature a virus can live at. I didn't mean to imply it couldn't be done or isn't being done.

>Ketchup packs are just too small and not worth even trying to recycle, inceneration is the best way to dispose of it.

Good point.

>With the proper configuration and air filtration there is no environmental impact for the process

Very true, should've mentioned that.

>And the milk boxes are made of Tetra Pak, which is recyclable.

Did not know that. Cool. So whatever you buy your milk in, it's recyclable lol.

He should hang out with Jeff

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“Look at this Mayo we can afford for our sauces!”

Depends on whether or not it has been used. Anything that comes in contact with bodily fluids is supposed to be incinerated, irradiated, or steamed in an autoclave as you know. Lab fluids (not bodily fluids) have to be rendered inert chemically, but then can probably just be poured down the drain.

I guarantee a good portion of medical expenses is derived from disposal requirements. I would like to see if any bloodborne pathogens could survive regrinding and extrusion... then the only issue is how it's transported.

I mean I guess in a existential way any process, recycling or not, has an "environmental impact". If the only cost is energy, though, we could have that impact be pretty minimal.

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Yea I was just being cheeky. I noticed it in the title after searching for a while in the graph. If it by chance gets posted somewhere else it would be useful to have all the information self contained in the graphic indeed.

pallet wrap is polyethylene- "stretch wrap"

wrap that comes over, say, a 6 pack of bottles or a 12 pack of boxes is polyethylene- "shrink wrap"

wrap that comes on a roll at costco to put over food is saran wrap. it used to be PVC but is transitioning to polyethylene because PVC is now considered unacceptable for food contact

https://sankeymatic.com/build/

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Our take-out containers are styrofoam

Thank you.

We are in the US. Our carryout containers are made out of polystyrene. There are alternatives but they are just made out of PP and there are some fibrous alternatives but they tend to be 3x the price while being an inferior quality. If it were up to me I'd switch but running the place with my elder brother so there is more that one person involved when making decisions :(

Yes, you are right about the pallet wraps.

Costco still sells PVC food cling wrap.

https://www.costco.com/polyvinyl-films-all-purpose-food-wrap%2C-18-in-x-3000-ft.product.100447235.html

me and my homies hate Pete

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