JB's Blog

Engineers are not given enough credit imo.

And yeah, I saw through the bottle thing when it came out too. (though not to an extent that you have)

If the bottle is going to be recycled anyway, whats the point of having less plastic?

Some areas require you to crush cans/bottles before recycling; I know it was this way up in Washington state where my grandparents lived.

What's the fallacy in the first claim? Did they or didn't they reduce the amount of plastic by 30%? If the company makes more money by a process that is also environmentally friendly, isn't that a good thing?

To follow up what mrcalkin said, I don't believe they're referring to the actual recycling process at the plant...they're most likely referring to the process of disposal at home. Crushing the bottles removes the empty space within the plastics container. To those of us that have to use bags for recycling of plastics, that's pretty important.

Need a dispenser here

Need a dispenser here

What's the fallacy in the first claim? Did they or didn't they reduce the amount of plastic by 30%? If the company makes more money by a process that is also environmentally friendly, isn't that a good thing?

You are correct, I guess it just bothers me that a company tries to build additional revenue off a standard industry revenue practice. It seems kind of like double dipping to me. Any company, that manufactures bottles of any kind, tries to reduce the volume of substance required to make the product, simply because it will save the company literally millions. Does that mean any of those companies give a damn about the Environment? While bottle companies probably do in some way care about the environment, I doubt saving the environment is their first corporate priority. It will take a bit more then their bottle label advertising to convince me that saving the environment is their corporate priority, which I feel their advertising implies. That said, I will concede, being humble about such revolutionary bottle design changes probably won't help their corporate missions either.

Engineers are not given enough credit imo.

And yeah, I saw through the bottle thing when it came out too. (though not to an extent that you have)

If the bottle is going to be recycled anyway, whats the point of having less plastic?

It is surprisingly hard to recycle plastic. You can't mix different grades of plastic, as it is very difficult (expensive) to separate different types of plastic. Not to mention, there is almost an infinite number of types of plastics. Even specific recycling garage cans I doubt get a very high return on recyclable goods. People throw whatever they want in those things.

Using less plastic just means it will cost the company less to produce the bottle. It also means that less "stuff" will require being thrown away.

To follow up what mrcalkin said, I don't believe they're referring to the actual recycling process at the plant...they're most likely referring to the process of disposal at home. Crushing the bottles removes the empty space within the plastics container. To those of us that have to use bags for recycling of plastics, that's pretty important.

That's true. I didn't think about that. Most plastics don't get recycled and end up in a landfill anyway. Hence that would be a good characteristic for a bottle in a landfill to have.

Heh, engineering is fun. In the real world, though, engineers are simply people who could design something that needs $2 to build when the standard person would make something that needs $20 to build, assuming you're not trying to build something tough like a radar or a battleship. It's not really impossible to live without them, then again, they're more useful to a company than your standard marketing executive or middle management. The best companies do value their engineers very highly, but a bottling company probably not so.

Heh, engineering is fun. In the real world, though, engineers are simply people who could design something that needs $2 to build when the standard person would make something that needs $20 to build,

I guess that's true when you are redesigning something, but a large part of engineering is inventing something that doesn't exist. If companies didnt innovate, they wouldn't remain dominant in industry.

assuming you're not trying to build something tough like a radar or a battleship. It's not really impossible to live without them,

I think that is the whole concept behind engineering. Most projects requiring engineering are tough projects. Much tougher then the common man can just pick up and do. How do you design a plastic bottle? It has to look good, be cheap, hold water, and you have to be able to quickly mold inject it. Bottle design is surprisingly hard actually. There is a lot of thought and time goes into it. I interned at a firm that had a "bottle guy". It's more complicated then it looks. Companies can get pretty cut-throat when they produce several million bottles! The place I interned at designed Dove soaps bottle line as well as others.

Off the subject of bottles, Who designs your computers motherboard, or your car's engine?

People BUILD engines all the time. They pick out a stock block, intake manifold, carb or w/e, etc, etc. But usually people dont design their own block, cylinder heads and etc. Of course not, that is a ton of complex work. Not only does it require knowledge about engines, but it requires knowledge of gas dynamics, heat transfer, machining processes, and more knowledge that isn't intuitive unless you have an education of or extensive experience with.

I completely respect the work of engineers and am enthralled by their skill sets. Kudos to you on taking on such an interesting career choice, and I commend you for being one of those responsible for making our world a better one.

"Engineers design stuff." <-- Not quite true, but that's what's shoved down the throat of any freshman engineering student... So, ok.

"Why aircraft have winglets" <-- I'd like to see why you think some airplanes have winglets.

"It's not really impossible to live without them," <-- You're right, we lived without Engineers for a long time. Think back to when life sucked a lot, then keep thinking back to when life sucked even more than that and you've got life without engineers. Engineering and innovation is what has lead to our current standard of living.

Ok, I have a question. How come many tools aren't all standardized by now? The needs behind different tools like a screw driver and, say, a socket wrench are obvious. But why are there phillips, flatheads, hex, star, ect? Metric, english, ect? Doesn't that just create more hassle when building stuff?

Not exactly an engineering question, but it might be in your area of expertise.

Also, nanotech. How close are we to redesigning everything from the molecular or even atomic base up?