Better Living Through Chemistry (slogan)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The phrase 'Better Living Through Chemistry' (BLTC) is a variant of a #DuPont advertising slogan, 'Better Things for Better Living...Through Chemistry'. DuPont adopted it in 1935 and it was their slogan until 1982 when the 'Through Chemistry' part was dropped. Since 1999, their slogan has been 'The miracles of science'.

The phrase 'Better Living Through Chemistry' was used on products that were not affiliated with DuPont to circumvent trademark infringement.[citation needed] This transmutation is now more commonly used than the original. This statement is used for commentary on several different topics, from the promotion of prescription or recreational drugs, to the praise of chemicals and #plastics, to the sarcastic criticism of the same."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Living_Through_Chemistry_(slogan)

#BigPlastic #BigChem #DuPontLied #PFAS #ForeverChemicals #PlasticPollution #DuPontdeNemours #Vespel #neoprene, #nylon #Corian #Teflon #Mylar #Kapton #Kevlar #Tyvek #Sorona

It sort of bewilders me that companies are releasing products based on these materials without having asked and answered basic questions - certainly issues identified with conventional plastics offered at least a partial roadmap of specific things to consider (nano/microparticle, environmental fate in various environments, impact of metabolites, behavior in digestive systems, etc.) And I see too many products preying on consumers, capitalizing on confusion of "biodegradable" vs "compostable" - in fact, I fear many making the consumer products from these materials don't fully understand the issues.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/13/starch-based-bioplastic-petroleum-plastic-study?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

#plasticpollution #MisleadingClaims #RegulatoryFailure - All courtesy of the lobbyists paid by #BigPlastic - which includes consumer products companies like Pepsi and Coke and Nestle and Danone and all those other companies helping you ingest plastics.

So why does #BigPlastic expect people to #recycle plastic?

There is no cost to just discarding #SingleUsePlastic, and there is a cost in time and effort of the consumer to get the plastic to a recycling center; there is a cost to sort waste to extract plastic from a waste stream to recycle it; there is a still intractable cost problem of clean plastic for recycling.

So maybe the first step is to reward consumers for returning single use plastics for recycling. Of course, how does one generate that reward? And how large does it have to be, and how easy does it have to be to claim it? And what is the impact on low income households? And how is that system designed and implemented?

Big Plastic is profitable BECAUSE they have a one way process - make, sell, and forget. No responsibility after the sale for the end of life impacts.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/20/five-firms-in-plastic-pollution-alliance-made-1000-times-more-waste-than-they-saved-analysis-shows?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

#PlasticPollution is a problem because #IndustryDeception is so common

Alberta’s Environment Minister, Rebecca Schulz was in Ontario this past week and announced she would be handing out free…get ready…plastic bags. Is this a stunt she learned as a former senior communications officer at SaskEnergy?

Speaking of going down the tubes, with things heating up in Alberta this summer, the threat to the water supply in the southern half of the province is coming into clearer focus.

#bigplastic #bigstraws
#climatechange #climatecrisis
https://jodymacpherson.substack.com/p/a-boiling-point-green-hushing-big

#Bloomberg: Inside #BigPlastic’s Faltering $1.5 Billion Global Cleanup Effort

Almost four years since the #AllianceToEndPlasticWaste launched, its on-the-ground recycling is negligible compared to the new plastic produced by its core members, petrochemical companies."

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2022-exxon-mobil-plastic-waste-cleanup-greenwashing/?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-climate&utm_content=climate&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter