What is more environmentally friendly,?

Question

1 Buying soda in 12 oz aluminum cans or 2 liter plastic bottles.

2 Microwave popcorn or popping it on the stove in a pan.

Answer 1

1) aluminum can.  A greater portion of aluminum is recycled due to its greater value and ease of separation from the garbage waste stream (metal can being heavier than plastic bottle and conductive--assists in the separation technology)

2) if you add the cost (not $$ but the cost associated with environmental impact) and waste generated from the microwave popcorn package (including the metalized portion of the bag that adsorbs microwave heat--look at the side of the bag that is "down" when in the microwave), I would go for popcorn on the stove.  If you have a good cast iron pan with a lid, you can make some GREAT kettle corn on the stove top (gas or electric).

Answer 2

1.  probably not much difference since they both get recycled.

2.  Is your stove gas or electric?  Where does the electricity to your house come from(coal, gas, hydro, wind, nuclear)?

Answer 3

Microwave ovens are very efficient.

Buying soda in recylcable containers is what counts. It takes a whole lot of energy to smelt aluminum from its ore and a lot less to recast it. It takes much less energy to make plastic bottles, but the process is very toxic. The only happy solution to this problem is to make soda bottles out of plastic that biodegrades easily and which doesn't come from petroleum sources.