Here’s a quick game for the climate-conscious. Try ranking these disposable beverage containers from least to most environmentally friendly: aluminum; glass; paperboard; plastic bottle; plastic pouch.1

Unless you’re an expert in the subject, it’s likely that your answers are a long way from reality. That’s a problem. Packaging is a $1 trillion market that generates hundreds of millions of metric tons of waste every year — but our ideas about it are often based more on hunches than solid information. As the world’s production of packaging waste rises to developed-country levels of about 200 kilograms (440 pounds) per person, governments are going to have to play a bigger role in helping people make sense of this mess.

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Your Coffee Cup Needs a Climate Rating, Too