3 ms·
"Plastic Recycling" always seemed like such a scam. Very little of it can be turned into the same thing it was, before. Most of it can only be downcycled to an
by justinator 8y ago
"Plastic Recycling" always seemed like such a scam. Very little of it can be turned into the same thing it was, before. Most of it can only be downcycled to an inferior product (and then it's mostly the end of the line). To think we've simply shipped it off to another country to deal with the problem is criminal. Another part of my childhood where the details were far less idealistic than the big picture.
- imhoguy 8y agoExactly this. As China bans to buy European "recyclable waste", then it is imported into countries with legal loopholes e.g. to Poland [1], Serbia, Italy[2] and so on and somehow landfills start to burn accidentally. Even if the law changes [3], there will be other places where a penality for such criminal act is lower than cost of recycling or proper storage. 100% plastic recycling is a dream. Don't want to even start story about toxic fluids recycling... accidentaly leaking into rivers. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/8p7wnr/major_danger_for_europeans_health_garbage_from/ https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/8p7wnr/major_danger... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_of_death_(Italy) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_of_death_(Italy) [3] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-waste/poland-vows-to-fight-illegal-waste-dumps-after-toxic-fires-idUSKCN1IU1QZ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-waste/poland-vows-...
- samatman 8y agoIt basically is. The most reasonable approach to plastic waste is controlled incineration for power. That means at least the oil we dig up performs some yeoman duty as a container or padding before being turned into work and greenhouse gas. A bit of recycling on the margins, perhaps. Biggest thing would be to stop making plastic products that fall apart into biotoxic pieces.