7 ms·

The material you’re taking about, plastic, is made from carbon stored inside of the Earth. If we can reliably get it back in the Earth, e.g. via landfill, then

The material you’re taking about, plastic, is made from carbon stored inside of the Earth. If we can reliably get it back in the Earth, e.g. via landfill, then I don’t see a huge issue with it. Also, wood was a forever material prior to the evolution of white rot.

aldebran 5y ago
Human manufactured Wooden objects are not found in remote places on earth. Tiny specs of wood are definitely not found in bodies/blood of humans including infants. Single use wooden items don’t cause flooding and damage wildlife. These are not the same. They don’t have the same problems.
- thetinguy 5y ago
  Tetra Pak is primarily paper.
  - ornornor 5y ago
    So much so that it has to be recycled using a separate process that many places refuse to adopt in Switzerland. I believe it’s either because it’s too complicated or because you have to license it from tetrapak and it’s too costly. AFAIK its paper, sure but laminated with aluminum and plastic so good luck separating the layers into recyclable stuff. Not that recycling is a panacea in the first place… more like a gimmick to make us feel good about wasting so much instead of questioning the methods of the industries producing all the waste in the first place.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- b112 5y ago
  This is true, however: Burying is not the same as being thrown in the ocean, or ripped into little pieces and thrown on the ground. Burying would likely keep plastic in the immediate vicinity, and we have another tool to add. Bacteria. There are bacteria which eat plastic. If we could find some anaerobic ones, burying might work quite well. Of course I guess that leaves the carbon free again, unless... We find or engineer bacteria which produce a great precursor, to make plastic! It would be a strange outcome, if plastic became fully renewable.
colordrops 5y ago
To be blunt your argument for polluting our environment doesn't feel like it's in good faith when you blame wood for being a pollutant until a fungus showed up hundreds of millions of years ago. I absolutely loathe the term "whataboutism" but this seems like a real example - "what about the fact that wood was a pollutant hundreds of millions of years ago? We should be able to dump plastic now".
- hallway_monitor 5y ago
  It would be somewhat ironic if a bacteria were to evolve to eat plastic and be invasive. An organism like that would have quite an effect on humanity's habits.
  - ephbit 5y ago
    Specific species of bacteria have indeed been found that can catabolize specific types of plastics. In some niches they will definitely evolve to decompose plastics. Since all life forms on earth rely heavily on water as solvent (being present ideally all the time), those 'invasive' bacteria won't have that much of an effect on humanity's habits IMHO, since regularly removing the water easily keeps their impact low. Fungi might play an important role in decomposition of plastics as well, since they have advantages over bacteria that may be relevant for decomposition of plastics in the same way in which they are for decomposing wood. (Which is difficult for bacteria)
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    Corporations: Behold our new duraplastic with embedded antibiotics! Don't thank us, just give us money!
- 8ytecoder 5y ago
  ... and pray that a fungus that can eat plastic shows up in another millennia
- darawk 5y ago
  His point is that nature adapts to these things and learns to consume them eventually. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with storing plastic in the earth, as long as it isn't disrupting ecosystems.

aldebran 5y ago

Human manufactured Wooden objects are not found in remote places on earth. Tiny specs of wood are definitely not found in bodies/blood of humans including infants. Single use wooden items don’t cause flooding and damage wildlife. These are not the same. They don’t have the same problems.

thetinguy 5y ago
Tetra Pak is primarily paper.
- ornornor 5y ago
  So much so that it has to be recycled using a separate process that many places refuse to adopt in Switzerland. I believe it’s either because it’s too complicated or because you have to license it from tetrapak and it’s too costly. AFAIK its paper, sure but laminated with aluminum and plastic so good luck separating the layers into recyclable stuff. Not that recycling is a panacea in the first place… more like a gimmick to make us feel good about wasting so much instead of questioning the methods of the industries producing all the waste in the first place.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
b112 5y ago
This is true, however: Burying is not the same as being thrown in the ocean, or ripped into little pieces and thrown on the ground. Burying would likely keep plastic in the immediate vicinity, and we have another tool to add. Bacteria. There are bacteria which eat plastic. If we could find some anaerobic ones, burying might work quite well. Of course I guess that leaves the carbon free again, unless... We find or engineer bacteria which produce a great precursor, to make plastic! It would be a strange outcome, if plastic became fully renewable.

colordrops 5y ago

To be blunt your argument for polluting our environment doesn't feel like it's in good faith when you blame wood for being a pollutant until a fungus showed up hundreds of millions of years ago. I absolutely loathe the term "whataboutism" but this seems like a real example - "what about the fact that wood was a pollutant hundreds of millions of years ago? We should be able to dump plastic now".

hallway_monitor 5y ago
It would be somewhat ironic if a bacteria were to evolve to eat plastic and be invasive. An organism like that would have quite an effect on humanity's habits.
- ephbit 5y ago
  Specific species of bacteria have indeed been found that can catabolize specific types of plastics. In some niches they will definitely evolve to decompose plastics. Since all life forms on earth rely heavily on water as solvent (being present ideally all the time), those 'invasive' bacteria won't have that much of an effect on humanity's habits IMHO, since regularly removing the water easily keeps their impact low. Fungi might play an important role in decomposition of plastics as well, since they have advantages over bacteria that may be relevant for decomposition of plastics in the same way in which they are for decomposing wood. (Which is difficult for bacteria)
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  Corporations: Behold our new duraplastic with embedded antibiotics! Don't thank us, just give us money!
8ytecoder 5y ago
... and pray that a fungus that can eat plastic shows up in another millennia
darawk 5y ago
His point is that nature adapts to these things and learns to consume them eventually. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with storing plastic in the earth, as long as it isn't disrupting ecosystems.