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A a glance, it seems to make sense that burying straws/garbage in a landfill is better than throwing it in the ocean but chemically, plastic decomposes signific
by aeternum 5y ago
A a glance, it seems to make sense that burying straws/garbage in a landfill is better than throwing it in the ocean but chemically, plastic decomposes significantly faster when exposed to UV/sunlight. It also seems as though ocean organisms are more able to consume plastic & oil.
It sounds crazy, but could it be that trash in the ocean is actually a better option?
- changoplatanero 5y agoif it is buried in a landfill is there less chance that it will end up in the body of an animal and work it's way up the food chain?
- loudmax 5y agoTheoretically possible, but we should want a lot more data to support that conclusion. There seems to be data that suggests that at least certain types of plastics have a deleterious effect on humans, and probably other animals as well. As long as the ecological effects of plastic aren't completely understood, it's probably better for it to wind up in landfills than in the food chain. After all, plastics are derived from petroleum which came from underground to begin with.
- marcosdumay 5y agoThere is basically no UV on most of the oceans volume. I don't know where we stand better chance of getting a plastic consuming bacteria. (Do we even want that?) But the rate of natural decomposition of plastic on the ocean or underground is probably similar.
- slavik81 5y agoWhy do we want it to decompose? It's made of carbon, so if it sits underground in a place where it doesn't break down, isn't that effectively sequestered carbon? Decomposing it into CO2 and releasing it into the global carbon cycle seems counter-productive. What's the actual benefit of doing that?
- aeternum 5y agoHmm good point, it is basically a long hydrocarbon.