3 ms·

> your plastic straw has a big chance of finding its way to the sea IF you put it in a recycling bin. Here is a quick breakdown: - Black bin (trash): Goes to

by mike_d 5y ago

> your plastic straw has a big chance of finding its way to the sea IF you put it in a recycling bin. Here is a quick breakdown: - Black bin (trash): Goes to a landfill where it is regulated by the EPA and stored in containment and the off-gas is harvested for energy - Blue bin (recycling): Gets shipped by boat across an ocean to a third world country where it is dumped because that is the most profitable thing to do and it is no longer subject to regulatory oversight that it actually gets recycled

moralestapia 5y ago
It's not that easy, Trash goes into what is called, waste transfer stations, see [1], where there's an effort to salvage recyclables from regular trash as well, what you do with the black/blue bins is basically helping them do their work (and this is good). Let's say then, that all this plastic goes into the "plastic that could be recycled" bin, of which we actually DO recycle 3.1 million tons of it (as stated in the article) out of 35.7 million tons (total). But then it goes to say "We used to send half of this to China until they banned it [...]", and it is not clear either this is half of the recycled chunk, or the total amount of plastic that gets thrown away. It wouldn't make sense for it to be the recycled chunk, as ... we are recycling it, right? But then, it could, maybe, as it could be sent to those countries for "recycling" and they then "improperly dump it" (as also stated in the article). 1: https://www.dumpsters.com/blog/waste-management-transfer-stations https://www.dumpsters.com/blog/waste-management-transfer-sta...
- bhk 5y ago
  People are intercepting plastic from our waste stream and re-directing it to other countries that dump it into the ocean? Well I see your problem right there! The idea that we would not ban that and instead ban drinking straws because of that is even more absurd than the nonsense that I thought was in play.
- mike_d 5y ago
  > there's an effort to salvage recyclables from regular trash as well, what you do with the black/blue bins is basically helping them do their work This is a very metropolitan thing and not the norm. Waste Management in San Francisco for example has spent a ton of money on fancy machines and people to hand sort.
jccooper 5y ago
A lot of "recycling" gets diverted to landfill domestically, too. How much depends, but lots of stuff is sorted out as unrecyclable, unidentifiable, or just plain unprofitable. Probably including most straws and other small items placed in recycling.
- function_seven 5y ago
  While true, I'd rather play it safe and put my plastic in the trash bin. Helpful mnemonic: The blue bin is blue like the ocean that plastic will end up in. :(

by mike_d 5y ago

moralestapia 5y ago

It's not that easy, Trash goes into what is called, waste transfer stations, see [1], where there's an effort to salvage recyclables from regular trash as well, what you do with the black/blue bins is basically helping them do their work (and this is good). Let's say then, that all this plastic goes into the "plastic that could be recycled" bin, of which we actually DO recycle 3.1 million tons of it (as stated in the article) out of 35.7 million tons (total). But then it goes to say "We used to send half of this to China until they banned it [...]", and it is not clear either this is half of the recycled chunk, or the total amount of plastic that gets thrown away. It wouldn't make sense for it to be the recycled chunk, as ... we are recycling it, right? But then, it could, maybe, as it could be sent to those countries for "recycling" and they then "improperly dump it" (as also stated in the article). 1: https://www.dumpsters.com/blog/waste-management-transfer-stations https://www.dumpsters.com/blog/waste-management-transfer-sta...

bhk 5y ago
People are intercepting plastic from our waste stream and re-directing it to other countries that dump it into the ocean? Well I see your problem right there! The idea that we would not ban that and instead ban drinking straws because of that is even more absurd than the nonsense that I thought was in play.
mike_d 5y ago
> there's an effort to salvage recyclables from regular trash as well, what you do with the black/blue bins is basically helping them do their work This is a very metropolitan thing and not the norm. Waste Management in San Francisco for example has spent a ton of money on fancy machines and people to hand sort.

jccooper 5y ago

A lot of "recycling" gets diverted to landfill domestically, too. How much depends, but lots of stuff is sorted out as unrecyclable, unidentifiable, or just plain unprofitable. Probably including most straws and other small items placed in recycling.

function_seven 5y ago
While true, I'd rather play it safe and put my plastic in the trash bin. Helpful mnemonic: The blue bin is blue like the ocean that plastic will end up in. :(