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> They're dirtier than natural gas power plants, however That is not true. > and the pollution that they do create can be particularly nasty That is also not
by ars 4y ago
> They're dirtier than natural gas power plants, however
That is not true.
> and the pollution that they do create can be particularly nasty
That is also not true.
Plastic is made of the exact same atoms as natural gas, plus oxygen. Plastic burns very very clean, with no waste except for water and CO2.
PVC has chlorine, but is rare in trash, and the small amount of chlorine is easily filtered out of the exhaust.
> We're better off in terms of emissions-per-watt by burying the plastic and using natural gas instead.
This is also not true because it costs energy to extract the natural gas. The plastic is already there, and needs to be dealt with one way or another. Plastic makes about the same CO2/watt as gasoline.
- kube-system 4y agoPlastic that goes into the trash is not pure plastic, it is trash and it has a lot of other junk in it. i.e. heavy metals and other stuff. That's one of the biggest reasons we have trouble recycling it. Are there even any WTE plants that burn only plastic?
- ars 4y agoIt's very easy to separate metals from plastic. The paper mixed in can just stay, as can most other waste. That's one of the nice things about burning it - almost all trash will burn, except for metal and glass. Metal is easily removed before, and glass can be removed from the ash. > Are there even any WTE plants that burn only plastic? Tons of them. There are more of those than classic recycling. They just stay under the radar so people don't get upset (since like many people in this thread, they think it's dirty when it is not).