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Ask HN: What's the best way to make sure that plastics are buried in landfills?
Most plastics aren't being recycled and it's unlikely that they ever will.
A big chuck of them are being dumped anywhere that's cheap. In some countries it's cheaper to dump waste in a river or directly in the ocean. We need to stop this.
How would you design a system that guaranties all trash ends up in a proper landfill? Remember, people don't want to spend money on it. So the costs have to be part of the overall plastic life cycle not just the end.
- WalterGR 4y ago> In some countries it's cheaper to dump waste in a river or directly in the ocean. It’s probably cheaper in every country, if you don’t consider fines. But which countries actually do it?
- WheelsAtLarge 4y agohttps://www.ciwem.org/news/10-countries-biggest-contributors-marine-plastic-pollution https://www.ciwem.org/news/10-countries-biggest-contributors...
- WalterGR 4y agoDespite “figures from packaging retailer RAJA UK have revealed the 10 countries responsible for throwing the highest amount of plastic into the ocean,” the list is countries who have plastic waste end up in the ocean, usually due to pollution ending up in rivers emptying into the ocean, not literal dumping into the ocean.