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It's simply not economical to recycle most if not all plastics a.t.m.. So unless taxes on new plastics get increased dramatically, we will never ever seem any s
by mrjin 4y ago
It's simply not economical to recycle most if not all plastics a.t.m.. So unless taxes on new plastics get increased dramatically, we will never ever seem any substantial recycling in play, period.
- bell-cot 4y agoTrue. But there a lot of "can't be bothered to" going on here. And just burning it for energy (in a ~clean, modern facility) seems a lot better than having old plastic crap everywhere across the landscape, lakes, rivers, and oceans.
- Manu40 4y agoSo, upvoted cause ultimately we do need to do something with it... But I used to work in a industry that would bundle its used plastic and burn it to get rid of it... (I know, I know... terrible) Let me tell you. That stuff doesn't burn easily unless there is already a damn good fire going, or some helper combustibles. Sure, it will burn just fine when you put a few in a fire, etc. But once you get to the kinds of loads that occur with bails of plastic... It's going to mostly smolder and offgas from my experience. It got so bad they stopped burning it, and started selling it to some company that found a way to recycle it. Ironically enough.
- sgent 4y agoIt should not be "burned" as in a bonfire (like is done in many places). It needs to be burned in an electric arc furnace or mixed with coke for steel at temperatures in excess of 1000k.
- Manu40 4y agoOH, for sure. I agree. But that is what most people tend to do when they do this sort of thing. Even the 'furnace' they had was just a bonfire essentially in a enclosed can with vents. And that was specially bought from a company that sold it for that purpose. I forget the name though, sorry.
- WesolyKubeczek 4y agoI would interpret it in the sense that there's no such thing as cheap plastic. We've been riding on this wave of ubiquitous cheap plastic because it's cheap to produce, but getting rid of it in an environmentally responsible fashion is where's the bulk of the "price" goes. I'd say, bite the bullet and add the recycling costs to the production costs. Pay it upfront. If unsure, make it even more expensive.
- Sharlin 4y agoIndeed there’s no such thing as cheap almost anything. Someone is going to have to pay the full price of our "cheap" commodities sooner or later.
- Lutger 4y agoEventually we need to outlaw 99% of plastic use. We just can't keep doing this. The earlier we start with the easy stuff, the better, so why not start with it now?
- cowtools 4y agoOn an inter-national basis?
- WesolyKubeczek 4y agoOutlawing it is asking for a huge backlash. Like, the next government may eat babies for all it’s worth, once they promise to make plastic cheap again, they have won the elections.
- actionfromafar 4y agoOutlawing and adding costs to production amounts to the same thing for many plastic products. If plastic producers were forced to pay the externalities, many cheap plastic things would disappear. Those politicians would vow to remove "the predatory plastic taxes".
- 4y ago
- lm28469 4y ago> It's simply not economical to recycle most if not all plastics a.t.m.. "It's simply not economical to build a sustainable system right now" Well too bad then, I guess humanity has to commit suicide because it's the path that consumes the less amount of paper bills with made up numbers on them
- mrjin 4y agoOh well, it's a game with costs not everyone want to pay for but eventually as you said, everyone has to pay.
- HPsquared 4y agoYou are assuming plastic recycling is necessary to have a sustainable system.
- lm28469 4y agoIt sure sounds better than landfill or straight up burning it
- AshamedCaptain 4y agoIt is, by the definition of the word sustainable. Another, perhaps valid question, is whether the current method is really effective at it.
- e12e 4y ago> You are assuming plastic recycling is necessary to have a sustainable system. A total ban outside certain medical use-cases would probably also work. Do you think that would be cheaper?
- DarkWiiPlayer 4y agoWelcome to capitalism. If profit and self-preservation are at odds, profit wins.
- robertlagrant 4y ago
- mcv 4y agoTaxing the creation of plastic to pay for the cleanup sounds like a great idea to me. Either it discourages the use of unnecessary plastic, or it provides funds to clean it up/recycle it.
- PartiallyTyped 4y agoI'd go as far as to argue that many forms of recycling are causing economical damage by contributing to moral fatigue. Anecdata; when I am very stressed, or tired, or working on a big project, I really can not care less about recycling or sorting trash. Yes I understand the moral obligation, but in the grand scheme of things, ... it does nothing.
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoAnd yet, if you force those same companies to pay for whatever they choose to do, but otherwise give them a free hand, they'll choose recycling, because it's the cheapest option. It's a real mystery.
- bagacrap 4y agotaxing plastic is not something our economy is likely to withstand. Sure, tech workers can afford a few more cents per plastic item. But inflation this year has shown just how precarious the world's economy really is when it comes to handling even small percent increases in cost of living. I think we just need to do a better job of disposing of plastic, but it's not clear how to accomplish that. Also every solution is destined for failure because it would have to be adopted by the entire world, but that will never happen.