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Then the mindless obsession with "keeping plastics out of landfill" leads to the terrific sounding idea of putting waste plastic into roads. Where it is ground

Then the mindless obsession with "keeping plastics out of landfill" leads to the terrific sounding idea of putting waste plastic into roads. Where it is ground down by cars and trucks into microplastics and enters waterways, the soil, animals, food, the air and people. But hey, at least it's not in landfill, right? This is a path that India has pushed down very hard, with lots of plastic roads "reducing pollution". Many vested interests are astroturfing Twitter too, about how wonderful plastic roads are. You can look forward to microplastics in absolutely everything courtesy of the road outside your house.

runsWphotons 3y ago
Apparently this is what they do with wind turbines in Europe.
- SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
  With what? I’m pretty sure they aren’t making alloy aluminum/plastics. So what parts do you mean?
  - runsWphotons 3y ago
    When the turbine gets old they crush up the blades and put it in concrete for roads and bridges. They also make them into plastic pellets which get put into alloyed things like manhole covers, so you are wrong. Not sure why the downvotes and aggression.
  - actionfromafar 3y ago
    Maybe referring to recycling blades[0], but that's not the same as taking random plastic waste and turning it into blades. 0: https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/13/23594847/vestas-wind-energy-turbine-blade-reycling-plastic-waste https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/13/23594847/vestas-wind-ener...
MengerSponge 3y ago
The road outside your house is probably the largest source of microplastics in your life already. Tires rubbing on them makes a staggering amount of microplastics! Production rates go up with weight, so these new BEV trucks and SUVs are an absolute horror show on that axis too.
- BigCryo 3y ago
  [dead]
andersrs 3y ago
The plastics need to be stopped at the source. The plastic recycling logo is a meme created by some PR geniuses trick us into accepting pollution and passing the problem down to the public. No institution wants to tell you it's all a lie. My municipality pick up this trash under the name of 'recycling' meanwhile some naive people are busy washing out single use containers. Decades ago when plastic was more expensive society did it right. For example Milk and beer was sold in glass bottles you'd return. Jack up the price of these nasty materials and suddenly the easiest thing to do is actually 'recycle'.
- dboreham 3y ago
  Exactly: plastics recycling is a genius jedi mind trick from the oil industry. The penny dropped for me when taking the family plastics waste to our recycling drop off. There was a notice saying you couldn't put thermoformed pet items (Raspberry clamshells) because if that stuff was found in the 40' container the entire load has to be dumped in landfill. Thermoformed PET has the same number as molded PET (water bottles). I think "whaaaat are those symbols with numbers for then???" pulled out my phone, did some searching and discovered that the entire scheme is BS.
  - ouid 3y ago
    The problem with plastic recycling is not that it doesn't work. It doesn't, of course, but that's not the problem with it. The problem with plastic is that it leaks into the environment. The only problem with a landfill solution for plastic is that not all of the plastic makes it into the landfill.
    - eternityforest 3y ago
      Wouldn't plasma gassification be a much better way to recycle plastic? In theory it might even give a way to recycle some of the metal that makes its way there.
      - ouid 3y ago
ZeroGravitas 3y ago
How and why are you so angry about this? Lifecycle analysis seem to show potential benefits but you seem bizarrely sure that it not only doesn't work, but it's some dark conspiracy to attack the noble landfill industry and poison our pristine roads. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343789799_Recycling_waste_plastics_in_roads_A_life-cycle_assessment_study_using_primary_data https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343789799_Recycling... It's not like standard asphalt is made of rainbows and sunshine: > asphalt, black or brown petroleum-like material that has a consistency varying from viscous liquid to glassy solid. It is obtained either as a residue from the distillation of petroleum or from natural deposits. Asphalt consists of compounds of hydrogen and carbon with minor proportions of nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen.

runsWphotons 3y ago

Apparently this is what they do with wind turbines in Europe.

SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
With what? I’m pretty sure they aren’t making alloy aluminum/plastics. So what parts do you mean?
- runsWphotons 3y ago
  When the turbine gets old they crush up the blades and put it in concrete for roads and bridges. They also make them into plastic pellets which get put into alloyed things like manhole covers, so you are wrong. Not sure why the downvotes and aggression.
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  Maybe referring to recycling blades[0], but that's not the same as taking random plastic waste and turning it into blades. 0: https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/13/23594847/vestas-wind-energy-turbine-blade-reycling-plastic-waste https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/13/23594847/vestas-wind-ener...

MengerSponge 3y ago

The road outside your house is probably the largest source of microplastics in your life already. Tires rubbing on them makes a staggering amount of microplastics! Production rates go up with weight, so these new BEV trucks and SUVs are an absolute horror show on that axis too.

BigCryo 3y ago
[dead]

andersrs 3y ago

The plastics need to be stopped at the source. The plastic recycling logo is a meme created by some PR geniuses trick us into accepting pollution and passing the problem down to the public. No institution wants to tell you it's all a lie. My municipality pick up this trash under the name of 'recycling' meanwhile some naive people are busy washing out single use containers. Decades ago when plastic was more expensive society did it right. For example Milk and beer was sold in glass bottles you'd return. Jack up the price of these nasty materials and suddenly the easiest thing to do is actually 'recycle'.

dboreham 3y ago
Exactly: plastics recycling is a genius jedi mind trick from the oil industry. The penny dropped for me when taking the family plastics waste to our recycling drop off. There was a notice saying you couldn't put thermoformed pet items (Raspberry clamshells) because if that stuff was found in the 40' container the entire load has to be dumped in landfill. Thermoformed PET has the same number as molded PET (water bottles). I think "whaaaat are those symbols with numbers for then???" pulled out my phone, did some searching and discovered that the entire scheme is BS.
- ouid 3y ago
  The problem with plastic recycling is not that it doesn't work. It doesn't, of course, but that's not the problem with it. The problem with plastic is that it leaks into the environment. The only problem with a landfill solution for plastic is that not all of the plastic makes it into the landfill.
  - eternityforest 3y ago
    Wouldn't plasma gassification be a much better way to recycle plastic? In theory it might even give a way to recycle some of the metal that makes its way there.
    - ouid 3y ago

ZeroGravitas 3y ago

How and why are you so angry about this? Lifecycle analysis seem to show potential benefits but you seem bizarrely sure that it not only doesn't work, but it's some dark conspiracy to attack the noble landfill industry and poison our pristine roads. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343789799_Recycling_waste_plastics_in_roads_A_life-cycle_assessment_study_using_primary_data https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343789799_Recycling... It's not like standard asphalt is made of rainbows and sunshine: > asphalt, black or brown petroleum-like material that has a consistency varying from viscous liquid to glassy solid. It is obtained either as a residue from the distillation of petroleum or from natural deposits. Asphalt consists of compounds of hydrogen and carbon with minor proportions of nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen.