4 ms·

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

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
    That requires a lot more infrastructure than a hole in the ground.
    - eternityforest 3y ago
      Infrastructure creates jobs and inspires tech progress, and holes in the ground take up space
  - ZeroGravitas 3y ago
    Yes, various types of burning with energy recovery are better than landfill on various metrics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy You can extract metals from the ashes as you mention. For regularly used things like drink containers it's not quite as good as recycling them though. And as more renewables enter the grid, theres less fossil fuel to displace but if the RDF (resource derived fuel) can be stored then it acts as a kind of storage.

4 ms·

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

by dboreham 3y ago

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
    That requires a lot more infrastructure than a hole in the ground.
    - eternityforest 3y ago
      Infrastructure creates jobs and inspires tech progress, and holes in the ground take up space
  - ZeroGravitas 3y ago
    Yes, various types of burning with energy recovery are better than landfill on various metrics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy You can extract metals from the ashes as you mention. For regularly used things like drink containers it's not quite as good as recycling them though. And as more renewables enter the grid, theres less fossil fuel to displace but if the RDF (resource derived fuel) can be stored then it acts as a kind of storage.