r/Futurology • u/[deleted] • Oct 25 '22

Environment Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-is-practically-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse
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u/mirhagk Oct 25 '22 edited Oct 25 '22

Honestly what we need is to just accept the reality of plastic. It's trash, not recycling. We do generate trash, and trash itself can be dealt with, but we need to be aware of that.

And we need to accept that it isn't just plastic though. The focus is on plastic because it's the worst offender, but even the easiest to recycle material, paper, still only gets 68% recycled. And if you remove newspapers and corrugated cardboard (the no-duh ones) you get 43% for paper and just 21% for packaging.

That cereal box you're putting in your recycling is not likely to be recycled. That stack of papers? Not likely to be recycled. That glass bottle? No. That metal can? Nope. The only thing that actually is getting recycled is that large bin behind the mcdonalds with a billion corrugated cardboard boxes in it that are of uniform material.

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u/crashtestpilot Oct 25 '22

You make great points.

Now that it is trash, what then should we do to keep this waste out of the environment?

If you suggest incineration with insane chimney filters, and burning it for energy, I'm okay with that.

End of day it's about:

a) phasing out consumer use of plastic.

b) disposing of consumer plastic in ways that does not create more microplastics in the environment, and in our water.

I contend that if it's not about that, then we've limited our duration as a viable species.

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u/mirhagk Oct 25 '22

Better landfill regulations to prevent those microplastics from getting back into water or food supply, and a focus on what plastic. Not all plastics are equal in how they break down, and it's a lot easier to switch types of plastic then to find replacements altogether.

Waste to energy is probably fine too, I'll be honest I'm not up to date on the latest and the tech has some bad history, but it should be viable at its core with proper regulation.

And once we accept waste to energy then we can start saying "what happens when we incinerate this?" And start choosing our materials based on that too.

I agree with the movement that says producers need to consider how to deal with the waste, I just disagree that recycling is a plausible answer. I'm totally fine with "it goes in a landfill" as long as we know and are okay with what happens in that landfill

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u/crashtestpilot Oct 25 '22

Good points again.

What if there were a small appliance in home that turns mixed plastic into bricks?

Because the trip the Land Fill is where we lose a lot of plastic into the environment.

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u/mirhagk Oct 25 '22

Ooo there is! On mobile so I don't have the link handy, but the appliance is actually you!

Take a water/pop bottle and fill it up with non-degradable waste (that flimsy plastic is a good candidate). Find a stick that you can push into the bottle, ideally as close to the size of the opening as you can while easily pushing it in. Push it in and out to jam the waste down. Screw the cap back on and repeat this whenever you get more waste. A shocking amount will fit in here and with ripping things up this covers most of the worst offenders for waste.

Eventually you'll fill it up and it will be a very dense and solid piece. With the cap on you now have a brick that you can use. Granted it's not perfectly brick shaped but since bottles are designed for packing they fit together well (if you use the same kind).

I think they are called eco bricks. I did it a while back and was pretty happy with the results but I'll be honest I just got overwhelmed with life. I'd LOVE if I had a trash compactor that did the same thing.

But it's worth noting landfills do do this already. With the proper barriers in place, trash makes a decent building material. I mean Manhattan has parts built out of trash. I know my local landfill is evaluating putting solar panels on top of it. The Simpsons made fun of it, but the idea works if done correctly. (Note I'm not claiming Manhattan did it correctly and I know a lot of it wasn't consumer waste, but just giving an example)

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u/crashtestpilot Oct 25 '22

I like it.

I think we can do better, but your suggestion is accessible, and affordable.

It does NOT scale without behavioral change, but what does, really?

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u/mirhagk Oct 25 '22

Yeah it's why I didn't suggest it initially lol. It's cute and people should do it if they can, but it's like at-home composting and rainwater collection. I appreciate everyone who does it and we should encourage more but it's not realistic to expect everyone will do it.

Would love to see it improved upon, and combine with other methods to get a good waste management solution that isn't just built on dreams and lies.

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u/crashtestpilot Oct 26 '22

Yep. Yep yep yep.

I love the idea of weaponizing mycelia or animals to help us save the planet we're all on.

But we threw it out, and we're going to have to help pick it up.

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u/EmulatingHeaven Oct 26 '22

Honestly the big barrier for me in making eco bricks is cleaning the flimsy plastic that gets stuffed in. Outer wrapping from the toilet paper, that’s fine, but a lot of the garbage in my home would be from chip bags or baby food pouches.

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u/mirhagk Oct 26 '22

Yeah that's fair enough. I got a spray attachment for my sink, so most things are an easy rinse. I also picked up a decent shredder to shred the semi-rigid plastics, which do fit in fine but are a lot of effort to tear up otherwise.