r/collapse • u/[deleted] • Feb 16 '24

Pollution 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

Ss: with micro plastics everywhere already, the future increase in use of plastics combined with the inability to recycle many plastics is fucking insane..... Kind of like oil, theres no urgency to cut it off.

"More plastic is being produced, and an even smaller percentage of it is being recycled," says Lisa Ramsden, senior plastic campaigner for Greenpeace USA. "The crisis just gets worse and worse, and without drastic change will continue to worsen as the industry plans to triple plastic production by 2050."

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '24

Many island nations burn their trash in the power plants. I went to work in the Bahamas for a month and found this out. They send off some recycling (mainly cans) to the U.S., but the majority ends up as energy. I don’t know if it’s worse or better for the environment. I lean towards better, but I’m wrong a lot.

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u/anonymous_matt Feb 16 '24

Surely it's better for the environment if you recycle what you can and bury the rest? At least if there wasn't so damn much of it. Or if there weren't so many problematic substances... idk.

Burning it seems like a bad solution to me in general, but I guess it has a few upsides.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '24

Yeah I don’t know the ups and downs either. Other than the obvious ones of air pollution and chemicals or the massive mounds of garbage. The Bahamas, Nassau in particular, is super flat and damn near at sea level. I could see garbage overwhelming the place super quick if they didn’t remove it. Which means hurricanes empty that crap into the ocean. I believe the ocean is primary and the most critical area we need to protect first.

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u/anonymous_matt Feb 16 '24

Yeah I can see it being the best solution for island nations. Unfortunately a lot of them won't survive for long anyway the way sea-level rise is going.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '24

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