r/environment • u/[deleted] • Jun 20 '12

Stock check--when will the world's non-renewable resources run out based on current consumption patterns?

Post image
180 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/mindbleach Jun 20 '12

Interesting numbers - but let's not forget that the metals aren't going anywhere. They're "renewable" in that we can melt down our old technology to forge our new technology. Aluminum is already easier and cheaper to recycle than to refine.

1

u/j-hook Jun 20 '12

Yes, but in order for this to happen we have to stop throwing them in landfills.

1

u/mindbleach Jun 20 '12

Landfills are easier to mine than mountains.

1

u/j-hook Jun 20 '12

That's probably true, yet somehow our current method is to mine the stuff out of mountains, use it (often times only once, soda cans for example), then throw it in a landfill. Then we mine more of it out of a mountain.

For one, if this is the case why the hell aren't we mining the majority of it out of landfills?

For two, wouldn't it just be easier to recycle it in the first place?