We have two choices, treat this like shit or not... I think we should treat it like shit

There’s a lot of park benches in my city that I think — I think — are made from recycled plastic. That seems like a good use for it.

In the July issue of The Atlantic, there’s a story about “plastiglomerate,” where plastic combines with other materials under high heat. The upshot is that this material, and plastics in general, will last beyond lifetimes (plural). And it also notes that plastic doesn’t really decay; instead, it just divides into smaller and smaller pieces.

 

The U.S. and the world will never reach a meaningful level of consumer recycling, The whole process is an act.

 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

 

Actually, the fastest way to solve it is to stop fucking recycling.

 

Paper straws are shit.

 

Stainless steel FTW.

 

Explain how municipal recycling is scam?
On the one hand it should allow cities to resell its recyclables and make some additional money in sanitation (we know the demand for recyclables isnt high). The stuff that is recycled also saves munis money from having to put that stuff in the landfills, which results in additional tipping fee costs.

 

There is as much profit in recycling plastic as there is trying to sell shit from the landfill.

It’s waste. We need to figure out how to handle it and dumping it in water is not the answer.

 

I admit I still play the game, even though I have learned that recycling is a complete municipal scam. I put yard cuttings in the green bin and most everything else which is supposedly recyclable in the blue bin every Wednesday. Perhaps we (including I) need to get off our collective duff and do our due diligence as members of the local media.

 

Always interesting to see the arch-conservatives weigh in on recycling.

It certainly worked on a national scale during WWII, and has mostly worked in big municipalities since the 1970s where and when it was cost efficient.

The exponential increase in our plastics consumption over the same period changed that.

While we of course need to reduce our dependence on plastics, you can use a lot of what people are complaining about here for fuel. Plastics waste-to-energy technology like cold plasma pyrolysis already exists. And we've long had clean tech for burning biofuels and mixed trash. So there goes your old shopping bag and your pizza box and your water bottle.

Glass and aluminum are easy and (relatively) cheap to recycle.

 

Love me some NPR

Plastics: What’s Recyclable, What Becomes Trash — And Why - Plastics: What’s Recyclable, What Becomes Trash — And Why

 

I believe that we should be world leaders in renewable energy and recycling technologies. It is at the top of the list of failures and damage done to the USA by trump. I feel like we have lost the momentum and this 4 year period will set us way back.