New method efficiently converts mixed plastic waste into a product that could have a range of applications, according to scientists.
Archived version: archive.is/…/first-us-china-team-turns-plastic-wa…
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SailorFuzz@lemmy.world 1 day ago
so… the solution to the plastic problem is to convert it and then burn it?
And burning plastic will fix the environment… ?
Sxan@piefed.zip 1 day ago
Hm. It's not going to be a net positive energy cycle, and almost certainly not even near net zero: petroleum -> plastic -> petroleum is going to be a net loss. Petroleum being turned into plastics now would be burned anyway. It would seem this provides an alternative to simply dumping used plastics in the ocean, or in landfills. Even if the final conversion process costs more energy than it gets back out of plastics, it's still a reasonable waste management option.
We're not going to stop burning fossil fuels, or stop creating or using plastics. We should, but we won't. Which is the worse environmental disaster: dumping plastics into the ocean and into the entire food chain as microplastics, or turning plastic back into the petrol from whence it came and then burning it?
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Most of the ocean plastic is from fishing nets. If we wanted to solve that, we’d go back to hemp fiber nets that biodegrade.
Eheran@lemmy.world 1 day ago
turdburglar@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
seems to this observer that both options are shite.
iAvicenna@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I am not sure if this is as much for the environment as it is for keeping the statis quo on the energy sector. Not to mention it is not stated whether or not if side products of this transformation shed shit tons of microplastics (as compared to usual disintegration of plastic thrash).