(edit) You said "ignoring the logistics" so I agree with the other commenter, the outgassing of the burning would be environmentally devastating. Lava doesn't instantly vaporize things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXJfg_JIUZA
(edit) You said "ignoring the logistics" so I agree with the other commenter, the outgassing of the burning would be environmentally devastating. Lava doesn't instantly vaporize things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXJfg_JIUZA
https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vsc/file_mngr/file-224/OVERVIEW_K...
I imaging the outgassing of the plastic would be pretty terrible but the volcanic gas is pretty damaging too. But yes, I imagine there are a hundred different reasons this wouldn't really work out.
Polypropylene and polyethylene do float, but don’t come near 0.05g/cm³. They’re closer to 0.9g/cm³ (https://www.plasticseurope.org/en/about-plastics/what-are-pl...). That’s close to icebergs.
Density of plastic: https://omnexus.specialchem.com/polymer-properties/propertie... - Eyeballed at 1.2 g/cm^3
Plastic waste, lifetime: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782 - 6.3 megatonnes (2017)
6.3 Mt / (1.2 g/cm^3) = 5250000 (5.25 million) m^3 = 0.00525 km^3
You were right! My math was way off. Thanks for noticing. This is a great demonstration of peer review :)