Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work | Hacker News Reader

Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work

theatlantic.com

39 points04rob11 comments

I think GJenge has the right approach on mixed plastic recycling (the category that seems to have the best chance of getting the biggest volumes of recycling).

https://www.impacc.org/en/ventures/gjenge-makers/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH7ahGR28JP4Gy47CGhCZTg

Varieties of brick varying in size and shape have very good potential for use in automated road repair systems, which patch potholes in roads by cutting out around pothole, and then filling the cavity.

Until packaging services start sharing some recycling burden, or get rated and taxed on how recycling friendly their recyclables are, low grade mixed plastics seem like they will be and remain the bulk.

There are a lot things that are plastic but need to be (e.g., straws, snow shovels, etc.) but too often we as consumers don't get a choice. It's plastic. Plastic. And more plastic.

The fact that many organic food products (e.g., peanut butter) come in plastic boggles my mind.

What's concerning is that if we even kick our oil addiction and the bottom drops out of the price of oil, plastic will get even cheaper.

What's a green-minded consumer to do?

Lobby Congress and force them to change the laws to make sure external factors are priced in. Glass is a viable alternative but more expensive compared to plastic, if the balance was tipped you wouldn’t need as much plastic for certain goods.

Good luck lobbying without money. You’re essentially competing with ultra rich corporations that are also lobbying except in the opposite direction.

I don't think just being a living example works, you need to get into serious activism

The driver is logistics: You can package peanut butter in plastic, and if there's something like, a shipping crisis or pandemic, it can sit in a warehouse for months without spoiling.

If you can solve that problem cost-effectively, plastic packaging would disappear quickly.

Why would it last any longer than in a glass jar?

Glass also presents a logistics problem: It's quite heavy/dense! You can save a lot of fuel costs with lighter packaging, and it makes handling pallets of goods much simpler. A pallet of peanut butter in glass would require a motorized hydraulic jack, whereas in plastic could probably (guessing) be moved with a normal pallet jack.

Snow shovels need to be plastic? I think I was in my thirties before I encountered a plastic snow shovel. Of course, metal was a lot cheaper Back In The Day.

Even Tonka toys are plastic. WTH? How long does one last with the average 8yo ?

Oops. Should have been DON'T need to be.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com