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China Won't Solve the World's Plastics Problem Any More (wired.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: For a long time, China has been a dumping ground for the world's problematic plastics. In the 1990s, Chinese markets saw that discarded plastic could be profitably recreated into exportable bits and bobs -- and it was less expensive for international cities to send their waste to China than to deal with it themselves. China got cheap plastic and the exporting countries go rid of their trash.
But in November 2017, China said enough. The country closed its doors to contaminated plastic, leaving the exports to be absorbed by neighboring countries like Vietnam, South Korea, and Thailand. And without the infrastructure to absorb all the waste that China is rejecting, the plastics are piling up. Between now and 2030, 111 million metric tons of trash -- straws, bags, water bottles -- will have nowhere to go, according to a paper published in Science Advances on Wednesday. That's as if every human on Earth contributed a quarter of their body mass in mostly single-use plastic polymers to a massive, abandoned pile of garbage.
But in November 2017, China said enough. The country closed its doors to contaminated plastic, leaving the exports to be absorbed by neighboring countries like Vietnam, South Korea, and Thailand. And without the infrastructure to absorb all the waste that China is rejecting, the plastics are piling up. Between now and 2030, 111 million metric tons of trash -- straws, bags, water bottles -- will have nowhere to go, according to a paper published in Science Advances on Wednesday. That's as if every human on Earth contributed a quarter of their body mass in mostly single-use plastic polymers to a massive, abandoned pile of garbage.
Sorting and re-processing the heaps might be a job for AI.
Table-ized A.I.
trash in orbit sucks for things in orbit, but it would be kind of amusing if space-x started launching trash rockets into the sun or something.
No, really. The recycle process is as follows - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (in that order).
No one cares to reduce or reuse. Ok, fine. Then recycle it back to usable form of energy; burn it!
Life is not for the lazy.
They are running out of garbage, for real.
In the end they will burn it controlled for heating.
https://www.independent.co.uk/...
I'm not sure to what extend they were really "solving" the problem. I'm guessing that a lot of what gets sent to China for recycling ends up in a landfill where it's out of sight and mind from the Western world. As China continues to industrialize and build its economy they're probably running out of cheap labor that can handle it, whether that means actually recycling it or just finding somewhere to bury or dump it.
On the other hand, we might eventually not want to recycle all of our plastic. Eventually we'll stop burning oil and other fossil fuels (as we move to solar and electric power for more and more things) and plastic is a convenient way to sequester carbon. We could even bury it in old mine shafts or find other places to store it where it won't leach into the ground water or get eaten by marine wildlife. Presumably we'll even start scrubbing it from the atmosphere, but we have to do something with it.
But in November 2017, China said enough. The country closed its doors to contaminated plastic,
Which from what I've read is the problem. China is sick of our soiled plastic waste. I mean ffs people, we had one job, clean up the waste so it's not disgusting and China would take it on the cheap. But NOOOOOO, lazy fucking Americans can't even be bothered to rinse stuff off and make their garbage slightly more appealing.
Well, guess what, they're are sick of it and I don't blame them. And you can bet the other countries taking plastic now, they won't put up with it for very long either. Clean it up, or bury it in your own fucking backyard.
Somehow they don't see a problem with exporting all that plastic in the form of cheap toys and electronics in the first place, eh? Man up, show some responsibility and start dealing with the problem you yourself have created.
"That's as if every human on Earth contributed a quarter of their body mass"
A more relevant analogy would be to say something like "as if every American contributed an elephants worth of plastic...cause they probably do". I doubt the 2-3 billion people living in poverty are contributing anywhere near as much as my neighbors who manage to fill 2 96 gallon bins every week.
Why would China allow importing other countries' garbage? That would amount to treason. That's because it was the WTO concession imposed upon China in exchange for them getting access to the world market at lower tariff. So while we are complaining "unfair trade" with China and ridiculing their environment problem, we must feel shameful about ourselves -- China (and other poor third world countries) had to sell out their environment in order to survive economically while we have ripped the benefits of a clean environment, something that our politicians and media never want to mention. Get down from your moral high horse!
I hate plastic. The feel of it, the look of it, how quickly it breaks down with use. I've been slowly and surely eliminating plastic wares from my life for years. Moving to metal mixing bowls, glass bowls for storing things instead of tupperware, saving and re-using glass jars for storage instead of ziplock bags. I have a stainless steel milkshake cup I use for most of my beverages, instead of the typical american giant plastic cup with a sports team name on it. You know, simple changes.
The main thing that spurred all this was probably a mixing bowl.
I had a set of white plastic mixing bowls, and at some point I had to store some tomato based pasta sauce in one, after which, no matter how much I washed it, it was forever tinted orange. It just looked gross, and sparked the realization that; if the damn plastic bowl was so porous as to be permanently stained by tomato sauce, what the hell else might it have soaked up, and/or leached out of it?
After that, whenever I get a chance, I buy a stainless steel or glass version. Sure, costs more and will take longer to acquire some items, but I figure its worth it.
It all reminds me of the humorous observation:
At what point, did drilling an oil well in the middle east, pumping out that oil, putting the oil on a ship, sail that oil filled ship across the ocean, unloading the oil in America, piping it to a refinery, refining it into some form of plastic, trucking that plastic to a factory, forming that plastic into an object, boxing that object up, putting that box into another truck and trucking it to a warehouse, then from the warehouse to a store, from the store to your house, to be opened, used once, and then thrown away, ALL BECOME EASYER THAN WASHING THE FUCKING FORK.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
Cheap Chinese Crap needs to go!
... we think of China?
Are we just wishing them death nowaday?
Look at the MONSTER plastic reef in the oceans. China is #1 nation with tagged plastic in it. IOW, they continue to dump their plastics into the ocean. Like CO2 and air pollution, this needs to stop. Hopefully, we will see china dumping less plastics into the oceans, while the other nations (dominantly western nations) clean up their own act.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
i seen where shredded plastic was mixed with hot asphalt and roads and parking lots paved with it, i seen where old tires were converted in to rubber mats of various sizes. so with a little imagination i am sure plastic can be recycled in to something usable
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I love reports like this. Some people are going to say that government regulation is the way to go and that people should cut back on consumption, etc. Maybe that's true to some extent, I dunno.
But really, I hope most people see this as a huge opportunity and that it lures creative entrepreneurs. That's how these problems are most effectively solved, and somebody is going to get absurdly rich off it, and I'm excited to see what they come up with. Don't bury it, don't send it to the sun, but find some way to make it useful again.
> Between now and 2030, 111 million metric tons of trash -- straws, bags, water bottles -- will have nowhere to go
Unless the laws of conservation of mass are to be repealed I guarantee that plastic will go somewhere. Therefore, by definition, it will have somewhere to go.
So it can turn back into oil.
not a chemist, but it doesn't sound particularly safe. Don't most plastics have additives in them?
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If solving the world's plastic problems meant dumping it in the Yangtze river thank god!
The out of sight out of mind policies of 1st world countries, off loading their environmental responsibilities on to countries that are least able to deal with it has to stop, it's an hypocrisy the world's ecosystem can no longer afford
It's a solved problem The only problem with it is the solution is a tiny bit more expensive than people want, and it stinks. This isn't a plastic problem, this is a choice people don't want to make.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Yes, I asked you to provide a link or proof to Steven Burn saying he recommends your software. You didn't
I followed your link. None of them are Steve Burn.
So we come back to my initial point that you've failed to disprove
Malwarebytes describes APKs software as 'small'. Similar software is 'small' and 'useful', but APK is just small. Not useful.
APKs software isn't useful - just ask Malwarebytes. APK thinks this is a 'RECOMMENDATION'
Shall I add
APK claims Steve Burn recommends him, but can't prove it
I have no idea what you mean in your next lines. It's not english. It's some kind of word salad. Try again. In english.
No, I'm not a webmaster. I'm a slashdot user who is tired of your spam and ridiculous claims.
I don't need to cut you down. You can't even provide proof that Steve Burn recommends you. All you have is a list of about a dozen quotes, taken out of context, from nearly a decade on this site. FFS, HomelessInLaJolla got better press.
why do they keep shipping garbage (not just plastic, but everything) to the other side of the world?
we know how to recycle ALL THESE THINGS! it's a solved problem, for years.
i get that it is cheaper, but it doesn't solve anything, the garbage is still there, how short-sighted must you be not to realise that?
It's only cheaper now, it will be more expensive to deal with it later.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
That's as if every human on Earth contributed a quarter of their body mass in mostly single-use plastic polymers to a massive, abandoned pile of garbage.
Yikes, I might produce that much every year. I really gotta cut back.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Sadly much/most of the companies that made quality things that last went out of business because they couldn't compete with the cheap crap. So now everything is crap. Worse is that no matter where you buy now, it all comes from the same place, is all made by the same people, it is just re-branded six ways from Sunday. It is pretty obvious to look around and find the exact same widget or bobbet and apart from some logo or whatnot is the exact same item being sold from china. Buying from a "quality" store you just pay for the brand and a massive markup.
What's this "international cities"? Places like Detroit-Windsor, McAllen-Reynosa? El Paso-Juarez?
There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.