• @Termight@lemmy.mlEnglish
    40•28 days ago

    The problem isn’t just recycling; it’s consumption. Also, aluminum still holds some value. What else is worth recycling?

        • @kambusha@sh.itjust.works
          15•27 days ago

          Perhaps, but it’s 100% reusable as far as I’m aware. It can also be used for other things, such as roads, or even to help plants grow.

        • @mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          7•27 days ago

          This is how it works in Germany. Lots of their water bottles are made of glass, and end up with textured/worn rings along the bottle; The rings are from where it goes through the recycling machines to get prepped for the next use. The rings mean the bottle has been reused a lot, and has gone through the machines enough to get slightly worn.

    • The Menemen
      16•28 days ago

      Paper, all metalls and glass. Collecting organic waste for either compost or, if your city does this, biogas plants is also good.

    • @Wilco@lemm.eeEnglish
      9•27 days ago

      The highest value for the economy is cardboard recycling. Honestly, cardboard recycling creates a LOT of jobs. Companies get into bid wars trying to buy cardboard scrap to recycle.

      • @GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
        6•27 days ago

        Cellulose is generally recyclable but as I understand it degrades through each cycle, until it’s basically unfit for recycling and is more efficient to burn for energy.

    • @BCsven@lemmy.ca
      1•27 days ago

      Recycled plastic gets used more when the price of oil goes up as these commodities are closely tied. Some places like automotive manufacturers only take auto grade plastics and those recycled materials can be in short supply so their is often demand for it.

  • @Grizzlyboy@lemm.eeEnglish
    19•27 days ago

    We sort trash in 4 bins and one bag.

    1. Paper
    2. Glass and metal
    3. Bio, food waste
    4. General waste that doesn’t belong in the other bins.
    5. Isn’t a bin but a plastic bag for plastic.

    Lets say we didn’t have a bag specifically for plastic, that waste would have ended up in 4. Most of 4 is burned. By putting plastic in its own bag it increased the amount of plastic returned to waste management and reduced the amount left out in nature and burned.

    We’ve been dealt a shit hand, but we can try making the best out of the situation. Giving up isn’t an option.

    • @null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      6•27 days ago

      Sorry I don’t follow.

      Is 4 a bin or a bag?

      Is everything in 4 bagged or only the plastic?

      How does bagging the plastic avoid it being left out in nature or burned?

      • @Grizzlyboy@lemm.eeEnglish
        2•27 days ago

        Fudge, formatting fooled me! Since 1-4 were numbers and the 5th didn’t have to be a number but just “Bag”, when I wrote it without a number it didn’t start on the next line, but at the end of “4”. Edited the comment to show it better.

        The 4th is a bin, and the last one (5th for clarity) is a big plastic bag.

  • 𝕾𝖕𝖎𝖈𝖞 𝕿𝖚𝖓𝖆English
    10•28 days ago

    Not to mention how plastic recycling isn’t exactly easy anyway. Not all jurisdictions take all kinds of plastic. So you have to know what your recycling center can handle and what you’re tossing in or risk contamination.

    I go out of my way to buy things shipped in paper, glass, or metal containers. Even though steel and aluminum cans do have a little plastic in them, it’s far less plastic than containers made entirely of it.

    It would be nice if we could have more things sold in the bulk section so you can bring your own container. Like, if I could buy laundry detergent or shampoo using my own containers, that’d be sick.

  • @gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
    1•27 days ago

    I really agree with your point. However:

    First of all, it’s reduce, reuse, recycle.

    Nobody implied that recycling would solve everything. (at least i didn’t, i don’t know about what other people said)

    Secondly, plastics is actually less of a problem than people think. Plastics is essentially non-toxic, or has a similar toxicity than wood, grass, and other carbohydrates. So essentially non-toxic. The fact that there is traces of it in your blood is not surprising, because our detection systems these days are very sensitive and can detect even the tiniest amounts.

    The additives are the problem, and they should either be forbidden or strictly regulated.

    The point that “chemical recycling is infeasible” is wrong. It used to be financially infeasible because the energy required to recycle was many times more expensive than just buying crude oil and making new plastics. Nowadays, however, that might change, depending on how cheap solar energy turns out to become over the next 10 years.

    Furthermore, i guess Aluminum and glass are actually often worse for the environment, because while they could be recycled close to 100% when properly collected, such a good collection system is totally unreasonable and off the bat IMO. Consider: if there’s one stupid guy who throws a lead acid battery into the recycle container, all of you now have lead poisoning for the rest of your lifes. It’s a medical hazard.

    Additionally, the problem with plastic waste in the environment is a problem of insufficient regulation, not with the plastics itself. Plastics can be burned very close to 100%, so it leaves no traces. Different than say nuclear which leaves back toxic waste. Additionally, burning plastics releases close to 100% of the energy stored in it, so it could be used as a fuel. In the future, optimized plastics power stations might burn plastics in the winter to generate energy to compensate for lower solar energy. That’s why i’m actually in favor of collecting all plastics in gigantic landfills, because it might become a very valuable resource later on.

    • Tlaloc_Temporal
      4•27 days ago

      Burning plastic has similar issues to fossil fuels, with all the waste ending up in our lungs.

      Nuclear waste can be rendered inert in glassified casks, while having a much higher power density and reliability.

  • @Ttangko@lemmy.world
    0•27 days ago

    corporations only fuel what the consumer wants most.

    its humanities own greed ideologically refusing 20cents more for another packaging. best thing is how family and friends belittle you for investing 10% more into other products like that

    idc we are past 1,5° anyway, theres no hope really (sorry for looking so negative, im trying to be rational tho)