Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work

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[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

They all include different chemical additives and colorants that cannot be recycled together, making it impossible to sort the trillions of pieces of plastics into separate types for processing.

Hold my beer. That actually seems pretty easily solvable with AI and robotics. It isn't impossible to sort everything into identical groups, it's just super fucking tedious, and who does tedious better than our robot slaves.

[–]iamonlyoneman 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Funny you should mention because that's exactly what is happening right now today and the claim is bollocks that it can't be done. That the author doesn't know it is being done, doesn't mean it can't be!

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Cool, glad to see my idea has been developed so quickly. I just thought it up yesterday.

[–]AcceleratedWallops 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

AI and robotics? Sounds like that costs money. Our bottom line can't handle that. Oh well! Sucks to suck for the earth I guess

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Ok socks.

[–]AcceleratedWallops 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Lol

[–]SoCo 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

When I worked at a plastics blow-molding factory a decade or more ago, the main products, clear plastic ketchup and BBQ sauce bottles which they made en-mass, were limited to only like 1.7% of recycled material.

This recycled material was the pure, no sorting needed, ground up waste material. The limitation was due to the plastic quality. It must meet requirements of elasticity and strength; not too brittle to crack versus not dented too easily.

I'm not sure what made the fresh waste material mostly unusable, but it was likely from the heating and cooling process and additives. Additives I'm aware of include UV stabilizers, so bottles don't decompose if left in direct sunlight very long, and "lubi-stat", as light food-grade oil that prevents the plastic from getting scuffed up against other bottles.

[–]sproketboy 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I found the original on /. man there are a lot of commies over there. They all should be shipped to North Korea where their magic utopia exists. The 2 commies at the Atlantic blame it on the "plastics industry". Funny how leftists never look in the mirror. The real cause is idiot leftists who don't understand basic economics. FOUNDATIONALLY wrong in their idea that plastics need to break down into the environment when they never asked - break down into what? Now we all get to have micro-plastics in our organs. NORTH KOREA FOR ALL OF THEM!

[–]Ehhhhhh 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

So, don't recycle all. Instead, use pyrolysis to convert to fuel.

[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Use clay instead

[–]paul1149 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Why don't they wash it, grind it up and use it locally for building insulation?

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm seeing a lot more recycled plastic moulded park benches and picnic tables lately, and other street furniture. Not all plastic must be recyclable for food contact or with strict colour and structural specifications. Recycling in general may be a pain in the ass but it does work.

[–]IkeConn 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Translation: people are lazy and local governments don't give 2 shits.