Re:Biology Student Discovers Plastic-Eating Bacteria
by maxerickson on Monday July 02, 2018 @08:21AM
(#17441022)
It's likely that nearly free energy is a requirement for mining a landfill so the plastic won't be worth much of anything by then anyway (just make any hydrocarbons you need from the air and water).
Really you'd be cleaning up the landfill more than mining it, but that's okay.
A lot of recycling decisions come down to similar considerations, doing them is a net drain on resources and costs money, so it doesn't make any sense.
Also, why is plastic being burned? Separate it cleanly and just store it in packages in a landfill. Either eventually a method of recycling will be found so the landfill can be harvested again for raw materials, or a bacteria will be found for that specific plastic that can be released on there.
As it stands, there's trash separation (in developed countries) and then whatever can't be recycled either goes to a landfill or burned.