Just 10% of U.S. plastic gets recycled. A new kind of plastic could change that

Re:Just 10% of U.S. plastic gets recycled. A new kind of pla... by jdietrich on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @01:41PM (#19730981)

>They can tax things to help with the cost of properly disposing of single-use plastic or they can outright ban them. This would make the market more realistic because the cost would include disposal of the items.

That cost is, depending on the market, about $80/tonne. Pricing in the cost of disposal would add about 0.04 cents to the cost of a plastic bag and 0.24 cents to the price of a large bottle of soda.

Plastic is not a problem. It has never been a problem and it never will be a problem. Eliminating plastic packaging is at best a complete waste of time and at worst totally counter-productive.

Climate change is a catastrophe; we have already passed the point of no return, and can now only choose how severe that catastrophe will be.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/studies/pdf/eucostwast...

https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/2e935b...

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Re:Just 10% of U.S. plastic gets recycled. A new kind of pla... by frankbreetz on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @02:11PM (#19731250)

Then one must ask why are we not responsibly getting rid of our plastic?

Why is there plastic in every corner of the planet[0]?

Why is there trash covered islands that humans don't live on and should be pristine[1]?

Maybe banning plastics is not the answer and responsible disposal is the correct answer, but there is currently a very large plastics problem that must be addressed.

[0]https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-47947235

[1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2017/05/15/henderson-i...

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