Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than concrete

Re:Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than c... by vlovich123 on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @05:01PM (#26095387)

Sure, the climate change problem is eased. Microplastics in the environment though are a totally different problem & having it slowly accumulate over thousands of years is actually worse because it's a tragedy of the commons scenario. Cleaning this up in 100 years is going to be far more expensive than forcing companies to deal with the trash properly now. Moreover, it's not the companies that end up paying for such a problem but the rest of us because they've externalized the problem (see all the superfund sites in the USA that are chronically underfunded).

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Re:Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than c... by Bakary on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @06:42PM (#26096376)

In 100 years this will be the least of our problem. Either because it will be trivial to solve by then, or because we will be extinct or perhaps involuntarily returned to a pre-industrial life.

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Re:Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than c... by guywhocodes on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @07:15PM (#26096631)

Why would we be extinct? This ridiculous eschatology doesn't belong here.

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Re:Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than c... by Bakary on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @07:37PM (#26096794)

It's not at all ridiculous if you pay closer attention to various historical events. Maybe the biggest shock in this regard would be the Cuban Missile Crisis. We generally remember just a tense moment followed by the installation of red phones, but a even cursory look at the detailed timeline of events and the sheer number of near misses and gross errors is enough to make the hairs stand up on your neck and question your inductive reasoning.

Now with the unknown prospect of increased weapons development over a century, it gets even less ridiculous. Imagine the international quagmire where something worse than nukes exists, but with a much easier manufacturing process.

In any case, my exact argument isn't that extinction is the most likely scenario. Just that the least likely is one where we are just chugging along with the same overall technological capabilities. Worrying about what will happen to micro-plastics in a hundred years is like a New Yorker worrying about the growing quantity of horse manure in the city circa 1894.

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Re:Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than c... by maximente on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @08:30PM (#26097169)

well, imagine living in 1850 and someone telling you that 100 years in the future, ancient organic goop will allow millions of metal devices to tirelessly labor on behalf of their owners, some of these machines fly across oceans, and some can drop explosives that can annihilate entire cities

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Re:Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than c... by adrianN on Thursday February 11, 2021 @02:47AM (#26099235)

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea was written in 1870 and features a nuclear submarine (kind of).

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Re:Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than c... by Retric on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @05:09PM (#26095468)

Individual micro plastics don’t last that long. The vast surface area to volume ratio speeds up how quickly even durable plastics break down.

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Re:Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than c... by lmilcin on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @05:20PM (#26095591)

Well, unless you start inhaling the plastic dust from plastic road.

I am pretty sure that, even if not "forever chemical", the plastic dust will outlive your lungs.

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