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Re:New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with ... by derefr on Saturday February 20, 2021 @08:37PM (#26210008)
How about asphalt with plastics mixed into the underwater, but not the top layer?
Re:New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with ... by JulianMorrison on Saturday February 20, 2021 @09:19PM (#26210243)
Deferring the problem. Roads get dug up and relaid, roads get abandoned, maybe a few years down the line, we won't be using roads. Mentally insert "Back to the Future 2" clip here. And so a few decades later, we return to the problem.
Re:New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with ... by spookthesunset on Sunday February 21, 2021 @01:48AM (#26211415)
I forget where I read this but asphalt is perhaps the most recycled plastic out there. Asphalt can be ripped up and then remelted right back into place or moved somewhere else.
Re:New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with ... by derefr on Sunday February 21, 2021 @11:08AM (#26214472)
Right! They even have road-paving machines that rip up the asphalt; add a bit more tar to replace the tar that seeped away; heat up the mixture and tumble it; lay it back down; and steamroll over it; all in one pass, all in a closed system with no dust escaping. (Ref: https://youtu.be/XKFaC5RYbEM)

Plus, since asphalt’s petroleum-tar binder is liquified during the working process, it would actually act as a solvent perfect for dissolving (certain) microplastics into. The microplastics wouldn’t merely be in mechanical mixture with the asphalt; they wouldn’t exist as distinct entities any more! They’d revert to being a petroleum fraction, in complex with the heavier petroleum fractions of the tar.