Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste

Re:Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of... by mrpopo on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @10:20PM (#31429969)

Plastic production worldwide is 300 million tons. I am not sure how this would convert to tons of CO2 as it burns (each carbon in the polymer chain associates with more oxygen in the air so it becomes heavier) but the world's CO2 emissions are 30 billion tons, so this would be in the order of 1 to 3% of the whole world's emissions.

Not saying it's good, but burning plastic if it has environmental and health benefits is not out of question. Probably most of it is burned already (it definitely is in Asian countries).

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Re:Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of... by formerly_proven on Thursday May 19, 2022 @01:56AM (#31431240)

> Probably most of it is burned already (it definitely is in Asian countries)

Germany seems to have invented the term "thermal recycling", i.e. burning plastics. IIRC, it is actually considered a renewable energy source by the law.

It's not the worst idea per se, if done right, and waste separation is actually significant here because it simplifies calorific value control.

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