Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

academictimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 272 posts

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#221

Post by acdha »

anamexis wrote: post #218
acdha wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> boutique grocery stores, where you can return your $10 quart bottle of milk for the bottle to be reused. You’re misrepresenting the price substantially – that’s 5 times what Whole Foods charges and while they’re upscale they’re more mainstream than boutique these days.

You're telling me I can buy a quart of milk in a reusable glass bottle for $2 at Whole Foods?

Yes: a half gallon is two quarts and that’s $4.

https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/product/homestead-creamery-...

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#222

Post by derefr »

spookthesunset wrote: post #178
JulianMorrison wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

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.

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#223

Post by jbay808 »

TedShiller wrote: post #184
ArkanExplorer wrote: post #7

Plastic recycling seems heavily motivated by emotion and virtue signaling. In reality, only about 5% of our crude oil use goes towards plastic. If we rolled out EVs, and then just burned all the plastic trash (using waste-to-energy plants), we would still be far ahead. The biggest challenges with plastics are hormone disruption, and microplastics (particularly in the 3rd world without sufficient landfill or W2E infra…

Have you seen what lithium mining does to the earth? If you haven’t, I suggest you check it out. EV cars are not the answer.

How does it compare with other types of mining, such as coal mining, uranium mining, or the Alberta tar sands?

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#224

Post by tomcam »

dheera wrote: post #114
tomcam wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you very much. Not sure why my question was downvoted.

I do wish it were required to give a reason or comment to downvote. I upvoted you to compensate since the downvoter did not do this.

I would dearly love a world in which you provided a reason to download a comment on this site.

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#225

Post by beowulfey »

DenisM wrote: post #136
jvanderbot wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe plastic recycling is not motivated by oil use primarily. I believe it is motivated by trash accumulation in oceans and the food chain (microplastics). There are a ton of areas of the world where plastic just piles up.

The countries which are the most preoccupied with recycling plastics, such as the US, are also the least likely to throw they trash into the ocean. Plastic bags do no harm buried in the landfill, and we’re not running out of land.

Assuming that we can keep burying it forever is not a healthy attitude.

People used to assume that dumping sewage in the streets was just fine, but it led to cholera outbreaks [1]. There was no push to change that until it became a major problem and something had to be done. Sure, we can assume burying plastic will be a solution forever. But is it not better to avoid risking the event where it suddenly is a problem, and try and mitigate it now?

(Personally, I think so, but it is one of things that will be forever debatable.)

[1] http://www.hubhistory.com/episodes/boston-in-the-time-of-cho...

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#226

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

jounker wrote: post #165
DenisM wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The countries which are the most preoccupied with recycling plastics, such as the US, are also the least likely to throw they trash into the ocean. Plastic bags do no harm buried in the landfill, and we’re not running out of land.

I see plastic bags on the beach. I walk along the creeks nearby, and I see plastic bags and plastic garbage. I go for a hike in the sierras, and I find plastic garbage. I bike along the roads in town, and I see plastic bags in the gutter. I look down the incline beside the road and there are plastic bags in the trees. Is the USA as bad as Morocco? No. Is plastic waste a problem? Yes.

The amount of plastic bags strewn across the environment in Morocco has drastically declined since new laws against them. There is still progress to be made, but the result has made me a supporter of plastic bag bans.

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#227

Post by stjohnswarts »

ars wrote: post #169
pkulak wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the great irony here is that recycling is what sends the trash to Asia were it's then tossed in the ocean. Or at least, it used to. I think most plastic "recycling" is now going into local landfills.

> recycling is what sends the trash to Asia were it's then tossed in the ocean. That isn't true (and was never true). Trash in Asia that ends up in the ocean is local trash. Even back when Asia bought recycling from us there wasn't much trash in it, and even the trash that was there didn't end up in the ocean. The stuff in the ocean is what litters the streets, and then goes in rivers during rain storms.

I tried explaining this a very eager green friend of mine and he would have none of it, he preferred blaming the USA on every bad thing going on in the world. Even Asian garbage being dumped in the ocean.

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#228

Post by stjohnswarts »

spookthesunset wrote: post #176
elil17 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For plastic and glass, to make you feel better. Even if you're concerned about land use, they end up throwing away a lot of what goes into the recycling anyway. With glass especially, it is actually worse for the enviroment to reuse the glass because of the energy and water use associated with cleaning it. (There's also an argument to be made that we should continue to recycle plastic so the public is in the habit of…

It is amazing how much stuff you can compost. In my armchair quarterback opinion compost everything you can and recycle only metal. If people are pissed about how much stuff they are throwing into the trash... go look at the incredible amount of packaging material that gets thrown out....

How many people have backyards to compost stuff and the time to do it? 25%?

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#229

Post by stjohnswarts »

objektif wrote: post #158
DenisM wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s talk about the US then. Do you agree we’re not running out of land? If so, what is the point of recycling?

What is your point? If we are not running out of land should we start dumping plastic all over the place?

Modern landfill techniques are actually quite scientific and regulated. It's not as bad as the far left portrays. We do need to encourage more reusable things though. Plastic and aluminum can be almost 100% recycled. Plastic is much much lower. It will take more than one solution to fix the problem. I think composting is a pipe dream though unless someone figures out how to quickly do it on a very large scale. It's fine for home gardeners but the rest of us simply aren't going to do it.

Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency

#230

Post by Sonnen »

ArkanExplorer wrote: post #7

Plastic recycling seems heavily motivated by emotion and virtue signaling. In reality, only about 5% of our crude oil use goes towards plastic. If we rolled out EVs, and then just burned all the plastic trash (using waste-to-energy plants), we would still be far ahead. The biggest challenges with plastics are hormone disruption, and microplastics (particularly in the 3rd world without sufficient landfill or W2E infra…

So? Peopel should start stopping research on plastic alternatives? Probably not right? I don't think you can translate their research to saving oil through ev cars.

And i think we should just do both. I'm able to advocate for less production of plastic and EV use and less driving around for nothing.

Post reply on HN