Wouldn't this be extremely dangerous if a form of "plastic rot" was created? Things like PVC sewer pipes, or any long-lived plastic parts in cars/equipment could now degrade over time, which could create huge costs to find alternative materials. After all plastic is pretty useful because it is biologically and chemically inert.
Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
81–90 of 294 posts
Re: Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, landfills are not major environmental problems, AFAIK, but they offend the neat freak within all of us. And, as you say, they're pretty good carbon deposits, which is supposed to be The Most Important Thing.
I think the main problem is that the average Joe/Jane confuses all types of pollution as equally bad. The real, most imminent threat is really CO2. That's what we have to spend the most money/energy on, because it could have absolutely catastrophic consequences in the next few decades. Plastic in a landfill is just... Stuck there. It's unnatural, sure, but it's not immensely harmful, not nearly on the same scale as C…
Garbage is also a problem in the environment like plastics in oceans, but the problem is not enough (well run and used) land fills (in Asia) not too many!
Re: Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
#83Dumb question, but if plastic eating bacteria starts spreading, wouldn't we all be in a lot of trouble? Will car plastic interior start to rot? Will PET soda and water bottles start decomposing in the grocery store, and will they require refrigeration to prevent that? Will our computer keyboards require new materials?
See Doomwatch - Plastic Eaters from 1970: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0564476/
Re: Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://no-burn.org and others.. incinerator waste to energy has been a battle for at least fifty years..
Another organization we can blame for terrible environmental outcomes? Why is it so common for people to pretend to be environmentalists and advocate for things that directly harm the environment?
> we can blame for terrible environmental outcomes
who is "we" here ?
> to pretend to be environmentalists
that is wildly defamatory, with no evidence, right?
Re: Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
#85Depends on what the waste products are and how they are captured, otherwise you trade one problem for another. The plastic takes up space but if it's in a landfill you have carbon capture, best not to release that carbon into the air as CH4 or CO2.
I would infinitely rather have a bit more gaseous carbon than a 10,000 year source of endocrine disruptor microplastics leaching into the water.
It's a good thing we're all rich here, able to move to places with better climates or buy air conditioners, not the billions of poor people who have no way to survive intensifying extreme weather events.
Re: Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
#86Depends on what the waste products are and how they are captured, otherwise you trade one problem for another. The plastic takes up space but if it's in a landfill you have carbon capture, best not to release that carbon into the air as CH4 or CO2.
Yeah, landfills are not major environmental problems, AFAIK, but they offend the neat freak within all of us. And, as you say, they're pretty good carbon deposits, which is supposed to be The Most Important Thing.
I wouldn't go that far.
> Per the most recent Inventory Report, U.S. landfills released an estimated 109.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) of methane into the atmosphere in 2020; this represents 16.8 percent of the total U.S. anthropogenic methane emissions across all sectors.
https://www.epa.gov/lmop/frequent-questions-about-landfill-g....
Re: Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Yeah, landfills are not major environmental problems ... yet?
What would cause them to be an environmental issue? As far as I know they can be built in a safe manner and there is plenty of space for them.
In the Western world maybe, but outside of it... hell even in the Western world we have regular reports of mismanagement and corruption, just look at Italy.
We need to reduce the amount of trash we produce, not hope for a miracle technology.
Re: Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another organization we can blame for terrible environmental outcomes? Why is it so common for people to pretend to be environmentalists and advocate for things that directly harm the environment?
> we can blame for terrible environmental outcomes who is "we" here ? > to pretend to be environmentalists that is wildly defamatory, with no evidence, right?
We is you and me.
> that is wildly defamatory, with no evidence, right?
The evidence is right on their own website. Their advocacy that they are so proud of is actively harming the planet and they are sitting there proud of it.
Re: Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't burning plastic produce large amounts of toxic off gassing?
My understanding is that incinerators don't just release the output. The exhaust is pumped back into the system and dealt with somehow. The extent to which the release is "dealt with" is the tricky part.
I'm going to guess that large amounts of CO2 is a byproduct and is vented.
Re: Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're dirtier than natural gas power plants, however. (and the pollution that they do create can be particularly nasty) We're better off in terms of emissions-per-watt by burying the plastic and using natural gas instead.
> They're dirtier than natural gas power plants, however That is not true. > and the pollution that they do create can be particularly nasty That is also not true. Plastic is made of the exact same atoms as natural gas, plus oxygen. Plastic burns very very clean, with no waste except for water and CO2. PVC has chlorine, but is rare in trash, and the small amount of chlorine is easily filtered out of the exhaust. > We…
Plastic that goes into the trash is not pure plastic, it is trash and it has a lot of other junk in it. i.e. heavy metals and other stuff. That's one of the biggest reasons we have trouble recycling it. Are there even any WTE plants that burn only plastic?