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

Just Bury Your Trash

worksinprogress.news

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 176 posts

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#91

Post by broken-kebab »

duggan wrote: post #7

I don't remember energy use being the problem with plastic bags? It was plastic bags being absolutely everywhere in the environment. Streets, parks, trees. Wrapped around anything sticking out of the ground. On your face on a windy day. Pollution is the problem with plastic. Probably health, too, now that microplastics are being recognized as an issue.

It's a conspicuous part. But energy use is still a problem. Like, maybe high-kicking people throwing trash everywhere would be cheaper solution then letting them do it, but with paper instead of PET. If we won't calculate we can't be sure

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#92

Post by AlexandrB »

SamBorick wrote: post #58

"Instead of paying more to recycle, we could spend that money far more effectively on other environmental mitigation measures like carbon capture." Yeah, let's stop doing the fairly well established recycling programs that have knock on benefits like reducing pollution, and instead start scaling an entirely unproven and expensive mitigation program. These are some prominent Effect Altruism guys so I know "cause prior…

The push for recycling has been successful at making people feel better about themselves, not successful at saving energy or raw materials. The article also goes on at length about this, but most of what's put in recycling bins gets thrown out anyways and folks regularly put stuff in recycling bins that can't be recycled, just increasing the cost of recycling programs while lowering their effectiveness. Recycling metal cans and containers is a no brainer, recycling most plastics is of questionable value bordering on actively harmful[1].

[1] https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-...

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#93

Post by mtklein »

wavemode wrote: post #81
WarmWash wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My state did away with bags a few years ago, and you now never see bags blowing around or stuck on trees. It also seems everyone stopped complaining about it once we got over the hump of "remember to bring your bags". So we are just left with a small group of old timers, who would probably bring back metal (pull) tab cans if they could, complaining about it. Ironically its the same group of people who blocked windmil…

Your state has eliminated metal tab cans? Huh. What do you drink 12oz of pop out of?

Decades ago they used to pull completely off the can (think Jimmy Buffet "stepped on a pop-top").

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#94

Post by crab_galaxy »

RankingMember wrote: post #18
crab_galaxy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every winter in my city, once the leaves all fell, our trees would be draped in shredded plastic bags. Banning single use plastic bags has done a significant amount to beautify this place.

They were also so damn cheap that clerks would bag EVERYTHING without asking, so they not only covered the streets like you describe, but often after offering no actual utility to begin with.

People used to love giving out plastic bags for one item. Who needs a bag for a single item??

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#95

Post by toomuchtodo »

SamBorick wrote: post #58

"Instead of paying more to recycle, we could spend that money far more effectively on other environmental mitigation measures like carbon capture." Yeah, let's stop doing the fairly well established recycling programs that have knock on benefits like reducing pollution, and instead start scaling an entirely unproven and expensive mitigation program. These are some prominent Effect Altruism guys so I know "cause prior…

> "Instead of paying more to recycle, we could spend that money far more effectively on other environmental mitigation measures like carbon capture."

Carbon capture is a scam to allow fossil consumption to continue as is. The only path forward is rapid destruction of fossil fuel demand and transitioning to clean energy and electric mobility. At this time, there is no effective technology to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Therefore, capital is best invested where that investment will most rapidly avoid carbon emissions. Broadly speaking, at this time, this is electrifying light and heavy vehicles (includes scooters and ebikes!), and decommissioning coal plants (low carbon generation, batteries, etc will eventually push out fossil gas generation). It's not sexy, but it's straightforward.

Carbon capture may be an effective option in the future, but at the moment, it in no way can be relied on as a component of climate change mitigation. It's performance art.

Solar Power Is Booming in Emerging Markets - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49537375 - September 2026

Global heating will hit at least 1.8C, UN warns, and there are ‘no good outcomes’ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536875 - September 2026

Ex-oil engineer warns about potential climate collapse [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49335833 - August 2026

EU Locks In Plan To Triple Energy Storage Capacity By 2030 - https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/EU-Locks-In-Plan-... - August 7th, 2026 ("The EU has agreed to nearly quadruple its energy storage capacity, from 55 GW today to a targeted 200 GW by 2030.")

Climeworks’ capture fails to cover its own emissions - https://heimildin.is/grein/24581/ - May 15th, 2025

Carbon capture has a long history. Of failure - https://thebulletin.org/2022/09/plagued-by-failures-carbon-c... - September 1st, 2022

> The entire efficacy of the carbon capture process has been called into question by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In its special report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage, the IPCC stated: “CO2 storage is not necessarily permanent. Physical leakage from storage reservoirs is possible via (1) gradual and long-term release or (2) sudden release of CO2 caused by disruption of the reservoir.” Carbon capture has been used as a justification for new oil and gas projects. It has a history of poor performance, only captures a fraction of the total emissions from the lifecycle of oil and gas production and its long-term efficacy is questionable.

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#96

Post by doctoboggan »

joekrill wrote: post #35

Penn & Teller have a Bullshit! episode about this (Season 2, Episode 5). Well, it's technically about recycling, but it makes the claim that landfills are not a bad thing, and much better than the current recycling situation, in most cases. That episode has always stuck with me, and I've always wondered how valid their argument is.

I remember watching that as a young teen with a libertarian bent. As an old man who no longer identifies as libertarian that episode for some reason has stuck with me as the arguments were pretty compelling. I agree and would like to know if the calculations have changed today or if their argument is still valid.

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#97

Post by DiggyJohnson »

general_reveal wrote: post #37

In an apartment, I’ve learned not to even have a garbage bin. If I have garbage I make a small bag and throw it out, or keep it in the freezer until I go out. Frozen trash doesn’t smell and doesn’t attract anything :) Of course, this requires you to have less trash , which is very easy if you simply take a few seconds to go outside and throw your food out after lunch/dinner. Everything else is just dry scraps usually…

Using the toilet in this manner is the worst option. You’re sending your trash straight into the water treatment system let alone damaging your building pipes and whatnot, though it sounds like you rent.

I respect the approach and find it fascinating even though I think it’s crazy aha. I don’t think this would be very compatible at all with a lot of people’s cooking habits or hobbies, etc. Or if your apartment complex has an inconvenient garbage disposal location.

And there’s a lot of garbage I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting in the freezer.

How do you handle bathroom trash? I’m thinking feminine hygiene products specifically. Surely you don’t recommend flushing those right?

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#98

Post by throwaway2037 »

wavemode wrote: post #81
WarmWash wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My state did away with bags a few years ago, and you now never see bags blowing around or stuck on trees. It also seems everyone stopped complaining about it once we got over the hump of "remember to bring your bags". So we are just left with a small group of old timers, who would probably bring back metal (pull) tab cans if they could, complaining about it. Ironically its the same group of people who blocked windmil…

Your state has eliminated metal tab cans? Huh. What do you drink 12oz of pop out of?

I think they mean the 1970s-style "pull-tabs" that disconnected from the can. These were frequently discarded as litter, instead of put in a proper bin. I can remember seeing a lot of them in road gutters as a kid.

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drink_can#Opening_mechanisms

Re: Just Bury Your Trash

#100

Post by bichiliad »

wavemode wrote: post #81
WarmWash wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My state did away with bags a few years ago, and you now never see bags blowing around or stuck on trees. It also seems everyone stopped complaining about it once we got over the hump of "remember to bring your bags". So we are just left with a small group of old timers, who would probably bring back metal (pull) tab cans if they could, complaining about it. Ironically its the same group of people who blocked windmil…

Your state has eliminated metal tab cans? Huh. What do you drink 12oz of pop out of?

I think that’s about pull tabs (the old kind where you removed a small disc from the top of a can) vs pop tabs (the kind where you punch a hole into it and nothing detaches).
Post reply on HN