[HN Gopher] The recycling warehouse fire reminds: plastics are a...
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The recycling warehouse fire reminds: plastics are a pollution
nightmare
Author : rntn
Score : 24 points
Date : 2023-04-14 19:34 UTC (3 hours ago)
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| golemiprague wrote:
| [dead]
| tmnvix wrote:
| Somewhat related:
|
| I was visiting family in the countryside recently and was a bit
| shocked to see that the elderly neighbour was still using an
| 'incinerator' to dispose of their waste. Basically a 44 gallon
| drum in the backyard that was used to burn rubbish. Even though
| this was commonplace 40 or 50 years ago it's a rare site now -
| and probably illegal.
|
| After thinking about it for a while, I considered that it wasn't
| a huge amount of waste each week (think a few plastic bread bags,
| a couple of milk bottles, a tetrapak, etc) and that maybe it
| wasn't as bad (relatively) as it appeared. The neighbour barely
| drives anywhere which got me thinking - in terms of carbon
| dioxide output, how much plastic would the neighbour have to burn
| to have the same impact as a typical vehicle owner driving a
| typical distance each year? Obviously I'm not considering the
| nasty particles coming out of the incinerator - just the co2
| output. Would it be hundreds of kilograms?
| m-ee wrote:
| The CO2 question is a good one, but I'm glad this isn't
| commonplace where I live. I planned to stay and work remotely
| from Oaxaca for a month about a year ago. Unfortunately trash
| service isn't very reliable and many people burn theirs at
| night. Air conditioning is rare as it never used to get very
| hot, although locals said this is changing. This meant that
| each night we had to choose between sweltering heat with the
| windows closed or relatively comfortable temps with an
| overwhelming smell of smoke. I enjoyed my time there but had to
| cut the trip after two weeks.
|
| I wondered at the time if this would drive more carbon usage,
| people getting air conditioning so they can keep windows closed
| for good air quality. But rising temperature may make air
| conditioners inevitable regardless.
| nyc_data_geek1 wrote:
| Humanity cannot exist without a living biosphere. It's past time
| for a sober, clear-eyed conversation about degrowth and limiting
| the amount of poison we're generating. We are headed for
| biosphere breakdown at this rate, which we (existing at the top
| of the food chain as we do) will not be well prepared to survive.
| jmclnx wrote:
| Well guess you are on the downvote train. But yes, I always
| hated plastics, I remember when glass was being phased out. I
| avoided plastic containers as long as I could, the last 20
| years it has become impossible.
|
| Time for the gov to put a large tax on all plastic containers
| to the point were glass becomes cheaper to use. But we both
| know that will never happen. So our decedents will live near
| large trash heaps of plastics, watching the heat from climate
| change melt the plastics.
| crgwbr wrote:
| I too much prefer glass containers whenever I can get them.
| But glass isn't without problems either--for one, it's much
| heavier than plastic, which results in higher fuel
| consumption when shipping glass-packaged goods.
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