• Ellia Plissken@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    80% of the shit you put in your recycling bin goes straight into a landfill. plastic recycling was a giant greenwashing scam by the oil industry

    • piecat@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Quite honestly, going to a landfill seems so so so much better than the alternative: going into the environment and oceans, turning into microplastics and getting into food chains.

      At least landfills are contained. Bury the shit until we have the tech to deal with it.

      Some day, between the plastics, nutrients from organics, e-waste, landfills are going to be a goldmine.

      • exanime@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Quite honestly, going to a landfill seems so so so much better than the alternative: going into the environment and oceans, turning into microplastics and getting into food chains.

        Eh, it pretty much does all that bad stuff from the landfills

        • piecat@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          How does buried plastic cause microplastics to leech everywhere?

          Weathering (sun, exposure, abrasion caused by plastic being moved by wind and sea) is a significant part of microplastic formation.

            • piecat@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              I read the snippets and abstract. I’m not seeing how these micro plastics are getting out of the landfills.

              Environmental risks of microplastics in landfills

              In landfills, microplastics are not standalone pollutants. Generally, such tiny particles can adsorb various harmful chemicals due to its large specific surface area [54].

              Never knew that!

              In this case, microplastics generally served as the vector for migrating adsorbed pollutants including heavy metals, antibiotics and other pharmaceutical and personal care products [55].

              That’s scary, microplastics can absorb and spread pollutants!

              But I’m not seeing anything about how they’re getting out from a landfill. I even read a few of the referenced articles. But nothing about if or how they’re getting out.

      • yamanii@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Quite honestly, going to a landfill seems so so so much better than the alternative: going into the environment and oceans, turning into microplastics and getting into food chains.

        Why are we full of microplastics then?

        • sus@programming.dev
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          3 months ago

          Most microplastics come from car tires and washing of clothing with plastic in them. (both abrade the plastic causing uncountable tiny pieces of microplastics to enter the water or the air)

          Then there are a lot of places that dump plastic into rivers or the ocean instead of into landfills.