Claudius Clüver
Information Is BeautifulGuess what % of plastics have been #recycled? No prizes :(
Æ Sea F.Recycling is futile. Message received. Thanks.
MarkDRecycling plastics is futile, so use something else. Anything else. Message received. Thanks.
Tim ☑️ 🔭🌃📷🪨🚴🌳@markd @hcf @infobeautiful Recycling is the wrong term for it, at risk of becoming loaded. Instead, think in terms of the object's potential future value - which only goes to zero when it's discarded. Anything else is keeping its value in the economy.
Raccoon🇺🇸🏳️🌈@xylophilist @markd @hcf @infobeautiful
This is also a bit misleading: it's saying "all time", which means it doesn't account for the steady rise in the amount being sent to recycling, the amount actually being recycled, or the reduction in pure volume that comes from the recycling center processing before sending what it can't sell to a landfill. It also doesn't account for people trying to recycle plastics that can't be recycled, like wrappers and styrofoam boxes.
Even still, that at least 1/6th of what you throw in the bin is going to be recycled isn't "useless", it's just less than ideal. We need to take steps, politically, to make recycling more effective.
It should also be noted that this is not the case for paper: about 2/3 of recycled paper actually gets recycled, albeit into lower grade papers like what's used in brown paper bags, but it's a relatively effective way to reduce deforestation. I think part of that is buy-in on behalf of the paper industry.
Jan Ainali@Raccoon @xylophilist @markd @hcf @infobeautiful and it's still 83 million tonnes. That's an enormous amount of plastics that has been recycled to still be in use.
@Raccoon @xylophilist @hcf @infobeautiful To my mind, the biggest problem with plastics is that the producers have offloaded the recycle costs to consumers and convinced the world that it's a consumer problem.
If producers were responsible for the full life-cycle costs of their products we would have a very different world.
As it stands, plastic producers have effectively privatised profits and socialised costs. Capitalism at its best.
Shanie MyrsTear@xylophilist @markd @hcf @infobeautiful Its value actually becomes negative after it's discarded. Plastic seepage (yum), microplastics, pollution, litter.
If we truly cannot find a solution for the plastic problem, it truly is better off burned in a blast furnace than becoming microplastics.
Let's just go back to glass. Infinitely reusable. A little sharp, but even thrown in the ocean it becomes beautiful.
@shanie @markd @hcf @infobeautiful It would better be land-banked for the future. "Want some hard plastics? Dig over --->.".
@xylophilist @markd @hcf @infobeautiful Would it? Honest question. Because the heat and vibration of the ground will inevitably break that stuff down into microplastics.
I mean it's *centralized* microplastics, and I guess we could burn tons of soil later, but I'm unconvinced that burning our mistake now is not a better solution vs letting it inhabit our soil and our bodies.
Obviously *not* using plastic is the solution, but it appears we have weak representation on that front.
@shanie @markd @hcf @infobeautiful Well, looking at it one way, its value is its potential to be reused usefully. If it's gone up in smoke, that's physics. If it's merely sitting somewhere awaiting a more enlightened humanity, that's positive.
(Also, I was at a lecture a year or two ago on the subject of ways to dispose of plastic, and land-banking was the method that stood-out the most memorably.)
@xylophilist @markd @hcf @infobeautiful It honestly feels like the nuclear waste problem all over again. But as you say, we might have a solution for that soon...!
@shanie @markd @hcf @infobeautiful Waste is one of humanity's worse defining features across several boards. Nuclear, plastic, mining, energy, ... The reason we turn the planet into a concrete gobstopper is because we don't have the collective wit to maximize *value* of all ingredients in our processes.
Michael Porter@hcf @infobeautiful Or, when given a choice between plastic/metal/glass packaging, avoid plastic.
I know things get complicated when you consider the carbon footprint for shipping heavier packaging... But we can work on greener shipping methods while we're at it.
@MichaelPorter Hold my beer while I adhere a plastic liner in your metal container...
@shanie LOL, okay, just glass then…
*_jߍyrope@Information Is Beautiful The title is wrong, it should be
The problem with the insufficient profit of recycling
The problem with the insufficient profit of recycling
xs4me2Not a pretty picture…
TobiWanKenobi"Luckily," the OECD projects a triple increase in plastic production by 2060, so Alzheimer's, cancer, and other diseases induced by microplastic pollution will become even more prevalent. What a nice world to live in.
Cognitive Dissidence@infobeautiful
I heard someone interviewed on NPR who said that recycling plastic is worse than useless, in that (a) processing plastic for recycling releases large amounts of microplastics and other harmful substances into the environment, and (b) such processing typically takes place in less developed countries, where environmental regulation is sparse or non-existent.
I haven't decided for sure yet, but I'm thinking I may start recycling only glass, paper and aluminum.
Weird Socks
Gabs@infobeautiful we could do much better with glass or ceramics - still costs energy but it's just sand and dirt.
Edit before someone comments on plastic packaging - cellophane is a thing.
Edit before someone comments on plastic packaging - cellophane is a thing.
ohmrun@infobeautiful
Thing about this, is that chomping into that 55% is another 9% overall possible recycling available, even if only one in six makes it.
Thing about this, is that chomping into that 55% is another 9% overall possible recycling available, even if only one in six makes it.
Bo Jacobs@infobeautiful Now do Spent Nuclear Fuel!
EnigmaRotor@infobeautiful @ricardo And no change since 2017 ?
Xanatos 
@EnigmaRotor @infobeautiful @ricardo That was my question as well. I think after 2017 a lot of one time plastic was banned in the EU for example.
Maybe this does make an impact, it might be small but every bit counts, right?
@Xanatos @infobeautiful @ricardo Yep and in France, for instance, recycling of plastic waste was pushed further, with people being involved in a better sorting. While I would not say that the recycling ♻️ works better now (who really knows what is done with collected materials?) I would think that incineration is lower now. Every step in the right direction counts. (Yet are we sure of the direction with engaged into?)
schrotthaufen@infobeautiful @aral Plastic recycling is one of the biggest scams the petrochem companies have ever pulled. It’s right up there with emission certificates.
Angela Scholder@infobeautiful Had the idea it was even less than 6%.....
Seen one plant being built, and also one specifically for recycling PET flascs. The latter went bankrupt.
Julien W.@infobeautiful I'm curious how much of that changed after EU introduced new regulations in 2021, see https://www.eureporter.co/environment/2021/03/29/plastic-in-the-ocean-the-facts-effects-and-new-eu-rules-3/
Plastic in the ocean: The facts, effects and new EU rules
Find out key facts about plastic in the ocean with our infographics, as well discover their impact and how the EU is acting to reduce plastic litter in the seas, Society. The results of today’s single-use, throw-away plastic culture can be seen on sea shores and in oceans everywhere. Plastic waste is increasingly polluting the […]
mrjive@infobeautiful Sconfortante....
X-Avy@infobeautiful well I re-use my old plastic shopping bags as bin bags, where's that on the graph huh? anyway what is this doing on gamedev.place? I come here for game dev stuff not for political crap
@infobeautiful
So, I've read a fair amount of crapping on attempts to curtail drinking straws and other single use plastic things here...
So, I've read a fair amount of crapping on attempts to curtail drinking straws and other single use plastic things here...