China's Waste Ban Is Causing A Trash Crisis In The U.S

This video might open some new opportunity for Asia(except china) and Africa.

best solution is to teach Americans to waste less...

Originally Posted by jimicrk

I guess it's always been easier to ship it off to another country and let them deal with it or just bury it. I passed by a landfill earlier this week and was amazed at how huge it was. Just cover it up with some dirt, plant some grass on it and forget about it. Man made mountains.

This is the direction the US may have to take to handle the waste problems.

Originally Posted by msmoorad

best solution is to teach Americans to waste less...

In this world of knowledge I hope there is neither a teacher nor a learner.

Originally Posted by jimicrk

I guess it's always been easier to ship it off to another country and let them deal with it or just bury it. I passed by a landfill earlier this week and was amazed at how huge it was. Just cover it up with some dirt, plant some grass on it and forget about it. Man made mountains.

Unless and until there is some toxic waste, anything can be re-used. Organic waste could converted as a agriculture manure, metal is recycled, paper waste re-used and the list goes on. There should be some system to solve the issue. Those developed countries like USA puts more effort on ways to re-use. They invest on new technologies. And country like us (India) finds ancient ways to solve the problem. I know one college professor who invented a way to build roads with waste polythene sheets. His effort never got recognised.

Up the road from me in Va beach they have Mount Trashmore.

I **** you not.

A hill, a very big hill..made out of trash. It's got grass and everything. They even hold a festival there once a year.

Place is like a park with all the people it attracts to it. It's also very hard to miss on your way into Va Beach.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Trashmore_Park



Far as China goes.....consequences for actions apply go government choices also. Trade/tariff/whatever wars impact everyone in big ways and small.

Someone else will take it, or we'll find ways to deal with it. Hopefully without adding to air pollution. I like not breathing ****ty, toxic, smelly air.

Then again...it's one reason I moved to a sandbar 2 miles out in the ocean. Much cleaner air.

Sirscrapalot - Rawhide!

I bet you it's going to end up in India, Pakistan or even Egypt .
It's too expensive in the US to separate mixed plastic .

I agree it's far to expensive for them to sort at this point.

Question is which costs more? Starting to sort now, or cleaning up whatever disaster is going to befall whatever country that takes it and lacks regulations to do in a safe manner to the environment and it's people? Nobody wants to go swim in water mixed with nasty fluids from whatever. Not to mention the things that leech into water supplies, basins, rivers, etc etc etc.

An answer will need to be found eventually. Let's hope they don't choose the Ocean, space, or some other silly idea. Space debrie damages things..google it. Polluting the ocean doesn't help the sea life nor the people who eat said sea life. Makes you wonder..

We can think up things like self-driving cars, spaceships, visiting other planets,atomic bombs, curing diseases, all kinds of nasty weapons from guns to nukes,crazy advances in health an technology...but we can't figure out what to do with all the trash mankind makes.

Things that make you go hmmm...

Sirscrapalot - If I had the answers....I'd charge people bacon for them.

Originally Posted by HipoGear

The big problem is plastic. Made from petroleum. Perhaps the oil industry should help fund the clean up. Of course responsible packaging practices would go a long way to help too.

What would happen if they pumped the granulated waste plastic back down into the empty oil wells?

Pressure + heat would pyrolysis it, but into what under those conditions & what happens to the Bromine from bromated fire retardant plastics.
Though the Bromine probably came from the sea water anyway.

Originally Posted by HipoGear

The big problem is plastic. Made from petroleum. Perhaps the oil industry should help fund the clean up. Of course responsible packaging practices would go a long way to help too.

Why should the oil industry be held responsible for the cleanup. Do they make the plastic or do other companies make it?
Just asking.

I was working in Seattle a few years ago and had some trash I needed to throw away. The "recycling bin" had 3 holes with symbols above each. I put each item in it's correct hole and it all fell into 1 big effing trash bag. What a joke!

Originally Posted by jimicrk

Why should the oil industry be held responsible for the cleanup. Do they make the plastic or do other companies make it?
Just asking.

Let's just tax the # out of everyone !
Plastic is used for everything from medical devices, to car parts, to building material . Trying to blame the oil industry for plastic trash is the equivalent of blaming the tobacco farmers for cigarette butts !
Most plastic manufacturers are outside of the US, so I would love to see how 'making them pay' works.

To answer your question, I worked on a project at the Kraton facility over in Ohio ... it's very dangerous work, and folks end up getting killed on maintenance all the time. I have never seen an oil refinery make plastic products.
Next time you use a plastic power tool, drive your plastic car around, or eat food that was stored in a plastic container, just remember that many folks DIE to keep the plastic processing plants running.