Plastic recycling

[Dan G]

I go out of my way to use plastics. The notion that they end up in the ocean when I am in Colorado is sheer nonsense.

 

[DandyDon]

I go out of my way to use plastics. The notion that they end up in the ocean when I am in Colorado is sheer nonsense.

Almost all rivers go to the sea.

 

[El Graduado]

Almost all rivers go to the sea.

I don't think the Colorado River makes it all the way to the sea anymore...

 

[DandyDon]

I don't think the Colorado River makes it all the way to the sea anymore...

Nor does the Rio Grande and some others - usually. Debris in those dying rivers build up at the dead end until a big storm hits, sending the raft on. Hurricanes are powerful influences.

 

[Chavodel8en]

As someone wrote, they all either end up in a landfill OR the sea.

I know we all love the ocean, but the earth also could use less pollution.

 

[deepsea21]

I don't think the Colorado River makes it all the way to the sea anymore...

The trash in the Colorado river just makes its eventual way to the next hydroelectric dam where it accumulates on the bottom of the dam or floats into the entry points where larger pieces are filtered out and the rest that is small enough makes it to the turbines where some will be further torn apart into smaller pieces and upon its impact on the spillways and grinding its way on down the river will be further fragmented. Pan for gold in the Colorado river and see how many plastic fragments you find your pan. You are correct, not much water makes it to sea from the Colorado river anymore but the trash it carries and is ground up ends up somewhere... All plastic ends up somewhere.

I go out of my way to use plastics. The notion that they end up in the ocean when I am in Colorado is sheer nonsense.

I'm surprised to read such a thing from you Ron. I could probably launch WWIII with the number of guns I own. Living in Colorado I assume you could be a hunter. Every hunter knows that every bullet fired that doesn't hit its intended target ends up somewhere... "Watch your background".

As far as placing one's plastic trash in the recycling bin goes and thinking you are doing some good... That is 100% BS. Today, virtually none of the plastic trash one may place in a recycling bin is recycled because it costs more to recycle than it costs to produce new. This is the reality and China recently decided they no longer cared to be the world's dumping ground for plastic trash. They took it for years but it wasn't recycled, it piled up everywhere.

Where Will Your Plastic Trash Go Now That China Doesn't Want It?

 

[ljpm]

There is hope...
This New Plastic Can Be Endlessly Recycled | Smart News | Smithsonian

A plastic that can be indefinitely recycled by conversion back into monomers. The process is also unaffected by contamination of the plastic. Unfortunately this will take time.

 

[Schwob]

The vast majority of the plastic we produced and that went somewhere, never made it into the ocean yet. Unless it is biodegradable, was incinerated, even if it was recycled, if you give it enough time it will yet make it into the ocean. Even if we stopped producing plastics tomorrow or completely closed the re-use, recycle or transform to energy cycle tomorrow, the amount of plastic being „somewhere“ and just waiting to get in the ocean is way more than what currently is in the ocean. Given enough time, even proper landfills may end up in the ocean... some day...

 

[deepsea21]

Beverage Container Showdown: Plastic vs. Glass vs. Aluminum | Earth911.com

 

[spc751]

Trudeau gets tongue-tied when asked how his family is cutting out plastic

The Prime Minister of Canada is proposing banning single use plastics. Watch him on this video explaining how he and his family is reducing their use of single use plastics. Watching this video gives us hope for the future.