Can Chemical Recycling Solve The World's Plastic Problem?

[@MichaelSmith-fj7di]

We need to reduce and reuse first. Yes, recycle, but reduce and reuse first. There's a reason why recycling comes last.

[@Mike__B]

THIS! Everyone sings recycling as the mantra, but forget what the two other Rs were in the original saying Reduce, and Reuse, but people like Recycle because it's just a way for them to throw crap away, just maybe in a different colored garbage can.

[@gifford1984]

You must use oil to use and melt plastic. OIL is must everytime.

[@konigstiger3252]

Plastic is one of the greatest invention and greatly improve lives and reduce cost of packaging. Why would we want to go back to using paper like 1800s?

[@kdfrkdfr]

@@konigstiger3252 Plastic waste is a horrible blight on the planet.

[@Rudenbehr]

gifford lee Not really, you just need heat, coils, and a surface to transfer that heat.

[@ktaragorn]

I feel like recycling gives people a feel good reason to keep consuming plastic. The best way to deal with the plastic water bottle is to not use em.

[@killermon117]

Recycling is kind of a pretty lie, reduce and recuse are very important but a lot of materials we throw away are not recyclable so they just end up in waste with us not knowing what to reuse it as, this is why the Philippines called out and confront Canada for the amount of garbage/“recycled” items were shipped to the Philippines. This led them almost going to war with Canada if the shipping didn’t stop so Canada was forced to take it back.

[@eduardosanchez7827]

So true...

[@misham6547]

Yes, but some things like oil and crossive still need to use plastics

[@susanfoley8360]

@@misham6547 How did we deal with oil and corrosives before plastics were invented? I'm guessing glass.

[@misham6547]

@@susanfoley8360 glass isn't known for being shock tolerant

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

Tax breaks for using recycled plastics will get businesses on board. Businesses hate taxes.

[@cobalius]

That's the right thinking. Taxes to regulate important stuff

[@nonebiz2132]

Make the corporations that produce plastic responsible for the recycling... All of a sudden we'll have all kinds of alternatives and new methods for recycling. EU reuse their soda bottles, but NOT US!

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

@@nonebiz2132 In America, both corporations and police are against accountability. The former does tons of lobbying, and the latter has those extremely powerful unions. Everybody always wants to shirk their responsibilities for everything.

[@nonebiz2132]

@@ninjanerdstudent6937 Only the poor are held accountable... As long as the media keeps us divided, it will stay that way. But I don't think they're going to be able to do it for that much longer...

[@KristinMW]

Taxes are always passed onto the consumer. If prices rise, consumers purchase less, and the businesses go under. Not sure how that's fair for anyone. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@michaels9595]

Imagine a future where mining for plastic from buried landfills is a thing.

[@DanielW607]

A scary thought

[@tracym4132]

Yes, I suspect in the distant future our landfills will be mined for all sorts of resources.

[@nihtgengalastnamegoeshere7526]

It's already a thing. According to Wikipedia it was first done in an Israeli landfill in the 1950s, and it's certainly still done today.

[@islamkhalil1131]

The guy in the video said it perfectly. We’re trying to solve the problem downstream. We should be fixing the problem from the source.

[@pasticcinideliziosi1259]

Here in Veneto, Italy, we recycle every thing in houses, from paper and glass to plastics, even if the biggest part of the industries don’t recycle anything.

[@thekongstocks]

KUDOS to Veneto, Italy but it's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to convince United States and its most populated cities in the world to recycle in a convenient & efficient way #Impossible

[@wthor3572]

Sound communist, I think the US should just ship it plastic trash to the do-gooders in Italy

[@pasticcinideliziosi1259]

W THOR or learn to put health before profit

[@vladimirseven777]

@@pasticcinideliziosi1259 Making profit from health sounds more american. Cover US in plastic and sell antiplastic costumes to protect from plastic.

[@dracovenit9549]

How do you recycle the plastics? What do you do with the product? Do you shred and melt it at home? What do you make form it.

[@bweber9468]

It's really quite simple. Make plastics a higher taxed product whether it's produced in locally or imported. Take those taxes and use those same taxes as a kickback for recycling companies so that those companies can see a profit from their products. We tax literally EVERYTHING else, why not?

[@cristianortega5850]

B Weber so you don’t use ANY plastic products at all? That’s one way to make it Uber expensive. The real way to fix this is using cans. Metal can be recycled many times.

[@bweber9468]

@@cristianortega5850 except for the fact that recycling and creating cans is much more expensive, heavier (increased shipping prices) more harmful to the environment (energy intensive and mining), and has far fewer use cases than plastics. Plastics are not going away. We either need to make them biodegradable or find out how to encourage people to reuse and recycle them. Unfortunately saving the planet is not enough of a short term incentive. So financially is the best way to go. Higher cost to use and higher pay out to reuse

[@alexanderlong1711]

Or just make a market for carbon... solve many problems at once and keep it simple. If you don’t make it simple then government and private enterprise will exploit it and it won’t work.

[@alidelatierra]

This is like stapling together a bullet wound

[@saascarlson5597]

No just stop buying products in plastic packages

[@Sylvan_dB]

I seem to have missed how you answered the hard questions: How do you deal with plastic contaminated with food or other waste? How do you separate the different types of plastic or deal with cross contamination?

[@p1mason]

Plastic is originally refined from a thick sludge of hundreds of chemicals and contaminants that we call crude oil. This process works by converting the post consumer plastic back into a sludge of mixed chemicals similar to crude. Since even natural crude oil is loaded with unwanted chemicals and other impurities and the refining process is already able to deal with these impurities, the presence of impurities or contamination in this synthetic crude is really a very minor problem. The real problem is probably the fact that the more credible the possibility of recycling, the more willing the public is to accept virgin plastics. Also, the fact that (despite their other problems) fossil derived plastics at least have their carbon locked permanently away where it can't contribute to climate change. Turning these plastics back into crude could result in this carbon finding its way into the atmosphere after all.

[@Sylvan_dB]

@@p1mason Different types of plastic require very different types of process to convert back to simple hydrocarbons. E.g. chlorinated plastics vs not. Personally I'd rather have carbon than microplastics permeating the ecosystem. Carbon is something that nature is very well equipped to handle. Microplastics not so much.

[@etmafatshe]

@@p1mason very interesting information you shared there...so in this case, the different grades of plastics recycled together, do they create a new plastic grade?

[@michaelmartinez5456]

@@etmafatshe The pyrolysis process can only handle a small weight fraction of heteroatom containing plastics. The harsh conditions required to crack a polymer chain can encourage high activation energy side reactions which lower yield and purity.

[@nicholaspassmore927]

@@p1mason Plastics do emit carbon if they are left to break down and this only gets faster the more degredation (it accelerates) -I think I have misspelt somethings, but never mind

[@ed-edd-n-eddy]

I am in favor of taxing plastics more.

[@danyala.1659]

Yeah, I second that.

[@khms1000]

Then price of all goods go up and market does not change, you just pay more as a consumer.

[@khms1000]

Also, small companies will suffer.

[@jeremycontreras6229]

@@khms1000 small companies will suffer temporarily. Hopefully as more and more innovative solutions pop up to replace plastics, a tax on plastic usage and production will force a change

[@khms1000]

@@jeremycontreras6229 as a production engineer, i am fairly sure that plastic cannot be replaced. The superiority of plastic cannot be compared to greenwashing biodegradable products that are emerging. The beauty of plastic is that it doesn't disintegrate and even if it does, it does not spoil. Any other material offering that would be same as plastic. Best case would be that we develop some super plastic that will never be degraded and can be recycled over and over. But the solution for plastic is only management as of now and we urgently need it.

[@Xclann]

11:40 I agree that the main approach should be to impose a fee on producers of virgin plastics... spending all this money on trying to prop up recycling industry itself is not very efficient; producers must contribute to the waste they are causing.

[@alexanderlong1711]

Yes agreed. Establish a market for carbon. It’s the only feasible solution.

[@BrandoMoto]

The guy did say after that the free market is the best way to get innovation. Also, virgin plastics can be produced through chemical recycling or even bio-recycling for plastics like PET and a tax on that would not help to get those processes better

[@feloniousmonk1973]

the producers will simply pass the cost onto the consumer, which isn't right either

[@ManOfSteel1]

Now a days amazon ships more plastic or styrofoam than the product volume itself. This is a concern in itself. Whenever we order online we are creating more waste.

[@stephaniefrancis6080]

Really good point.

[@millardiii]

The problem with stressing recycling as policy is that it places the responsibility for the excessive consumption on the consumer instead of on the producer. The classic example is CD packaging. The producer can make a huge package that makes no sense to anyone but themselves, then say that the consumer is evil because they did not recycle it. A more appropriate package from the producer is the only valid answer. Recycling implies that the end product is similar to (dare I say equal to) the original product (example an aluminum, a can becomes a new can). Most recycled plastic today is used as an industrial filler. Depending on what it is used to fill, this can be labeled as de-centralized dumping rather than recycling (example: using ground plastic as a filler in drywall - yes they do this). Chemical recycling is really the only real recycling for plastic. Plastics are wonderful because they have extremely long polymer chains that make them very strong. When the the plastic is recycled, the first step is grinding which shortens the polymer chains. if it is not re-polymerized then the resulting product is inferior product compared to the original source. The polymer chains are shorter and the product is weak. Chemical recycling is re polymerization. The problem is that historically re-polymerization has used enormous quantities of vary dangerous industrial solvents (primarily Xylene). This makes it extremely unfriendly to the environment. Reduction of the consumption of plastics is the only solution and most modern recycling of plastics is really not recycling, it is decentralized dumping. It is a crutch and a very poor one at that. I fear what the trolls are going to do to his post.

[@ShutThePuck]

If governments really cared, they'd just outlaw plastics and force change. Businesses will always look to cut costs so that they can be more competitive, so you're not going to get them to change their ways voluntarily - that would be suicide for most companies.

[@wrileys]

One thing that’s often overlooked is the transportation of plastic products and their alternatives. A lot of plastic products can be replaced with metals, cardboard, plant fibers, etc. However, if we don’t decarbonize logistics networks, we risk creating other large-scale environmental impacts.

[@johnyates5061]

Give me your plastic phone and all charge cords .....

[@shane3363]

outlaw plastics? what about the medical industry or agricultural or automotive or clothing industry.

[@johnsmith6974]

@@shane3363 I dont think this guy knows what a miracle plastic is

[@artmonkey4047]

The government is an oil company.

[@nebuloushammer8773]

Plastic for certain applications is fine, but I think for single use food containers, we need to subsidize glass, aluminum, and paper.

[@EmilNicolaiePerhinschi]

... and waste energy on sorting, storing, cleaning ...

[@williamkreth]

Why can't we be like Germany & Mexico and reuse glass bottles for beverages?

[@sipsofhell9018]

glass takes much more electricity to produce so its environmentally unfriendly

[@alekkvokov1800]

Electricity can be produced sustainably... single use plastics littering our planet isn’t environmentally friendly

[@msrandomsurfer]

@@sipsofhell9018 but it can be used multiple times thus much better in the long run

[@lamaisontokyo4696]

We don't do it because cheap oil has destroyed all the returnable packaging and distribution infrastructures we had. But you still have markets, like the Philippines, that resisted and still use returnable packaging with great success and (Coca-Cola does not like that but) local people work efficiently and make a living out of it.

[@francescapowell1538]

In the UK we used to. Even used to have a milk man that would come and collect your cleaned out milk bottles and supply you with more fresh milk 🥛... we ought to go back to that model really. They gave us orange 🍊 juice the same way. Do not see any reason why this cannot be done again... oh wait the greedy organisations wouldn’t want to hurt their profits but switching. I mean even Coca Cola tastes better from a glass bottle.

[@richdobbs6595]

From a free market point of view, the problem seems like recycled plastics don't get the credit they warrant for reducing littering and water pollution. On at least a statistical basis, it would be possible to link back the litter to the producers. If the producers were charged based on there contribution to the problem, then the free market could address the problem via deposits, subsidizes for collection, or other means.

[@danpleskan1580]

Rich Dobbs the free market doesn’t solve everything. We need the gov to step in

[@iliatebenkov473]

@@danpleskan1580 actually, you're not right, gov. isn't good at solving problems and I can say that cuz I'm from a country where government plays a big role in people's lives

[@richdobbs6595]

@@danpleskan1580 I'm open to the government stepping in my making laws that apply to everybody and that are identified ahead of time. Other ways for the government to "step in" just end up being some ilk of tyranny or crony capitalism.

[@charles_cody]

Love when a dirty technology calls for the free market to be the decision makers. As if. Less plastic? Fantastic.

[@CurveTheRain]

Separate lids and remove labels. Rinse your bottles, bin when dry. Do what you can on your part!

[@ricey542010]

Why bother? It all gets shipped OS and burnt. I put everything in the trash now. It feels bad but that's the reality. Big oil and plastics are one and the same. Its a disgrace

[@dankdweb]

The environmental cost of plastic needs to be included in the cost of production, otherwise plastic companies will continue churning out plastics at a destructive rate with no cost to themselves. Legislation that taxes producers proportionally to the environmental harm they cause is a great solution. "Open market competition" will just result in companies continuing to push these costs onto future generations by not taking responsibility for the damage they are causing.

[@td2926]

Companies, especially in the US, would never allow for a plastic tax or ban they’ll blame the consumers which is where we get the idea of “change your lifestyle to save the Earth” it’s been pushed into our minds so that these billionaires would escape accountability.

[@francescapowell1538]

I put loads of packaging in recycling ... yet I know for a fact that most of it doesn’t even make it to the factory for recycling. They need to bring back glass bottles and making these things reusable as much as possible.

[@ronkirk5099]

I seen much of this crap myself while sailing the oceans and paddling rivers. In the U.S. plastic is found washed up along shores in large quantities everywhere. Much of this plastic discarded along roads ends up in storm drains, then to streams, then to rivers and finally into the ocean.

[@mohamedashmawy9251]

It’s always the same issue over and over again. We create a PROBLEM then we struggle for years to find a solution for it. I hope one day there would be a global awareness of what’s good and what’s bad for the environment

[@noanyobiseniss7462]

Explain to my why the plastic my food comes in never breaks down yet every plastic part in my car disintegrates 10 years to the day!

[@akimexgreen5841]

This video is very informative, I'm all into recycling, I do what I can, but I realize now, even doh it helps, it is not going to be enough. We need to try to reduce some how the consumption of plastics, and not only plastic but everything else.

[@panyanguyen13]

It seems obvious to me. The bane is single use plastics. We live in disposable society and plastic is not really disposable. It's too hard to break down. Go to Costco and walk down any aisle. You will see all kinds of plastic packaging that eventually ends up in a landfill. It will still be there long after we are gone. It's a sad legacy we leave behind. And it's not even the stuff that we bought, it's just the wrapping it came in. Pathetic.

[@eklim2034]

Some developed countries close an eye when their companies dump unrecyclable plastic to develping countries, that's bad

[@canaldofred2366]

Whats the issue?

[@eklim2034]

the issue is there are people still asking what's the issue

[@canaldofred2366]

@@eklim2034 you didnt answer my queston. Maybe you dont have an answer?

[@alexandralim3381]

We need laws to stop the common use of plastics 3,4,5,6,7 whether thats laws, taxes, etc. And we need government support on recycling technology, a push on research as well. Countries in Europe are getting ahead of us and so is China.

[@Qlletrolle]

Meanwhile in Sweden Recycling rate in 2019 Cans (aluminum) 85,8% Bottles (PET) 84,1% Common goal 90 % Zero new traditional landfills.

[@Qlletrolle]

Not correct. The trash either gets recycled for material or burnt for energy, hot water for long-distance heating and electricity. The Swedish plants also buy some trash from abroad.

[@tehbonehead]

@@Qlletrolle noted.

[@aguerra1381]

Roofing, siding, framing, decking, walls, roads, so many uses! Retrofit supertankers to collect and process the material out sea.

[@tripsquared_greenworks]

We need to be using more of that mushroom mycilum containers.

[@nautashkhan4411]

kzbin.info/door/fV9nmNLFC-9rmk5BICDYfA

[@raizaking5289]

And support renewable energy sources

[@nautashkhan4411]

@@raizaking5289 support my channel also

[@DanielW607]

Yeah those things end up rotting

[@DanielW607]

No way haha those things end up rotting lmao

[@Mike__B]

Some problems, people may want to recycle, but companies do not unless they can make money from it, this is what your local garbage companies do. As mentioned if it's cheaper to make from scratch than to recycle why would anyone recycle? Then packaging companies basically are throwing away all their garbage to us consumers by over packaging literally everything... now it's our problem to deal with the waste. Lastly, banning single use plastic bags... great so now they sell you a thicker plastic bag, that in my experience very few people actually bring back to reuse. Instead they could just ban plastic bags all together, use paper bags, paper breaks down so it's not a problem, it literally grows on trees so it's renewable, however they still charge you for a paper bag (at least here) too. And all these rules about charging for bags... that money doesn't go to cleaning up anything, it just goes into the pockets of the stores.

[@michaeld954]

Most of recycling comes from getting paid for it but when prices go down then its not worth it

[@heatherweber531]

I see that by focusing so much on "recycling" the plastic it is becoming an industry upon itself. Right now the the goal is to reduce plastic waist; however at some future point the owners will be unwilling to go out of business and possibly try to find "behind the scene" ways to keep the plastic problem as a problem. Keeping them in business. We really need to attach this problem on all fronts. 1) find another alternative for plastic other then fossil fuels. such as seaweed (like they have done in England).2) legislation for the plastic companies to reduce the amount of plastic. and food manufacturing companies to produce a % of their product in glass containers. Giving those of use that want to buy a product~ milk, organic eggs, honey, ext. the option to not have the food in a chemical leaching container. 3) to have more companies willing to receive back the glass container for a reduced refill cost. ( there is one company in NY that is already doing this. you can order soap, oj, and shampoo, ect. in metal containers and they deliver it to you and pick up the empties when you request it.) 4) We also need to have a population that is willing to have their lives changed/inconvenienced for the greater good. Do we really need 16 different flavors of the same brand of soda? or cereal? or whatever? 5) the industry needs to be as transparent as the glass they should be using. without these changes I feel that we are barley treading water.

[@Vedrajrm]

Plastic: I’m a virgin Me: so am I

[@KamleshMallick]

My state in India has banned plastic bags for groceries etc. All of us use reusable cloth bags. But everything else is sold in plastics like soap liquid, shampoos, grains, legumes, processed food etc. it’s just impossible to live without it these days...

[@aaroiseverything]

at least were in a good direction

[@nautashkhan4411]

kzbin.info/door/fV9nmNLFC-9rmk5BICDYfA

[@hr2079]

Great report. Thank you for sharing. IMHO, we should pursue both chemical recycling as well as reduction in overall plastic use at the source. These two activities should not be mutually exclusive.

[@arihantjainhant]

Right now the simplest solution is that use LESS!!!!

[@nicholaspassmore927]

My plan to reduce plastic waste would be to at first introduced a tax on plastic's that starts low, but increases for the next five years and give a 10 year notice period (or shorter if possible) for a time when making non-recycled plastics will be illegal.

[@luditebreaker5065]

Create a problem and then scurry into a solution 👏

[@garyfumeaux9226]

Lets stop using it first www.kickstarter.com/projects/eco-friendly/plastic-free-shopping

[@sharedknowledge6640]

Great video on a complex problem. And kudos for disabling the new Google trend of the same annoying KZbin ad every two minutes. I think channels that avoid having most give up on KZbin due to excessive ads are most likely to succeed.

[@AKUJU]

Recycling is a sham, tbh. This chemical alternative will definitely mess up the environment. Why not focus on balancing it or at least provide degradable alternatives

[@wrileys]

One of the core reason plastics are used is the resiliency, which is hard to balance. Either your cups melt when your coffee is too hot or you have to use industrial composting techniques for them to degrade.

[@glynnec2008]

Chemically speaking, it isn't impossible (or even challenging) to recycle plastic. It's simply too expensive to compete with plastic made from crude oil. So until virgin (petroleum-based) plastic is taxed, or recycled plastic is subsidized to equalize the price, it's just not going to happen.

[@sm1522]

We’re on the path now we just wait

[@nautashkhan4411]

kzbin.info/door/fV9nmNLFC-9rmk5BICDYfA

[@chadleyarmaniiii8165]

They have been doing this since 90s we are not on tract that’s a horrible mindset but this planet won’t last longer then 2150 which you probably don’t care cause you won’t be alive

[@cable30]

Over the years they have discovered or created new stuff that is usefull anytime. so they need find ways ways to make trash into usefull use or landfills will keep growing if they cant find ways to make it stop growing with so much trash cause cant recycle what is soiled or ruined any. gotta be awa y to turn anything ruined into reused stuff to where never run out of anything cause so much trash can be destroyed since it gotta be turned into anything that we can use anyday anytime.

[@thevintagekitty]

I 100% stopped buying bottled water about 9 years ago. Also, whenever I go to the market/farmer's market or go to dinner, I always bring my own Tupperware (yes I buy the brand name stuff, lol) so I never bring containers home. People look at me like I'm nuts, but who cares!

[@dohc1067]

I saw on a KZbin video at least before Covid-19 Chinese as an incentive against littering would drop an empty bottle into specified plastic collection points and receive credit for public transportation: bus pass for example. Just an idea, not a solution though.

[@User_005]

Thats a really good idea

[@darceyweimer3171]

There is a company in Alberta, Canada called Cielo Waste Management. They can recycle all 7 different plastics and turn it into biodesiel.

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

Imagine a world with zero plastic packaging alone, wow, Glass beverages, egg carton style packaging, burlap bags of fruit and veg, rice containers, aluminium containers, wax containers, wouldn't that be nice.

[@jonny5777]

We should dump all our plastic waste on the grounds of the ceos and lobbyists who work in the plastics industry

[@CarsSupercars]

One time use plastic Product should be banned. Others should be bio degradable plastic.

[@anthonysmithtube]

A pretty good overview of a really complex topic- CNBC are surprising me these days!

[@Vic4ful]

So we turn plastic into fuel, 14% of CO2 emissions cut compared to produce fuel from crude oil. BUT then we have still to refine crude oil in order to produce virgin plastic to substitute that "plastic product" which needs to be replaced, so...

[@spocksvulcanbrain]

And that fuel still ends up as gaseous byproducts including CO2, CO, Nitrous oxides, etc.. You can't burn oil and end up with nothing but water. Not chemically possible. So I'm not sure how that 14% savings is real or meaningful.

[@serymancac.a.9267]

@@spocksvulcanbrain there are purification systems to minimize this type of emissions

[@spocksvulcanbrain]

@@serymancac.a.9267 That makes no sense. It still is pulling carbon from the ground and it remains above. Purification doesn't eliminate that. We need a way to put that carbon back in the ground.

[@andymullarx6365]

I'm old enough to remember when you bought soda pop in glass bottles that were returned to the grocery store where you got paid for the. We also had glass milk bottles and orange juice as well. Nobody walked around with plastic water bottles and we did just fine. Emerging technology will solve this issue and it will have to because mixed recyclables left at the curb is just stupid. Someday in the future the landfills may be dug up and those piles of rubbish processed for other uses.

[@tommybryson7035]

Investing in Crypto now should be in every wise individuals list, in some months time you'll be estactic with the decision you made today

[@daveseth5873]

Most intelligent words I've heard

[@bowiecreed822]

Seems crypto is overtaking the stock market in the recent bull run haha

[@jaypedro4343]

@@bowiecreed822 Stocks are good but i swapped and invested in Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrency. I have been making good profits.

[@eugenejesse6462]

@@jaypedro4343 Wow Great that's called diversifying a portfolio.

[@lucaslogan6998]

I'm an investor in Crypto too over the years

[@rabbytca]

RETURN TO SENDER laws are required. Taxes, fees, etc. are too easily re-appropriated, lost or politically inconvenient. If there are no nationwide consumer industries for converting end of use materials then the producer industry should be required to receive the products they manufacture after the product has served its initial purpose. Deny the "waste" a place to reside; aggregation of waste into large holes, former lakes, deserts and oceans can be outlawed when there is a possibility that investment into research will find a means to reuse the material being generated. It is not unrealistic. We do that now with some metals. (aluminum, gold, lead, mercury, silver, steel) Industry may actually switch back to producing quality products that are useful for many generations. Products that are designed to be repaired not disposed of! I think of all those cheap kitch gadgets and toys that are used for five minutes or five days and then tossed into a hole in the ground by the city garbage department.

[@silverfoenix]

You can start by Banning all but the 2 recyclable types..

[@ChrisGilliamOffGrid]

And what will you use for water and sewer lines?

[@silverfoenix]

@@ChrisGilliamOffGrid I meant for everyday retail products: Shampoo bottles, trays, wraps, six-pack rings etc... Water & sewer lines are long life lasting necessities! Hangers & toys can be excluded as well Another thing to note: Back in the day we used to refill our glass bottles (Milk ~ Coke).. maybe in the same regards we refill plastics after a clean wash? at least for car motor oils (The company can offer discounts as incentive)

[@ChrisGilliamOffGrid]

@@silverfoenix Yes, but returning, washing, and refilling bottles is energy intensive. We should probably all drink more tap water and less packaged beverages, but I'm a diet coke and Monster guy myself. I do recycle every can though.

[@silverfoenix]

​@@ChrisGilliamOffGrid Soo it all falls back to energy... there are advancements towards better batteries & solar cells but I doubt we would see anything until they perfect manufacturing what comes out of the lab!!! Well, until then every little can help on the long run including your efforts.

[@ChrisGilliamOffGrid]

@@silverfoenix Yep. Agreed. I think the best long term solution is burning it for electrical production, but that will have issues too. It's a great material, I'm just sick of seeing it laying everywhere.

[@stackedjava2347]

Uhm. How come the chemical companies only make profits on production of plastic, and the clean up responsibilities are on us?

[@socialistsolidarity]

First, let's stop manufacturing single-use plastics and the only way they will stop is when we as consumers stop using single-use plastics.

[@rreagan007]

That sounds great, but what is the alternative? Are we really going to go back to glass bottles for everything?

[@ktaragorn]

@@rreagan007 Single use straws -> reusable straws. Single use water bottles -> Reusable bottles + water fountains or other better ways of distributing clean water. Coke -> alumnium cans are much better a recycling candidate. Take out containers -> Use your own boxes, or the establishment can try to favor paper or similar implements, paper + banana leaf used to be a common method in india. Also take outs dont need cuttlery most of the time, if you are eating at home or in the office anyway. etc

[@ktaragorn]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZaUY6xvnbiCg5I On the problem with plastic bottles, and what little impact recycling has

[@juliogomez1984]

here in Venezuela most of us reuse plastic bottles to refill detergent, dish soap, etc cuz buying retail is too expensive

[@ChrisGilliamOffGrid]

How are things going over there?

[@manzana72]

7:43 Come on CNBC where is the editing for that booger

[@Jackariah-N.]

We allways say "reuse, reduce, and recycle" meaning we need to focus on reusing like buy glass with re sealable lids or covers. Reduce buying plastic and high waste materials. And recycle the materials you cannot reuse like broken glass or bottles with no lids or broken plastic containers

[@justinrobertson4809]

Hope this work I see 🐦 stuck in plastic and water 💧 fish 🐠 dear lord

[@TheknightofGod-KOG]

I'm going to open this in Canada thank you for this God bless you

[@ramtins9258]

Humans: Well this planet is getting destroyed, and we are responsible... Also humans: Shall we go to next one called Mars?👁👄👁

[@k4piii]

So we can send plastic and waste there mining and then bring valuables raw materials...

[@purplerabbit638]

You should watch The Expanse lol. You'll love it lol

[@ramtins9258]

@@purplerabbit638 oh the tv show ? I haven't watched that one but seen the trailers

[@purplerabbit638]

@@ramtins9258 Yeah in the show, Mars is actually more technologically advanced than Earth haha. But the show has a great gritty look to it - a lot of struggles of humans going to new worlds just to get a chance at a decent life.

[@ramtins9258]

@@purplerabbit638 sounds good, thx mate. Cheers:)

[@spocksvulcanbrain]

As long as we continue to pull oil from the ground, it won't matter what the final product is (gas, plastics, oil, diesel, etc), nor how many times it's recycled or into what. The end is the same. Hydrocarbons will continue to be extracted from the deep (from petroleum) and left on the earth's surface (as greenhouse gases, waste, more plastics, fuel, etc). Even if you have bacterial decomposition, you still have that source material in the end. From a chemist's perspective, you have a certain amount of mass (oil) pulled from the ground and that mass must be preserved in the form of waste of some sort. So no matter the recycling method, over time, we will always end up with more and more and more.

[@marybender973]

They could go back to glass bottles or cardboard cartons.

[@nautashkhan4411]

kzbin.info/door/fV9nmNLFC-9rmk5BICDYfA

[@olitesla5891]

@@nautashkhan4411 lil sht

[@whatevermate74]

'Free markets' ignore externalities. Taxes stand in for externalities. Pollution ain't free.

[@thanhchu3981]

Thank you, CNBC for listening to my request for this topic. Appreciate the effort to show the possibilities. I disagree with alternatives to chemical recycling. We should focus on chemical recycling as it will allow us to remove the plastic in the current environment. All other processes leave the existing plastics in the oceans, landfills, etc.

[@Duck-wc9de]

in my country the plastic is processed and the profitable portion is sold. the majority, ordinary garbage is pressed and sent to a sanitary landfill, where natural gas is produced and these residues are properly stored. at the end, the landfills are sealed, covered with soil and a small forest is planted. in the end it is not distinguished from a normal hill.

[@RubiconDota]

Aren't chemicals from burnt plastics toxic? And maybe we should consider recycled plastics for more durable application like small dwellings?

[@kongkhamleu5571]

One big problems is the recycling places don’t pay enough money for people who take it In , yet they resell it for big margins. That’s why most people slow down on recycling and just throw them away.

[@KSRubberIndustries]

We make synthetic rubber sheets for footwear industry from wastage polyethylene thrown away single use plastic bags. More than two metric ton of plastic bags are upcycled in a day in our Dhaka based facilities. Reducing overall CO2e emissions. And avoiding micro plastics flowing into river, ocean.

[@goldeneastgun]

Nothing will change till the pain of non-action becomes greater than the pain of taking action. That's human nature in a nutshell.

[@colecorbett255]

We also need a bigger discussion around biomaterials, saying that it’s “bad for the plastic industry” should not justify why we can’t switch

[@monicadubois3870]

I have a black bin ,a blue bin, and a green bin .RECYCLING must washed and clean so it can be put in the land fill .How many millions of billions OF BINS ARE ON THIS PLANET.

[@OverlandTT]

Somehow using container ships that consume as much as 17 MILLION litres per mile of travel on the ocean is obviously a better plan, same can be said for the "plant base" foods shipped half way around the world rather than locally reared or grown.

[@broadcase21]

Only governments and big companies can solve this problem. We people can use less, but to what extend?

[@rcenal6995]

At least in my area I've been seeing more reusable cups You buy and can keep filling it up at say 7 11 Or a jacksons And what not Which is a good idea Reuse it until you can't Then definitely have a good working recycling system

[@generalawareness101]

I recently read about enzymes created that devours the plastic as well. Early stages but so far doing pretty well in all tests.

[@saulgoodman2018]

No matter what you do, plastic will never go away.

[@i.preck22]

And why not include environmental costs on the initial production of plastics?! In a civilized and democratic society, it would've been a good idea.

[@nihtgengalastnamegoeshere7526]

Yes, we should absolutely reduce our plastic consumption. But there's no reason not to also invest in recycling technologies to deal with the huge amounts of plastic waste we already have.

[@irvingg71]

I agree with everyone saying we should reduce our usage, but we're not realizing who the main offenders are. Companies use A LOT of plastics. I work for the auto industry and what a regular person use of plastics per year, a small sized production plant uses in a day. As far as I can see, that won't change any time soon.

[@jokvalvaag]

Agilyx CFO Bill Cooper: " If virgin plastics cost more because there's a tax on them, that helps us out. But I think that open market competition is really the true way in the long run to foster the innovation and the efficiency to drive higher recycling rates across all plastic types." Taxes on negative externalities are intended to make consumers/producers pay the full social cost of the good. This reduces consumption and creates a more socially efficient outcome. Certainly a strange position to have for the CFO of a recycling company.

[@MnMnBahr.]

Plastic consuming in the medical field is scaryyyyy Gloves, gowns & masks are essential

[@AluminumOxide]

first step, put a heavy tax on brand new plastic from crude oil, that'll solve the price problem to make reycling cheaper than virgin materials

[@ericpham8205]

The cheapest and safest is cook it with hot oil and it melt together then use injection molding machine and solvent to reproduce into useful products effortlessly

[@TUMBA0]

Both perspectives can be right at the same time... There is 127 years of already produced plastic already in the environment and slowing or stopping new plastic production doesn't address that. But recycling and rerecycling old plastics doesn't address the new Virgin plastics that are being added to the environment daily.

[@alexalex-cy5nr]

The reason why we use plastics is that plastic is cheap and has lower dense of energy. When we recycle it which also would give us small amount of energy. Chemically recycled plastic is not affordable to use as a fuel. Done. 2020 08 30. Dr. Alex.

[@JuneHarriseco]

We need to significantly increase taxes on any virgin plastics and other compounds. If it's not madefrom something recycled, it should cost more. This can offset the true environmental cost.

[@lucansanchez5129]

In the 21 century I thought Land fills would be dug up. Making more land fills is a big mistake. All land fills should be removed around the world. In Australia all plastics are being turned into oil for fual or new plastic no plastic sorting required. This system should be what all countries should be using around the world.

[@13bunnylove13]

Stopping the use of plastic would stop the plastic problem. It's not necessary to live, it needs to be illegal. It's only up to debate because those with money and power need plastic to keep themselves getting richer. Tons of small businesses need it to survive. IMO nothing that has to d with plastic should've ever existed, and consumerism really needs to end. I hope we can live in a solarpunk world in the future, but I really doubt it as companies (usually under the umbrella of larger corps that cause the issue to begin with) claiming to solve the issue don't want to solve them but make money from them under the guise of a solution, like when recycling and its bs system was created to keep companies going. How about, instead of making plastics a cycle, you just use glass and go back to how the cycle once was? oh wait that didn't make as much profit for the companies so it's not being used now. But somehow this chemical repurposing bs that creates more fossil fuels and waste is a better solution? Probably because it makes someone very rich.

[@shihtzusrule9115]

An engineer in Australia invented the method of "green Steel" years ago and got an award for her work. She also invented a machine that takes plastic and clothes and glass and makes ceramic tiles. We need to abandon plastics quickly but there are ways to reuse them. The video is on KZbin and she has been working on this for years ever since she graduated from college decades ago. No one wanted her "Green Steel" but now, with climate change and carbon and fossil fuels debate, her method to forge steel uses 1/3 less coal by using the plastic. I don't understand why this has been kept secret, I guess because the involved industries have refused to use the technologies until their customer have demanded change. Call the manufacturers and tell them to stop with the plastic packaging, they will listen.

[@JC.SpdRcr5]

There's no one solution but many. When all the solutions work together we can solve the problem while we slowly decrease the use of consumer plastics for better biodegradable options. It takes a very long time to change from one older system to a new one. The US is still sending much it's plastic wastes to other countries just like Australia, UK, Germany, etc.

[@MrCoolerMan1]

Engineering student, no business/economy background. My personal, relatively uneducated opinion: Plastic is a human need, especially in the industrial world, but other useless items such as Pepsi bottled drinks and other such unhealthy and unproductive products should be heavily taxed for use of plastic.

[@markyouneva7840]

Are the rural and suburban areas of America recyling/separating trash like they do in the big cities? I think we still should be separating the trash starting from the consumers until we can figure out what to do with whatever portion of it we can't recycle. Also, we need more organizations that are altruistic. You cannot rely on for-profit enterprises to solve problems that are damaging the environment (water, soil, air) unless there's a fat profit in it for them. Market will not solve all of our most challenging problems. Government intervention, funding research and non-profits or even for-profits with altruistic motives are needed. It goes without saying that we should be reducing the amounts of plastics we use in the first place.

[@fenilp1805]

The problem isn’t plastic, but the way how we do packaging, take a pet water bottle freaking wrapped up with labels and cheap bottle cap. It make hard for recycling companies to do. Other wise we love plastic.

[@spencerwilton5831]

Fenil P Yea, but why do we need bottled water at all? It's one of the worst products for the environment there is and yet totally unnecessary. Tap water in most countries (possible exception of the ridiculously backwards USA) is much more highly regulated and safer than bottled water, and a fraction of the price. Yet people are happy to buy less well regulated and less frequently tested bottled water, that is often transported hundreds of miles in diesel fuelled trucks. It makes no sense at all.

[@fenilp1805]

Spencer Wilton so, why do we need glass, you know at what temperature do glass melt and get recycled. Hence glass is worst than plastic but the reason is glass is easy to recycle, when packaging of water bottle make it harder. So, overall it’s people who make plastic hard to recycle. That’s why we are the main problem not water bottles. Just google about glass and its carbon footprint.

[@rubakannan3749]

Salute to all.great work

[@Dragonfu666]

government: you have to produce less plastic. plastic industry: we want more competition! Elon Musk: Hold my spaceship, Teslas, Neuralinks, and Boring Company. Imma make these bois beg for forgiveness from Uncle Sam.