Wouldn’t it be better to bury as much of it deep underground as possible and seal it off?
edit – I should add that I do reuse and recycle, and I use as little plastic as I can afford to in the first place. I am just curious about this aspect
In: Earth Science
Those are separate issues.
We want Carbon out of the *air*. So, we should try not to burn as much stuff which releases Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere.
Plastic is carbon, but it’s a solid. If we recycle it, it’s still a solid. None of this has anything to do with carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Plastic is artificial and nature does not know how to break it down the way it knows how to break down natural carbon-based things (plants, animals, etc). So, if you put plastic in a landfill it will stay there for a very long time. Finding a way to process used plastic so that it can be re-used (or so that nature can break it down) is a good thing.
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