If we are trying to get rid of carbon, why is it worse to put plastic in landfill than recycle it?

Question

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

Answer 1

If you were to bury a bag, you would just have to make another new bag, which takes energy and materials. Recycling old materials into new ones uses less energy and materials that have to be mined or drilled for than starting from scratch.