What exactly is stopping us from sending a rocket into space with our plastic waste?

Question

I get that you could not possibly get rid of all of it, but wouldn’t it make sense to send a trash rocket into the abyss?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Cost per ton to launch to geosynchronous transfer orbit: **$11.3 million**

Global yearly plastic waste production: **300 million tons**

Total global wealth: **$361 trillion**

Cost to launch yearly global plastic waste production to space: **$3390 trillion**

**Conclusion:**

It would not make sense to spend 9.4 times all the wealth that exists on the planet created over the average lifetime to launch a single year’s worth of plastic waste into space.