Why can’t we simply burn all the non-renewable waste (such as single-use plastics, etc) and vent the gasses and particulate matter into holding containers to prevent their absorption into the environment?

Question

Is it a matter of the technology not existing? I understand it’s a grossly oversimplified model and I am neither an engineer nor a chemist, but I can’t imagine that we couldn’t simply set up a furnace that vents down a cooling pipe into a container or facility that captures the gasses and toxic particulate/waste for either further processing, reuse in industry, or just to stockpile.

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

Plastic in the environment is bad, but burning it would be even worse. If the toxic cloud storage container ruptured you would have toxins in the air that would spread everywhere. At least if plastics get dumped the damage is limited to the affected area, not circulating around the entire world in the air. It’s much harder to clean the air vs picking up plastic.