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Half of All Plastic That Has Ever Existed Was Made in the Past 13 Years. Plastic production is rapidly accelerating, according to an ambitious new paper—but only 9 percent of it gets recycled.
In 2014, scientists found a new kind of of “stone” on the beaches of Hawaii. It was made of sand, organic debris, volcanic rock, all swirled together with melted plastic. So they proposed the name “plastiglomerate” and they suggested that, as plastic lasts pretty much forever, these stones could be a marker of the Anthropocene in the rock record. In the future, our time might be defined by our use of plastics.
Which is not particularly hard to imagine, given the ubiquity of plastics. Now, for the first time, researchers have published a sweeping, public, and in-depth accounting of all plastic that has ever been made in the entire world. The number is so big as to defy human comprehension: 8,300 million metric tons since 1950. Of this, 6,400 million metric tons has outlived its usefulness and become waste; 79 percent of that waste is sitting in landfills or the natural environment, 12 percent has been incinerated, and just 9 percent has been recycled.
www.theatlantic.com...
originally posted by: stormcell
Bottled water is the biggest demand. Then there is plastic food wraps for meat. Cheap household items with plastic bits that fall apart. Not forgetting hundreds of plastic bags used once then discarded.
Ok and you use plastic so why did you make this post ?
originally posted by: ADSE255
a reply to: rickymouse
It's bad for your health too. The chemicals in it when heated, do damage. I don't think people know yet just how much.
I wonder if those rats will evolve like cockroaches have. I read an article several years ago that cockroaches were found in New York City living off of electrical wiring.
I agree plastic is a problem but that does not stop me from using it nore you .
We do it more to reduce our exposure to the endocrine disruptors in plastic, even a plastic bag in the sun can cause bad gasses in your car.
Now appliances and electronics is where I have a difficulty with finding a way to recycle. The metal and wires I add to my scrap piles and sell, but the plastic from electronic and home appliance housings are typically ABS plastic, and has much less avenues for reuse in Florida than the West Coast. I know in California they have public facilities where you can even drop off ABS plastic.
Wait what! They are shutting down ABS recycling facilities in Cali??
We no longer purchase physical media for our entertainment, its all available as free streams and downloads nowadays anyways.
...as part of my scavenging trips, I just sell them for whatever...