[steve in DC]

In reality (a place that exists even in the face of environmentalist deniers) we should be mining old landfills to fuel garbage to energy plants.

Most plastics are not commercially viable for recycling, but provide excellent fuel value for garbage to energy.

And while we are at it...
Alongside coal fired electrical generation are vast heaps of calcium sulfate that was used to clean the combustion emissions.

Chances are there are heaps of thse things all across the country...waiting to be mined for rare earth elements

[miniTAX]

“In reality (a place that exists even in the face of environmentalist deniers) we should be mining old landfills to fuel garbage to energy plants.”

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Old landfills have a lot of organic matters which continuously produces methane which is collected (by “drainage” pipes) and burned or injected into municipal gas networks. So we are already mining them for energy, and in a very efficient way.

Ironically, landfills are, according to enviro-whackos, the greenest solution to trash since 1)it produces renewable biogas, 2)it stores plastics as “locked carbon” which would otherwise become climate-bomb CO2.