Posted on 11/11/2022 8:43:39 AM PST by John Semmens
It turns out that efforts to recycle plastic are a waste of time and energy. The environmental advocacy group Greenpeace issued a report showing that "mechanical and chemical recycling of plastic waste has largely failed and will always fail because plastic waste is: (1) extremely difficult to collect, (2) virtually impossible to sort for recycling, (3) environmentally harmful to reprocess, (4) often made of and contaminated by toxic materials, and (5) not economical to recycle."
Lisa Ramsden, a senior plastics campaigner at Greenpeace USA and one of the authors of the report, said "most plastic is not being recycled in the United States. American households produced about 51 million tons of plastic last year, and only 2.4 million of those tons were actually recycled. The plastics that households are collecting and sending to be recycled are mostly just sitting in recycling facilities across the country not being recycled. They're being incinerated or sent to landfills instead." Washing the plastics before putting them into recycle bins probably has a net negative consequence of increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the hot water used is mostly heated by burning coal.
Given the dismal results of recycling plastics, Greenpeace is now lobbying for a total ban on disposable plastic. The prognosis for this option are not good. The banning of plastic bags in supermarkets in some states has added carbon to the atmosphere by shifting to the use of paper bags and cloth tote bags that require more energy to manufacture and transport. The paper and cloth bags take up more space in landfills and generate more greenhouse emissions as they decompose. The cloth tote bags aren't reused nearly often enough to offset their initial carbon footprint, and they're breeding grounds for bacteria and viruses because they're rarely washed properly.
On another front, wind energy may actually contribute to more global warming. A study by ArcVera Renewables shows that the wind turbines inhibit precipitation in their area and increase the temperature. Both can lead to a drought. The overturning of natural temperature layers in the vicinity of the wind farms studied causes higher average temperatures and lower soil moisture. So, rather than being an aid to combating global warming, wind power may be helping accelerate it. The minimal and unreliable contributions to meeting energy demand offered by wind turbines don't appear to be offset by any environmental benefits. Nevertheless, President Biden Biden just announced that he will be closing coal plants in order to fund more wind and solar power sites.
If you missed any of the other Semi-News/Semi-Satire posts you can find them at...
https://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,484149.0.html
They should be making plastics that are UV degradable.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.