The amount of plastic is a small percentage of that volume - that 10-year mountain might become a single office building of solid plastic.
And I believe PET is one of the more recyclable plastics. Certainly, in less developed nations, it's collected, for profit.
In fact this is the real problem with plastic - whether it is collected properrly, or left to wash out into the oceans.
If it's collected, even if it goes to landfill (we're not running out of land to fill, and I believe landfills will become the mines of the future), it can be very efficient in terms of 'usefulness vs environmental impact'. Perhaps much better than many alternatives (eg cotton grocery bags). If it's left to drift, it can be quite a problem.
IE We should be looking much more closely at material handling and life-cycle, rather than focusing exclusively on materials themselves.
> The amount of plastic is a small percentage of that volume - that 10-year mountain might become a single office building of solid plastic.
A typical pedantic HN's comment. The point of the infographic is to draw attention to the growing plastic pollution crisis. In 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans [0]. Plastic is falling out of the sky in Arctic [1]. Does it really matter if you count intact bottles or pure plastic volume?
The amount of plastic is a small percentage of that volume - that 10-year mountain might become a single office building of solid plastic.
And I believe PET is one of the more recyclable plastics. Certainly, in less developed nations, it's collected, for profit.
In fact this is the real problem with plastic - whether it is collected properrly, or left to wash out into the oceans.
If it's collected, even if it goes to landfill (we're not running out of land to fill, and I believe landfills will become the mines of the future), it can be very efficient in terms of 'usefulness vs environmental impact'. Perhaps much better than many alternatives (eg cotton grocery bags). If it's left to drift, it can be quite a problem.
IE We should be looking much more closely at material handling and life-cycle, rather than focusing exclusively on materials themselves.