Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

There was a recent scifi novel about this, I forgot the title. The plot was some anarchists discovered a virus that ate plastic, and released it all over the world, and caused the collapse of civilization.

I don't see any big problem with burying the plastic in a landfill. Just don't dump it in the ocean.



Burying it doesn’t really solve anything though. And while seemingly unlikely, dumps can be damaged. A recent storm damaged one in the south of New Zealand, spreading plastic down a river and along hundreds of kilometres of coast.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/fox-glacier-land...


> Burying it doesn’t really solve anything though.

It solves it better than any of the alternatives.

> And while seemingly unlikely, dumps can be damaged.

Not only does it seem unlikely, it is unlikely. One case doesn't make it likely.


Once buried is it solved, or is it that we can’t see it? Waste plasticn needs a solution, but I don’t think that burning it is the answer. We badly need to reduce the volume created.


That’s an awful comment. I’ll try again.

Once buried is it solved, or is it that we can’t see it? Waste plastic needs a solution, but I don’t think that burying it is the answer. We badly need to reduce the volume created.


It has to go somewhere, we can't launch it into the sun. Burying things is not a long term problem - coal is trees buried for millions of years.


The Andromeda Strain, an early Michael Crichton novel, ended with the virus mutating to consume plastic...causing a jet fighter to crash IIRC.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: