After much thinking, the domestic solution to the problem is obviously this:
1) Build a power plant here that runs off of incinerating plastic,
2) Ship all plastic that would ordinarily be shipped overseas to this power plant
3) Burn it all for energy to displace coal and similar
and then later
4) dig up inert landfills, mining them for plastic to burn
I'd like to step in two and a half years later and state that I'm now very unsure whether incinerating plastic for power is a smart idea unless we can be sure microplastics aren't in the effluent.
After much thinking, the domestic solution to the problem is obviously this:
1) Build a power plant here that runs off of incinerating plastic,
2) Ship all plastic that would ordinarily be shipped overseas to this power plant
3) Burn it all for energy to displace coal and similar
and then later
4) dig up inert landfills, mining them for plastic to burn
If only there were places that were already doing this so that you could study them?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/climate/sweden-garbage-used-for-fuel.html
I'd like to step in two and a half years later and state that I'm now very unsure whether incinerating plastic for power is a smart idea unless we can be sure microplastics aren't in the effluent.
Delaware County, PA, trash to steam plant.