• Flumpkin@slrpnk.net
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    9 months ago

    The article doesn’t make it clear if this is a problem of economics or a technical problem. Or a research and regulate problem.

    If there are theoretical plastics that can be manufactured sustainably and recycled, if there are theoretically possible robot machines to sort (spectral lines) and if those plastics can cover the most common use cases, then plastics ARE recyclable. We just don’t care to do it properly because of capitalism.

    I’d really love to know the science on this. Unfortunately scientific papers also often say things like “not possible” when it’s just a question of the current economic structure (ownership, patents, lack of R&D).

    • Syl@jlai.luOP
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      9 months ago

      Most likely a technical problem. Even bacterias break it down into micro plastics, which is even more a problem.