There have been some studies about this, covered in a recent Scientific
American article
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/world-s-oceans-clogged-by-millions-of-tons-of-plastic-trash/
Most of the plastic in the oceans comes from rivers in Asia and Africa.
The problem is that there is often no organised waste collection in
these countries so the plastic just gets dumped into the rivers. We can
burn or dissolve all the plastic we like in the west and it will not fix
the problem. Fixing it requires a change in the culture of collecting
waste in a number of Asian and African countries.
Nigel
On 26/05/2018 01:54, [email protected] wrote:
Hi,
Plastic bags are made primarily of hydrocarbons.
1. Dissolved in a solvent, they might make a useful diesel fuel.
2. Bundled and compressed the bags might be burned instead of coal.
3. Added to a blast furnace, they could replace, or augment coal.
4. Subjected to pyrolysis, they might yield lighter hydrocarbons that
could be used in the chemical industry.
All of these options are better than them swimming around in the ocean.
Regards,
Robin van Spaandonk
local asymmetry = temporary success
