Is it greener to just burn plastic?

florge@feddit.uk to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 42 points –

Just thinking in terms of compared to microplastics and toxins in recycled plastic.

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Define "green". In terms of CO2 it would obviously be horrible and incredibly stupid.

It's done in many modern parts of the world in proper incinerators, to produce electricity. The emissions are closely managed.

Still not a great idea to burn recyclable resources. The stuff that would otherwise end up in a landfill, sure, but most plastics can be used again in some way.

When deciding to incinerate over recycle, that means the system has constrains on recycling ability or success such that incineration is preferable

So if the choices are plastic in the dump/plastic in the ocean or incineration, then there's a real decision to be made.

These are real world systems, not classrooms