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Stubborn polystyrene waste finally gets innovative recycling solution (interestingengineering.com)
submitted 5 months ago by floofloof@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.ml
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[-] ianovic69@feddit.uk 35 points 5 months ago

In practical terms, how realistic is it to just not allow the stuff to be made?

I see much less of it these days, which is great and it's usually replaced with cardboard that I imagine is much easier to recycle.

Can we do away with completely? It's such an awful substance, it grinds my gears, as they say.

[-] frezik@midwest.social 6 points 5 months ago

It's in more stuff than you think. High density polystyrene is what a good chunk of disposable plastic spoons/forks/knives is made of.

[-] Pulptastic@midwest.social 3 points 5 months ago

The clear brittle kind. Cups too, the clear ones that snap when you squeeze them too hard.

[-] Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

Honestly probably pretty easily. Its not even a good packing material.

[-] harry315@feddit.de 24 points 5 months ago

TL;DR: Pyrolysis with a yield of 60 percent styrene monomers.

[-] Dymonika@beehaw.org 9 points 5 months ago

So what does that mean?

[-] harry315@feddit.de 11 points 5 months ago

ELI5: They can now make the fluffy white plastic go back to liquid very well, and they don't even need too much work for that.

[-] Dymonika@beehaw.org 4 points 5 months ago

Woohoo!

[-] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 18 points 5 months ago

Just mix it with petrol and then you have sticky flammable substance to do with what you will

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Experimenting with spreading mine on a cookie sheet to dry in the sun. Chop it up and you got handy fire starters.

EDIT: It works perfectly!

[-] moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago
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[-] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 17 points 5 months ago

Just outlaw it already. It was a bad idea

[-] Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 months ago

But then how will I make homemade napalm?

[-] JebanuusPisusII@szmer.info 4 points 5 months ago

This is the way to upcycle it

[-] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 1 points 5 months ago

I'm very against this unless it's praxis

[-] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 13 points 5 months ago

Maybe we could just stop making plastic of all kinds. Reduce Reuse Recycle. Recycling is literally the last resort, we don't need most of our plastic stuff today.

[-] SuckMyWang@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

How will people convert convenience into money and become rich at the expense of future generations?

[-] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 11 points 5 months ago

10Mj/kg = 2.7kWh/kg

Not bad efficiency.

[-] Tramort@programming.dev 12 points 5 months ago

The problem is how low the density is.

Sure: per kilogram it looks ok, but that one kilogram took up an entire train car to move around.

[-] a1studmuffin@aussie.zone 7 points 5 months ago

And imagine being the guy who's got to clean out the train car afterwards of all the tiny pieces. Nightmare fuel.

[-] linearchaos@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

Oh my God my wife bought this bean bag once. It was a photography thing so it had to be absolutely packed full. So the skin came folded up in this tiny little plastic bag and then it came with three giant bags of styrofoam balls.

If you stuck your hand in the back and pulled it out it would just be coated. I spent hours just trying to scoop them into the bean bag.

When I got to the second bag to fill I found a long narrow box and taped it up to the side of the bean bag slice the bean bag open and used it to pour them through.

The whole experience was awful. And the cleanup took nearly as long as the fill.

[-] Nomad@infosec.pub 1 points 5 months ago

In situ processing should solve that. Imagine a machine where you put that in, it gets crushed and sprayed and the liquid is transported and recycled.

[-] Gsus4@mander.xyz 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

why is this better than just icinerating it for baseload power? That is the only truly safe way to dispose of plastic, plus pyrolisis adds an extra step, which costs more energy.

this post was submitted on 25 May 2024
113 points (97.5% liked)

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