# What can we do with plastic waste? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404 "2009-12-08T03:26:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jchoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jchoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jchoi)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/1 "2009-12-08T03:26:29Z")
Ugh… I hate how garbage cans are always overflowing with plastic water bottles! Why do people need to drink out of bottles when they can get water from taps.?! Anyway… people won’t give up bottled water easily… What ways do you think we can use plastic garbage? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/2 "2009-12-08T04:19:18Z")
Turn it back into semi-raw petroleum. ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/3 "2009-12-08T04:40:24Z")
Some people use it to make art. When I was in Honduras they had people making really ugly wallets out of old garbage. Seemed like a lot of work to remake garbage. I guess it keeps people busy. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/4 "2009-12-08T05:01:51Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Turn it back into semi-raw petroleum. [Doing that in my state.](http://plasticsnews.com/headlines2.html?id=16626) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/5 "2009-12-08T05:14:11Z")
I think this will work better in the In My Humble Opinion forum, since **jchoi** seems to be looking for recycling ideas. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/6 "2009-12-08T06:18:01Z")
> [@jchoi](#): > > Why do people need to drink out of bottles when they can get water from taps.?! Because the tap water in my house tastes like shit. I can’t even make coffee with it. ---
**Author:** ![jason\_west](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@jason\_west](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jason_west)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/7 "2009-12-08T08:38:46Z")
On the news I saw that a company in Taiwan called Miniwiz is turning plastic bottles into plastic bricks. I think they are constructing a building out of these “polli bricks”. I saw that someone has posted about this on [treehugger.com](http://treehugger.com) here’s the link: [http://forums.treehugger.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13433](http://forums.treehugger.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13433) ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/8 "2009-12-08T10:39:55Z")
Use it as a foundation material for a suburban golf course or park. They aren’t much good for anything else, and are pretty benign, so it does little harm. ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/9 "2009-12-08T12:59:27Z")
At the risk of bringing on the enviro-rain…may I suggest that you landfill your plastic waste (if there is no recycling process for it , ref semi-return to petro above). Unlike yard waste, paper and the like, plastic waste does not decompose into a large volume of gas. It’s much better landfill a stable, long lasting waste. When you eventually build on top of the closed fill, you don’t want all that decomposition going on under your foundation. People shudder at the horror of landfills. In truth, if done correctly, they are a low impact, stable, inexpensive destination for solid trash. OK… bring it on. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/10 "2009-12-08T15:35:47Z")
My city just started a recycling program 2 weeks ago. They gave everyone an 18-gallon box and instructed us to put all glass, #1 and #2 plastics and food-container metals in it. So far my roommate and I have managed to fill the box to overflowing both weeks now. I had NO idea how many recyclables we were throwing away each week before this. Weird thing is, neither of us drinks bottled water. And no, it’s not all beer cans either 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/11 "2009-12-09T01:51:40Z")
Our company takes waste [PET](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_terephthalate) and reworks it into a thermoset resin. Plastic to plastic, but it’s still recycling. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/12 "2009-12-09T02:53:19Z")
The idea of all that waste just makes me feel sick and weak… I got a plastic anemia! ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/13 "2009-12-09T04:13:01Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > My city just started a recycling program 2 weeks ago. They gave everyone an 18-gallon box and instructed us to put all glass, #1 and #2 plastics and food-container metals in it. > … What I hate is no one takes all the other types of plastic. 1’s and 2’s are just a small part of all the plastic we use. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > The idea of all that waste just makes me feel sick and weak… > I got a plastic anemia! He’ll be here all week folks! ---
**Author:** ![jason\_west](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@jason\_west](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jason_west)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/14 "2009-12-14T06:23:12Z")
I think there should be other kinds of materials that should be able to take the place of plastics. Would you think that plastics are easier to produce than metals or glass? ---
**Author:** ![CTburns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a5b964/32.png) [@CTburns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CTburns)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/15 "2009-12-16T04:27:02Z")
Believe it or not, I understand that plastic packaging saves millions of dollars in transportation costs each year. Since it weighs less than glass, much less fuel is used in the transportation of goods. Where we fail is that most people don’t even attempt to recycle the plastics that they use. ---
**Author:** ![jason\_west](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@jason\_west](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jason_west)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/16 "2009-12-16T09:09:41Z")
would it be worth it to have a sort of reward system for recycling your plastics? whis would probably help motivate people to recycle plastics! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/17 "2009-12-16T10:45:02Z")
> [@](#): > > What can we do with plastic waste? Stop using so much! Back in the 60s, there was much less packaging of consumer goods. Many times, including the toys I remember from my boyhood, were sold openly, from bins. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/18 "2009-12-16T22:14:17Z")
Like, reduce consumption, reuse containers again, and recycle what we are done with? Hmmmm… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/19 "2009-12-16T22:42:00Z")
> [@jason\_west](#): > > would it be worth it to have a sort of reward system for recycling your plastics? > whis would probably help motivate people to recycle plastics! I could see possibly returning to the deposit system that used to apply to glass soda bottles. Think they still do that some places, there was a Seinfeld episode about it. Maybe slap a dime deposit on the two liter size, a nickel for 20 oz or water bottle size… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404/20 "2009-12-16T22:53:53Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > I could see possibly returning to the deposit system that used to apply to glass soda bottles. Think they still do that some places, there was a Seinfeld episode about it. Maybe slap a dime deposit on the two liter size, a nickel for 20 oz or water bottle size… “Dogpatch” is discussing this. Might happen. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-we-do-with-plastic-waste/520404.md?page=2)