tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post1540892491884070687..comments2024-03-27T16:08:30.313-05:00Comments on The Great Change: The Arithmetic of PlasticAlbert Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627996921976501534noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-24248569739079983732018-11-25T12:44:22.677-06:002018-11-25T12:44:22.677-06:00Thanks, Albert! Let me propose a framework for thi...Thanks, Albert! Let me propose a framework for thinking about solutions. <br /><br />If the exponential growth of virgin plastic resin production is to be curbed, some political action backed with positive and negative incentives will be required. I hope those are put in effect, but my topic here is more mathematical, in keeping with your article.<br /><br />The microplastics proliferating in the ocean are clearly growing exponentially as a function of their surface area. Suppose we reverse this situation and incentivize forms of recycling that reduce surface area? So rather than making lots of lightweight products that are cheap and easily disposable, we invent products that are more durable, thicker and heavier, such as building components. Then recycling or reusing them then is more worthwhile, and even if they are improperly disposed of they will take much longer to fragment into microplastic particles. <br /><br />This kind of recycling could work for the more problematic wastes such as PVC which has been widely used because of its great strength and durability. Source separation could be more attractive if there were a demand for large volumes to produce large amounts of product. Remember that the environmental threat posed by these products is exponentially reduced as their surface area is reduced in proportion to their mass.<br /><br />Optimistically presuming that there is a prohibition or heavy tax on producing new resins, we then can envision an adequate incentive for large-scale recovery of the enormous pools of waste plastic that most threaten us, such as the ocean gyres, and the funding needed for proper separation and handling technology.<br /><br />I wish that discourse about plastics could move in this direction that offers so much more promise than the typical messages about shopping bags and plastic straws. Big and severe problems call for radical large-scale visions.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02232493957556805500noreply@blogger.com