Comment by legitster
4 hours ago
Hear me out:
Single use plastics are a carbon sequestration technology.
We take oil out of the ground, and instead of burning it we turn it into a solid and bury it again.
Something like 30% of the oil we consume never ends up getting burned. While that's probably not a 30% reduction in CO2 gasses, the price pressure plastics put on fossil fuels is not negligible.
here's an even crazier idea
when oil prices were negative, why didn't environmental enthusiasts figure out how to buy (that is, be paid to receive) a ton of oil, take delivery, and simply not use it? they could bury it right back into the ground, no?
look, there are unlimited stupid fucking ideas.
Oil prices were negative because there was nowhere to store it. It’s doubtful the delivery terminal of the pipeline would allow you to discharge your oil in their facility.
I guess so, but it seems to me it would be far more efficient to use already-above-ground materials (there are loads of them floating in the ocean!) and leave the oil in the ground.
Yes, if those material are, in fact, usable. For most types of plastics, recyclability is technically problematic.