[lxmorj]

Wouldn't (fully) burning all single-use plastics effectively make them no more long-lived and problematic than burning crude oil at sea? I know that's a low bar, but it seems like at least you're getting two uses out of them at that point...

[XorNot]

Landfilling plastics avoids even putting CO2 back into the environment.

Modern landfill is highly engineered and extremely stable: what goes in there stays there.

Plastic starts as oil in the ground. Replacing it as solids in the ground isn't a problem.

[djentile]

Among other problems, plastics release methane and c02 as they decompose in landfills, so it's not as cut and dried a solution as you imply.

[ainiriand]

That was always my impression, and after that you can always build a park on top!

[Synaesthesia]

A lot of plastics are incinerated. I think it has to be at a high temperature. Of course this does emit carbon dioxide.

[zdragnar]

The temperature at which burning polymers completely eliminates particulates and CO is very close to the temperature that NOx starts to form.

Source: I did a bunch of research on rocket mass heaters (think rocket stove, not missile engine) when I built one.

[Mashimo]

And if you produce heat / energy from burning it, you can technically call it recycling :)

Put some filters on top of the power plant exhausts and it's clean enough to build a ski slope on top of it.

[neilknowsbest]

The reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amager_Bakke