It has been two years since China has cracked down on importing recyclables, and it appears the U.S. has had to stockpile, incinerate, landfill, or divert most of its recyclables stream to other, less-apt countries (where it tends to just be dumped or burned). Combine that with the issue of contamination (which my city just reported went from 5 % to 10 % in recent years) and it seems grim for most plastics recycling.

Although I make substantial effort to reduce any plastic consumption and repurpose anything I end up with I am not 100 % successful, especially with having a young kiddo. A large concern of mine is that my properly-cleaned, high-value, uncontaminated plastics will end up being incinerated or dumped into someone's pond half a world away.

Since most plastics are derived from crude oil (let's leave the bioplastics out of this) the idea is that burying plastics is a form of cheap carbon capture and storage. Granted, it's not capturing carbon from the air but at least it isn't adding any.

Thoughts?

It has been two years since China has cracked down on importing recyclables, and it appears the U.S. has had to stockpile, incinerate, landfill, or divert most of its recyclables stream to other, less-apt countries (where it tends to just be dumped or burned). Combine that with the issue of contamination (which my city just reported went from 5 % to 10 % in recent years) and it seems grim for most plastics recycling. Would it be better to just toss them in the garbage?

Since most plastics are derived from crude oil (let's leave the bioplastics out of this) the idea is that burying plastics is a form of cheap carbon capture and storage. Granted, it's not capturing carbon from the air but at least it isn't adding any.