Plastic: The Scourge of Cities Becoming a Resource

I firmly believe we will solve this problem - "producing useful chemicals from our plastic waster in the future" - one way or the other.

It might be because we've solved the problem of sorting and recycling plastics, it might be because we've figured out we can't solve the problem but we stop using plastics, or it might - most sadly - be because we've poisoned our world enough that we can't make any more plastics...or offspring.

I'm hopeful we solve the problem before we get to option number three.

The above video - using a chemical catalyst to separate and break down PET molecules from original plastic waste - seems hopeful, but we've heard it before, and every process has run into hurdles of upscaling the process and using it on a mixed waste stream. We're trashy people, let's be honest.

I am happy to hear, however, that lots of big companies are working on the problem. Now, if they just weren't still selling us plastic products while they were.

REDUCE...reuse...recycle...