• @nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br
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    2426 days ago

    Did people at some point really believe that taking out all our trash out of sight and tossing them somewhere else would “save the planet”?

    • @Scrommis@lemmy.zip
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      2626 days ago

      It does help in a pretty big way - every piece of trash in landfill is one less in the ocean.

      Plus landfills will be literal goldmines in 50 years as we development advanced recycling technologies and robots.

      • @nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br
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        1826 days ago

        On the other hand, landfills leak contaminants to the soil and water, produce a lot of methane, and probably other things too. I’d also argue that they give a illusion of a problem solved, and lead people and companies into not wanting to reduce trash production.

        • @odium@programming.dev
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          826 days ago

          There’s also the fact that a lot of your trash doesn’t go to landfills, but instead gets shipped to developing countries where they often dump it into Wall-E style open air trash mountains.

          • Che Banana
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            326 days ago

            and this is how it’s “recycled”

            “Just think of all the job opportunities we are giving to underdeveloped nations and their youth!”

            -Nestlé CEO probably

        • @JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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          626 days ago

          When I was a kid, it was “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle”. The order was quite intentional.

          Nobody ever talks about the first two anymore. Probably because they are wildly anti-consumption and thus bad for business.

          I went on vacation recently. Visited Houston, Austin, and Dallas by EV. I was, and still am, amazed that the giant gas stations along the highway (Buc-ees, Road Ranger) are still using Styrofoam cups at the soda fountain. I can’t believe those are even still being made.

    • @PowerCrazy
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      1126 days ago

      Much like recycling, these environmental campaigns are just green washing so that the companies, specific the petroleum companies, that are actually destroying the earth are never threatened. Even as the earth is destroyed and society breaks down, their last quarter will still be profitable.

    • RoabeArt [he/him]
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      26 days ago

      While I wouldn’t argue it saves the planet, sequestering garbage in far off, centralized, contained locations is a little better for public health than simply tossing it in the streets like we used to do. Cholera outbreaks happened on the regular before organized waste collection became a thing.

      • @nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br
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        326 days ago

        That for sure. I was referring to the people who think that just because the collected trash isn’t a problem for them in a direct way anymore, it’s all solved.