Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by shioyama 2499 days ago
> you get paid to accept trash shipment

Why would anyone pay someone to accept a trash shipment? Why wouldn't you just dump it at source?

> you get paid to accept trash shipment, you pretend to process it (on paper) and then you simply incinerate or dump trash.

Nowhere in the article does it mention this, what reference do you have for this actually happening?

AFAICT the article doesn't have anything establishing that the plastic being "dumped" is being anything other than imported to be recycled. It's dirty, polluting recycling, but that's beside the point I'm trying to make. There is an economic incentive; the article even mentions how profitable plastic recycling can be.
1 comments
ceejayoz 2499 days ago
> Why would anyone pay someone to accept a trash shipment? Why wouldn't you just dump it at source?

Because it’s either illegal or expensive to do so at the source.

link
shioyama 2499 days ago
Do you have any source for that claim?

Here's a quote for landfill rates: $40/ton. Do the math yourself, plastics aren't heavy. Much cheaper than sending it in a container across the world. Unless somebody is paying at the other end, of course.

http://riverbend.wm.com/landfill-rates/index.jsp

link
ceejayoz 2499 days ago
Sure. Here’s an example.

https://www.journalnow.com/news/local/starting-today-it-is-i...

> The law was passed in 2005, but it didn't take effect until today. It adds plastic bottles and two other items -- wooden pallets and oil filters -- to a long list of items that are already banned from the state's landfills. Among the items already banned are aluminum cans and tires.

link
shioyama 2498 days ago
This is one regulation in one state. Do you think that even impacts things like dirty diapers, one of the items that was strewn over the news? Of course not.

If you're thinking people are paying ~ $1,200/container to ship plastics to Malaysia without anyone paying on the other end, it would have to be pretty darn hard to throw stuff out in the U.S. And clearly it's not.

The stuff in the news is fraud, the same as if you ordered something from Amazon, paid for it, and you didn't get what you paid for.

link
ceejayoz 2498 days ago
It’s an example, as requested. Similar laws are common all over the country and world. I’m not going to keep playing the goalpost move game.
link