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by catalogia 2174 days ago
> 2) Landfills are on scarce land which will run out oneday, making waste disposal more expensive.

Case 2 is an interesting case, it's a startlingly widespread fear yet seems ridiculous when you think about it for more than a few seconds. Slate Star Codex concluded it's alarmism sparked in the 80s by the media's coverage of the Mobro 4000 trash barge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobro_4000

Point 5 ("5. More And More Trash Piling Up Until The Whole World Is Just A Giant Mountain Of Trash"): https://web.archive.org/web/20190102054648/https://slatestar...

2 comments

Oh, I've never heard of drowning in rubbish! With 5) I'm referring to geological effects causing landfill land to collapse and get washed away. That happened recently in New Zealand and a river ended up full of rubbish from a disused landfill.
Sorry, I mean Slate Star Codex's point 5 addresses your point 2. I communicated that poorly.

Incidentally a nice (rather amusing) example from pop culture of the "landfills are filling up and we'll soon drown in trash" meme is Futurama episode 'A Big Piece of Garbage'* (S01E08) It's essentially a parody of that NYC trash barge incident and the movie Armageddon.

Which part of your point 5 link should I be looking at? Doesn't seem to be related.