[vincefutr23]

Where does the garbage get moved too? What if the least societally harmful place for waste is the middle of the pacific ?

[troyvit]

Landfills really aren't so bad. Article from a previous HN post:

https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/9/3/the-hidden-engin...

[alnwlsn]

Landfills. Theoceancleanup's own figure is that there is 100,000 tonnes of plastic. This one [0] landfill in Ohio gets 2 million tonnes each year. That's out of ~250 million tonnes produced by the US each year [1]. So it seems there is plenty of room.

0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpke_Sanitary_Landfill 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfills_in_the_United_States

[vincefutr23]

So the plan is to spend 7 billion and however much carbon over 10 years to move pollutants from the middle of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from anyone or any rich fisheries, to landfills near population centers?

[jppittma]

Well, water is a solvent and dirt isn’t. That’s probably the reason why oil isn’t harmful in the ground and it is harmful when it’s spilled in the ocean.

[vincefutr23]

There’s plenty of water in dirt. Except it’s water next door to population centers using it, not thousands of miles from anyone in the ocean

[interactivecode]

Why would contaminating the environment of a major food supply be the least harmful place? how is that better than purpose built infrastructure to contain that trash?

[vincefutr23]

is there any commercial fishing in the middle of the pacific? Why is it better to ship it to leech into the groundwater near population centers ?