Which is worse?....

[aka-Flippa]

I have a friend who is adamant that where no recycling facility is available, it is better to burn plastic & bury (landfill) paper.
The reasoning being that paper will decompose in a landfill but plastic will not.
Does Mother Nature handle the release of the components of burnt plastic to the atmosphere better than if it is buried??

[Shirley]

I've no idea about the science bit but I would imagine, that if there were no recycling facilities, then first step would be to reduce the amount of plastic/paper/whatever as much as possible... reusing being the next step - and then if I had to burn anything it would be the paper but not the plastic. Does your friend live in such a place where there are no recycling facilities available?

[wulf]

Paper is compostable, especially if shredded up a bit and mixed with other materials. I line my kitchen compost bin with a sheet of newspaper, which soaks up some of the moisture (from rinsing coffee grounds out of filters, etc) and then dump the whole lot in the compost bin outside. It keeps the kitchen one cleaner and the newspaper is thorougly assimilated into the compost (nothing left for the worms to read!).

Therefore, buried in the right way, I don't think it would be a problem.

Wulf

[aka-Flippa]

is it better to burn or bury household plastic waste......
(if all other avenues such as reduce & re-use have been visited)

Her argument is, a lot of plastics don't biodegrade in landfill, so burning them & releasing the components to the airborne form is a way of 'helping' the environment deal with them.

We both live in remote rural areas, and transportation to recycling areas isn't always feasible.
Most farmers around here have a pit somewhere on the farm that they just heave everything into, with little regard to seperating anything other than chook food from the car bodies....if you see what I mean!