Why don't we launch our garbage into space?

[Vohn_exel]

Everyone's wanting a greener earth, right? We're all concerned about landfills and I was recently reading about the great plastic ocean. I've always wondered why we don't just take our garbage and blast it into space?

I know that some of it is biodegradable, but alot of it isn't. So why don't we just take the stuff that isn't and launch it somewhere far away. Pioneer has been travelling since like the sixties, right? And it only "recently" left our solar system. So, chunking a huge bunch of garbage out there wouldn't be bad for the space environment. As for the cost, it could create jobs as well as probably be done with joint ventures of sending up satelites or something.

(ITT: Bad spelling)

 

[Julianking93]

Someone's been watching too much Futurama.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

It only makes sense, doesn't it? Plus if you sent it into the sun it would just burn up.

I guess because it's expensive... and we don't want all our trash just floating around in space...

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Because that'd take a lot of energy, materials and time to send garbage further out into space that man has ever gone. And there's also the chance that anything we launch out here we'll bump into if we ever go out into space again, and that won't be too pleasant.

 

[ssgt splatter]

Ok, first of all those idiots at the EPA will find a way to rant about it.
Second, didn't you see the episode of Futurama in which a giant garbage ball was launched into space but eventually comes back to Earth?

[edit] Damn, ninja'd by Julianking93

 

[II2]

Cost > to launch than to bury.

 

[ethaninja]

Sounds like an alright idea. Except I think long term ramifications would fuck us up somewhere down the path.

 

[Oddne M Raaheim]

If you think about it, launching garbage into space would take ALOT of rocket fuel, which if we launched all of our garbage into space wouldent do anything good for that global warming thingy.
EDIT: I did not know that they use hydrogen fuel, but it would cost big $$$ to do it.

 

[RogueSpartanII]

Just remember to shred all of Earth's documents sent into space. We don't want Earth to be the victims of identity theft by space aliens...

 

[Meggiepants]

Because we like to float it around in our oceans. That way we get to enjoy it more.

And of course, what everyone else said about cost. Rocket fuel ain't cheap.

 

[super_mumbles]

Someone asked this in a Geography lesson I had once. The teacher said that although there was a very small chance of it happening, if the rocket were to explode then the result would be devastating. Plus there's cost and the issue of finding a way of sending large amounts up at one time.

 

[titanium turtle]

to be fair-with the amount of money needed to send at least half of all non degradable waste into space we could probably develop nanotechnology enough so that it could turn our wase int useful raw materials or enough to drill so far down that we can bury it with no negative implications
plus to send it into space would use thousands of tonnes of fuel which would cause massive atmosherical damage- actually no wait- don't they use hydrogen fuel- oh well nevertheless my point is made

 

[XJ-0461]

Cost > to launch than to bury.

This. Unless someone can create a really cheap rocket, it's just going to stay on earth for now.

 

[orangebandguy]

Rocket fuel is very expensive, in fact rockets in general are hugely expensive.


That's probably one of the main reasons.

 

[Idlemessiah]

Can't believe this hasn't been said yet...
Launching anything into space (if done fairly regularly) will decrease our resources a wee bit. So 50 yeaars later:
"Mum there's no paper left for the printer!"
"Well tough, the government blasted all the used paper into space and there's no trees to make paper with now cause all the crap that gets used as tree fertiliser got blasted into space too!"

 

[Cowabungaa]

Not only is it very expensive, it's highly dangerous as well. You try launching a ship from Earth when there's a blanket of garbage shooting around the planet. Or try to maintain a satellite when it's constantly bombarded by our junk.

 

[guess who]

The vast majority of stuff that isn't biodegradable is recyclable. There is some stuff that is neither but you're still throwing stuff from earth into space. You have to remember that we don't get much stuff added to earth, everything we throw into space is a subtraction from earth's total resources.

If we found some way to break the things we want to get rid of now into it base components, then we would regret throwing it away.

I hope this made sense.

Edit: Keep this in mind; there is next to nothing on earth now that wasn't here before we started making so much garbage, we just changed the form it takes.

 

[Darth Caelum]

Too large a waste of resources for one. and eventually it WILL become our problem......One way or another. You KNOW how the Universe works! You screw something over, it will probably screw you back eventually.

 

[Dr Ampersand]

Rubbish is useful for making raw materials, rockets cost a lot, we need the materials.