The End of Economic Growth Is Inevitable. Let’s Plan for It.

[jacob]

Key point was the youtube video mentioned that road dust was pretty good Pt ore compared to mining it out of the ground.
Calculating profit would require scaling up beyond a couple of guys with a broom, etc. but presuming the road dust has been gathered, maybe start by presuming that the chemical extraction/isolation process is similar/costs the same as traditional mining.

[Kriegsspiel]

Notwithstanding (if true) that the process is about as efficient as mining it from the ground, you'd think someone would be able to weasel a grant from the government for doing this on a large scale. Think about how tidy the roadsides would be, and how much less pollutants would be washed into the watershed.

[tonyedgecombe]

I seem to remember a project to filter the runoff from some roads in the UK, mainly because of the environmental damage caused by it. I wonder what they do with the collected waste.

[Kriegsspiel]

It looked like a significant part of what they collected in the video was concrete/gravel. They could sell it to aggregate and construction companies and recoup some of their costs; they're already filtering it out, so it's not like it's an added expense.

[7Wannabe5]

Super-cool video. Makes me wish I knew more chemistry. OTOH, makes me fret a bit more about the metal levels in my urban garden.

Who would have advanced the most at the end of a month-the boy who had made his own jack-knife from the ore which he had dug and smelted, reading as much as would be necessary for this-or the boy who had attended the lectures on metallurgy at the Institute in the meanwhile, and had received a Roger's penknife from his father? Which would be most likely to cut his fingers?- Thoreau

I guess today's boy will have to start with a broom.

[Mister Imperceptible]

Extrapolating that forward hopefully we will have an ISS tour guide in what, 60 years?

I hope you dare to be crazy, daylen.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tnBQmEqBCY0

More than hope will be required. The best and brightest would have to dedicate themselves to moving us to the point. It will not hot happen automatically, particularly if the best and the brightest of us are.....playing Nintendo Switch.....