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Plastic waste management
Plastic waste management
Plastic waste recycling and reuse essay
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Introduction According to the Chemical Heritage Foundation, plastics are defined as “a group of materials, either synthetic or naturally occurring, that may be shaped when soft and then hardened to retain the given shape.” (1) Plastics are also considered to be polymers, a substance made of many repeating units. While there are many natural polymers, synthetic polymers have exceptionally useful properties that can be engineered for specific tasks. The first synthetic plastic was invented in 1869, a modified cellulose that was used as a substitution for Ivory (2). The ability to synthesize new plastics helped to increase public access to previously scarce natural resources. The first entirely synthetic plastic was ‘Bakelite’, first made …show more content…
By 1980, many cities were starting plastic collection programs, where citizens could drop off waste plastic to be broken down and reused. In 1986, several cities and states began experimenting with mandatory recycling programs. However, recycling plastic was not as simple as recycling metals and other resources. Different varieties of plastics need to be sorted out to be recycled, and some plastics cannot be recycled at all. In 1988 a coded system of labels was used to address this issue, by labeling specific plastics with a …show more content…
The Coca-Cola Company obtains 7 percent of its plastic from recycled materials, while Nestle Waters North America uses 6 percent recycled plastic (6). Many companies such as Belson Outdoors make products like benches and outdoor furniture almost completely out of recycled plastic. Most of the companies that use recycled plastics to make consumer end products buy reprocessed plastic from companies that specialize in plastic recycling. Most plastic recycling companies focus on a few specific types of plastic to recycle, targeting specific production facilities and consumer groups to collect that plastic locally. For example, B & B Plastics INC, located in California, is on of the United States’ largest plastic recycling companies, recycling 136,000 tons per year. B & B only recycles HDPE, LDPE, HIP, and GPPS plastics. The next largest company in the U.S. is B. Schoenberg & Co. Inc, located in New York, which process 115,000 tons of recycled material per year. Their primary focus is on flexible PVC, ABS, HMW-HDPE, and Ethylene(7). A full list of the largest plastic recycling companies in the U.S. and Canada is provided in Figure 1, attached in the
• Lowering freight costs because of the light weight of plastics. • Plastics can be shaped and made in different patterns hence advantageous for marketing and shipping. • Plastics are made from natural resources such as
The government wants to put a price on plastic bags 5-10 cents.While some agree with this movement other don’t. & the people who don’t wanna agree with it wanna get rid of plastic bags for good as a plastic bag ban. They have many reasons for why they don’t want plastic bags anymore but so do the people who want plastic bags & to add a fee for having them. We’re just giving our pure opinion of what we think about the movement, we are supporting why our opinions & telling how either the movements will affect us as a community negatively or positively.We both disagree therefore we will have to support what we say & why we say it with evidence from a source that will help us explain and persuade the government that this movement is either a good
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. (2004, August 11). Environmental Roadmapping Initiative. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from Plastics Impacts, Risks and Regulations: http://ecm.ncms.org/ERI/new/IRRPlastics.htm
The recycling process of plastic begins at the recycling department wherever it may be located. The plastics are categorized according to plastic type. Plastic is then separated by color, the plastic is sterilized then crushed and chopped into plastic flakes. The plastic flakes are then melted and stirred. As a result of the stirring and melting a thick liquid is produced. This thick liquid is processed and spun into fiber strands that could be used for making fleec...
The plastic obtained from polyethylene can be pressed into varying shapes, ranging from the simplest to the most complicated. The ethylene market is indirectly driven by the increased polyethylene consumption for the production of several plastic components. In 2011, the global propylene market is valued at more than $ 90 billion and significant growth is anticipated in the coming years. Acrylic fibers and coatings, PVC plasticizers and coatings, polyurethane resins, epoxy resins and propylene polymers are applied on polycarbonates and solvents, that are used in the production of propylene. The automotive industry is the biggest end-user of polypropylene. The enormous expansion of ethylene and propylene production will contribute to the growth of the ethylene and propylene market, along with the rising demand for downstream products from India, China, and the Middle East. Tight environmental regulations, fluctuations in raw material prices and political uncertainties in crude oil producing regions are the main factors limiting the ethylene and propylene market [9].
Plastic is not something that can grow, live, or die. It is artificially created by pe-
People need to think about the objects that they throw away, those items can affect the animals around the world. For example, when people throw away the plastic rings that go around pop cans, can kill animals by being stuck around their little necks. So, before people throw those plastic rings out, they need to make sure that they cut a slit into each ring so in case an animal does get stuck in one of them, then they can get out safely. Recycling does not just have to be about plastic, but when the plastic is recycled, Americans can use it for many different things. For example, the plastic can make park benches, plastic crates, and wire tubing. Many people do not understand where all of the recycled objects go, but the objects do not go anywhere they are just recycled to make other things, recycled objects also help reduce the price of the objects that they make. The best part about recycling is the fact that people can recycle almost anything and turn it into something completely different. For example, Keen’s Harvest makes bags, wallets, and totes from recycled airbags that come from automobiles. Another example is Looptworks uses cotton jersey, nylon, vinyl, and recycled polyester to make their upcycled leather iPad cases. Skateback is another company that uses recycled material to make iPhone backs; they use the discarded post-industrial skateboard materials. Vinylux
... converting plastic waste into useful products are being affected by pollution; this contamination is found within containers where plastics are collected. But the same risk of pollution carries downside consequences in which workers and people responsible for cleaning and disinfecting the plastic materials are not doing the best to eliminate plastic waste, and to disinfect the infected bacteria and microorganisms from the atmosphere and environment. Organizations from China and India are the largest in the world, they collect and purchase used plastic from United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America (Minguez 2013). These companies do not bother to sanitize the products before the recycling process; for this reason the planet earth is getting a worse environmental condition, and it is destroying lives of living beings, and natural resources as well (Uddin 2014).
Polymers are large molecules that are formed of many smaller molecules joined together as sub units, known as monomers. They portray a huge role in society as they tend to make up most plastics used ranging from plastic shopping bags to styrofoam. Polymers can be found naturally an example being DNA the building blocks of life but most usable polymers are man made (American Chemistry Council, n.d). The polymers in plastics widely used by society today are known as homopolymers, as they are the product of two or more identical monomers that have undergone polymerisation. However, here is an alternative form of polymer that is not as widely used called copolymers. Copolymers are constructed when two or more
For most of America, recycling has become a way of life. For some, it is a valiant effort to take charge of our waste and do what is right for the environment and for future generations. For others, it is a forced mentality by government agencies or private businesses who attempt to prove their value by self-promoting their commitment to environmental responsibility. Recycling, in theory, is a positive effort; however, massive recycling programs are not the answer. Recycling programs in general lack an intelligent way to a means, since the costs and environmental burden may outweigh the desired result. Recyclers should only focus on materials that they can process in a cost effective way, and consumers should focus
Water bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics that don’t biodegrade, but they are completely recyclable. PETs photo degrade, they break down into smaller fragments over time. These fragments absorb all the toxins that pollute waterways, contaminate soil, and sicken animals (which are then consumed). The plastic trash also absorbs organic pollutants such as BPA. They take centuries to decompose while sitting in landfills, amounting to billions of environmentally poisonous time bombs.
Millions of plastic bags are given out to consumers by supermarkets and stores to carry their goods in. They are also cheap, light, durable, easy to carry and in many cases, free. The most commonly used shopping bag is made of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). This type is used in the majority of supermarkets and stores. After these bags are used, they often end up in landfills or as litter, roughly only three percent of plastic bags is actually recycled per year (Planet Ark, 2011). The materials used in making plastic bags make them non-biodegradable. According to the science dictionary, 2011 refers to “these materials cannot be decomposed into environmentally safe waste materials by the action of soil bacteria.” These harmful substances are toxic and take approximately four hundred years to break down, or in this case photo-degrade; which is how plastics made from (HDPE) break down. Since they are not biodegradable, they remain in the environment and are absorbed in soil or water (Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment, 2010). This essay will discuss the various harmful effects of plastic bags, and demonstrate the risks that these bags impose on humans, animals and the environment. It will also discuss a series of suggested solutions that could help reduce plastic bag usage.
According to the article published on 2016 July 21st, recycling saves energy by reducing or eliminating the need to make raw materials from scratch (Harmony, 2016). By recycling the products, it saves energy of producing the materials from scratch. Collecting materials, moving them and refining them is an expensive process. By recycling the manufacturers can reuse the old and useless products to make new and useful products. Jason Brennan said that “In 2003, the energy savings from recycling 54 billion aluminum cans exceeded the energy equivalent of 15 million barrels of crude oil – or the amount of gas the U.S. uses in one day.” (Brennan, 2017). Just
from different resins. In order to recycle plastics, the different types must be kept separate.
One huge aspect of recycling is that it gives the recycler the fulfillment of helping the environment. W. Kip Viscusi a professor at Vanderbilt University said, “The warm glow environmental benefit that a person receives from recycling will be greater for those who place a higher value on the environment .” Therefore, the benefit of helping our environment is the greatest benefit of all. Although it might seem as if plastic is thrown away than it can not harm the environment, however, that is incorrect. Plastic is not biodegradable, therefore, it will never be able to completely decompose into the earth. With plastic not being able to decompose it takes up a large amount of space while also being capable of traveling through the air. Sati Manrich, the author of Plastic Recycling said, “The mounting volume of plastic residues, coupled with their extremely low biodegradability, generated a serious problem regarding the amount of space they took up.” Therefore, when plastic is thrown away it will last for at least four-hundred and fifty years before degrading in the landfills; thus allowing all the plastic that was thrown away in the last four-hundred and fifty years to start a stockpile in the landfills or even travel somewhere else.(Manrich