Plastic Waste and Recycling


Book Description

Plastic Waste and Recycling: Environmental Impact, Societal Issues, Prevention, and Solutions begins with an introduction to the different types of plastic materials, their uses, and the concepts of reduce, reuse and recycle before examining plastic types, chemistry and degradation patterns that are organized by non-degradable plastic, degradable and biodegradable plastics, biopolymers and bioplastics. Other sections cover current challenges relating to plastic waste, explain the sources of waste and their routes into the environment, and provide systematic coverage of plastic waste treatment methods, including mechanical processing, monomerization, blast furnace feedstocks, gasification, thermal recycling, and conversion to fuel. This is an essential guide for anyone involved in plastic waste or recycling, including researchers and advanced students across plastics engineering, polymer science, polymer chemistry, environmental science, and sustainable materials. - Presents actionable solutions for reducing plastic waste, with a focus on the concepts of collection, re-use, recycling and replacement - Considers major societal and environmental issues, providing the reader with a broader understanding and supporting effective implementation - Includes detailed case studies from across the globe, offering unique insights into different solutions and approaches




Improving Markets for Recycled Plastics Trends, Prospects and Policy Responses


Book Description

Plastics have become one of the most prolific materials on the planet: in 2015 we produced about 380 million tonnes of plastics globally, up from 2 million tonnes in the 1950s. Yet today only 15% of this plastic waste is collected and recycled into secondary plastics globally each year. This ...




Understanding Plastics Recycling


Book Description

This book shows the true and often-underestimated market potential of plastics recycling, with analysis from economic, ecological, and technical perspectives. It is aimed at both technical and non-technical readers, including decision makers in material suppliers, plastic product manufacturers, governmental agencies, educators, and anyone with a general interest in plastics recycling. An overview of waste handling systems with a focus on the U.S. market is provided. Different methods of waste handling are compared from both economic and ecological perspectives. Since plastic waste recycling is essential from an ecological point of view, common strategies and new approaches to both increase the recycling rate and improve recycling economically and technically are presented. This includes processing and material properties of recycled plastics. Finally, a worldwide outlook of plastic recycling is provided with analysis of additional worldwide markets, encompassing highly developed, fast-developing, and less developed countries. This revised and expanded second edition also contains a new section on fiber-reinforced plastics and considerations for recycling them as well as numerous updates on the data and the context analyzed throughout the book. The spreadsheets used in the economic analyses are also offered as a bonus for the reader to download from plus.hanser-fachbuch.de/en. True to the authors’ mission, this book is printed on recycled paper.




Feedstock Recycling of Plastic Wastes


Book Description

The use of plastic materials has seen a massive increase in recent years, and generation of plastic wastes has grown proportionately. Recycling of these wastes to reduce landfill disposal is problematic due to the wide variation in properties and chemical composition among the different types of plastics. Feedstock recycling is one of the alternatives available for consideration, and Feedstock Recycling of Plastic Wastes looks at the conversion of plastic wastes into valuable chemicals useful as fuels or raw materials. Looking at both scientific and technical aspects of the recycling developments, this book describes the alternatives available. Areas include chemical depolymerization, thermal processes, oxidation and hydrogenation. Besides conventional treatments, new technological approaches for the degradation of plastics, such as conversion under supercritical conditions and coprocessing with coal are discussed. This book is essential reading for those involved in plastic recycling, whether from an academic or industrial perspective. Consultants and government agencies will also find it immensely useful.




Can I Recycle This?


Book Description

“If you’ve ever been perplexed by the byzantine rules of recycling, you’re not alone…you’ll want to read Can I Recycle This?... An extensive look at what you can and cannot chuck into your blue bin.” —The Washington Post The first illustrated guidebook that answers the age-old question: Can I Recycle This? Since the dawn of the recycling system, men and women the world over have stood by their bins, holding an everyday object, wondering, "can I recycle this?" This simple question reaches into our concern for the environment, the care we take to keep our homes and our communities clean, and how we interact with our local government. Recycling rules seem to differ in every municipality, with exceptions and caveats at every turn, leaving the average American scratching her head at the simple act of throwing something away. Taking readers on a quick but informative tour of how recycling actually works (setting aside the propaganda we were all taught as kids), Can I Recycle This gives straightforward answers to whether dozens of common household objects can or cannot be recycled, as well as the information you need to make that decision for anything else you encounter. Jennie Romer has been working for years to help cities and states across America better deal with the waste we produce, helping draft meaningful legislation to help communities better process their waste and produce less of it in the first place. She has distilled her years of experience into this non-judgmental, easy-to-use guide that will change the way you think about what you throw away and how you do it.




Towards a Nordic textile strategy


Book Description

This report is the primary outcome from Part I of the project “Towards a Nordic textile strategy - Collection, sorting, reuse and recycling of textiles” initiated by the Nordic Waste Group (NAG). The report for Part 2 will be published in December 2014. This report summarizes the work carried out in 2013. The three subreports will be the basis for the work to be performed in 2014. The reports for 2013 are: • International market survey of textile flows in the Nordic region and the market for collection, sorting, preparing for reuse, reselling and waste management of textiles. • Collection and sorting systems A total of 19 collection systems are compared for collection flows, contamination levels, cost, suitability of collected textile and availability for the consumer. Four sorting systems are described. • Technology review of sorting and recycling of textiles that describes available and future technology. The report is part of the Nordic Prime Ministers’ overall green growth initiative: “The Nordic Region – leading in green growth.” Read more in the web magazine “Green Growth the Nordic Way” at www.norden.org/greengrowth.




Collection & recycling of plastic waste


Book Description

The first report from the project “Improvements in existing collection and recycling systems for plastic waste from households and other municipal waste sources” is focused on describing the existing situation when it comes to collection and recycling of plastic waste in the Nordic countries. The streams covered are (all from both households and other MSW sources): • Plastic packaging waste. • Non-packaging small plastic waste. • Plastic bulky waste. Similarities and differences among the Nordic countries are presented in the report. The findings provide input into the development of suggestions for improvements. The report is part of the Nordic Prime Ministers’ green growth initiative: “The Nordic Region – leading in green growth.” Read more in the web magazine “Green Growth the Nordic Way” at www.nordicway. org or at www.norden.org/greengrowth The report for Part 2 will be published in December 2014.




Recycling of Polymers


Book Description

Recycling of Polymers This timely reference on the topic is the only book you need for a complete overview of recyclable polymers. Following an introduction to various polymer structures and their resulting properties, the main part of the book deals with different methods of recycling. It discusses in detail the recycling of such common polymers as polyethylene, polypropylene and PET, as well as rubbers, fibers, engineering polymers, polymer blends and composites. The whole is rounded off with a look at future technologies and the toxicological impact of recycled polymers. An indispensable reference source for those working in the field, whether in academia or industry, and whether newcomers or advanced readers.




Feedstock Recycling and Pyrolysis of Waste Plastics


Book Description

Pyrolysis is a recycling technique converting plastic waste into fuels, monomers, or other valuable materials by thermal and catalytic cracking processes. It allows the treatment of mixed, unwashed plastic wastes. For many years research has been carried out on thermally converting waste plastics into useful hydrocarbons liquids such as crude oil and diesel fuel. Recently the technology has matured to the point where commercial plants are now available. Pyrolysis recycling of mixed waste plastics into generator and transportation fuels is seen as the answer for recovering value from unwashed, mixed plastics and achieving their desired diversion from landfill. This book provides an overview of the science and technology of pyrolysis of waste plastics. It describes the types of plastics that are suitable for pyrolysis recycling, the mechanism of pyrolytic degradation of various plastics, characterization of the pyrolysis products and details of commercially mature pyrolysis technologies. This book also covers co-pyrolysis technology, including: waste plastic/waste oil, waste plastics/coal, and waste plastics/rubber.




Polymer Waste Management


Book Description

The world is literally awash with plastics and this book practically provides a broad overview of plastic recycling procedures and waste management. With the huge amount of plastics floating in the oceans, fish and other sea creatures are directly suffering the consequences. On land, city leaders and planners are banning one-use plastics as well as plastic bags from grocery stores in an effort to stem the use. Many countries have made official announcements and warnings concerning the pollution caused from plastic wastes. These urgent developments have stimulated the author to study the problem and write Polymer Waste Management. Plastic recycling refers to a method that retrieves the original plastic material. However, there are many sophisticated methods available for the treatment and management of waste plastics such as basic primary recycling, where the materials are sorted and collected individually. In chemical recycling, the monomers and related compounds are processed by special chemical treatments. Other methods, such as pyrolysis, can produce fuels from waste plastics. These methods and others are treated comprehensively in the book. This groundbreaking book also discusses: General aspects, such as amount of plastics production, types of waste plastics, analysis procedures for identification of waste plastic types, standards for waste treatment, contaminants in recycled plastics. Environmental aspects, such as pollution in the marine environment and landfills. The advantages of the use of bio-based plastics. Recycling methods for individual plastic types and special catalysts.