Why plastics are concidered bad.
Environmental
Environmental
Environmental
Plastic is not biodegradable.
- Plastic tends to end up in the oceans and leads to the loss of marine life.
- Plastic pollution has caused changes in the carbon and nutrient cycles.
Social
Environmental
Environmental
- The loss of marine life leads to the loss of livelihood of fishermen. This could result in mass unemployment in the fishing sector.
- A direct result of these changes is the loss of fertile land and crops, leading to loss of livelihood of farmers and greater food insecurity.
Economic
Environmental
Economic
- The loss of livelihood results in lower economic development and unemployment
- The potential food insecurity will lead to an increase in prices of foods and lead to market failure.
- Unemployment will also increase.
Plastic Recycling
What is Plastic Recycling
Plastic recycling is the process of converting used or waste plastic into useful materials and products. The goal of the process is to reduce the high rates of plastic pollution while also reducing the amount of new or unused material in the plastic development industry. (Leblanc, 2020) Plastic recycling can be further differentiated into methodologies:
- Primary recycling
Here, used plastics are recycled back into their original shape and form. For example, a used water bottle is recycled to create new water bottles that can be used by the public.
- Secondary recycling
Here, used plastics are turned into other goods which tend to contain similar or the same materials. For example, a tire can be recycled into other products containing rubber, but they usually do not turn into new tires. (Secondary Recycling, 2016)
- Tertiary recycling
Here, waste plastics are used to produce chemicals and fuels that aid in the production of other materials and plastics. For example the glycolysis of PET to produce diols and dimethyl terephthalate, materials used in manufacturing new PETs.
- Quaternary recycling
Here, energy is recovered from the used plastic through incineration (burning). (Matyjaszewski et al., 2012)
Plastic Recycling
Challenges in the Industry
There are 5 main challenges that we identified that the industry faces:
- Knowledge
Lack of knowledge on different types of plastic results in hybrids being formed in the manufacturing phase. This results in a much more difficult recycling phase, commonly leading to quaternary recycling being performed.
- Value
Unused raw materials tend to be much cheaper than their recycled counterparts simply because there is no processing required to get to the raw materials in the former. By increasing the value of recycled plastic, the industry will be one step closer to sustainability.
- Design
Many products are designed in such a way that makes it extremely difficult to separate into its constituting plastics, lengthening the recycling process,
- Sorting
The sorting process of the plastics must be done correctly to avoid impurities in the end products. The impurities could potentially cause massive damage to the useful plastics such as PVC turning into HCl and degrading PET if they are heated together till molten.
- Availability
A steady supply of recycled plastics is not yet completely available, which is a severe limitation to the process. By increasing the supply, the reach of the industry will also increase, helping increase the sustainability of the planet. (7 challenges, 2021)
