Plastics are derived from natural, organic materials such as cellulose, coal, natural gas,

salt and, of course, crude oil. Crude oil is a complex mixture of thousands of compounds
and needs to be processed before it can be used. The production of plastics begins with
the distillation of crude oil in an oil refinery. This separates the heavy crude oil into groups
of lighter components, called fractions. Each fraction is a mixture of hydrocarbon chains
(chemical compounds made up of carbon and hydrogen), which differ in terms of the size
and structure of their molecules. One of these fractions, naphtha, is the crucial compound
for the production of plastics.

Two main processes are used to produce plastics - polymerisation and polycondensation
- and they both require specific catalysts. In a polymerisation reactor, monomers such as
ethylene and propylene are linked together to form long polymer chains. Each polymer
has its own properties, structure and size depending on the various types of basic
monomers used.

To make plastics, chemists and chemical engineers must do the following on an industrial
scale:

1. Prepare raw materials and monomers

2. Carry out polymerization reactions
3. Process the polymers into final polymer resins
4. Produce finished products

First, they must start with various raw materials that make up the monomers. Ethylene
and propylene, for example, come from crude oil, which contains the hydrocarbons that
make up the monomers. The hydrocarbon raw materials are obtained from the "cracking
process" used in refining oil and natural gas (see How Oil Refining Works). Once various
hydrocarbons are obtained from cracking, they are chemically processed to make
hydrocarbon monomers and other carbon monomers (like styrene, vinyl chloride,
acrylonitrile) used in plastics.

Next, the monomers carry out polymerization reactions in large polymerization plants.
The reactions produce polymer resins, which are collected and further processed.
Processing can include the addition of plasticizers, dyes and flame-retardant chemicals.
The final polymer resins are usually in the forms of pellets or beads.

Finally, the polymer resins are processed into final plastic products. Generally, they are
heated, molded and allowed to cool. There are several processes involved in this stage,
depending upon the type of product.

Extrusion: Pellets are heated and mechanically mixed in a long chamber, forced through
a small opening and cooled with air or water. This method is used to make plastic films.

Injection molding: The resin pellets are heated and mechanically mixed in a chamber and
then forced under high pressure into a cooled mold. This process is used for containers
like butter and yogurt tubs. (Custompart.net has a great lesson on injection molding.)

Blow molding: This technique is used in conjunction with extrusion or injection molding.
The resin pellets are heated and compressed into a liquid tube, like toothpaste. The resin
goes into the chilled mold, and compressed air gets blown into the resin tube. The air
expands the resin against the walls of the mold. This process is used to make plastic
bottles.

Rotational molding: The resin pellets are heated and cooled in a mold that can be rotated
in three dimensions. The rotation evenly distributes the plastic along the walls of the mold.
This technique is used to make large, hollow plastic items (toys, furniture, sporting
equipment, septic tanks, garbage cans and kayaks).

Quantifying total energy use

Total energy use includes the energy requirements at each stage in the manufacturing
process, from the extraction of raw materials to the delivery of the finished product to a
packaging facility or, in the case of disposal, retail or wholesale outlet. The energy used
to move materials from one step in the manufacturing process to the next is also included.
The energy value of the natural gas and petroleum feedstocks used in manufacturing wax
and plastics (raw materials principally used as fuel) is counted toward the total energy
use for wax-coated and plastic items. In some cases, reusable goods were among the
alternatives to disposable plastic items. For example, glass tumblers are a reasonable
alternative to disposable plastic cups. The energy required to prepare such items for
reuse (shipping, cleaning, etc.) was factored into their total energy use. Energy impacts
of recycling (at 1990 rates) also were included.

Also, some of the manufacturing process studied yield marketable by-products. Energy
inputs were therefore adjusted to reflect the portion attributable to the packaging or
disposable item in question.

Amount of Plastic Waste Generated

People regularly use plastic items that are often dispensable that quickly turn into waste.
Judging from the amount of plastic waste generated by an individual, it is difficult to picture
the overall scale of negative effects resulting from the improper management of plastic
waste. The best way to acknowledge the problem of plastic production and pollution is to
analyse the amount of plastic generated worldwide, as well as to study all types of plastic
disposed in the landfill. Still, what is the amount of plastic produced by people and what
is the amount of plastic waste dumped in the environment?

The production of plastic mostly began in the middle of the 20 th century. According to
researchers at leading universities in the United States, plastic production amounted to 2
million tons in 1950, while in 2015 its annual production amounted to 380 million tons.
According to the same studies, the total amount of plastic produced in the period between
1950 and 2015 was 8.3 billion tons of plastic where 6.3 billion tons of that plastic has
already turned into waste. Only 9% of the plastic turned into waste has been recycled,
while 12% is incinerated and 79% (4.9 billion tons) is either put in a landfill or dumped.[1]

8.3 billion tons of waste is an amount that is hard to comprehend, but still, what is the
mass that we have to deal with? To be able to answer this question and to realize the
scale of the problem, we should compare the above amount with the items that are most
familiar to us. For instance, 8.3 billion tons of waste is equivalent to 25,000 Empire State
Buildings, 822,000 Eiffel Towers, 80 blue whales and 1 billion elephants.
Comparison of the amount of plastic produced prior to 2015 with various buildings and
creatures

According to data, half the amount of plastic produced during 1950-2015 has been
produced in the past 3 years. Consequently, plastic production has an annually increasing
trend and by 2050, around 12 billion tons of plastic is expected to accumulate in landfills
and in the environment.

Plastic waste generated, recycled, and deposited in landfills worldwide and predicted data
for 2050

Based on the same survey, the amount of total plastic recycled from 1950-2015 is
significantly small and produced around 600 (9%) million tons of waste with only 10% of
that waste recycled the second time. Notable places distinguished for recycling plastic at
a high rate are Europe with 30% and China with 25%, while the US only recycles 9% of
its plastic waste. Concerning the percentage of incinerating waste, the 2014 figures in
Europe and China indicate 30% and 40% respectively, while the US is 16%. A high
recycling rate in China is especially important as it is the largest consumer and producer
of plastic in the world.

Currently, pollution caused by plastic is one of the world’s most serious environmental
problems. To be able to cope with it, each individual should realize the core of the problem
and to actively reduce the amount of waste generated. In addition, it is essential to
implement complex measures on a global scale at the policy level, including raising
awareness concerning littering and its negative environmental impact, supporting
recycling and reducing production and consumption. At this point, less has to be more.
Adverse human impact on Earth and the environment became significant in the
20th century, as mining and mineral processing became the driving force for the growth
of the global economy and the transport and energy sectors, among others. The amount
of waste generated worldwide grew as the global living standards and economy grew.
For example, various studies found that developed states generate more waste than
developing states. In particular, the amount of waste generated per capita in OECD
member states is twice as large as that in developing states.[2] This could be explained
by the fact that a high-income population in developed states purchase more products
and services.

Nonetheless, developing countries remain key polluters in terms of household waste as

there are no modern waste management systems in developing countries and no
recycling, with much of the waste dumped into the environment. A group of scientists
have studied the trend of household plastic pollution in oceans and found that 95% of
plastic is deposited into the ocean from only 10 rivers: the Nile, Indus, Ganges, Huang
He (Yellow River), Yangtze, Niger, Amur, etc.[3] Looking at the basins of the
aforementioned rivers (see the graph) we find that they flow into the oceans through the
territories of developing countries and the oceans are polluted with plastic coming from
those territories.

95% of plastic flows into the ocean via the 10 rivers pictured above flowing through the
territories of developing and poorly-developed countries

According to the studies conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, around 8 million tons of waste found its way into the world’s oceans in 2010
alone.
It is interesting to find out about the generation of plastic waste and recycling in Georgia.
The most common plastic waste in Georgia is plastic vessels and PET bottles used for
product packaging. Their local production and import has significantly increased in the
recent years and comprised approximately 30 thousand tons in 2015. Unfortunately, the
plastic recycling sector is not developed in Georgia. Only recently has separated waste
collection been implemented at local markets through various pilot projects. Almost all
collected waste is sent abroad to export which amounted to only 800 tons in 2015, which
is around 2-3% of overall plastic waste (PET bottles and plastic vessels).[4]

This overview was prepared in an attempt to define the amount of plastic waste generated
by people, and therefore, indicate the enormous effort required of mankind to reduce the
adverse impact caused plastic waste. In an upcoming article, we will discuss the specific
adverse impacts inflicted on health and the ecosystem by the improper use of plastic and
the consequential pollution.

Data from the 2015 study "Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean" shows that the
Philippines wastes 6,237,653 kg (6875.84 tons) of plastic per day, of which 81% is
mismanaged.

Countries like Japan and the United States similarly waste millions of kilograms per day
— 19,605,620 kg and 37,729,383 kg respectively — but both had a 0% mismanagement
rating.

According to the UN report, 300 million tons of plastic waste is produced every year and
"half of all plastic produced is designed to be used only once and thrown away."

Single-use plastic products include plastic water bottles made with polythylene
terephthalate (PET); harder plastic bottles used for shampoo or milk made with high-
density polyethylene (HDPE); grocery bags and food packaging made with low-density
polyethylene; and plastic cutlery made with polystyrene (PS) among others.

Although repurposing these materials have continuously been encouraged, the UN report
stated that only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled.

"About 12% has been incinerated, while the rest — 79% — has accumulated in landfills,
dumps or the natural environment," the report continued.

The most common type of plastic found in the environment were cigarette butts, which
contain tiny plastic fibers. This was followed by drink bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers,
grocery bags, drink lids, straws and stirrers.
This is the amount of plastic waste generated annually & how much of it is inadequately
managed.

In the year 2016, the plastic packaging has only recycled 42.4 %
Types and Processes of Disposing Plactics
Recycling

- It is the process of gathering used plastic materials in order to reprocess then

into different useful product, unlike their initial form. It is needed to be recycled
to help our environment in reducing solid wastes because plastics are non-
biodegradable and is one of the contributors in water pollution.
Types of Recycling
1. Mechanical Recycling

A. Re-melted to make new products

PET bottles from sorted household waste are collected, compressed and
packed by municipalities for transportation to plants operated by recycling
businesses. At the recycling plant, the waste is sorted to remove impurities, and
the remaining PET bottles then shredded and cleaned, foreign bodies and non-
resins are removed and the remainder turned into flakes and pellets (made from
flakes, thermally processed by an extruder) for recycling. The recycled materials
 are then sent to textile and sheet-making plants, where they are again melted down
to make into textile and sheet products. Mechanical recycling of other plastic waste
follows the same basic process.

B. Resin Molding Techniques

a. Extrusion molding
- Resin is melted and continually extruded through a mold by a screw to form a
molded product. Products include pipes, sheets, film and wire covering
b. Injection molding
- Heated melted resin is injected into a mold and solidifies to form a molded
product. Products made this way range from washbowls, buckets and plastic
models to larger products such as bumpers and pliers.
c. Blow molding
- A parison obtained by extrusion or injection molding is clamped into a mold and
inflated with air to make bottles for all kinds of uses, such as shampoo bottles.
PET bottles are made by stretch blow molding so as to make them less likely
to rupture.
d. Vacuum molding
- A heat-softened sheet is sandwiched in a mold and the space between the
sheet and mold sealed and evacuated to form products such as cups and trays.
e. Inflation molding
- This is a type of extrusion molding where a melted resin is inflated into a
cylinder to form a film. This method is used to make products such as shopping
bags.
C. Monomerization

While PET bottles can be recycled to make textiles and sheeting, they cannot
be used to make PET drinks bottles. This is because used PET bottles are unsuitable
for use as raw materials for soft drink, alcohol or soy sauce bottles for reasons of
hygiene and smell. However, converting PET bottles back to an earlier state of
processing is a more economic use of resources than making PET resin from scratch
out of petroleum and naphtha. A “bottle to bottle” scheme to make recycled resin
equivalent to newly made resin suitable for drinks bottles started in 2003 on this basis.

The method chemically decomposes the used PET bottles into their component
monomers (de-polymerization), and they are made into new PET bottles from this
stage.

Teijin Ltd. already uses its own proprietary decomposition method, combining
ethylene glycol (EG) and methanol to break waste PET resin down into DMT (dimethyl
terephthalate) to turn it the raw material used to make textiles and film. This technique
was improved upon to break PET bottles down further from DMT to PTA (purified
terephtalic acid) to make PET resin, and Teijin Fiber Ltd. commenced operation of a
facility with the capacity to process around 62 kt (*kt＝ thousand tons) a year in 2003.
The resin produced was judged suitable for use in food containers by the Japanese
Food Safety Commission in 2004, and bottle-to-bottle production started in April with
the approval of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Aies Co., Ltd. has also developed a technique for manufacturing resin by
breaking it down into high-purity BHET (bis hydroxyethyl-terephthalate) monomer
using a new method of de-polymerization using EG. It established a new company,
PET Reveres Co., Ltd. in 2004 which can process around 27.5 kt per year. However,
a shortage in raw materials due to a dramatic increase in the export of waste PET
bottles gave Teijin Fiber no alternative but to withdraw from bottle-to-bottle production.
PET Reverse, meanwhile, has had to undergo a restructuring, and their bottle-to-bottle
business is being carried on by PET Refine Technology Co., Ltd., a member of the
Toyo Seikan Co., Ltd. group.

D. Blast Furnace Feedstock Recycling

At steel mills, iron ore, coke and auxiliary raw materials are fed into a blast furnace
and the iron ore melted to produce pig iron. Coke is used as fuel to elevate the
temperature in the furnace, and also acts as a reducing agent by removing the oxygen
from iron oxide, one of the main constituents of iron ore. As plastics are made from
petroleum and natural gas, their main constituents are carbon and hydrogen. This
means that it should be possible to devise a means of using them instead of coke as
a reducing agent in the blast furnace process.

The process by which plastics are used as a reducing agent is as follows. Plastic
waste collected from factories and households is cleansed of non-combustible matter
and other impurities such as metals, then finely pulverized and packed to reduce its
volume. Plastics that do not contain PVC are granulated, then fed into the blast
furnace with coke. Plastics that contain PVC are fed into the blast furnace after first
separating the hydrogen chloride at a high temperature of around 350°C in the
absence of oxygen, as the emission of hydrogen chloride can damage a furnace. The
hydrogen chloride thus extracted is recovered as hydrochloric acid and put to other
uses, such as acid scrubbing lines for hot rolling at steel mills.

This dehydrochlorination method was developed by the Plastic Waste

Management Institute (PWMI), Japan PVC Environmental Affairs Council, Vinyl
Environmental Council and JFE Steel Corporation (formerly NKK) at the request of
the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). JFE
Plastic Resource Corporation (founded in November 2005) has been applying this
process in full-scale operations.

E. Coke Oven Chemical Feedstock Recycling

Coke is made by baking coal, and the process also generates volatile
compounds which produce hydrocarbon oil and coke oven gas. However, coke,
 hydrocarbon oil and coke oven gas can also be produced from plastic waste.
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation has developed facilities at most of its
steel mills to use plastic waste as cokes, chemical feedstock and fuel, and it is now
in use in its Nagoya, Kimitsu, Muroran, Yawata and Oita sites.
This system begins by crushing plastic waste obtained from local
governments and removing iron and other impurities and PVC. It then heats the
plastics to 100°C and forms it into granules, which are then mixed with crushed
and granulated coal at a ratio of 1–2% before being fed to the carbonization
chamber of the coke oven.
The carbonization chamber has combustion chambers on both sides which
heat the content indirectly. The plastic waste does not combust inside the chamber
due to lack of oxygen, but it is instead cracked thermally at a high temperature to
produce coke for use as the reducing agent in coke ovens, hydrocarbon oil.
This process results in 40% hydrocarbon oil for use as chemical feedstock,
20% coke for use as a blast-furnace reducing agent, and 40% coke oven gas for
generating power.

F. Gasification
 Plastics are composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen and therefore
normally produce carbon dioxide and water when combusted. The gasification
process involves heating plastics and adding a supply of oxygen and steam. The
supply of oxygen is limited, which means that much of the plastics turn into
hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and water.
Sand heated to 600-800°C is circulated inside a first-stage low-temperature
gasification furnace. Plastics introduced into the furnace break down on contract
with the sand to form hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and char. If the
plastics contain chlorine, they produce hydrogen chloride. If plastic products
contain metal or glass, these are recovered as noncombustible matter.
The gas from the low-temperature gasification furnace is reacted with steam
at a temperature of 1,300-1,500°C in a second-stage high-temperature gasification
furnace to produce a gas composed mainly of carbon monoxide and oxygen. At
the furnace outlet, the gas is rapidly cooled to 200°C or below to prevent the
formation of dioxins. The granulated blast furnace slag also produced is used in
civil engineering and construction materials.
The gas then passes through a gas scrubber and any remaining hydrogen
chloride is neutralized by alkalis and removed from the synthetic gas. This
synthetic gas is used as a raw material in the chemical industry to produce
chemicals such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia and acetic acid. The Plastic
Waste Management Institute (PWMI) was commissioned by New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to conduct trials of this
technology, which were performed with the cooperation of Ebara Corporation and
Ube Industries, Ltd. EUP Co., Ltd. had a plastic gasification plant in full operation
in Ube city in January 2001.
Although EUP began full operation of this gasification process in 2001,
difficulties in procuring raw plastic waste forced the company to withdraw from this
business in May 2010. Showa Denko K.K. opened a facility in Kawasaki in 2003
using the same technology.
Additionally, Japan Recycling Corporation Co., Ltd. implemented the JFE
Thermoselect process in 2000 with the aim of using plastic waste as clean fuel
gas. The same process was adopted in the form of a private financial initiative
(PFI) waste business by Mizushima Eco-works Co., Ltd in 2005 and by ORIX
Environmental Resources Management Corporation in 2006.
G. Liquefaction Process

Since the raw material used to produce plastics is petroleum, it should be

possible to return plastics to petroleum by reversing the production process.
Development of plasticwaste liquefaction technology for this purpose began in the
second half of the 1970s, and today, plastic-waste liquefaction is essentially an
established technology.
However, the process of returning plastic in a macromolecular state to a
low-molecular state is an endothermic reaction that requires energy. It requires, In
particular, extra energy for heating material up to temperatures of about 400°C
(which means that some of the generated oil must be consumed as fuel or that
electric power must be purchased to perform such heating). In addition, the
process product in crude-oil form must again be cracked and refined to obtain
commercial products, and facilities for this purpose are essential. At the same time,
there is always risk of ignition or explosion in the liquefaction process and
countermeasures to that risk must be taken. For the above reasons, many large-
scale liquefaction facilities could not achieve profitability and were forced to
withdraw from the business before the second half of the 2000s.
Sapporo Plastic Recycling Co., Ltd. had been working to establish a
liquefaction business with large-scale facilities, but they withdrew from the
business in 2010.
The research and development of plastic-waste liquefaction technology has
had some achievements, but many issues remain, such as how to achieve a scale
of business that is commercially viable and how to reduce costs. At present, any
new ventures in the liquefaction business face difficult conditions. The above
problems and issues must be thoroughly studied by any enterprise looking to adopt
this technology.
H. Thermal Recycling
 Waste plastics are currently collected and processed differently by different
municipalities, but the Ministry of the Environment is unifying the previously
separate categories of waste into one (“burnable”), with an amendment to the
Waste Disposal Law on May 2005 which changes its basic policy to state that “first,
emission of waste plastic should be reduced, after which recycling should be
promoted; any remaining waste plastic should not go to landfill as it is suitable for
use in thermal recovery”. In a similar move, the Tokyo municipal area, which had
since 1973 been putting household waste plastics into landfill as non-burnable
garbage, set a goal in 2008 of sending zero household waste plastic to landfill and
instead using it for incineration and thermal recycling by default.
As a result, data on the effective use of heat energy for FY 2014 as
recorded by the Clean Association of TOKYO23 showed that total generated
power came to 1,130 million kWh, electricity sold came to 590 million kWh, and
supplied heat (fee-based) came to 526,000 gigajoule(GJ) , the income of electricity
and heat sold came to 10.6 billion yen.
Thermal recycling encompasses liquefaction, gasification and solid fuel
(RPF, etc.), which are all recognized under the Container and Packaging Recycling
Law, but also waste power generation, conversion to cement kiln fuel and solid
fuel made from waste (RDF).
Typical waste incineration systems in use today include stoker incinerators,
fluidized-bed incinerators, and gasification melting furnaces.
A stoker incinerator burns refuse while transporting it along a stoker. It
consists of a drying section for evaporating moisture in the refuse, a combustion
section for vigorously burning the refuse, and a post-combustion section to fully
burn the refuse. A fluidized-bed incinerator, on the other hand, burns refuse by
adding it to heated sand that swirls about much like boiling water by air forced in
from below. A gasification melting furnace, meanwhile, decomposes refuse into
gas at high temperatures and recovers the resulting pyrolysis gas and char for use
as fuel to drive a steam turbine and generate electricity. The char is melted into
slug at this time. In any of the above systems, the heat and exhaust gas generated
by incinerating refuse can be used as new sources of energy.
 Refuse can also be effectively used as a raw material for cement kilns
thanks to its high calorific value and good combustibility. The demand for refuse
paper and plastic fuel (RPF)—a mixture of plastic waste and used paper—has also
been growing among pulp manufacturers as an alternative fuel to oil.

LAND FILLING
It is a carefully designed structure built into or on top of the ground in which trash
is isolated from the surrounding environment (groundwater, air, rain). This isolation is
accomplished with a bottom liner and daily covering of soil. A sanitary landfill uses a clay
liner to isolate the trash from the environment. A municipal solid waste (MSW)
landfill uses a synthetic (plastic) liner to isolate the trash from the environment

The purpose of a landfill is to bury the trash in such a way that it will be isolated from
groundwater, will be kept dry and will not be in contact with air. Under these conditions,
trash will not decompose much. A landfill is not like a compost pile, where the purpose is
to bury trash in such a way that it will decompose quickly.

PARTS OF LANDFILL
A. Bottom Liner System

A landfill's major purpose and one of its biggest challenges is to contain the
trash so that the trash doesn't cause problems in the environment. The bottom liner
prevents the trash from coming in contact with the outside soil, particularly the
groundwater. In MSW landfills, the liner is usually some type of durable, puncture-
resistant synthetic plastic (polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polyvinylchloride).
It is usually 30-100 mils thick. The plastic liner may be also be combined with
compacted clay soils as an additional liner. The plastic liner may also be surrounded
on either side by a fabric mat (geotextile mat) that will help to keep the plastic liner
from tearing or puncturing from the nearby rock and gravel layers.

B. Cells (Old and New)

Perhaps, the most precious commodity and overriding problem in a landfill is

air space. The amount of space is directly related to the capacity and usable life of the
landfill. If you can increase the air space, then you can extend the usable life of the
landfill. To do this, trash is compacted into areas, called cells, that contain only one
day's trash. In the North Wake County Landfill, a cell is approximately 50 feet long by
50 feet wide by 14 feet high (15.25m x 15.25m x 4.26m). The amount of trash within
the cell is 2,500 tons and is compressed at 1,500 pounds per cubic yard! This
compression is done by heavy equipment (tractors, bulldozers, rollers and graders)
that go over the mound of trash several times). Once the cell is made, it is covered
with six inches of soil and compacted further. Cells are arranged in rows and layers of
adjoining cells (lifts).

In addition to compressing the trash into cells, space is conserved by excluding

bulky materials, such as carpets, mattresses, foam and yard waste, from the landfill.

C. Storm Water Drainage

It is important to keep the landfill as dry as possible to reduce the amount of

leachate. This can be done in two ways:
 Exclude liquids from the solid waste. Solid waste must be tested for liquids
before entering the landfill. This is done by passing samples of the waste
through standard paint filters. If no liquid comes through the sample after 10
minutes, then the trash is accepted into the landfill.
 Keep rainwater out of the landfill. To exclude rainwater, the landfill has a storm
drainage system. Plastic drainage pipes and storm liners collect water from
areas of the landfill and channel it to drainage ditches surrounding the landfill's
base.
The ditches are either concrete or gravel-lined and carry water to collection
ponds to the side of the landfill. In the collection ponds, suspended soil particles are
allowed to settle and the water is tested for leachate chemicals. Once settling has
occurred and the water has passed tests, it is then pumped or allowed to flow off-site.

D. Leachate Collection System

No system to exclude water from the landfill is perfect and water does get into
the landfill. The water percolates through the cells and soil in the landfill much as water
percolates through ground coffee in a drip coffee maker. As the water percolates
through the trash, it picks up contaminants (organic and inorganic chemicals, metals,
biological waste products of decomposition) just as water picks up coffee in the coffee
maker. This water with the dissolved contaminants is called leachate and is typically
acidic.

To collect leachate, perforated pipes run throughout the landfill (Figure 3).
These pipes then drain into a leachate pipe, which carries leachate to a leachate
collection pond. Leachate can be pumped to the collection pond or flow to it by gravity,
as it does in the North Wake County Landfill.

The leachate in the pond is tested for acceptable levels of various chemicals
(biological and chemical oxygen demands, organic chemicals, pH, calcium,
magnesium, iron, sulfate and chloride) and allowed to settle. After testing, the leachate
must be treated like any other sewage/wastewater; the treatment may occur on-site
or off-site. At the North Wake County Landfill, leachate is released to the wastewater
treatment plant in Raleigh, where it is treated and released into the Neuse River. Some
landfills recirculate the leachate and later treat it. This method reduces the volume of
leachate from the landfill, but increases the concentrations of contaminants in the
leachate.

E. Methane Collection System

Bacteria in the landfill break down the trash in the absence of

oxygen (anaerobic) because the landfill is airtight. A byproduct of this anaerobic
breakdown is landfill gas, which contains approximately 50 percent methane and 50
percent carbon dioxide with small amounts of nitrogen and oxygen. This presents a
hazard because the methane can explode and/or burn. So, the landfill gas must be
removed. To do this, a series of pipes are embedded within the landfill to collect the
gas. In some landfills, this gas is vented or burned.

More recently, it has been recognized that this landfill gas represents a usable
energy source. The methane can be extracted from the gas and used as fuel. In the
North Wake County Landfill, a company collects the landfill gas, extracts the methane,
and sells it to a nearby chemical company to power its boilers. The extraction system
is a split system, meaning that methane gas can go to the boilers and/or the methane
flares that burn the gas. The reason for the split system is that the landfill will increase
its gas production over time (from 300 cubic feet per minute to 1,250 cubic feet per
minute) and exceed the capacity of the boilers at the chemical company. Therefore,
the excess gas will have to be burned. It is not cost-effective to compress the excess
gas to liquid and sell it.

F. Covering or Cap

As mentioned above, each cell is covered daily with six inches of compacted
soil. This covering seals the compacted trash from the air and prevents pests (birds,
rats, mice, flying insects, etc.) from getting into the trash. This soil takes up quite a bit
of space. Because space is a precious commodity, many landfills are experimenting
with tarps or spray coverings of paper or cement/paper emulsions. These emulsions
can effectively cover the trash, but take up only a quarter of an inch instead of 6 inches!
 When a section of the landfill is finished, it is covered permanently with a
polyethylene cap (40 mil). The cap is then covered with a 2-foot layer of compacted
soil. The soil is then planted with vegetation to prevent erosion of the soil by rainfall
and wind. The vegetation consists of grass and kudzu. No trees, shrubs or plants with
deep penetrating roots are used so that the plant roots do not contact the underlying
trash and allow leachate out of the landfill.

Occasionally, leachate may seep through weak point in the covering and come
out on to the surface. It appears black and bubbly. Later, it will stain the ground red.
Leachate seepages are promptly repaired by excavating the area around the seepage
and filling it with well-compacted soil to divert the flow of leachate back into the landfill.

G. Groundwater Monitoring

At many points surrounding the landfill are groundwater monitoring stations.

These are pipes that are sunk into the groundwater so water can be sampled and
tested for the presence of leachate chemicals. The temperature of the groundwater is
measured. Because the temperature rises when solid waste decomposes, an increase
in groundwater temperature could indicate that leachate is seeping into the
groundwater. Also, if the pH of the groundwater becomes acidic, that could indicate
seeping leachate.

Total Energy Estimates

Estimates for the amount of polyethylene produced world-wide in 2008 range from about
50 to 110 million metrics tons depending on the source. We will use 80 million metrics
tons for global production of polyethylene in the following analysis, which is five times that
used for U.S. production in the next paragraph. Therefore, about (8.0 x 1010 kg)(4.5 x
107 J/kg) = 3.6 x 1018 J of energy were diverted to polyethylene-based plastics in 2008.
This translates to an upper estimate of (3.6 x 1018 J)/0.4 = 9.0 x 1018 J per year for all
plastics assuming world-wide production of plastics was 40% polyethylene by mass. The
lower estimate predicts 0.6(3.6 x 1018 J)/0.4 = 5.4 x 1018 J per year. The world-wide
consumption of hydrocarbons (i.e. natural gas, coal, and oil) amounted to about 4.2 x
1020 J in 2008. Thus, between 1.3% and 2.1% of primary hydrocarbon resources
consumed each year are diverted to hydrocarbon feedstocks for the production of plastics
world-wide. For economic reasons, coal is not currently used as a feedstock for plastics
production today. If we neglect coal, then about 2.8 x 1020 J of oil and natural gas
resources were consumed in 2008. From this, between 1.9% and 3.2% of the oil and
natural gas resources consumed in 2008 were diverted for use as feedstock for plastics
world-wide.

In 2008, U.S. production of oil and gas resources amounted to about 3.5 x 1019 J while
consumption reached 6.3 x 1019 J owing to the influx of oil imports. In 2008, U.S.
production of ethylene was about 23 million metric tons and production of polyethylene
was about 16 million metric tons. From these figures, an upper estimate for the
hydrocarbon feedstock energy used to produce all plastics is (1.6 x 1010 kg)(4.5 x 107
J/kg)/0.4 = 1.8 x 1018 J. The lower estimate is then 0.6(1.8 x 1018 J) = 1.1 x 1018 J.
Thus, based on the chemical potential energy for plastic materials and reported plastic
production numbers, between 3.1% and 5.1% of domestic U.S. oil and gas production
and between 1.7% and 2.9% of U.S. oil and gas consumed each year is used as
hydrocarbon feedstock energy for plastics. To check this estimate, reported figures for
the feedstock energy used by the "Plastic Materials and Resins" industry (NAICS 325211)
in 2006 was 1198 trillion Btu or 1.26 x 1018 J, which is within the upper and lower
estimates using 2008 figures.

In 2006, approximately 349 trillion Btu, or about 3.7 x 1017 J, were used to manufacture
plastics (NAICS 325211) not including the energy content of the hydrocarbon feedstocks.
Additionally, 336 trillion Btu, or about 3.5 x 1017 J, were used to manufacture plastic
products (NAICS 326). Note that the sum of these two industry categories likely does not
include the non-feedstock energy used to synthesize the base petrochemicals, such as
ethylene. The relevant non-feedstock figures for the petrochemical industry (NAICS
325110) were withheld from to avoid disclosure of trade secret information. Additionally,
these numbers may also not account for the energy used to manufacture plastic materials
that originate as secondary products of other industries. As a result, the estimate of 7.2 x
1017 J for non-feedstock energy of both NAICS 325211 and NAICS 326 may significantly
underestimate the actual figure used to make plastics. Using a U.S. plastics production
figure of 40 million metric tons in 2008 [4,5], this translates to (7.2 x 1017 J)/(4.0 x 1010
kg) = 1.8 x 107 J/kg of plastic, which is between about one-half and one-third that
suggested for the process energy requirements for most plastics. We will then assume
an average U.S. process energy requirement (i.e. non-feedstock energy) of between 3.6
x 107 J/kg and 5.4 x 107 J/kg of plastic. Using an estimate of 40 million metric tons for
U.S. plastics production in 2008, the non-feedstock energy used to make plastic has a
low estimate of (4.0 x 1010 kg)(3.6 x 107 J/kg) = 1.4 x 1018 J and a high estimate of (4.0
x 1010 kg)(5.4 x 107 J/kg) = 2.2 x 1018 J. If we assume that the non-feedstock energy
and production numbers in 2006 are comparable to that in 2008, then the total energy for
plastics production in the U.S. in 2008 is then the sum of the feedstock energy (between
1.1 x 1018 J and 1.8 x 1018 J) and non-feedstock energy (between 1.4 x 1018 J and 2.2
x 1018 J), which gives a low estimate of 2.5 x 1018 J and a high estimate of 4.0 x 1018
J. Primary energy consumption in the U.S. in 2008 was about 1.0 x 1020 J. From these
estimates, between 2.5% and 4.0% of total U.S. primary energy consumption in 2008 was
due to the energy for plastic.