EDILLO, NIKIE S.

BSChE-V

Activities in Solid Waste Management (ChE 82)

1. Using the principles of heuristic routing, develop a collection route for the streets shown
in the figure below. Each blockface must be collected (i.e., one side of street collection).
Eliminate all blind blockfaces and minimize left-hand turns.
2. Design a refuse collection route for the suburban development shown in the figure below.
Note the large and busy four-lane highway and other features. What criteria should you
use to judge the suitability of your route? Justify your route on the basis of these criteria.
Assume the following: Collection is required on all streets. The trucks come from town
and return to town. There is no median strip on the four-lane highway (left-hand turns are
possible). All streets other than the highway are small residential streets. The small
bridge has a weight limit less than the weight of the empty collection vehicle.
Problems:

1. Plastic bags at food stores have become ubiquitous. Often recycling advocates point
to the plastic bags as the prototype of wastage and pollution, as stuff that clogs up our
landfills. In retalation, plastic bag manufacturers have begun a public relations
campaign to promote their product. On one of the flyers, they say:

“The bag does not emit toxic fumes when properly incinerated. When burned in
waste-to-energy plants, the resulting byproducts from combustion are carbon dioxide
and water vapor, the very same by-products that you and I produce when we breathe.
The bag is inert in landfills where it does not contribute to leaching bacterial or
explosive gas problems. The bag photodegrades in sunlight to the point that normal
environmental factors of wind and rain will cause it to break into very small pieces,
thereby addressing the unsightly litter problem.”

Critique this statement. Is all of it true? If not, what part is not? Is anything
misleading?

ANSWER:
 Not all of the statements are correct. It is not true that plastic bags do not emit
gases when properly incinerated. The amount of toxic pollutants is low when
properly incinerated, but it does not mean completely stops toxic emission.
The by-product from combustion of plastic bags in waste-to-energy plants
emit low level of toxic pollutants such as acid gases, dioxins and heavy
metals, and others, not only carbon dioxide and water vapor. Another way to
turn waste into energy is through gasification, a process that melts plastics in
the near absence of oxygen at very high temperatures (which ensures
contaminants such as dioxins and furans are not formed). The method creates
a synthetic gas used to fuel turbines. But gasification plants are not
competitive with such cheap natural gas. Plastic bags can be inert in landfill
sites where it does not contribute to bacterial leaching and gas explosion
problems.

2. We often see packaging labelled “Made from 100% recycled materials” or “Made
from 50% recycled materials”. The objective is of course to make you believe that the
company is environmentally conscious and caring and, thus, to make you buy more of
their products.
a. Why are such statements as the ones quoted above potentially misleading?
b. All things considered, if the statements are true, why ought you to buy their
products in preference to products with no recycled material?

ANSWER:
a. The liability of the labels in the products.
The products that are available in the market carry a large number of labels. One
among them states that the product is recyclable or it is made from recycled
materials. Most of us are not aware of what these symbols actually mean. Experts
say that these are rather misleading as they don’t reveal all the necessary
information. The material of the product and the process of manufacturing are not
available. If these information is not available, then it is tedious to determine the
recycling method.
b. The preference of recycled products over others. When we think of recycling, we
are thinking that we help decreasing waste in the community but no. We are just
simply separating plastics from the other wastes and turn them into other things
that will have other purposes such as “Plastic Bottles” turns into “Flower Pots”.
We also think that recycled materials just circulates around while other products
that are not recyclables is a waste, thus making us to buy plastics because it’s all
in the mindset.