Plastic Waste Management

Student seminar presentation

by-MOHD. ASHIF
 Presentation Outlines
• INTRODUCTION
• DEFINITION AND TYPES OF PLASTIC MATERIALS
• WHAT ARE THE COMMON RECYCLED PLASTICS?
• PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
• PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA
• 5 STAGE OF PLASTIC RECYCLE PROCESS
• CONCLUSION
 Introduction
Sources of Wastes
• After food waste and paper waste, plastic waste is the major constitute of
municipal and industrial waste in cities.
• Even the cities with low economic growth have started producing more
plastic waste due to:
Plastic packaging,
Plastic shopping bags,
PET bottles
Other goods/appliances using plastic as the major component.
• 20 times more plastic is produced today than 50 years ago.
The world’s annual consumption of plastic materials has increased from
around 5 million tonnes in the 1950s to nearly 100 million tonnes.
• Due to lack of Integrated solid waste management (ISWM), most of the
plastic waste is neither collected properly nor disposed of in appropriate
manner to avoid its negative impacts on environment and public health.
• On the other hand, plastic waste recycling can provide
the most environmental friendly way.
Economically valuable, as it generates resources, which are in high
demand.
Some of the developed countries have already established commercial
level resource recovery from waste plastics.
• Through support of CPCB and CSIR they have found that the soil and
ground water quality may be affected in dumpsite area.
Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM)
3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) principle.
DEFINITION AND TYPES OF PLASTIC MATERIALS

• The term “Plastics” includes materials composed of various elements such

as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine and sulphur.
• Plastics are macromolecules, formed by polymerization and having
the ability to be shaped by application of reasonable amount of heat and
pressure or another form of forces.
• Plastics, depending on their physical properties, may be classified as
thermoplastic & thermosetting plastic materials.
• Thermoplastic materials can be formed into desired shapes under heat
and pressure and become solids on cooling.
Examples - polyethylene, polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride

• Thermosetting materials which once shaped cannot be softened/remoulded

by the application of heat.
Examples are phenol formaldehyde and urea formaldehyde.

• Out of total uses of plastic, 80% are Thermoplastic and 20% are
Thermosetting.
• Plastic pollute beaches and oceans

• Plastic litter the landscape

• Plastic bags kill animals

• Burning of plastic generate toxic fumes

 What are the Common Recycled Plastics?

1. Polyethylene Terephtalate (PETE)

2. High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
3. Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
4. Polypropylene (PP)
5. Polystyrene (PS)
 Plastic Waste Management-
1. Conventional Technology
i. Recycling
ii. Incineration
iii. Land filling
2. New Technology
i. Polymer Blended Bitumen Roads
ii. Co-processing in Cement Kiln
iii. Liquid fuel
 Plastic Waste Management in India
Recycling technology have been classified into 4 general
categories :

.
Primary recycling - involves processing of a waste /scrap
into a product with characteristics similar to those of
original product.

Secondary recycling - involves processing of waste/scrap

plastics into materials that have characteristics different
from those of original plastics product.
Tertiary recycling - involves the production of basic chemicals
and fuels from plastics waste/scrap as part of the municipal
waste stream or as a segregated waste.

Quaternary recycling - retrieves the energy content of

waste/scrap plastics by burning/incineration. This process is
not in use in India.
5 Stages of Plastic Recycling Process

Plastic Washing the

Identification impurities

Re-identification
Tearing of the
of the plastic
plastic
grades

Extruding
Not every plastic bag or plastic product can be
recycled. Once the plastic arrives at the recycling
plant, the company engineers inspect the plastic type
as recycling plastic is a convoluted practice. Mixed
plastic or poor quality plastic or drawstring bags can’t
be recycled. Engineers at the plant sort out the plastic
bags and plastic products before taking them into
consideration for a possible recycling.
After the engineers identify the type of plastic and considers it
worthy for a recycling, it is separated and taken into the next
level, where it is cleaned. The washing process starts with
removing the labels on plastic products, laminated bags or any
other labeled product of plastic. Once the labels are removed
the other impurities and adhesives are removed. Until and
unless these impurities are removed the quality of recycled
plastic wouldn’t improve.
In the third stage, the waste plastic is loaded onto
the conveyor belt that takes the plastic bags
directly towards rotating metal teeth that tears the
plastic into small pieces. The same plastic pieces
are bagged up and passed through a stringent
quality check.
Once the shredded plastic is passed through a
stringent quality and chemical test, the plastic pieces
are labeled differently as per the quality of plastics
and its grade. Certain Grade plastics extracted from
drawstring bags or plastic products are blended with
virgin plastic and taken to the next level of recycling.
The last stage of the recycling process involves
melting the clean plastic pieces and extruding into
the form of pellets. These pallets are then sent to the
manufacturing unit, where they are manufactured
with the next lot of plastics. The next lot of plastic is
then converted into wonderful plastic products we
use in our daily lives.
 State specific initiatives

Few states in India have also instituted state laws to

minimize plastic waste.

Himachal Pradesh was the first to formulate a state rule

to protect the state from plastic waste menace which
is followed by Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra,
Uttar Pradesh etc.
 Conclusion
• According to CPCB report the calorific value of plastic waste
can be utilized effectively by replacing coal.
• Plastic waste can be used in pyro-processing of cement
manufacturing.
• The new rules propose to increases the thickness of plastic
bags to 50 microns so that their cost discourages people from
using them.
• Penalties need to be made stricter for better implementation.
 Reference
1) Ackerman, Waste management and Climate Change. Local Environment,
5(2), pp. 223-229. 2000
2) Down to Earth – Plastic waste management Rules, 2015
3) Japan Ministry of Environment, 2003: Fundamental plan for
establishment a sound material-cycle society.
4) Marine Plastic Pollution and Seafood Safety Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing
Xue Za Zhi. Analysis on heavy metal pollution in major seafoods from
Zhoushan Fishery, China.
5) Qureshi MS, Yusoff AR, Wirzal MD, Sirajuddin, Barek J, Afridi HI,
Ustundag Z Methods for the determination of endocrine disrupting
phthalate esters. Crit Rev Anal Chem. April 2015 Apr