Composting waste disposal

Fortune Plastics is one of the top five plastic waste disposal bag manufacturers in the USA. In 2005, the company introduced COMP-LETE, a biodegradable and compostable waste disposal bag made from Novamont s Mater-Bi polymers. COMP-LETE has been certified by the US Biodegradable Products Institute. 

The Heritage Bag Company produces a biodegradable and compostable waste disposal bag under the trade name Bio-Tuf. The product meets ASTM D 6400 specifications for biodegradability and compostability. 

Design the product for a secondary use so that it has a market value at end of life. Composting of municipal green waste to produce garden compost is an attempt to balance waste disposal costs by producing a valuable product. 

Certification enables compostable products to be identified by a unique mark and channelled for recovery of their constituent materials in specially developed processes. The Compostability Mark thus conveys product information to waste-disposal plant operators and product image to consumers. 

Wemterra blown films are starch-based biodegradable and compostable materials. They are certified in accordance with DIN V 54900 (Germany) OK Compost and VGS-Tabel (including OK-Compost-Label, Belgium). Wenterra film is used for manufacture of bio-waste disposal bags and sacks. 

Odour mitigation in the food industry, sewage treatment plants, animal carcass rendering plants, composting plants, waste disposal plants and refuse pits. 

It is tempting to think that for these short-term applications, biodegradable plastics offer a satisfactory compromise. It is probably true, for instance, with disposable covers or green bin liners for collecting compostable waste. However, as they decompose, these materials can release additives which are harmful for the ecosystem. Thus, we need to look carefully at these aspects [STA 06]. 

Assessmoits of the Mater-Bi bag and the multipurpose PE bag show that both can be regarded as equivalent, as long as the focus remains on production and disposal (disregarding compostable waste incineration). If the compostable waste that is incinerated with the PE bags is taken into account, the Mater-Bi bag offers a better ecological value. The production and disposal of the paper bag is bound to cause considerably more damage to the environment than that of the Mater-Bi bag (Table 1). 

In the waste disposal area, the environmental benefits of biodegradable plastics are limited to waste streams that will be composted, items that are associated with litter problems, and items that are apt to get into sewage treatment systems. If wastes will be disposed by landfill or incineration, biodegradability offers no real advantage. 

Novamont, a subsidiary of the Italian company Montedison, marketed Mater-Bi biodegradable film for composting and waste disposal. A typical resin contains 60% starch along with other materials. Mater-Bi resins containing starch and poly- -caprolactone can be handled on conventional film blowing and sealing equipment for LDPE, with minor modifications. One U.S. manufacturer of trash bags made with this material is Biocorp USA, which sells them as... 

Quarrying of the dacite ceased in the 1980s. Following this, the site lay idle for around 10 years, before a composting and waste disposal facility was established. Since then, the site has received inert waste materials, which are gradually filling the abandoned quarry void. Prior to placement of waste, liners and leachate collection facilities are established in the base of the void, and an array of water sampling piezometers have been installed around the site. 

In other applications the product s compostability, rather than serving a functional requirement of the application, provides an alternative waste-disposal method. Composting diverts waste from landfills and incinerators and contributes... 

For 2011 in the United States, the total waste disposed of in landfills was approximately 250 million tons. Of the MSW, approximately 53.6% was buried in a landfill, 34.7% was recycled or composted, and 11.7% was converted to energy through combustion. As shown in Table 2.8 plastics accounted for approximately 12.7% by weight of the solid debris (EPA Waste 2013). 

Solid waste disposal environments for plastic materials can include industrial compost, home compost, anaerobic digestion, landfill, litter, and ocean water. Only two disposal environments have both biodegradation standards for test methods and biodegradation performance standards, for example, industrial compost and marine biodegradation environments. Test method standards are available for anaerobic digestion, home compost, and landfill environments. The second necessary performance specification standard for biodegradation performance is not available for anaerobic digestion, home compost, or landfill... 

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