Degradable plastic defined

The ASTM defines a biodegradable plastic as a degradable plastic in which the degradation results from the action of naturally occurring microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and algae. 

Solid waste is defined as discarded material which is no longer used in its present form or condition however, it is a resource which is potentially useful. In reality, certain types of waste may render recovery and reuse impractical, inadvisable or even unfeasible. Solid waste management reduces the negative impact that non-degradable plastics waste could have on the environment. 

Thermal degradation is defined as degradation at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Degradation rates and specific reaction mechanisms of thermal degradation depend on the structure of the plastics and the temperature. Thermal-... 

For outdoor applications, sunlight plays an important role. This type of degradation is defined as UV degradation. Important plastic applications that suffer from UV degradation can be found in cars. 

An amendment to the Plastics Pollution Control Act of 1987 was enacted by the US Government in 1990 which requires all ring carriers in the US to be degradable. Currently, all such carriers, as defined by US Public Law 100-556, are manufactured from a photodegradable ethylene-carbon monoxide (E-CO) resin. This is the largest application of degradable plastics for packaging of any kind in the world to date. 

This work was done in collaboration with Professor Hiroshi Yoneyama of Osaka University [124], The procedure used to prepare the LiMu204 tubules is shown schematically in Fig. 21. A commercially available alumina filtration membrane (Anopore, Whatman) was used as the template. Alumina is especially suited for this application because of its high porosity, monodispersity of pore size, and the fact that it can be heated to high temperature without degradation. This membrane contains 200-nm-diameter pores, is 60 p,m thick, and has a porosity of 0.6. A 1.5 cm X 1.5 cm piece of this membrane was mounted on a Pt plate (2 cm X 2 cm) by applying a strip of plastic adhesive tape (also 2 cm X 2 cm NICHIBAN VT-19) across the upper face of the membrane. The Pt plate will serve as the current collector for the LiMn204 battery electrode material. The strip of tape, which will be subsequently removed, had a 1.0 cm circular hole punched in it, which defined the area of the membrane used for the template synthesis of the LiMn204. 

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