Manufacturers, materials, recycling cycling

During the plastic material life cycle, plastics waste is recycled as a resource. The amount and type of recyclable plastic depends upon the composition and quantity of waste from the municipal and industrial waste streams. Industrial waste from the manufacture of plastic products is regarded as a manufacturing loss the reduction of plastics waste, as a result of recycling the material, increases productivity and reduces the manufacturing loss. 

There are several the stages in a product life cycle and the way in which it interacts with the environment. From the extraction stage, the materials are processed, manufactured, utilized and wasted, being, in a greater or lesser fashion, raised, manufactured and recycled. Such an interaction with the environment is inherent to the production processes due to the very fact that they require inputs fi om the surroundings (energy, ores, fuel, etc.) as well as, like the Maxwell demon, their very presence interferes with the surroundings (7). 

The recycle weapons fuel cycle rehes on the reservoir of SWUs and yellow cake equivalents represented by the fissile materials in decommissioned nuclear weapons. This variation impacts the prereactor portion of the fuel cycle. The post-reactor portion can be either classical or throwaway. Because the avadabihty of weapons-grade fissile material for use as an energy source is a relatively recent phenomenon, it has not been fully implemented. As of early 1995 the United States had purchased highly enriched uranium from Russia, and France had initiated a modification and expansion of the breeder program to use plutonium as the primary fuel (3). AH U.S. reactor manufacturers were working on designs to use weapons-grade plutonium as fuel. 

The use of cross-functional teamwork can enhance the benefits that can be realized during each component of the LCA process. This underscores the fact that the life-cycle assessment is a dynamic and iterative process of evaluation. In order for this dynamism to be fostered, the LCA must encompass as much of the life cycle of the product, process, or activity, as possible. This will necessarily include total cost of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, and distribution use/reuse/maintenance recycling, and final disposal (Fava and Page, 1992). 

Waste that occurs during the manufacturing and processing of PS has practically always been fed/recycled back into the processing cycle. The reuse of municipal waste is feasible without any problems with uncontaminated and contaminated materials. Each is used in new market products. 

APME (Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe) Life Cycle Analysis of Recycling and Recovery of Household Plastics Waste Packaging Materials. Summary Report (1995). 

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