Plastic Waste and the Environment

No longer can industry now lose interest in the end of life of the objects it places on the market place. This is particularly true of the plastics industry which is frequently attacked for its real or imagined implications for environmental issues. 

However, focusing on the problems of waste is probably not entirely justified.  

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All of these concerns should be taken into account, but the requested analysis of risks should also be carried out in terms of risk-benefit assessments. It is thus important for society to recognize the developments in science and in industry in the field of polymers. It is not generally known that plastics consume only 4% of global oil production and that their widespread use makes it possible to save a much larger quantity. In addition to this, at the end of their life they produce less waste, because they are lighter (less than 1% of the total weight of waste in Europe). The study by Claude Duval (see Chapter 2) allows us to address the intimate link between plastic waste and the environment. Thus, despite appearances, plastics undoubtedly contribute to sustainable development, and are beneficial for the future, as Michel Loubry attempts to demonstrate (see Chapter 4). 

This chapter addresses two controversies associated with plastics, namely the fate of plastic waste in the environment and the effects of substances contained in plastics and suspected of having endocrine-disrupting effects. 

In fact, depending upon the type and content of pro-oxidant/pro-degradant additives present in the doped plastic items and upon the environmental conditions recordable in the compartment where the postconsumer plastic items are either intentionally or accidentally abandoned, one can foresee what would be the reasonable time frame necessary for a safe, useful biodegradation, thus mitigating the accumulation of plastic waste in the environment. 

The lesson plan uses the debate about the extensive use of plastics in our current society. The benefits of plastics are mainly the cheap and practical use of plastics this is confronted and examined in the context of the growing amounts of plastics waste in the environment and the social problems of exporting waste from the Western world to poorer countries. Taking into consideration the multidimensional effects of plastics usage, an evaluation is complex. The use of different sorts of conventional plastics, or the search for alternatives, like bioplasties from starch, have to be evaluated by many means, not only by looking at the practical dimension of synthesis and properties. 

Textual approach and problem analysis The problem of plastic waste in the environment is used to open debate about different sorts of plastics (e.g. PVC or PET) and the alternative of bio-plasties (e.g. TPS). 

Abstract RISKCYCLE is an artificial word which addresses the risks associated with the global recycling streams. As part of materials like waste paper, plastic, and electronics, pollutants and chemical additives are transported abroad, e.g., they are exported to emerging and developing countries. Here these pollutants/additives can cause risks for humans and the environment especially if treatment/recycling is performed on a lower technical standard. The specific risks that can occur have been studied in an international EU-funded research program, which is the basis of this publication. 

A minor part of mined fossil fuels is used as a raw material for the chemical industry (e.g., plastics, synthetic fabrics, carbon black, ammonia, and fertilizers). The major part supplies the energy needs for modem society. Fossil fuels supply about 86% of global primary energy consumption (39% oil, 24% coal, and 23% natural gas), providing energy for transportation, electricity generation, and industrial, commercial, and residential uses (El A 2001). Coal, and to a lesser extent oil, combustion leaves a significant amount of solid waste. The treatment of solid waste from fossil fuel combustion is treated in different chapters of this book. In this chapter we focus on air emissions of fossil fuel combustion, and their impact on human health and the environment. 

DEHP can enter the environment through releases from factories that make or use DEHP and from household items containing it. Over long periods of time, it can move out of plastic materials into the environment. Therefore, DEHP is widespread in the environment about 291,000 pounds were released in 1997 from industries. It is often found near industrial settings, landfills, and waste disposal sites. A large amount of plastic that contains DEHP is buried at landfill sites. DEHP has been found in groundwater near waste disposal facilities. 

EC 1907/2006). As the name implies, it deals with the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemical substances. The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007. The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances.156 The ELV (End of Life Vehicles) directive aims to reduce the amount of environmentally unfriendly waste from ELVs. Similar initiatives are well developed in Japan and are evolving in China157 and many other countries. In the United States, at the state level, some states (for example, Maine and California) are adopting material restrictions on PVC plasticizers and certain brominated FRs. 

A wide variety of xenobiotics can act as EDC (Fig. 8.5), bisphenol-A (BPA) and nonylphenol (NP) being the most extensively studied. They are widely dispersed in the environment, but they can mainly be found in wastewater effluents. BPA is used as a raw material for the production of polycarbonates and epoxy resins, and is present in the discharges of BPA producing factories, from installations that incorporate BPA into plastic, from leaching of plastic wastes and landfill sites. 

The production of plastics also involves the use of potentially harmful chemicals under the name of stabilizers or colorants. Many of these stabilizers/additives have not undergone environmental risk assessment and their impact on human health and the environment is currently uncertain and doubtful. Phthalates, as additives, are widely used in the manufacturing of PVC products, and risk assessments of the effects of phthalates on the environment are currently being carried out. Recent research for the Community Recycling Network casts doubt on whether pyrolysis and gasification are the right processes for dealing with the residual municipal waste. 

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