Plastics in landfills

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers. Production and use data are available. More information for PBDEs is needed on import/export, release, and disposal. Soil is expected to be the medium with significant contamination due to disposal of PBDE-containing plastics in landfills. Although it is known that PBDE-containing plastics are disposed in landfills, the amount that is incinerated is not known. 

Exposure to di-n-octylphthalate occurs mainly from eating food or (kinking water that is stored in plastic containers. This substance has been found in at least 300 of the 1,416 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Di-n-octylphthalate can be released to water or air during its manufacture, by leaking from plastics in landfills, or from the burning of plastic products. 

In any case, the abandomnent of plastics in landfills is absurd. That is why PlasticsEurope defends along with public authorities a clear and ambitious goal zero plastics in landfill by 2020. This is not a utopia when the figures are examined. 

That said, under the cultural influence of northern Europe in the late 1990s, we began to implement ways to eliminate oitr soitrces of pollution. This is what allows us to say zero plastic in landfills for 2020 . 

The fate of pol5uners and plastics in landfill can be represented schematically as shown below ... 

UNI 10785 standards, respectively (see DEGRADABLE Polymers and Plastics in Landfill Sites). 

Most commonly used plastics are cheap to manufacture and highly available [35], and are both physically and chemically stable [36]. The durability of these materials makes them ideal for a wide variety of applications, but is also one of the primary factors leading to their accumulation in the environment [37]. Currently, there are three plastic disposal methods in widespread use, each with its own inherent drawbacks. Disposal of plastic in landfill is the simplest of these methods, however there is potential for secondary pollutants to be released into groundwater [38], Similarly, incineration of plastic waste leads to the formation and subsequent release into the atmosphere of dangerous secondary pollutants[38]. Recycling is the most environmentally friendly technique, however it a more expensive process, and often additives and impurities make it extremely difficult for some plastics to be recycled [38]. 

It follows that there are three reasons why the use of degradable plastics in place of conventional packaging plastics in landfill disposal is encouraged by both financial and environmental considerations. 

Swift G and Wiles D M, Biodegradable and degradable polymers and plastics in landfill sites in Kroschwitz J I, Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, Hoboken, John Wiley Sons, in press. 

It seemed, more than ten years ago, that it was time to add one more characteristic to the list of desirable properties for plastics that usually have a service life of 18 months or less. The concept is ttiat of controlled-Ufetime plastics that have a designed shelf-life/use life combination but that degrade chemically and mechanically far more rapidly than normal in whatever disposal environment they are placed, intentionally or inadvertently. When implemented correctly, this concept can alleviate die problems of the accumulation of discarded plastics in landfills as well as plastics litter accumulation. 

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