Plastic Pollution

Max Liboiron is a postdoctoral fellow in Media, Culture and Communication at New York University, where she researches theories of scale in relation to environmental change. Her dissertation, Redefining Pollution Plastics in the Wild , investigates scientific and advocate techniques to define plastic pollution, given that plastics are challenging centuries-old concepts of pollution as well as norms of pollution control, environmental advocacy and theories of contamination. Her work has been published in eTOPIA ... 

Prior to moving the rig and all auxiliary equipment the site will have to be cleared of vegetation and levelled. To protect against possible spills of hydrocarbons or chemicals the surface area of a location should be coated with plastic lining and a closed draining system installed. Site management should ensure that any pollutant is trapped and properly disposed of. 

Non-ionic surfactants used in detergents, paints, herbicides, pesticides and plastics. Breakdown products, such as nonylphenol and octylphenol, are found in sewage and industrial efffuents Products of combustion of many materials Widely used as plasticisers for PVC. Common environmental pollutants... 

In recent years there has rightly been a marked increase in concern for the environment. The continual global population explosion together with the increase in purchasing power has led to a vast increase in the amount of pollution and rubbish. Because of their visibility and inability to degrade at a reasonable rate, plastics materials have been particularly criticised. 

On his return home in 1911, Honda was appointed professor of physies at the new Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai, in the north of Japan this institution had been established only in 1906, when the finance minister twisted the arm of an industrialist who had made himself unpopular because of pollution eaused by his copper mines and extracted the necessary funds to build the new university. A provisional institute of physical and chemical research was initiated in 1916, divided into a part devoted to novel plastics and another to metals. This proved to be Honda s lifetime domain he assembled a lively team of young physicists and chemists. In the same year, Honda invented a high-cobalt steel also containing tungsten and chromium, which had by far the highest coercivity of any permanent-magnet material then known. He called it KS steel, for K. Sumitomo, one of his sponsors, and it made Honda famous. 

Table 5.48 Potential pollutants from heated paints or plastic coatings ...

Local autliority control of au pollution covers a second tier of less-polluting processes. Incinerators for waste chemicals, or waste plastic arising from their manufacture, and other waste incinerators dependent upon size are, however, subject to both the BATNEEC and BPEO requirements under the IPC regime. 

Occupational and environmental exposure to chemicals can take place both indoors and outdoors. Occupational exposure is caused by the chemicals that are used and produced indoors in industrial plants, whereas nonoccupa-tional (and occupational nonindustrial) indoor exposure is mainly caused by products. Toluene in printing plants and styrene in the reinforced plastic industry are typical examples of the two types of industrial occupational exposures. Products containing styrene polymers may release the styrene monomer into indoor air in the nonindustrial environment for a long time. Formaldehyde is another typical indoor pollutant. The source of formaldehyde is the resins used in the production process. During accidents, occupational and environmental exposures may occur simultaneously. Years ago, dioxin was formed as a byproduct of production of phenoxy acid herbicides. An explosion in a factory in... 

Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA), 259 Canadian Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse (CPPIC), 281, 301 CANOPY , metribuzin, 34 Cantharidin, 34 Caprolactam, 34 Captafol, 34 Captan, 35... 

The construction materials should be selected to withstand the operating conditions and the condition of the pollutants. Galvanized sheet steel and black mild steel are the most common for general work. Corrosion or heat applications will have ducting constructed in stainless steel or plastic. 

Other elements of weather and outdoor exposure can interact with UV radiation to accelerate degradation in degradable types of plastics. They include humidity, salt spray, wind, industrial pollutants, and atmospheric impurities such as ozone, biological agents, and temperature. The wavelengths that have the most effect on plastics range from 290 to 400 nm (2,900 to 4,000 A). 

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