Polymer waste management options

Figure 2 Options for polymer waste management. (From Ref. 2.)...

Pol mer waste management options are shown in Figure 1.2. The utilization of waste polymers by mechanical recycling and incineration has ecological limitations. 

The most common waste management options for the fossil fuel-based polymers are incineration, landfill and mechanical recycling. In addition to these... 

Environmental comparisons including recycling as a waste management option are rarely made. Moreover, most of the biopolymers except starch can be processed by mechanical or even feedstock recycling (back to monomer). Mechanical recycling is in principle possible even for thermoplastic polymers reinforced with natural fibres. More attention must be paid to these options in future studies. 

In the first step, various options of production, use and waste management are evaluated sequentially first, the effects of variations in production are studied while the assumptions made for the use phase and for waste management remain unchanged. This is followed by similar sensitivity analyses for the use phase and for waste management. All these analyses are prepared both for starch polymer (Table 13.3) and EPS loose fill (not reported here). 

For starch polymer loose fill, the first column of Table 13.3 provides a ranking of the various options studied in production, in the use phase and in waste management. Twenty enviromental parameters were determined. The ranking shown in Table 13.3 has been determined by comparing for how many impact categories the environmental damage is lower in one case compared to the other without normalisation and valuation. Similar comparisons were also made for EPS loose fill (results not given). 

Waste management Composting of starch polymers, incineration of EPS. Collection after use is excluded. Sensitivity analyses for disposal via waste water. The following options are distinguished for starch polymers and EPS ... 

Waste-management requirements and disposal options are the drivers for research to develop environmentally biodegradable polymers and to establish laboratory testing protocols. It is commercial opportunities that indicate polymer types, structures, properties and uses that dictate waste management and disposal requirements. Disposal methods and locations identify the testing protocols that must be established for polymers in order to evaluate their environmental degradation under laboratory simulated environmental exposure conditions. Major options for the disposal and waste-management of water-soluble polymers are indicated in Fig.2. 

The use of recycled polymer becomes an option for waste management in the construction industry. Figure 7.6 shows an example of job where the remains of the PET polymers were used for making plates for covering inner walls. 

---