Solid Waste - Plastics

Modern science and industry have provided a growing supply of material products. When they reach the end of their useful life, they become solid waste, and disposing of it has become a growing problem. Worst of all is over-packaging to stimulate sales, so discarded packaging is the major contributor to this solid waste. Plastics are not the major component of solid waste but because of their low density, bright colors, and relative weather-resistance, they are the most obvious component. It would be desirable to remove them from solid waste by recycling. 

The presence of a gasification unit opens up possibilities for the gasification of all kinds of organic wastes, such as solid waste, plastics, sludge, rubber wood and household waste (Schwarze Pumpe, 2002). 

The plastic pellets were likely released from land-based sources and could reach the Atlantic Ocean during treatment plant shutdowns or through storm-water discharges during rainy periods. Plastic pellet pollution can be removed from the water at water treatment plants with the filters that used to remove solid waste. Plastic pellet pollution on beaches, however, is very difficult to remove due to the small size of the pellets. 

Of the 200 million tons of municipal solid waste collected in the United States in 1993 (1), 22% was recycled while 62% was placed in landfills and 16% incinerated (2). Plastics comprised 9.3% of these materials. The number of U.S. residential collection programs increased from 1,000 in 1988 to more than 7,000 involving more than 100 million people in 1993 (2). Approximate 1994 U.S. recycling rates are given in Table 1. 

R. S. Magee, Plastics in Municipal Solid Waste Incineration A Eiterature Study, Hazardous Substance Management Research Center, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Mar. 1989. 

Materials-Recovery Systems Paper, rubber, plastics, textiles, glass, metals, and organic and inorganic materials are the principal recoverable materials contained in industrial solid wastes. 

Screening Used to separate solid waste components hy Trommels and horizontal and vibrating screens for Optical sorting Used to separate plastics... 

With new plastics and processing techniques always becoming available, the design challenge becomes easier, even when taking today s solid-waste problem into account. Today s plastics and processes allow designers to incorporate and interrelate all the aspects of success. In products such as electronics, medical devices, transportation controls, and many others where user-friendly design is required, it has to be obvious to all that plastics play an important role. 

British thermal unit Btu is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 lb of water 1°F (0.6°C) at sea level. As an example, one lb of solid waste usually contains 4500 to 5000 Btu. Plastic waste contains greater Btu than other materials of waste. 

Geomembrane These liners chiefly provide impermeable barriers. They can be characterized as (1) solid waste containment hazardous landfill, landfill capping, and sanitary landfill (2) liquid containment canal, chemical/brine pond, earthen dam, fish farm, river/coastal bank, waste-water, and recreation (3) mining, leach pad and tailing ponds and (4) specialties floating reservoir caps, secondary containment, tunnel, erosion, vapor barrier, and water purification. Plastics used include medium to very low density PE, PVC, and chlorosulfonated PE (CSPE). (The Romans used in their land and road constructions what we call geomembrane.)... 

Municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs) are a robust treatment method for very different mixed waste types of different origin. The typical MSWI handles waste of a calorific value between 9 and 13 MJ/kg. They are the key technology for the treatment of integral household waste in countries such as Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany. Some 7% of this integral household waste consists of plastics. Treatment of... 

Note MPW is Mixed Plastic Waste MSW ca is municipal solid waste and comparable material Typical capacities considered are 50 ktpa to 200 tpa Theoretical potential if most blast furnaces and cement kilns in the EU start to replace regular fossil resources by MPW ... 

The recycling of plastics waste is eonsidered with respect to energy recovery through incineration. It is claimed that burning solid municipal waste could produce nearly 10% of Europe s domestic electricity and heat and conserve resources by replacing, for example, over half of current coal imports to Western Europe. The potential for power from waste plastics and examples of energy from waste in action are described. 

Combustion of plastics waste with energy recovery is discussed as one approach to the recycling and waste management of waste plastics. Their role in municipal solid waste combustion is examined, and the importance of refuse derived fuel pellets. Facts supporting the importance of waste to energy projects are reported, and details of some projects currently examining MSW combustion with energy recovery are detailed. 

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS BY DISPOSAL OF PLASTIC FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE... 

An Ecoprofile is an assessment of the environmental and resource impacts of a waste disposal process. This paper describes ecoprofiles for six different ways of disposing the plastic fraction in municipal solid waste -two material recycling processes that include separation of the plastic waste, material recycling without separation of the plastic waste, pyrolysis, incineration with heat recovery, and landfill. 17 refs. 

Brussels, 1994, pp.8. 12ins. 24/3/95. 8(13)5 ENERGY RECOVERY THROUGH COCOMBUSTION OF MIXED PLASTICS WASTE AND MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE... 

An examination is made of processes used in an incineration plant in Wurzburg, Germany, in which plastics are incinerated together with municipal solid waste to produce electrical and thermal energy. Results are presented of studies of emissions arising from the combustion of wastes containing three different levels of plastics. 

The feasibility is discussed of producing energy from household waste. Plastics represent only 7% of all municipal solid waste, but this represents 30% of the... 

Test results are presented and discussed following trials in which energy recovery of mixed plastics domestic waste and municipal solid waste was carried out by means of co-combustion. The research also involved the collection of data relating to emissions, and the levels of halogens, dioxins and furans and heavy metals within the mixed plastics waste. 

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