United States Plastics generation

Figure 9.1 United States Plastics generation, recovery, and recycling rate, 1960-2012, reported in 2014. Current production and recycling numbers and rate are highlighted [1].

Plastics in MSW The Americas, in the United States, plastic resin sales and captive use reached 46.2 million tons in 2001, a 4% decrease from 2000, according to the American Plastics Council (1). Resin production rose to 45.9 milUon tons in 2001, up 4.8% from the previous year. The U.S. plastics industry continues to expand into new markets as plastic products come to replace ones made of wood and metal (Fig. 1). In the United States, some 232 million tons of MSW were generated in 2000, an increase of 0.9 million tons over 1999 (Fig. 2). Of this stream, plastics constitute about 10.7 wt%. Plastic containers and packaging dominate, followed by materials in goods such as automobiles, appliances, electronics, furniture, and carpeting. Plastic resins used in containers and packaging include poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET in soft drink bottles with polypropylene [PP] caps), high density polyethylene (HDPE in milk and water bottles), poly(vinyl... 

Production of chlorine and sodium hydroxide by electrolysis of aqueous sodium chloride is the basis of the chlor-alkali industry, a business that generates annual sales of approximately 4 billion in the United States alone. Both chlorine and sodium hydroxide rank among the top 10 chemicals in terms of production Annual output of each in the United States is 11-12 million tons. Chlorine is used in water and sewage treatment and in the manufacture of plastics such as poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Sodium hydroxide is employed in making paper, textiles, soaps, and detergents. 

The minimization of waste is an important issue. Recycling is a good option but should only be considered if reuse is not possible. For a sustainable future, it is necessary to recycle as much as possible. The amount of waste varies from country to country, with the United States leading the list with 0.88 ton per person per year, followed by Australia (0.74 ton per person per year), and Canada (0.5 ton per person per year) [35,36]. Only 27% of the municipal solid waste generated in the United States in 1995 was recycled. Materials typically recycled included paper, plastic, wood, steel, aluminum, and glass. 

Polymers. Synthetic polymers or plastics are everywhere. They are used in cars, computers, planes, houses, eyeglasses, paints, bags, appliances, medical devices, carpets, tools, clothing, boats, batteries, and pipes. More than 60 million pounds of polymers are produced in the United States each year. The feedstocks that are used to produce these polymers are virtually all made from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. Approximately 2.7 percent of all crude oil is used to generate chemical feedstocks. 

SNF constitutes about half of the HLW in the United States. The other half comes from the construction and existence of nuclear weapons. All HLW is a federal responsibility. About 90% of the radioactivity in nuclear waste is from HLW. The largest volume of nuclear waste is low-level waste (LLW) and that is mostly the responsibihty of the state (or group of states) in which it is generated. LLW is rather awkwardly defined, being everything that is neither HLW nor defense waste and consists of wastes from hospitals pharmaceutical labs research labs and the moon suits, tools, and the like from nuclear power plants. In the eastern United States, most of the LLW is in the form of the plastic beads that make up the ion-exchange resins used in nuclear power plants to clean various loops of water used in power production. 

In spite of some economical advantages, the idea of incineration is not accepted everywhere, the major problem being environmental hazards generated during combustion—the toxic gases and contamination of heavy metals (acid rain), dioxins and chlorine chemicals (mainly from PVC). Wherever incineration is used, plastics are not usually separated from the total waste, which reduces the energy recovery, and also creates more ash. Japan leads in the use of incineration of MSW at about 50% (including 67% of plastics wastes), compared to 30% in Europe and about 15% in the United States. 

---