Disposal of Polymers

By Karl Coelho
Disposal of Polymers

There are 3 ways to dispose of
polymers.

Landfills Incineration
Recycling
Biodegradable
Polymers

LANDFILLS
Waste polymers are
disposed of in
landfill sites. This
uses up valuable
land, and suitable
sites often fill up
quickly. Waste polymers are
disposed of in landfill
sites. This uses up
valuable land, suitable
sites often fill up and
quickly.

LANDFILLS - SPACE
Landfill sites obviously require space.
Although some types of landfill can
be used for other purposes once finished,
they still require land while in use
and restrict possible future uses of the land.
The more land used for landfill,
the less available for agriculture, natural
habitat and
development.

LANDFILLS – GAS EMISSIONS
Organic materials, including paper and cardboard,
decompose. The conditions
of landfill are such that the decomposition
releases large quantities of
dangerous gases, including methane, a potent
greenhouse gas. The gas emissions
contribute to air pollution and climate change.
They are also a potential health
hazard, not to mention being malodorous enough
to constitute an ongoing
nuisance to nearby communities.

LANDFILLS – SOIL POLLUTION
Chemicals can leak into the soil from the accumulation of
waste, and may
eventually end up in the water supply. Modern methods,
such as the use of
landfill liners, can mitigate direct soil pollution to a certain
extent.
However, the risk of pollutants leaching into the soil
remains. Although
hazardous wastes are supposed to go to purpose-built
landfills, be incinerated
or recycled, some inevitably ends up with general trash.
Batteries contain
hazardous chemicals such as lead and often end up with
general trash, simply
because householders are unaware of proper disposal
methods.

LANDFILLS – LOSS OF MATERIALS
Most of the materials sent to landfill could
be used for something else.
Materials such as plastics, paper, metals
and glass are recyclable. All organic
materials can be composted into a rich soil.
Wasting the materials by burying
them in landfills means raw materials are
continuously consumed, wasting energy
and leading to serious habitat destruction.

LANDFILLS – IMPACT ON COMMUNITIES
Open landfills are an eyesore and few
residents want to live near to an
enormous pile of garbage, or even pass one
regularly. Landfill sites also
attract and support pests such as rats and
cockroaches, some of which carry
diseases. The associated noise, air and soil
pollution impacts humans as well as
wildlife.

LANDFILLS – MONETARY COSTS
Landfill sites have associated
economic costs, including land,
design,
transport of waste and maintenance.
They have initial and ongoing costs but
do
not provide any services in return,
other than being a place for
communities to
send their waste.

BURNING
Polymers release a lot
of heat energy when
they burn. This energy
can be used
to heat homes or
generate electricity. But
there are problems with
incineration.
Carbon dioxide is
produced, which adds to
global warming. Toxic
gases are also
produced, unless the
polymers are incinerated
at high
temperatures.

BURNING – ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGES
Waste disposal has developed into an industry larger than
just removing
waste. Organic waste is separated from inorganic and non-
recyclable waste. This
allows cities to use organic waste to mulch or create
compost for public areas.
Some cities even package and sell the compost to
generate further revenues. The
items that can be recycled are re-processed, and the
materials are used to
create new products. This method reduces the further
consumption of natural
resources and lowers the ultimate waste disposal
needs.

BURNING – HEALTH BENEFITS
It was once a common practice to burn waste either in your
own backyard or at a
landfill. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health
Services, when
household garbage and plastics are burned, they release
particulate matter which
are solid compounds suspended in air. Being exposed to
particulate matter
increases heart disease, asthma, emphysema and
respiratory disease incident
rates. Waste disposal relocates waste to an area where it
can be safely left,
incinerated or otherwise disposed of. Removing waste from
public areas reduces
overall health risks, decreases pest infestation in urban
areas and lowers
exposures to biohazards.

BURNING – WASTE ENERGY
Waste energy is a by-product of some methods of waste
incineration. While
incineration can release large amounts of carbon dioxide
and other pollutants,
there have been modern advances that capture the energy
produced in incineration
and use it to generate electricity. The result is a complex
method of re-using
items to lower the need of future waste. While this is still
being done on a
small scale by industrial factories, it is a start and huge
advantage of proper
waste disposal.

RECYCLING
Polymers have recycling
symbols like this
one for PVC to show
what they areMany polymers can be
recycled. This reduces
disposal problems and
the amount
of crude oil used. But
first the different
polymers must be
separated from each
other. This can be
difficult and expensive.

RECYCLING – SAVING LANDFILL SPACE
Plastic is not a biodegradable material,
which means that it can sit in a
landfill for hundreds or thousands of years.
One ton of recycled plastic can
save approximately 7.4 cubic yards of space
in a landfill. Best of all, plastics
can be indefinitely recycled, which means
they could potentially be eradicated
from landfills altogether.

RECYCLING – ENERGY CONSERVATION
By using recyclable plastic materials, factories can
produce new products
using approximately 2/3 less energy than with raw
material production. A single
pound of recycled plastic bottles made from
polyethylene terephthalate can save
nearly 12,000 BTUs of heat energy. To put it into
terms that hit close to home,
one ton of recycled plastic can save a year's worth
of energy consumption for
two people.

RECYCLING – REDUCING OF HARMFUL EMISSIONS
Factories that produce plastic products
from raw materials also produce a
great deal of harmful greenhouse
gases. By using recycled plastic
materials,
production time is greatly reduced,
which means that less greenhouse
emissions
are making their way into the
atmosphere.

RECYCLING – COSERVATION OF RESOURCES
Oil and natural gas are two of the main
components used for the production of
the raw materials used to make plastic. These
natural resources are not only in
limited supply, but also in high demand for other
important uses such as
powering automobiles and producing electricity.
Because plastic materials are
already in such abundance, recycling these
existing materials means that less
natural resources are used for production of new
plastic
materials.

Advantages and
disadvantages of
land-fill, burning
and recycling
polymers

ADVANTAGES
•The polymers are buried in sites
dedicated to waste.
• Incineration of polymers releases a lot
of heat energy, which can be used
to generate electricity.
•Many polymers now carry labels to
indicate how they should be recycled.
•The clear advantage of recycling is
protection of useful
hydrocarbon esources for the future.

DISADVANTAGES
•The amount of land available is limited and
suitable sites often fill up rapidly.
• Carbon dioxide is produced, which adds to
global warming.
• Toxic gases are also produced, unless the
polymers are incinerated at high
temperatures.
• Recycling polymers is a good idea, but not
always practical. Many polymers are mixed
with other materials and paints or dyes and
separation is difficult and expensive.

Thanks for watching!
Disposal of Polymers
-Karl Coelho

Disposal of Polymers

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