Page 38 - Plastics News Issue December 2024
P. 38
FEATURE NEWS
cess gives off toxic gases that pollutes the air,
and constant production of toxic gases, and bad
greenhouse gases perpetuates the greenhouse
effect.
Technological Innovations in Plastic Recycling
Out of all the technological solutions that are
effective to use in relation to the plastic waste
issue, the best opportunity is indicated to be
recycling. Chemical recycling has been on the
ascendancy as technology is advancing to de-
solution the imminent issue of plastic wastes. velop the recycling of plastics into useful feeds.
Mechanical recycling means collection of used
plastics, cleaning them, cutting them into small 1. Chemical Recycling
pieces and then using them in manufacturing
new products. However, this process is limited Whereas mechanical recycling involves turning
because it is found in practice that the plastic used plastic into new products, chemical recy-
objects decrease in quality each time they are cling involves breaking the plastics back into
recycled.That is why most plastic materials are their molecular chain and then use them to cre-
recycled several times in cycles before they at- ate new plastics or products. This process in-
tain their useless state. volves the treatment of the plastics by solving
them into their monomers then polymerizing to
Secondly, there are many plastic products avail- other plastics. Chemical recycling seems to have
able in the market and none of them can be re- a better ability as compared to mechanical recy-
cycled for reuse. Plastic types and it chemical cling in handling a larger number of plastic prod-
characteristics and many of them are unable ucts.
to pass through conventional recyclability. This
lead to plastics entering the recyclable stream, Some of the companies have thus developed
further crowding out plastics recycling as a pro- special procedures in chemical recycling. One of
cess. them is pyrolysis where through the use of high
heat in the absence heir the plastic is converted
Other major ways through which the manage- to oil and gas. These byproducts can then be
ment of plastics is done include landfilling and embodied, used as feedstocks for newer plastics
incineration and while doing this; they have their or even as a source of fuel. Another technique
own problem. As for now it is seen that plastic involves some sort of enzymatic degradation
wastes are being filled up in the landfills and as which they cleave the plastic into its monomers.
this material stays in the landfill, it leaches out These biotechnological approaches have prov-
injurious chemicals into the ground water. Whilst en viable especially for the degradation of poly-
incineration transforms waste to a small vol- ethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics, which are
ume that occupies less space, and in the pro- characteristic of bottles.
38 PLASTICS NEWS December 2024
