Although plastic is useful in our lives, it turns out that the longer plastic causes more damage to the environment, every country has struggled to overcome plastic waste, which can only be done by recycling plastic waste, recycling is not able to handle plastic waste. even in some countries, the use of plastic bags is increasingly prohibited to avoid plastic waste.
Dear I Putu - Artaya ,
One alternative could be to impose a tax on the use of plastics. This is currently in practice in countries like Malaysia where it has helped to reduce plastic utilization especially in malls and shops. Secondly, the use of biodegradable carrier or shopping bags made from sustainable sources could help address the problem of plastics. My two cents...
Best regards,
BB Nyakuma
Dear Mr. Bemgba B. Nyakuma ,yes, this method has begun to be applied to consumers and industry players to reduce plastic production. thank you for the sharing.
One option would be for the government to educate people to avoid using plastics if at all possible in the first place. For example encourage shopping using cloth bags which can be reused. Encourage people to buy reusable baby diapers. These are just a couple of examples. The second way would be to impose what is equivalent to a "sin tax." These may not go well with some of the conservatives. As we all know alcohol and tobacco are heavily taxed. So why not tax plastic products also heavily including the plastic bags that you get at the grocery store?
What do you think? You have used something and have no further need for it. It will remain a waste until you find further use for it. So recycling attempts to convert it into a different but useful form. It is called transformation.
indeed human life cannot be separated from plastic, one way to change it is to use transformation methods, such as activities in production management. hopefully one day humans will be able to make a technology, which can make environmentally friendly plastics. thank you Mr. Maurice Ekpenyong
Very good question.
Plastics, that can be recycled, are few "so far" therefore there is a need to to look into waste management options beyond just recycling. Also the majority of plastics cannot be composted & used as fertilizers.
An immediate solution is to turn plastic waste into energy or the so-called “plastic to energy” option. There are processes which can release the potential chemical energy stored in waste plastic in order to produce fuels.
Most plastics came originally from crude oil and the aim is to turn waste plastic back into crude oil with the best possible yield. There are 2 different processes to do that : gasification & pyrolysis.
In gasification, the waste plastic is heated with steam/air to produce synthesis gas "or syngas" which is a mixture of CO & H2 gases. By the Fischer-Tropsch process, the components of syngas can give gasoline & diesel by proper adjustment of the ratios of the 2 reacting gases in presence of a catalyst.
In pyrolysis, plastic waste is heated in the absence of oxygen to give a mixture of oils that is similar to crude oil. This mixture can be converted into transportation fuels.
One of the advantages of the “plastic to energy” approach is that the plastic waste need not be sorted out as is required in recycling.
Turning plastic waste into fuels requires considerable initial financing in installing the industrial plants. In a short time, the sold products will cover the expenses & will allow significant profits if the price of crude oil increases. At the end of the day, waste will be minimized & "trash" may become "fortune"!
Dear Mr. Nizar Matar ,That's right as you describe, turning plastic into energy, so that plastic waste can be reduced on a large scale in the world. A very interesting information, if this process can be carried out in all countries, of course plastic waste is no longer a serious threat to ecosystems and the environment. I agree with this opinion, a very realistic solution. Regards.
Dear Mrs. Srini Vasan ,I think that is true in your opinion, if alcohol and tobacco can be given such a policy, the policy must also be the same for plastic. in Indonesia until now there is still a tug of war regarding policy making related to handling plastic use widely. What is being done now is just recycling in such a way, but still cannot provide a solution. maybe someday there is technology that is able to answer as said by Mr. Nizar Matar turning plastic waste into energy that is useful for our lives or renewable energy. Thank you very much.
Refuse to use plastics! There are alternatives, like we used before the plastics were invented.
Something that is possible, it is better if the government issues a regulation to implement this rule. This is a solution from a different perspective, and complements other solutions. Thnak you very much Mr. Michael Issigonis , Regards.
Dear Artaya,
Segregation of plastic waste into recyclable and non-recyclable from municipal solid waste by mechanically through labour.
Contact with different NGOs for segregated plastic waste management.
Ensure that open burning of plastic waste is not permitted in the campus.
Place different coloured bins for different waste in university campus at different places (canteen, cyber cafe, parks, hostels, each department).
Aware the students and faculty for plastic waste by placing the hoardings with various slogans in university and residential campus.
I think these strategies can control the plastic pollution at source.
Regards
Krishna
That's right, anti-plastic movements, especially disposables, have been replaced by paper as a place to shop. but this movement has not been evenly distributed in all regions because it is strongly influenced by local government regulations. In Indonesia, trash cans consist of two types, wet waste and dry waste, these two bins always contain plastic waste every day. because used plastic has economic value, certain entrepreneurs recycle it, heat it and print it again into plastic raw material. thank you very much Mr. Krishna Kumar Yadav , Regards.
Dear I Putu,
1. Recycling of all kinds of plastic is not possible.
2. Generation of fuel/energy from waste plastic is one good solution, it is known as Refuse Derived Fuel.
3. Recently waste plastic been used for developing concrete roads (still in experimental stage)
4. At this stage even replacement of plastic with paper products is debatable, when emissions generated to produce product and life of product are considered.
In my opinion, points 2&3 helps in clearing the plastic waste. But preventive action can be taken only when Individual goes for alternative habitual actions, such as using copper bottle instead of plastic bottle for drinking water.
Mr. Praharsha Repalle ,That's right, I also agree that plastic waste is converted into alternative energy sources that may be more environmentally friendly and have no impact on global warming. Thank you very much, for valuable information and input. Regards.
Recycling has been and is ineffective. Combustion for energy production is no doubt the best current strategy.
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