More than 360 million tons of plastic waste is being generated every year, and only 9% of this is being recycled. Who is building solutions around this mammoth issue. What's being researched and what technological solutions are ready to be implemented on mass scale.
Please share your thought and useful links.
Thanks
Aman Arora
There is so many articles on this topic that it is difficult to not list 1001 directions. Here's what's going on in my region
polystyrene https://www.agilyx.com/
polyethylene film https://cr.trex.com/recycling/recycling-programs/
styrofoam (expanded polystyrene) https://www.svdp.us/services/recycling-manufacturing/#styrofoam
plastics to fuel OSU research https://events.engineering.oregonstate.edu/sites/expo.engr.oregonstate.edu/files/ptf_presentation_coe_virtual_showcase_sp2021_0.pdf
Also, have a look at this:
Article Increased plastic pollution due to COVID-19 pandemic: Challe...
In February-March 2022, the representatives of 175 countries endorsed a resolution at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya to end plastic pollution and draw up an international legally binding agreement by 2024. The treaty is expected to tackle plastic through its life cycle, including production, design, and disposal. We shall see.
Data World Sustainable Development Timeline
Olivier Serrat
Another posturing UN resolution - hardly compelling but always amusing.
"Legally binding" is so much pompous window dressing - esp. as no real solution exists. This will repeat the theme of Paris - developed nations will give money to 3rd world nations for programs, money that if given (and much of Paris was not) will disappear into dash and corruption.
Wonder what gullible bunch actually expects it to tackle plastic etc.
More on the increase in disposable (mostly plastics) waste due to COVID-19
Article Plastic waste release caused by COVID-19 and its fate in the...
Article The COVID-19 pandemic and single-use plastic waste in househ...
https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/02/1110982 Healthcare waste from COVID threatens environment: WHO
With the advancement in technology and population increase, plastics are on the increase both in production and usage. Which calls for more concern both health wise and environmentally.
Neda Ravankhah
Thanks for the excellent discussion. I do challenge one statement - resolution of plastic waste is primarily a governmental responsibility - not that of individuals. The ready utility, lack of substitute will maintain it as a pressing issue whose volume negates individual action.. Government are happy to push it on individuals so as to avoids taking on the difficult challenge. It's much easier for "leaders" to assemble and pompously write meaningless agreements - as we see with https://www.politico.eu/article/un-global-treaty-plastic-pollution/ and WEF this week.
The immediate issues are primarily those of the developing world as landfill and combustion serve current needs of the developed world - recycling/reuse are little more than boutique, ego serving efforts.
As Brian said, "biodegradable" is more of an ad claim - landfills do not allow biodegradation and most reports of microbes eating plastics are uninformed bull.
Plastics, drugs, and more may change how fish socialize or take risks, although the specifics are difficult to pinpoint...
Experiments show that some pollutants appear to hinder how fish socialize, while others appear to make fish take more risks which, in the wild, could increase their odds of getting unceremoniously taken out by predators. These altered behaviors could have big impacts, as many fish play vital roles in nature...
https://undark.org/2023/01/16/dirty-waterways-may-alter-fish-behavior/
More wild extrapolation from the magazine "Undark" with no reading or critical understanding of the source articles discussed.
For example, one article discussed studied survival of microplastic-exposed damsel fish in context of a dead coral reef where survival is already low - the plastic exposure was polystyrene beads not the diverse and physically modified microplastics found in nature - ironically cited in support of their plastic choice was an article that warns against such a practice.
It's fun for some to report doom based on alarmist articles in magazines and certainly easier than trying to understand the actual science behind their claims.
Recent studies reveal that tiny pieces of plastic are constantly lofted into the atmosphere in larger amounts than scientists originally thought. These particles travel thousands of miles and can seed clouds — sometimes powerfully — which means they could impact temperature, rainfall, and even climate change...
For now, the proportion of plastics to total airborne aerosols is tiny, so plastics aren’t contributing much to aerosol climate impacts, says Mahowald. Even in London and Beijing, plastic may account for only a millionth of the total aerosols. But plastic production, and the accumulation of plastic in the environment, keeps going up. Says Mahowald, “It’s only going to get worse.”
https://e360.yale.edu/features/plastic-waste-atmosphere-climate-weather
Plastic waste is an increasing problem for our planet.
Pyrolysis has tried to address this challenge...
Queen’s researchers are working to address these challenges by discovering how ionic liquid technology can convert waste plastics to useful products in a way that is sustainable, supports a circular economy, and makes plastic waste recycling processes more economically viable...
https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/case-studies/recycle-plastic-waste-ionic-liquids.html/?utm_source=timeshighereducation.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=smc_international_mixed_world_class_22_23
Expensive but it would reduce air emissions. No chemistry on that page. This might help. Article Ionic liquids: Preparations and limitations
How do they recover them for reuse?Those molecules look bothersome for toxicity. How are the screens for short and long term adverse environmental and health effects on ionic liquids?
The first cases of a new disease caused solely by eating plastics has been discovered in wild seabirds. Researchers examined the stomachs of young flesh-footed shearwaters (Ardenna carneipes) in Australia and found that the more plastics the birds ingested, the more scarring they had in their digestive tracts. The disease, which the researchers named plasticosis, could make the birds more vulnerable to infection and hinder their digestion...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/03/plasticosis-new-disease-caused-by-plastics-discovered-in-seabirds
You have not read the article, but you do comment!!! Shame!
I will help you Phil Geis, if you really want it.
‘Plasticosis’: Characterising macro- and microplastic-associated fibrosis in seabird tissues
Full text of research article is attached. It is Elsevier open access article which is available at Researchgate also!
Article ‘Plasticosis’: Characterising macro- and microplastic-associ...
More-sophisticated policies, smarter recycling and new materials could stem the tide of plastic waste, which is set to triple to more than one billion tonnes annually by 2060. Although there are already many well-meaning efforts to cut down on plastic, their effectivness is unclear because there’s “virtually zero monitoring”, says policy researcher Steve Fletcher. Smart interventions could decrease the amount of uncollected and unregulated plastic litter by around 80%...
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00975-5
Absurd
"More-sophisticated policies, smarter recycling and new materials could stem the tide of plastic waste"
The Nature article focuses on developed world opportunities where plastic iwaste is largely controlled, ignoring the thhrd world tnat is the source of ocean plastic and controls little in its own boundaries. It grossly exaggerates "plastic guzzling" microbes - that are nothing more now than laboratory excercises.
I interpret "could stem the tide" means it is possible, not that it is necessarily practical in the present or the near future. We can be optimistic in our hopes.
I have heard there are larger tests being run on plastic eating microorganisms. It is interesting for research. IMHO, the plastic degradation rate is too slow by the intact bugs, particularly when other easier to digest carbon sources are available. But if the enzymatic systems can be characterized and duplicated, that might be of benefit to some industrial processes.
Plastic is a big and terrible issue. In the past, the reason that the majority of species went extinct was due to their own wastes. Global warming, nano-iron waste from car exhausts, nuclear waste and plastic waste are of our own making and we are ignoring them at our own peril. Lucky we have some smart people trying to solve our bad habit problem. For your case which is plastic issue, a clever Japanese man Akinori Ito has found one method to deal with plastic.
https://www.thecivilengineer.org/news/this-machine-produces-oil-from-plastic-waste
The problem with it is with the large scale usage. It requires a lot of energy. However if electricity is generated from the sun, then plastic waste conversion is very profitable because solar electricity does not need to be a constant source. In my opinion, this the best and elegant method. It makes the plastic recyclable.
"Could stem the tide" is editorial hype that sells articles like this.
If you were aware of the technical aspects, you'd understand the "plastic eating" microbes typically attack the fillers and binders of "plastic" that make up 20-50% of the stuff, liberating microplastics. The research is profoundly shallow.
Just as the oil from plastic - demands more energy than it produces, exists only at lab scale and produces a material being phased out.
Akinori has built a small pyrolysis reactor for chemical recycling of certain bag plastics. There have been earlier versions by various researchers and a number of commercial scale operations. OSU has a trailer-based reactor (not shown in the below presentation) from Calif. that precedes Akinori's reactor.
https://events.engineering.oregonstate.edu/sites/expo.engr.oregonstate.edu/files/ptf_presentation_coe_virtual_showcase_sp2021_0.pdf
https://events.engineering.oregonstate.edu/sites/expo.engr.oregonstate.edu/files/ptf_poster_coe_virtual_showcase_sp2021_0.pdf
https://www.agilyx.com/
Some of the gases and vapors released can be used as a fuel source for the heat needed if other energy sources are not available. The type of "crude oil" that results depends on the type of plastic(s) in the feedstock. Styrene oil, sustainable aviation fuel, and diesel are some of the useful substances that can be produced from pyrolysis chemical recycling of plastics.
Science and research are filled with possibilities and "coulds". Not everyone is open-minded enough to appreciate that.
Brian Lee
The usual - "can be used"
Open minded? Critical analysis by folks who have responsibility and know the science appropriately caution the sophomoric excitement by folks who posture their "open-mindedness".
Glad you found some grad student posters and and get so excited by the "can be" predictions. Science is full of folks esp. grad students with panacea's for the world.
‘Plastic rocks’ made from thin films of plastic waste bonded to stones have been discovered in a freshwater creek in China. This is the first time scientists have found such waste to be chemically bonded to rocks, rather than just physically embedded in sediments, say the researchers. “People in the twentieth and twenty-first century are creating new geological records,” says soil scientist Deyi Hou. In lab tests, the rocks shed large amounts of polluting microplastics...
Article Plastic−Rock Complexes as Hotspots for Microplastic Generation
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01037-6
Floating rafts of garbage in the Pacific Ocean are becoming habitats for a bizarre array of coastal and marine species. Scientists have long thought that plants and animals have been transported around the globe on buoyant vegetation or pumice. But these natural rafts degrade or become waterlogged quickly. Plastic lasts for ages, providing floating homes of never-before-seen longevity — and raising the risk that invasive species will spread...
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/surprising-creatures-lurk-in-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/
Ljubomir Jacić ,
Although its devastating for all biological species, the more concern is us. The microbes brake down the plastic into microplastics which ends up in food chain and finally it goes back to us into our blood stream and inner organs with bad consequences and health effects. Literally, we eat what we make.
Tech Impact: Sustainable solutions to tackle tech plastic waste
There are plenty of ways tech companies can cut down on plastic. They’re practical steps to making a greener future without trading away the entire way we build and sell products. And tech leaders are starting to see that measuring and reducing their companies’ environmental impact can have benefits such as improving efficiency and their reputation...
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/tech-impact-reduce-single-use-plastics/
Horrifying images of fish killed by a discarded ‘ghost’ fishing net and plastic tangled in the spikes of a sea urchin reveal how our rubbish infiltrates some of the ocean’s deepest reefs. A survey of 84 coral ecosystems at 25 locations across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian ocean basins found plastic debris from human activities in almost all of them. In contrast to non-reef marine ecosystems, where plastics tend to gather near the surface, deep reefs contained more litter — mostly fishing gear — than shallow ones. As fewer and fewer fish are found in shallower waters, deep-sea fishing is becoming more common, and the amount of refuse could reflect this...
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02271-8
In a separate study, researchers systematically assessed freshwater lakes and reservoirs across 23 countries and found them to be widely contaminated with plastic. Both studies highlight the multi-level problem that negotiators face in talks, now under way at the United Nations, on a treaty to eliminate plastic pollution. “Simply banning plastic nets and other fishing gear could harm livelihoods,” notes a Nature editorial. It urges countries to agree how they will measure — and enforce — progress against plastic pollution...
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02252-x
Project: Plastic Free Islands in the Mediterranean
This project seeks to address the little-address problem of plastic waste leakage from island states. Over 10 million tons of plastic waste enters the ocean every year . Many efforts on minimising and mitigating impacts of plastic waste are focused on tackling the sources on continental land, rivers and coastal areas. To date, not much attention has been put on islands...
The project outcomes are: 1. Target islands identified and input-output flow of plastic waste is quantified on each; 2. Three plastic waste-related sectors (tourism, fisheries, waste management) in three islands in the Mediterranean implement plastic leakage reduction measures within the project timeframe; and 3. Regional Mediterranean partners (e.g. Plastic Pollution Coalition, CSTI, Medpol) are equipped with an island plastic management blueprint to facilitate replication beyond the three target islands...
https://www.iucn.org/our-work/projects/plastic-free-islands-mediterranean
Intl Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Project | Jan, 2019 - Dec, 2022
Plastic Free Islands in the Mediterranean
Cyprus and Menorca as models
Plastic waste mgmt framework documents. The governance documents were somewhat more interesting to me. Ljubomir Jacić , do you know if COVID significantly interrupted the project and whether cost was the most limiting factor?
Brian Lee , I am not aware of the fact that Covid interrupted this project, but its realization MUST be slowed down. Regarding finance and cost, I do not have relevant information...
https://www.iucn.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/plastic_waste_free_islands_med_final_report_0.pdf
Feeding bacteria seaweed to make compostable plastic
Bioprocess engineer Jesús E. Rodríguez’s team dreams of replacing all synthetic plastics with biodegradable products...
"Our bioplastics are being tested for use in buttons and containers. We want to offer alternatives for any industry that uses plastic, from packaging to stationery. Our latest creation is a fibre for textiles..."
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02499-4
Our world is choking on single-use plastic...
This problem is difficult to solve because there are few scalable methods for using plastic trash as a feedstock. Recycling should be an obvious solution since most people are willing to use the colored or divided bins we see everywhere. However, barely 10% of plastic trash is recycled. It’s constrained by the variety of plastics in use, and because most recycling approaches only work on a few types of plastics. For example, polypropylene doesn’t mix with polyethylene, so most recycling approaches require sorting trash to isolate individual types.
Still, recycling can play a major role on the road to decarbonization, and there are methods beginning to take hold on a small scale. The long-term solution is to create a circular economy around plastics...
https://www.controlglobal.com/manage/sustainability/article/33010161/automation-enables-a-circular-economy-for-plastic-recycling?utm_source=CTRL+Control+Global+eNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS230822140&o_eid=8360I8613690H9M&rdx.ident[pull]=omeda|8360I8613690H9M&oly_enc_id=8360I8613690H9M
Ljubomir
More absurdities.
Recycling has never been a useful strategy. General unwilingness unless mandated, poor quality of recycleed prioduyct, not cost effective.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/04/us-recycling-plastic-waste
That someone proposes to test plastic as feedstock is nothign miore than hype.
Let's clean up that link
https://www.controlglobal.com/manage/sustainability/article/33010161/automation-enables-a-circular-economy-for-plastic-recycling
The article is titled with automation, but then goes on to indicate digitalization as the hopeful factor. These are not the same. But anyway, a circular economy is a nice ideal, but difficult to create perfect matches of users of user's wastes. Nevertheless, it can make good climate and economic sense to chain users of user's wastes. It might not turn out to be circular, but can still benefit the partnered companies.
Brian Lee
Thanks.
The article offers unsupported assumptions.
"Recycling should be an obvious solution since mostpeople are willing to use the colored or divided bins we see everywhere."
1) most people are not recycling and colored /divided bins are no inducement without enforcement.
2) even if spearated recycling is not effective - it is not cost effective, it's product is generally of limited life span and quality, it takes substantially more energy to produce than conventional production, there is often no market for recycled product.
3) Circular economy does not exist and in light of the above and more - is not economic if it did exist.
4) The article is advertising from a systems consulting company with all the usual jargon - holistic, synergies, digitalization.
5) No specifics or examples - just assumptions and unsupported claims of success.
Thanks Brian Lee for your constructive contribution regarding the issue of plastic waste. "It can make good climate and economic sense to chain users of user's wastes. It might not turn out to be circular, but can still benefit the partnered companies."
People like Pheil Geis often comment the articles which I do bring as advertising and worthless! Ha! Ha!
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/our-plastic-waste-can-be-used-raw-material-detergents Our plastic waste can be used as raw material for detergents August 24, 2023 Sonia Fernandez, UC Santa Barbara
https://www.cell.com/chem/fulltext/S2451-9294(23)00249-8
I would want to see a comparison of the energy and GHG releases to do this vs those from the conventional process of synthesizing surfactants from fossil fuel feedstocks.
"An 11 November letter from a group of scientists calls for a more formal process for integrating science into the treaty. It also asks for the creation of a scientific body, similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that would provide negotiators and policymakers with regular updates on the scientific evidence surrounding plastic pollution. This body would, for example, assess new research to help update targets and the list of chemicals of concern. “We have clearly called for delegates to establish a credible and transparent science engagement process for the INC,” says Margaret Spring, chief conservation and science officer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, who is lead author of the letter.
“A vital part of making this treaty matter will be how much the scientific community engages,” says McCauley..."
https://twitter.com/_MargaretSpring/status/1724287939125875052?s=20
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03579-1
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