Argument essay

TERM PAPER 3

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Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities

The paper selected for this essay is “Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities”. This paper talks about multiple challenges and opportunities that arise because of plastic recycling. Plastic is an inexpensive, durable, and lightweight material which can be easily changed in any shape making it a subject for various applications. As a consequence of this, plastic production has increased in the previous few decades. In the current age, the level of plastic production and its usage generate multiple problems in the environment because of inappropriate disposal. For the feedstock of plastic, there is around 4 per cent of the gas and oil production from the world is utilized. These are also non – renewable resources and they can expand around 3 to 4 per cent for providing energy to the manufacturing processes. There is a large amount of plastic used every year for disposing of items such as packaging which have very less life. Most of these products are even discarded within the year of their manufacturing.

When these observations are made, they clearly show that the most important step to be taken currently is reducing the impact as they present an area which is most dynamic due to the plastic industry of the modern world. The opportunity of reducing the usage of oil is an important output of recycling. It is also beneficial for reducing the emission of carbon dioxide as well as the waste quantities which are required for the disposal. The recycling is set into the context as a step against strategies of waste reduction. This is also the material reduction which is used for product reuse or down gauging. This can be achieved through making the use of alternative forms of biodegradable materials for that the energy can be recovered in the form of fuel.

The recycling of plastic has been taking place since the year 1970s however the amount of recycling done is different in different geographical settings based on the application and type of plastic. The packaging material recycling has to expand on a rapid level in recent decades in most of the countries. There are new opportunities which are created for recycling because of the expansion in technology along with the introduction of new systems for sorting, reprocessing and collecting the recyclable plastic bags and other material. This action should be taken combined by the governments, public and industries so that the majority of the waste coming from plastic can be diverted from the disposed of land fills towards recycling in the coming periods.

This complete analysis shows the significance of recycling and the efforts which are done in modern times for getting rid of the waste. There are a lot of challenges which are still faced by the recycling industry but still, there are multiple opportunities as well to facilitate the processes of recycling. It is stated in the article that there are “Approximately 50 per cent of plastics are used for single-use disposable applications, such as packaging, agricultural films and disposable consumer items, between 20 and 25% for long-term infrastructure such as pipes, cable coatings and structural materials, and the remainder for durable consumer applications with intermediate lifespan, such as in electronic goods, furniture, vehicles, etc.”. this shows the complete breakdown of the consumption of plastic in the UK and how it contributes to the waste generation.

This article also shows that proper recycling of plastic is necessary as the level of degradation differs with the use of different sources. The author puts this concept with the evidence that “Even when a plastic item degrades under the influence of weathering, it first breaks down into smaller pieces of plastic debris, but the polymer itself may not necessarily fully degrade in a meaningful timeframe. As a consequence, substantial quantities of end-of-life plastics are accumulating in landfills and as debris in the natural environment, resulting in both waste-management issues and environmental damage”. So, there must be a strategy for waste management in the recycling process. For this purpose, there must be a process for managing industrial ecology.

The article shows that when the degradation in the environment is reduced, this can help in improving the yield and ecological efficiency is also improved. There is an important concept mentioned about this as “Although, it should be noted that the ability to maintain whatever residual level of material input, plus the energy inputs and the effects of external impacts on ecosystems will decide the ultimate sustainability of the overall system”. This helps in clarifying that even a small step towards recycling can improve the overall ecosystem.

The system of waste management is described properly in this paper so that the priorities of management can be understood clearly. The performance of recycling also differs and even in the UK the amount of plastic used in commercial as well as domestic packaging is improving continuously and now it has reached to 40 KG per year for one person. When this concept is understood on a broader level, the plastic waste is recovered if it is diverted from littering and landfills. The plastic which is used in packaging is considered to be litter because of its rigid and light weight nature. So, the products should be now designed so that they can be reused and remanufactured and do not end up in any form of a waste stream.

If any element enters the waste stream, the process of recycling can be used for recovering the material and turning into a new product. This solution is presented as “For organic materials like plastics, the concept of recovery can also be expanded to include energy recovery, where the calorific value of the material is utilized by controlled combustion as a fuel, although this results in a lesser overall environmental performance than material recovery as it does not reduce the demand for new (virgin) material”. This waste management plan is best for reducing landfills and having an effective strategy for managing these issues.

There is another useful procedure explained here so that different stages can be used for increasing the durability of products. Such as “It is also quite possible for the same polymer to cascade through multiple stages — e.g. manufacture into a re - usable container, which once entering the waste stream is collected and recycled into a durable application that when becoming waste in its turn, is recovered for energy”. Further, this article describes different types of ways in which the plastic is recycled and how these ways are effective for the waste management system.

In summary, this article is about the management of plastic products in the most effective ways. The sense is increased in the economy through this and the environmental trends also shift so that the rate of recovery can be improved while recycling the waste of plastic. When the efforts are made to improve the use of recycled products and replacing virgin plastics, this presents an effective method for improving the performance in an environment, especially in the polymer industry.

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Work cited

Hopewell, Jefferson, Robert Dvorak, and Edward Kosior. "Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 364.1526 (2009): 2115-2126.