Research paper, introduction part ( People should recycle plastics)

Annotated Bibliography: Recycling Of Plastic Waste Products

Annotated Bibliography: Recycling Of Plastic Waste Products

Dalen, M., & Nasir, T. (2010). Plastic waste recycling. Science World Journal, 4(1). doi:10.4314/swj.v4i1.51829

Dalen and Nasir’s research focuses on how plastic bags can be effectively blended to yield a high quality recycled end product. They evaluate the tensile strengths of various types of plastics after blending the waste plastic with their virgin polymer in a ratio of V: W, where V and W denote Virgin polymer and Waster product component. The types of plastics included were PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) and PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate). These are the main types of plastics that are used in most parts of the world, as the researchers noted. From the research work, it concludes that the best value of plastic is achieved through blending respective virgin polymer and its waste product in the ratio of 80:20.

The credibility of the research is satisfactory since it has a clear methodology of assessing various types of plastics and their tensile strengths. However, the research does not give further insights on areas that need more research.

Luijsterburg, B., & Goossens, H. (2014). Assessment of plastic packaging waste: Material origin, methods and properties. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 85, 88-97. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.10.010

This research seeks to establish whether there is any relationship between the method of collection of the waste plastic product and the quality of the final recycled product. Various types of plastics collected from two main sources of plastic waste for recycling, namely mechanical recovery from the municipal solid refuse waste and source separated plastics, were evaluated. The quality of the final products is analyzed with specrophotometry and scanning calorimetry. The research shows that the source of the plastics does not have any impact on the quality of the end-recycled product.

The research presents a credible source since it is one of the most recent studies in this area of study, and captures present-day methods of waste product collection. The quality assessment techniques used are also very sensitive; hence, the conclusions made are credible.

However, the research does not address the issue of time in the collection of the mechanical recovery of plastic for recycling. A highly extended time before recovery of the waste may have a negative impact on the plastics that have low tensile strengths.

Jayaraman, K., & Bhattacharyya, D. (2004). Mechanical performance of woodfibre–waste plastic composite materials. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 41(4), 307-319. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2003.12.001

This research focuses on the effect of addition of composite wood fiber in plastic composite materials. Various types of plastics are used in this research study and composite wood fiber is incorporated in the processing of various types of products manufactured from recycled plastics. The amount of fiber added is noted and the mechanical performance of the product assessed through flexural moduli system and tensile strength evaluation at different temperatures and at different levels of humidity. Jayaraman and Brattacharyya conclude that the tensile strength and flexural moduli measurement improve with increasing composite wood fiber content.

This research is one of the most recent research studies, and identifies well with previous research carried out on the effect of lignocellulosic fibers on the quality of products made from recycled plastic. The sensitivity of the assessment method employed is however not satisfactory, since spectrophotemetric methods are more sensitive than the methods used in this research.

Neale, C., Hilyard, N., & Barber, P. (1983). Observations on the economics of recycling industrial scrap plastic in new products. Conservation & Recycling, 6(3), 91-105. doi:10.1016/0361-3658(83)90034-6

This research seeks to evaluate the economic efficiency of various methods employed in recycling plastic wastes. As the research shows, various processes have a significant impact the total cost of production per unit item. The research concludes that the infusion technique after melting the waste products being recycled yields the most favorable cost efficiency.

The credibility of the research is satisfactory as it uses documented cost analysis methods used to define how economical a given production process is. However, this source is far much outdated and does not capture new production methods used in recycling plastics such as pyrolysis.