Introduction
Recycling is a process of reproduction of materials in order to reuse waste materials. It reduces the consumption of fresh materials; it also helps in reducing pollution, energy usage and water pollution. Recycling of different materials is done by using different techniques, recycling materials includes: glass, paper, textiles, metal, rubber, plastics, aluminum etc. Plastic recycling is a process of recovering scrap and waste plastic material for the production of new useful products (Shent_HT, 1999). There are thousand types of plastic and each contains resin identification code and needs recycling before sorting. In early decades, plastic was not considered as the important element for production. With the passage of time, use of plastic has been increased a lot. Today, there are number of plastics industry in U.K. Plastics have number of benefits which includes: veracity, extreme durability, it has resistance to chemicals, water and impact, it posses’ excellent thermal and electric insulation properties (Subramanian, P, 2007). The amount of plastic waste generated is estimated to be around 3 million tons. Reusing plastics has become a famous trend in past recent years. Recycling of plastics has become a trend in U.K and opened a unique plant with the power post consumer polystyrene products. There are two options of plastic waste management, primary & secondary.
Waste management schemes
Waste management is a process of collection, recycling of waste materials. This method usually related with human activity as daily thousands of people discard waste material, waste management is generally undertaken to reduce the harmful effects of wastage material and to improve environmental factors. Waste management schemes vary from country to country depending upon their funds and resources (Hegberg, B, 1993). Usually, local government is responsible for management of non hazardous residential and industrial wastage on daily basis. Waste management is highly based on three methods: disposal methods, recycling method, avoidance and recycling methods. There are some concepts involves in waste management i.e. waste hierarchy, extended producer responsibilities and popular pays principle (review of plastics waste, 1999). Recent developments and researches in national and European Union waste management policy have focused a lot waste management programs for controlling environmental factors. The main objective of management scheme is to effectively safeguard public health and safety. The recycling would not be successful until the proper infrastructure is followed. An optimized model is considered the best for recycling plastic in an effective way. Waste collection methods vary from country to country and region to region. Collection of waste material is not done properly in less developed countries. Waste management is based on three factors: waste hierarchy refers to reduce, reuse and recycle which classify waste management scheme in terms of waste minimization. EPR is responsible for all cost management. PPP (polluter pays principle) pays for the impact of waste management scheme on environment.
Pros and cons
There are number of pros and cons associated with waste management schemes: proper waste management scheme can save time, effort and money; it also helps in making money if the system is properly organized. It saves money as manufacturing cost is not involved in recycling; it avoids landfill fees, saves energy. Plastic waste management schemes include low conversion rates (Brenniman_gr, 1993).
Cons
Waste management themes include cost of collection, transportation, capital investment, equipments etc (Hunt_rg, 1995).
Critic
Plastics have achieved remarkable status in this environment, although they are durable, cheap and are useful for number of reasons. Recycling of plastics has become very common in united stated and in other regions. Thermoplastics can be re-melted and used is recycling of plastics. Unfortunately, plastics recycling are difficult as it requires lot of resources and production is relatively less (Shen_HT, 1999). Most of labor time is wasted in sorting plastic and it’s also labor intensive. Containers are usually made by colored plastics nowadays, a value of material is low and consumer wants to use low cost products so plastic recycling is unprofitable. This is one of the reasons; plastic recycling industry is very small in United States. Landfill method used to be considered one of the best method for plastic recycling but when plastic materials are dumped into it they become mummified which has no demand in recent world. Recycling of plastics require lots of resources and could not able to meet market’s requirement as consumer want low cost product so recycling of plastics is not beneficial. A number of industries use different techniques for plastics recycling which needs extra cost and labor. Plastics recycling are a boon or bust it’s a controversial debate. A recycling cost ahs many hidden cost which are not visible at earlier stages. Labor cost and transportation cost in plastics recycling have many complexities it. There are some plastics which cannot be recycles directly so they need to be transported to landfills and other disposals sites. If the funds scheme is not proper recycling could become liability to sponsors. Once the payroll & maintenance budget disturbs, the whole project suffer a lot (Francesco, 1993). There are number of researchers proved that plastics recycling program is not working and it need to be modified or stopped. Success of recycling plan highly depends on management scheme if the management scheme meets the requirements and needs of plastic and environment than recycling is more likely to be successful. If any step in plastic recycling process goes wrong or mismanaged the whole scenario will suffer. Plastic recycling is not an easy task and could not be managed on small scale (Poulakis_jg, 1997). Recycling cost increases a lot if the system is not properly organized. Plastic recycling should always best result on 37C. Landfill dominates recycling of plastic as it involves high cost.
Conclusion
Plastic has now become a part of life, it is used in number of applications. Recycling of different goods has become a trend worldwide. Numerous countries are taking advantages from recycling of goods. Plastic recycling is also very famous in united sates but there are some problems associated with recycling. Waste management schemes play an important role in plastic recycling. There are seven types of polymers which need to be recycling by different ways. Landfill method is used for polymer which does not melt easily. However, plastics recycling are not very successful and have become a question for all recyclers (Subramanian, 2000). Plastic recycling includes many hidden cost which could not be afford by every recycler. Recycling process based on two steps, sorting and segregation. Both require labor and cost. Usually color plastic is cheaper and consumer wants to use low cost product. In such case, plastic recycling is not at beneficial. Properly organized system can only make plastic recycling process beneficial. Once the management system gets disturb the whole project suffer a lot.
Works Cited
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