The Present and Future of Polystyrene Last year, the curbside recycling in my hometown made several changes to their program. Such changes included an increase in the amount of recycled materials each household could put every week, as well an increase in the frequency of collections. Perhaps the most welcome change for my family was the new ability to recycle all plastics. Although we had never produced a titanic amount of plastic waste, we still felt as though this allowed us to better do our part for the environment. Still, there was one plastic we could not recycle: polystyrene. So every take-out container, every piece of Styrofoam packaging went straight into the trash. “Why was this?” I thought. I didn’t take for granted that …show more content…
German apothecary Eduard Simon originally distilled the monomer, Styrene, from the resin of the Sweetgum tree. It was later found that when these monomers formed chains, they shared several properties of rubber, and was thus proved to be a versatile polymer. Although it only makes up about one percent of solid waste produced in the United States, the disposal and recycling of polystyrene is still seen as an environmental issue, mainly because it does not degrade in a natural environment. For most regions, it is not possible to recycle polystyrene, both on an individual scale, such as in street side recycling programs, and on an industrial scale, such as in shipping or foodservice …show more content…
As in the bacteria method, this other process would also create a useful product: energy. Agricultural engineer James W. Garthe has been attempting to develop a method for recycling polystyrene, as well as other “agricultural” plastics, in a less costly way than older methods. His plan involves skipping the steps of cleaning and separating of these plastics, steps that once made recycling process “uneconomical”, instead converting the entire bulk of the waste into “plastic nuggets” that could later be burned with coal to produce energy (“Technology” 26). Like coal burning, however, this process could produce harmful emissions, if the combustion took place at low temperatures. High temperature combustion would eliminate this threat (“Technology”
On September 7th and 14th of 2000 my lab partners and I conducted the polystyrene bead molding project. My lab partners are Josh Dick, Mike Ward, and Keith Matlock, and we conducted the procedure in room W126 of the Kansas Technology Center. We were to attempt to make polystyrene bead molds using two different methods. In theory we would be able to perform the bead molding.
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. (2004, August 11). Environmental Roadmapping Initiative. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from Plastics Impacts, Risks and Regulations: http://ecm.ncms.org/ERI/new/IRRPlastics.htm
Throughout our lives, we’ve been taught that it’s good to recycle and, in return, will save the environment. Common phrases such as “reduce, reuse and recycle” has been encoded to our brain during adolescence in hopes to prolong a future for the generations ahead. As an illustration, one of these attempts at the aid of recycling are reusable grocery bags. I believe that employing reusable grocery bags as an alternative to plastic bags is redundant because it provides a minimal impact to the environment, focuses on the wrong spectrum of recycling, and could be more of a hassle than it is helpful.
In the 1860s, Alexander Parkes developed the first man-made plastic which has now been integrated into almost every aspect of our lives, from the smartphones we use everyday to life changing technologies. Post World War Two, Canadian societies were introduced to plastics and started a disposable trend. Environmentalism forced realization that this disposable trend will generate a huge amount of waste. A movement was then started in 1970 in hopes to reverse the trend and start a new one consisting of reducing, reusing, and recycling waste. In the same time frame plastics were introduced, Canada switched over to the metric system. Switching to the metric system forced many packaging companies to
... Extended Facts on Why Garbage is Not Renewable Energy. Retrieved June 2010 from http://www.grrn.org/landfill/notrenewableenergy/technicalbackground.html
Care for a snack? Try the chocolate bar that comes in recyclable packaging, or maybe pick up a package of sustainable wood-fiber-filled baby diapers, or a no-animal-testing sunscreen, nontoxic spray cleaner, an entry form for a Prius giveaway or a cloth grocery bag for your shopping (Layton, 2014). Many products have become useful in so many ways that not recycling is harmful as well as unwise and uneconomical. There’s not enough room to throw trash all over the place, pollute, and simply not recycle. In order to understand the importance of recycling, people must first understand what recycling is, what it involves, and how it works. It is also important to know not only the effects of recycling but benefits as well. There are benefits to recycling paper, plastic, glass and aluminum; such as saving energy, saving money, reducing air pollution, and even creating jobs – which not only benefit the environment but the economy as well.
Even though many people say that recycling will help out our environment, they are wrong. This uniformed idea that people should continue to recycle, will only be a waste of time, since it really doesn't work. According to the article, it states, “Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it only makes sense economically and environmentally to recycle about 35 percent of our trash.” This information proves that recycling doesn’t really work because this means not everything we use can be reused or recycled. For instance, the text also states, “Plastic provides another problem. Given the recent dramatic decline in oil prices, it is now cheaper to make a new plastic container than to recycle an old one.” To elaborate, now, people have been washing plastic in water that was heated by coal- derived electricity, which will result in more carbon in the atmosphere. The information provided, clearly proves that recycling will only be a waste of time, since it will hardly do any good to our environment. Therefore, this is an important reason that supports my position, due to recycling only being waste of time, since it really doesn’t
The world population is living, working, and vacationing along the coasts. They are contributing to an unprecedented tide of plastic waste. Pollution is defined as the process that alters a substance or molecule on planet earth, the pollution is caused by the physical contact of an organic decaying particle with a clean particle in the same spot, at the time the two particles join together is when occurs pollution in which the environment is greatly altered. Too many, plastic is a modern day miracle, versatile, inexpensive and durable (Rochman 2014). To others, it is a scourge, a non-degradable pollutant that threatens to choke the global environment. Plastic pollution has led to the deaths of many animals, natural resources, and people (Rochman 2014). It is time to change America’s thinking and to learn from past mistakes.
Many people believe that we should not recycle anymore, but this is not the case. We, the people of the world, need to continue to recycle because we do not want our children to grow up in a world where there are no certain species of animals due to recycling failures. We also do not want our children to grow up thinking that it is okay that they throw their garbage on the ground, and not have to pick it up. We need to teach our children that they need to take care of the earth that they are living on, because they only get one. Recycling is one of the most beneficial environmental issues that we have here on this earth. Recycling saves energy, limits pollution and supports several environmental factors of the economy. “In 2003, the savings from recycling 54 billion aluminum cans exceeded the energy equivalent of 15 million barrels of crude oil- or the amount of gas the U.S. uses in one day,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA estimates that 200 million gallons of used oil are not disposed of properly, and if we were to dispose the oil properly then we could keep the oil from polluting the ground and the fresh water source. According to E. Takatori, “… While on-going societal regulation treats material recycling as the dominant cycle, the properties of recycled plastic remain the most port
Do you hate seeing litter on the streets, or seeing and smelling heaps of garbage sitting, and rotting away? Humans recycling more will help to reduce this. We throw many things that can be recycled. Recycling glass, plastics, paper, and metals will reduce solid waste dumped into the ecosystem daily. “96 percent of U.S. plastic, and 50 percent of its paper, goes into landfills. Mexico, not exactly a bastion of environmental awareness, recycles more glass than the U.S.” (Alice Horrigan 1). That’s 96 percent of the millions of tons of plastic, which will outlive most of us in a landfill that we could recycle and keep it out of our landfill. Paper is made from trees, if we recycle it, we can decrease our rate of ugly deforestation and the destruction of animal habitats. When paper gets to the landfill, it is guaranteed to get wet. The wetness and decomposition of paper atracts mold spores, which produce an odor and are potentially bad for your health. Also k...
There are over 600 million tons of recyclables being handled by almost 2 million people worldwide every year (BIR). This is the result of the ever growing concern of waste and CO2 emissions across the globe. Recycling is a controversial topic because many were taught that recycling is the most influential way to reduce environmental impact. However, according to the New York times, “Recycling may be the most wasteful activity in modern America: a waste of time and money, a waste of human and natural resources.” (Tierney). Recycling may actually be a way for people to feel justified about overusing products. This can result in a rapid increase in consumerism . In some cases, recycling can be effective, but studies have shown that more fossil fuels are burned up to recycle plastic than to produce new plastic products. This is also the case for many other materials. There are millions of dollars in net loss each year that are spent on salary for workers and gasoline used to fuel transportation of recyclables. Many people everywhere recycle because they were told it was good, but they were not informed of the negative aspects (Tierney). Although recycling some materials are beneficial by saving energy and waste, other materials, such as plastic and paper, cost more in consumed energy to recycle; Therefore reducing and reusing is a more practical and cost efficient way to reduce waste and energy.
The world would be a better place if everyone would recycle.Recycling is one of the most misunderstood yet extremely important issues in our world today. Recycling is simply returning materials to their raw material components and then using these again to supplement or replace new materials in the manufacture of a new product. It is important for every person to take responsibility for his or her own contribution to the recycling effort. Recycling is known as reusing and restoring our garbage, most people don't understand it can also include donating old clothes to charitable organizations, reusing plastic containers to store food in the refrigerator, and many other activities we already participate in. Although recycling is everywhere in our lives, I will focus on our everyday waste products, why recycle them, how to recycle them, and if it is a worthwhile cause. There are a myriad of curbside recycling services operating nationwide, therefore, people can no longer make excuses for their lack of recycling. It is important that everyone becomes educated about recycling. This would lead to people making informed decisions about buying products which are recyclable and minimize the amount of garbage that cannot be recycled.Recycling 'healing' the Earth in many ways, such as helping to slow global warming, diminishing acid rain, reducing water pollution, conserving landfill space, and lowering pollutants in the air '. For four consecutive weeks, I collected my personal garbage and counted and/or weighed the respective products. I learned that many of the products I use can be recycled, however, I also realized that I need to make a more conscious effort to buy recyclable products. I noted everything in my journal, which gave a description of the garbage I collected and how it is divided into several categories which are: aluminum, other metals, glass, plastics, newspaper, white paper, other paper, and food products. I will discuss each group and how, or if, the products listed in the group can be recycled. Using aluminum can cut down on a lot of pollution. Virgin ore is a substitute for aluminum, but it is not healthy to the environment. By using recycled aluminum instead of virgin ore, we can eliminate 95 percent of air pollution and 97 percent of water pollution. More than 95 percent of all canned beverages are sold in aluminum containers. Aluminum is one o...
Inconceivable quantities of garbage plague our planet however, “Recycling is one of the best ways for you to have a positive impact on the world in which we live. Recycling is important to both the natural environment and us. We must act fast as the amount of waste we create is increasing all the time” ("Recycling Is Important"). Incidentally, a huge portion of the trash regularly ending up in landfills is recyclable. Had the garbage simply been put into a recycling bin instead of a trash can, there would be a sensational impact, conserving landfills, money, energy, natural resources, and even attributing to job growth. For instance, various plastics and paper materials monopolize a majority of landfill space, both of which are easily recyclable. However, when paper products are instead simply thrown away, additional trees must be cut down, more money has to be spent, as well as more gas and energy being required. Additionally, plastics are produced by a process which uses nonrenewable oils and natural gasses. Once they are inevitably thrown away they continue to cause damage as they virtually never biodegrade. Moreover, other materials such as aluminum have the potential to be recycled numerous times, potentially saving countless resources if they are responsibly
“One of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting recent changes to the surface of our planet is the accumulation and fragmentation of plastic bags,” inscribed David Barnes, the lead author and researcher at the British Antarctic Survey. This statement is unquestionably true. Around five hundred billion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year, and nineteen billion used in California. That’s roughly five hundred and fifty two per person; enough to stretch around the globe over two hundred and fifty times! Plastic bags have molded our communities in many ways making life easier; however, easier doesn’t always necessarily mean better. To begin, plastic bags are terribly effecting our environment and earth’s atmosphere. Seeing that, many ending up either in landfills or in oceans. As well, plastic bags have a detrimental consequence on our ecosystems. Sadly, torturing many wildlife creatures; including ourselves from all the chemicals we consume. Lastly, plastic bags are becoming very costly for shoppers and producers. Considering many resources used to make plastic bags are non-reusable. Hence, plastic bags are leaving a gruesome impact on our world. Therefore, it is imperative that humans reduce the amount of plastic bags we consume.
There is a simple choice that many of us individuals have to make on a daily or weekly basis. Imagine yourself at the supermarket when you are faced with that same old choice: paper or plastic? Which one do you choose and why? And furthermore, which one should you choosing? Many os us don’t stop to think of such a simple decision being so impactful on the environment, but recently there has been a lot of attention regarding the packaging that we choose to use. Environmentalists, commercial businesses, and government officials are especially concerned with this issue because of the fact that landfill capacity in this country is decreasing, and because containers and packaging account for 29.6% of the volume in of the municipal solid waste in the United States, according to a study by Franklin Associates LTD