The Management and Stewardship of Medical Plastic Waste using Raman Spectroscopy to Sustain Circular Economy

Author(s):  
Author Ioana Marica ◽  
Mihaela Aluas ◽  
Simona Cinta Pinzaru
Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1229
Author(s):  
Alberto Di Bartolo ◽  
Giulia Infurna ◽  
Nadka Tzankova Dintcheva

The European Union is working towards the 2050 net-zero emissions goal and tackling the ever-growing environmental and sustainability crisis by implementing the European Green Deal. The shift towards a more sustainable society is intertwined with the production, use, and disposal of plastic in the European economy. Emissions generated by plastic production, plastic waste, littering and leakage in nature, insufficient recycling, are some of the issues addressed by the European Commission. Adoption of bioplastics–plastics that are biodegradable, bio-based, or both–is under assessment as one way to decouple society from the use of fossil resources, and to mitigate specific environmental risks related to plastic waste. In this work, we aim at reviewing the field of bioplastics, including standards and life cycle assessment studies, and discuss some of the challenges that can be currently identified with the adoption of these materials.


Author(s):  
Keshan Samarasinghe ◽  
Srikanth Pawan Kumar ◽  
Chettiyappan Visvanathan

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3553
Author(s):  
Philippe Nimmegeers ◽  
Alexej Parchomenko ◽  
Paul De Meulenaere ◽  
Dagmar R. D’hooge ◽  
Paul H. M. Van Steenberge ◽  
...  

Multilevel statistical entropy analysis (SEA) is a method that has been recently proposed to evaluate circular economy strategies on the material, component and product levels to identify critical stages of resource and functionality losses. However, the comparison of technological alternatives may be difficult, and equal entropies do not necessarily correspond with equal recyclability. A coupling with energy consumption aspects is strongly recommended but largely lacking. The aim of this paper is to improve the multilevel SEA method to reliably assess the recyclability of plastics. Therefore, the multilevel SEA method is first applied to a conceptual case study of a fictitious bag filled with plastics, and the possibilities and limitations of the method are highlighted. Subsequently, it is proposed to extend the method with the computation of the relative decomposition energies of components and products. Finally, two recyclability metrics are proposed. A plastic waste collection bag filled with plastic bottles is used as a case study to illustrate the potential of the developed extended multilevel SEA method. The proposed extension allows us to estimate the recyclability of plastics. In future work, this method will be refined and other potential extensions will be studied together with applications to real-life plastic products and plastic waste streams.


2021 ◽  
pp. 129650
Author(s):  
Linping Xu ◽  
Yan Kong ◽  
Mingxue Wei ◽  
Yichuan Wang ◽  
Minhao Zhang ◽  
...  

2022 ◽  
Vol 153 ◽  
pp. 111790
Author(s):  
Wan Adibah Wan Mahari ◽  
Seng Hon Kee ◽  
Shin Ying Foong ◽  
Tan Suet May Amelia ◽  
Kesaven Bhubalan ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Shanti Darmastuti ◽  
Intan Putri Cahyani ◽  
Afrimadona Afrimadona ◽  
Syarif Ali

Various environmental problems that have occurred lately are more or less caused by the problem of garbage and waste from various activities of living things, especially humans. Therefore, good waste management is one of the solutions to current environmental problems. One of the main problems faced by partners is plastic waste management. Based on a preliminary field study conducted by the team, it was found that until now there had been no waste management activities carried out by the residents of Baros Village, both plastic waste management related to waste banks and plastic waste sorting. In this regard, one of the innovative solutions for plastic waste management is to apply the circular economy principle by sorting plastic waste and then managing and developing it to create a circular economy, which is recycling plastic waste into a product of economic value, so that can help people's economic life. In this case, through a circular economy approach, karang taruna gets socialization of a circular economy as a foundation in managing plastic waste. The activity began with coordination with officials in Baros Village and the board of the Setia Youth Organization, pretest, counseling, and continued with a posttest. The implementation of outreach activities is carried out online and only involves the karang taruna administrators due to the COVID-19 pandemic condition. From the results of the activities carried out, members of the karang taruna understand the importance of managing plastic waste to make it a commodity with economic value. Abstrak Berbagai permasalahan lingkungan yang terjadi belakangan ini sedikit banyak disebabkan oleh masalah sampah dan limbah dari berbagai aktivitas makhluk hidup, khususnya manusia. Oleh karena itu, pengelolaan sampah yang baik merupakan salah satu solusi dari permasalahan lingkungan saat ini. Salah satu kendala utama yang dihadapi mitra adalah pengelolaan sampah plastik. Berdasarkan studi lapangan pendahuluan yang dilakukan oleh tim, diketahui hingga saat ini belum ada kegiatan pengelolaan sampah yang dilakukan oleh warga Desa Baros, baik pengelolaan sampah plastik terkait bank sampah maupun pemilahan sampah plastik. Berkaitan dengan hal tersebut, salah satu solusi inovatif dalam pengelolaan sampah plastik adalah dengan menerapkan prinsip ekonomi sirkular dengan memilah sampah plastik kemudian mengelola dan mengembangkannya untuk menciptakan ekonomi sirkular, yaitu mendaur ulang sampah plastik menjadi produk yang bernilai ekonomis, sehingga dapat membantu kehidupan ekonomi masyarakat. Dalam hal ini melalui pendekatan ekonomi sirkuler, karang taruna mendapatkan sosialisasi ekonomi sirkuler sebagai landasan dalam pengelolaan sampah plastik. Kegiatan diawali dengan koordinasi dengan aparat di Desa Baros dan pengurus Karang Taruna Setia, pre test, penyuluhan, dan dilanjutkan dengan post test. Pelaksanaan kegiatan penyuluhan dilakukan secara online dan hanya melibatkan pengurus karang taruna karena kondisi pandemi COVID-19. Dari hasil kegiatan yang dilakukan, anggota karang taruna memahami pentingnya pengelolaan sampah plastik untuk dijadikan komoditas yang bernilai ekonomis. Kata Kunci: ekonomi sirkular; sampah plastik; komoditas; karang taruna


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Caitlin Bruce

<p>New Zealand is ranked among the top nations in waste production, including a million tonnes of plastic waste. Currently, there are methods for recycling plastic within New Zealand but these methods can be expensive and time-consuming, resulting in most of the plastic being thrown into the landfill. Because plastic does not fully degrade, it ends up in the ocean and other waterways, poisoning the water with toxins. The purpose of this research is to provide a solution to reducing plastic waste by creating an alternative method of recycling that utilises new technologies such as additive manufacturing, to create a building material that fits into the concept of the circular economy. The findings of this research explored the recycling of plastic by collecting plastic waste such as PLA (Polylactic Acid) from old 3D printed models. The plastic was recycled into filament for additive manufacturing (AM) and used to print building tile, establishing an initial proof of concept for the use of recycled plastic as a potential building material.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 730 ◽  
pp. 139038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita Robaina ◽  
Kelly Murillo ◽  
Eugénio Rocha ◽  
José Villar

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6049
Author(s):  
Sun-Kyoung Shin ◽  
Namil Um ◽  
Yong-Jun Kim ◽  
Na-Hyeon Cho ◽  
Tae-Wan Jeon

With an increasing use of plastic, considerable plastic waste is generated, threatening the environment and public health. In particular, changes in living patterns in urban areas have significantly impacted the rate at which plastic waste increases every year. Thus, governments in many developed countries have implemented numerous policies to reduce plastic waste generation. Among them is the concept of circular economy that aims to protect the environment from plastic pollution and promote growth and innovation in industry and human life through overall changes in designing, producing, using, and recycling plastic products. The Korean government has implemented the Resource Circulation Act (RCA), which includes the concept of circular economy and resource efficiency policy for overall waste management. Following the concept of RCA, the Plastic Waste Control Plan (PWCP) was established for the comprehensive management of plastic waste. Therefore, this study introduces the goals and strategies of PWCP, which has a circulation system of four stages of production, consumption, discharge, and recycling, as well as the major roadblocks in the stages impeding the achievement of the goals and strategies. This study also suggests countermeasures at the government level for solving the major problems in the four stages.


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