scholarly journals Plastic Recycling Practices in Vietnam and Related Hazards for Health and the Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 4203
Author(s):  
Stefan Salhofer ◽  
Aleksander Jandric ◽  
Souphaphone Soudachanh ◽  
Thinh Le Xuan ◽  
Trinh Dinh Tran
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Waste Plastic ◽  
Plastic Recycling ◽  
Global Threat ◽  
Informal Context

Waste plastic today is a global threat. The rapid increase in global production and use has led to increasing quantities of plastics in industrial and municipal waste streams. While in industrialized countries plastic waste is taken up by a waste management system and at least partly recycled, in low-income countries adequate infrastructure to collect and treat waste adequately is often not in place. This paper analyzes how plastic waste is handled in Vietnam, a country with a fast-growing industry and growing consumption. The recycling of plastic waste typically takes place in an informal context. To demonstrate this in more detail, two rural settlements—so-called craft villages—are taken as case studies. Technologies and processes for plastic recycling are described and related risks for human health and the environment are shown, as well as the potential for the improvement of this situation.

scholarly journals The Crisis of Plastic Waste in Vietnam is Real

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (9) ◽  
pp. 107-111
Author(s):  
Thanh Hai Truong ◽  
Hai Nam Vu
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Plastic Recycling ◽  
Tourist Destinations ◽  
Aquatic Products ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Recycling Technology ◽  
Plastic Products

The issue of "white pollution" at popular tourist destinations of environmental pollution is rising at an alarming rate. According to statistics, Vietnam currently ranks fourth in the world in volume of plastic waste, with approximately 730,000 tons of plastic waste going to the sea every year. Vietnam is also known as a country with twice the amount of plastic waste compared to low-income countries. Plastic waste in the ocean will destroy the natural environment, negatively affecting the lives of aquatic products. On land, plastic waste is abundant in many places and has serious impacts on human health and life. Analysts point out that, if the pace of use of plastic products continues to increase, there will be an additional 33 billion tons of plastic produced by 2050 and thus more than 13 billion tons of plastic waste will be buried. backfill into landfills or into the ocean. Meanwhile, the recycling of Vietnam's plastic waste, has not been developed. The rate of waste sorting at the source is very low, most types of waste are put together and collected by waste trucks. Plastic recycling technology used in Vietnam's major cities is outdated, low in efficiency, high in costs and polluting the environment. The paper presents the current situation of plastic waste in Vietnam as of June 2019. The authors focus on highlighting the serious "white pollution" in Vietnam, a country with a very long coastline. But the coast is really threatened by plastic waste. This is really a wake-up call to the authorities about the promulgation of policies and the people on the morality of survival with nature.

scholarly journals Pyro-Oil and Wax Recovery from Reclaimed Plastic Waste in a Continuous Auger Pyrolysis Reactor

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sultan Majed Al-Salem ◽  
Yang Yang ◽  
Jiawei Wang ◽  
Gary Anthony Leeke
Keyword(s):  
Product Distribution ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Densification Process ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Waste Plastic ◽  
Diesel Fuels ◽  
Plastic Recycling ◽  
Plastic Wastes ◽  
Liquid Products ◽  
Pyrolysis Reactor

The increasing global waste plastic pollution is urging people to take immediate actions on effective plastic recycling and processing. In this work, we report the results of processing reclaimed plastic wastes from unsanitary landfill site in Kuwait by using a bench scale continuous auger pyrolysis system. The plastic feedstock was characterised. After a simple thermal densification process, the material was fed to the pyrolysis system at 500 °C. The pyro-oil and wax products were collected and characterised. The process mass balance was developed on dry basis, and the yields of pyro-oil, light wax, heavy wax and gases were 5.5, 23.8, 69.4 and 1.3 wt%, respectively. The findings have indicated that the reclamation of plastic waste from landfill was feasible in terms of the product distribution and characteristics. Further liquid analysis confirmed that the liquid products contained fractions that are comparable to petrol and diesel fuels. The wax products are viable and have potential application as coating, covering and lubrication.

scholarly journals Pollution-Free Road Lighting

2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 364-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duco A. Schreuder
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Road Lighting ◽  
Technical Report

The beneficial effects of road lighting are often seen as very important. They relate to reducing road accidents and some forms of crime but also enhance the social safety of residents and pedestrians and the amenity for residents. Road traffic in developing countries is much more hazardous than in industrialized countries. Accident rates in ‘low’ income countries may be as much as 35 times higher than in ‘high’ income countries. Thus, it might be much more cost-effective to light roads in the developing world than in the industrialized world. Fighting light pollution is more pressing in developing countries as most of the major high-class astronomical observatories are there. Astronomical observations are disturbed by light from outdoor lighting installations, part of which is scattered in the atmosphere to form ‘sky glow’. The International Lighting Commission CIE has published a Technical Report giving general guidance for lighting designers and policy makers on the reduction of the sky glow.

Chemical upcycling of polymers

2021 ◽  
Vol 379 (2209) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard M. Stadler ◽  
Johannes G. de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Closed Loop ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Separation Processes ◽  
Waste Plastic ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
Plastic Recycling ◽  
Waste Plastic Recycling

As the production volume of polymers increases, so does the amount of plastic waste. Plastic recycling is one of the concepts to address in this issue. Unfortunately, only a small fraction of plastic waste is recycled. Even with the development of polymers for closed loop recycling that can be in theory reprocessed infinitely the inherent dilemma is that because of collection, cleaning and separation processes the obtained materials simply are not cost competitive with virgin materials. Chemical upcycling, the conversion of polymers to higher valuable products, either polymeric or monomeric, could mitigate this issue. In the following article, we highlight recent examples in this young but fast-growing field. This article is part of the theme issue 'Bio-derived and bioinspired sustainable advanced materials for emerging technologies (part 2)'.

2002 Stockholm Statement: Urgent action needed for water security: Recommendations from the Stockholm Water Symposia, 1998-2002

2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 5-7
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
Target Set ◽  
Urgent Action

Water on our planet. The Development Target set by the UN Millennium Assembly is to halve by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, suffering from hunger or unable to reach or afford safe drinking water. It will not be possible to achieve these goals unless governments realize that water is fundamental for almost any kind of development and human activity. Something must be fundamentally wrong when enormous interests and financial resources are engaged in finding water on other planets while we pay insufficient attention to water on our planet on which humanity's survival and quality of life genuinely depend. While part of the explanation may be the commonplace character of water in most industrialized countries, it should be stressed that the majority of the low income countries with large undernutrition are located in the dry climate tropics where daily access to water is every-one's number one priority.

scholarly journals Upcycling plastic waste through empirical implementation of large-scale 3D printing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Watcharawat Ritthisri
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Extrusion Process ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Waste Materials ◽  
Waste Plastic ◽  
Plastic Recycling ◽  
Plastic Products

<p>Plastic waste presents a real global challenge and a threat to health, environment and the global economy. While awareness of the devastating effects of plastic waste on the environment has increased, the production of plastic products is still on the rise. As a result, many countries do not prioritise waste plastic recycling or the export of plastic wastes to other countries for recycling. However, the products from recycled waste plastics are considered to be of low quality and uneconomical to produce on large scale, thus making individuals and corporations giving preference using plastics from virgin materials rather than producing products from recycled plastics. These is therefore a need to develop an effective process through the use of technology to upcycle plastic waste locally to produce products of higher value from waste plastic. The current research sought to investigate the potential of distributed upcycling to change the production and consumption of plastic products in future. To this end, the study sought to prepare high value design application for upcycling and investigated how they could be implemented through large-scale 3D printing in urban environments. To achieve this, the researcher collected plastic waste materials from Wellington in New Zealand to be used in the study experiments. The plastic waste materials were first cleaned, sorted and cut into small pieces using a granulator before being taken through thermal processes to dry them out and set the right temperatures to ensure consistency of the plastic waste extrusion before being taken through the extrusion process. 3D Printing was used to design and make various final products from the recycled plastic waste. Experimentation with different formulations of waste plastic led to production of a high-quality filament successfully achieving the study objectives. As such, upcycling plastic waste using 3D Printing technology provides a locally viable solution to making useful products in large scale as a model for future development.</p>

Long-term Supply-side Macro Models of Potential Growth

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-76
Author(s):  
Giovanni Andrea Cornia
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Dynamic Properties ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Potential Growth ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Endogenous Growth Models

This chapter presents empirical data on long-term trends in growth and income inequalitybefore discussing the nature, main features, and immediate and underlying determinants of long-term growth. It reviews the origins of income differences among world citizens by making reference to colonial history, pre-existing feudal institutions in low-income countries, and differences in growth rates between developed and developing countries. It subsequently presents the long-term growth models developed for the industrialized countries, including the Harrod–Domar model, the neoclassical exogenous growth models of Solow and Mankiw–Romer–Weil, the endogenous growth models of Romer and Aghion–Howitt, and the Unified Growth Theory. It provides also a brief comparison of the main features and dynamic properties of each model.

scholarly journals Distributed Recycling of Post-Consumer Plastic Waste in Rural Areas

2013 ◽  
Vol 1492 ◽  
pp. 91-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kreiger ◽  
G. C. Anzalone ◽  
M. L. Mulder ◽  
A. Glover ◽  
J. M Pearce
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Plastic Recycling ◽  
Polymer Recycling

ABSTRACTAlthough the environmental benefits of recycling plastics are well established and most geographic locations within the U.S. offer some plastic recycling, recycling rates are often low. Low recycling rates are often observed in conventional centralized recycling plants due to the challenge of collection and transportation for high-volume low-weight polymers. The recycling rates decline further when low population density, rural and relatively isolated communities are investigated because of the distance to recycling centers makes recycling difficult and both economically and energetically inefficient. The recent development of a class of open source hardware tools (e.g. RecycleBots) able to convert post-consumer plastic waste to polymer filament for 3-D printing offer a means to increase recycling rates by enabling distributed recycling. In addition, to reducing the amount of plastic disposed of in landfills, distributed recycling may also provide low-income families a means to supplement their income with domestic production of small plastic goods. This study investigates the environmental impacts of polymer recycling. A life-cycle analysis (LCA) for centralized plastic recycling is compared to the implementation of distributed recycling in rural areas. Environmental impact of both recycling scenarios is quantified in terms of energy use per unit mass of recycled plastic. A sensitivity analysis is used to determine the environmental impacts of both systems as a function of distance to recycling centers. The results of this LCA study indicate that distributed recycling of HDPE for rural regions is energetically favorable to either using virgin resin or conventional recycling processes. This study indicates that the technical progress in solar photovoltaic devices, open-source 3-D printing and polymer filament extrusion have made distributed polymer recycling and upcycling technically viable.

scholarly journals Upcycling plastic waste through empirical implementation of large-scale 3D printing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Watcharawat Ritthisri
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Extrusion Process ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Waste Materials ◽  
Waste Plastic ◽  
Plastic Recycling ◽  
Plastic Products

<p>Plastic waste presents a real global challenge and a threat to health, environment and the global economy. While awareness of the devastating effects of plastic waste on the environment has increased, the production of plastic products is still on the rise. As a result, many countries do not prioritise waste plastic recycling or the export of plastic wastes to other countries for recycling. However, the products from recycled waste plastics are considered to be of low quality and uneconomical to produce on large scale, thus making individuals and corporations giving preference using plastics from virgin materials rather than producing products from recycled plastics. These is therefore a need to develop an effective process through the use of technology to upcycle plastic waste locally to produce products of higher value from waste plastic. The current research sought to investigate the potential of distributed upcycling to change the production and consumption of plastic products in future. To this end, the study sought to prepare high value design application for upcycling and investigated how they could be implemented through large-scale 3D printing in urban environments. To achieve this, the researcher collected plastic waste materials from Wellington in New Zealand to be used in the study experiments. The plastic waste materials were first cleaned, sorted and cut into small pieces using a granulator before being taken through thermal processes to dry them out and set the right temperatures to ensure consistency of the plastic waste extrusion before being taken through the extrusion process. 3D Printing was used to design and make various final products from the recycled plastic waste. Experimentation with different formulations of waste plastic led to production of a high-quality filament successfully achieving the study objectives. As such, upcycling plastic waste using 3D Printing technology provides a locally viable solution to making useful products in large scale as a model for future development.</p>

Economic Analysis of Fuel Oil Production from Pyrolysis of Waste Plastic

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kinza Hamid ◽  
◽  
Rabia Sabir ◽  
Khawar Hameed ◽  
Ammara Waheed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Total Production ◽  
Heavy Fuel Oil ◽  
Waste Plastic

The Global plastic production has reached up to 300 million tons in 2015, and waste management has become a serious issue especially in middle and low income countries such as Pakistan. Pakistan, which is producing 1.32 million ton/year of plastic waste, is also facing the issue of environmental pollution as well as unadequate waste dumping ability due to surge in urban population. Among various waste management techniques, pyrolysis has been receiving attention because it offers solution to two most critical problems, energy shortage and environmental pollution. The main purpose of this paper is to produce fuel oil by waste plastic through the pyrolysis process and its cost estimation. Waste plastic decomposes in a various fraction of hydrocarbons catalytically at 400oC. These hydrocarbons are separated through distillation columns and phase separators as light and heavy fuel oil and wax. The economic analysis shows that the estimated total capital investment required for a pyrolysis plant is $0.2 million, the estimated total production cost of pyrolysis plant is $1.6 million/year. The results shows that pyrolysis of waste plastic to produce fuel oil can be the viable solution to meet Pakistan’s energy demand as well as to solve waste dumping issue.

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