207. How To Handle Plastic Waste United States alone produces over 60 billion po

Question

207. How To Handle Plastic Waste United States alone produces over 60 billion pounds of plastics per year. Approximately onethird of these packaging. Concerns have grown over the environmental impact of disposed plastics. The plastics industry has specifically manufactured materials that are long lasting and resistant to environmental factors. The ion, if nc f waste plastic comes from The results of the generation of large quantities of plastics is widely observed. Discarded plastic can be found as litter on roadsides and in marine environments. Plastic disposal requires approximately Public forty percent of the ever decreasing landfill space. Due to the visibility and indestructibilityof these plastics, they have been targeted for management of solid waste. Several groups have tried to devise answers to this ever growing problem of plastic disposal. Plastics recycling has been targeted as a possible solution for the management of thiswaste; however, currently, approximately only a small quantity is actually recycled (as little as 6.8%). Another solution that a minority of people have adopted is to make plastics degradable and recycle the remainder of plastics. Plastics manufacturers are looking to make plastics that promote photodegradation or biodegradation. Questions&Problems; 1. Determine what the terms photodegradation and biodegradation mean in terms of the degradation of plastics. int: Plastics are frequently included with polymers when these different kinds of degradation are 2. 3. 4. being discussed.) What materials are necessary in the formulation of these plastics to make them degrade? Compare what happens to plastics defined as degradable to plastics that are not degradable. Cite examples of products where these plastics are now in use. es

Explanation / Answer

Biodegradation is the process of decomposition of a certain compound into the original elements (CO2, N2 , water and biomass for polymers) that created it, the biodegradation is carried out by biological agents like plants, animals, bacteria, etc., this process happens under natural environmental conditions. A biodegradable polymer breaks down easily (the chain) after being used reducing its molar mass and making it easier to metabolize by biological agents

Photodegradation is the decompostion of the plastic material, this process is done by the action of the UV light that produces and oxidation, oxygen molecules will come together with the polymers breaking the chains into smaller chains making the plastic become brittle and easier to break into smaller pieces and reducing the molar mass of the polymer, this process may take some time which is unpredictable

the biodegradation is made by biological agents, is environmentally friendly and is very cheap

the photodegradation is made by UV light or high energy radiation, the time it takes is unpredictable, it might not be too friendly with the environment and it might not be cheap

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