We are living in
The world’s human population has passed 6 billion and continues to increase. The growth in the human
population and the increase in the standard of living are putting strains on the global environment. Here
are some of the ways in which this is happening:
- non-renewable energy resources, such as coal, oil and natural gas, are being used up rapidly
- raw materials are being used up rapidly
- more waste is being produced
- more pollution is being caused.
Whilst 99 percent of the stuff purchased is trashed within 6 months producing a massive 2.12 billion tons of
dumped waste annually, the resources of the blue planet have the limits revealed and we are facing severe
difficulties in provisions: fuel, arable land, fresh water and breathable air. The unfortunate have to manage
their lives with insufficient supply of food and drinking water in our world of modern times when the access
to the internet is listed as basic need and considered to be part of fundamental human rights (‘freedom of
connect’).
The concept of waste requires an exhaustingly long overview. The linked terminology is vast and confusing.
Waste picking or scavenging either makes a whole lot of money (on the sunny side – developed or more
developed countries) or hardly ever covers the costs of living (on the shady side or in the Third World. The
developing or less developed countries are incorrect opposites in waste management. The least developed
countries are often addressed as the Third World).
Terminology
garbage: especially American English waste material, such as paper, empty containers, and food thrown
away; = rubbish British English [...]
litter: WASTE [U] waste paper, cans etc that people have thrown away and left on the ground in a public
place; = rubbish, trash, garbage: People who drop litter can be fined in some cities. | a town with a litter
problem. [...]
rubbish: [U] especially British English (1) food, paper etc that is no longer needed and has been thrown
away; = garbage American English, trash American English [...]
trash: American English, things that you throw away, such as empty bottles, used papers, food that has
gone bad etc; = rubbish British English [...]
waste: UNWANTED MATERIALS [U] unwanted materials or substances that are left after you have used
something.
Research Task: complete understanding and interpretation of differences is required for your online test
─ household waste
─ industrial/chemical waste
─ dumping of waste
─ hazardous waste
─ nuclear waste
─ toxic waste
Waste hierarchy
Reduce, reuse and recycle (R3) are the three essential components of
environmentally-responsible consumer behaviour. The main goal is waste
minimisation which is achieved by 3 hierarchic steps
- “reduce”: limit the number of purchases that you make in the first place
- “reuse”: reuse items as much as possible before replacing them, after
replacing items ensure the reuse of components
- “recycle”: ensure that items or their components are put to some new
purpose as much as possible
Sometimes a fourth R is added to the three basic ones, generally standing for either "rethink" or "recover."
Rethink is sometimes added to the front of the hierarchy, meaning that we should consider our options and
think about their impact on the environment. Recover, which is the last R, refers to the practice of putting
waste products to use. For example, decomposing garbage produces methane gas (one of the greenhouse
gases), which some landfill sites recover and burn for energy rather than letting it dissipate.
The aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract
the maximum practical benefits from
products and to generate the minimum
amount of waste.
Take action first and prevent the generation
of waste. The next step or preferred action is
to reduce the generation of waste i.e. by reuse. The next is recycling which would
include composting. Following this step is
material recovery and waste-to-energy.
Energy can be recovered from processes i.e. landfill and combustion, at this level of the hierarchy. The final
action is disposal, in landfills or through incineration without energy recovery. This last step is the final
resort for waste which has not been prevented, diverted or recovered.
The life-cycle of any product
The life-cycle begins with design, then proceeds through manufacture, distribution, use and then follows
through the waste hierarchy's stages of reduce, reuse and recycle. Each of the above stages of the life-cycle
offers opportunities for policy intervention, to rethink the need for the product, to redesign to minimize
waste potential, to extend its use. The key behind the life-cycle of a product is to optimize the use of the
world's limited resources by avoiding the unnecessary generation of waste.
Recycling
Recycling appears to be prevalent and ultimate when waste management is discussed. However it also has
its limits in terms of suitable material and number of cycles.
Glass is easily recycled. It can be melted and remoulded to make new objects, such as bottles. The energy
needed to do this is less than the energy needed to make new glass from its raw materials. However, we
need to sort different coloured glass ready for recycling, and transport it to the recycling plant.
Just like glass, it takes less energy to melt and remould metals than it does to extract new metals from their
ores. Aluminium is a valuable metal that melts at a relatively low temperature, and is particularly attractive
for recycling. However, a lot of metals that we use are mixtures called alloys, and it can be difficult to sort
different metals ready for recycling.
Paper is not melted when it is recycled. Instead, it is broken up into small pieces and reformed to make
new sheets of paper. This takes less energy than making paper from trees. However, paper can only be
recycled a few times before its fibres become too short to be useful, and the recycled paper is often only
good enough for toilet paper or cardboard. But it can be used as a fuel or compost instead.
Plastic can be recycled as fleece clothing so that we use less crude oil, the raw material required for plastic
and a scarce resource that is running out. Different types of plastics have to be sorted out and this can be
difficult. Recycling plastic also stops much of it ending up in landfill sites.
Plastics: The bad and the good
There are essential differences between a plastic and another plastic: some are absolutely safe, while
others may contain substances which are dangerous for the human body which may be exposed to their
health-impairing effects by consuming food-stuffs wrapped into these plastics. The safety of plastics was
consulted in this aspect.
Vast majority of the food-stuff taken home from stores are in plastic packing. The differentiation among the
identical-looking packages is enabled by the numbers and abbreviations at the bottom of the bottles and
boxes. Since 2003 the indication of the numbers coding information on recycling and composition coding
has been made compulsory in Hungary. The numbers raging from 1 to 6 indicate different polymer groups:
1: PET or PETE (Polyethylene-terephtalate)
4: LDPE (low density polyethylene)
Products: soft drink and mineral water bottles, Products: films, bags.
glasses, the bottles for some kinds of household 5: PP (Polypropylene)
chemicals and toiletries.
Products: bottles, yoghurt pots, packs for cream
2: HDPE (high density polyethylene)
cheese and other dairy products, mustard and
Products: toys, milk bottles, washing powders, ketchup bottles, plastic tableware, trays, flask,
cleaning stuffs, shampoo, engine oil flacon.
household chemical flacons.
3: V or PVC (Polyvinyl-chloride)
6: PS (Polystyrene)
Products: tubes, bottles, LPG bottle.
Products: coffee cups, disposable cuttery, food
boxes, yoghurt pots and dairy product packs
In theory any type of plastics is recyclable, however, the expenditure of collection, selection, cleaning and
the recycling process itself make it profitable only for PET, HDPE and PVC at the moment. Meanwhile in the
US most recycling centres collect only bottles of group 1 or 2. Here some of the group 1 and 2 bottles can
be re-exchanged, which is really beneficial in the fight against rubbish in our environment. the ideal
solution could be re-exchangable glass bottles, as plastic bottles can be refilled 6-10 times at most, while
the tenfold of refills is possible for glass bottles.
Several companies take part in the recycling of the non-selective plastics (e.g. Dunaferr, Dunapack, Piszke
papír). The collected PET bottles end up as wrappers, cases and compartments after further processing, but
textile raw material can also be produced from it. Recycled PP gives spare parts. PS is recycled into
stationary, table toys, video cassettes.
Utilisation of non-selective plastic waste is somewhat limited by the non-aesthetic greenish-grey colour of
the end product.
Plastics of avoidance: While food industry uses plastics for the safe storage and food and beverage, some
chemicals may be leached out by in the case of some groups when physically
contacting with food and beverage. The second plastic of the manufacture scale is
PVC, which has a monomer of known carcinogenic effect. Its production and
combustion emits carcinogenic dioxins, in contact with hot or fatty food toxic
phthalates, its softening additive is emitted.
The latter is also true for the heating of PET. PS wrapping also holds a risk by the
effect of its stryrene monomer on hormone system and fertility.
So heating food in plastic-ware requires extra precautions. When a plastic has ‘microwave oven safe’
symbol, only its resistance to deformation and decomposition is guaranteed. It is not meant that no
unknown substance can enter our lunch from the material of the plastic-ware. It is safer to use glassware or
ceramics for heating in the microwave oven and it is absolutely avoid of allegedly toxic contamination and
reusable infinite times.
Safe plastics:
For groups 2, 4 and 5 investigations showed that they do not ingest any substance that is
harmful or badly affecting the hormone system into the wrapped food-stuff.
HOW DO I KNOW IF IT IS BAKELITE?
Natural polymers are found in many forms. The first synthetic polymer was introduced under the name
“Bakelite”, by Leo Baekeland in 1909. Its original use was to make billiard balls then was used especially in
electrical wiring. Rayon, the synthetic replacement for silk was developed in 1911. Although many polymers
were made in the following years, the technology to mass produce them was not developed until World
War II, when there was a need to develop synthetic rubber for tires and other wartime applications and
nylon for parachutes.
Since that time, the polymer industry has grown and
diversified into one of the fastest growing industries
in the world. Today, polymers are commonly used in
thousands of products. Some are glad to address
our era as ’Plastic Age’. Decades ago collectors were
interested in wood, china and metals. However,
gramophone records caught the exclusive interest
of some collectors and music enthusiasts. It is
collectible in all its forms including jewelry, buttons,
radio cases, lamps, dresser sets and many more
items.
The name ’Bakelite’ was incorrectly used as generic
term for so many other plastics and composition
materials. Old time bakelite was later displayed in
later records.
The most wide-spread phenoplast
However, experienced collectors developed ways of testing for true bakelite, some of which follow:
– Rub your fingers over the piece. (I grasp the piece with my hand and use my thumb to rub) until it is
warm, then smell. It is unforgettable - formaldehyde or a carbolic acid. Familiarize yourself with this
odor. Not all pieces will have the same odor intensity, but it will be there.
– Immerse the piece in hot water (not with rhinestones, please).The smell should be the same.
– Bakelite has a clunky sound. Hit two plastic pieces together, then two bakelite - check the difference.
Feel the difference.
– Colors - some giveaways are colors and shapes. Look at some of the bakelite books on the market and
note the colors. Bakelite colors do change with age.
(Based on articles by David A. Katz and a collector website)