• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.E
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• pp.13-21
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• 1995

This Pilot study identifies potential dioxin and furan sources and medical plastic wastes produced from hospital solid waste streams. In this study, air emissions of dioxins and furans from sources in the U.S., which were estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), were summarized. Potential loading routes of dioxins and furans to the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes region have also been identified in trcent surveys. In addition, medical and hospital solid wastes produced in typical large city hospitals were characterized as important potential sources of dioxins and furans. Plastic contents in medical Plastics Characterization Survey (MMPCS), plastics composition data were obtained from a survey of five Massachusetts Hospitals and Medical Centers. By identifying plastic wastes as a percentage of total hospital wastes, we were able to use data from a preliminary study that analyzed the waste stream of 16 major New York City hospitals (NYCMWS) characterizing the plastic content of the wasters. This study determined the types of plastic wastes included in each medical waste stream (regulated medical waste or non regulated medical waste) and it discussed the potential for recyclibility of hospital plastic wastes. The combination of the NYCMWS and the MMPCS surveys provides for the first overview of the size of the recycling task of hospital plastic wastes and the potential of dioxin elimination if dioxin generating plastics were to be eliminated from hospital use.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.416-422
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• 2016

Lots of plastics are widely used in a variety of industrial field. And the amount of plastic waste is massively produced. In the study of waste recycling, it is emerged as an important issue to prevent the waste of potentially useful resource materials as well as to reduce ecological damage. So, the recycling of plastic waste has been currently paid attention to from the view point of reuse. Existing automatic sorting system consist of near infrared ray (NIR) sensors to classify the types of plastics. But the classification of black plastics still remains a challenge. Black plastics which contains carbon black are not almost classified by NIR because of the characteristic of the light absorption of black plastics. This study is focused on handling how to identify black plastics instead of NIR. Raman spectroscopy is used to get qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of black plastics. In order to improve the performance of identification, Support Vector Machine(SVM) classifier and Principal Component Analysis(PCA) are exploited to more preferably classify some kinds of the black plastics, and to analyze the characteristic of each data.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.22-28
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• 1997

In recent yean thc problem of wastc plastics arc greatly incrcascd with ihe result uf lndushial growth. As a rcsult the amount of wastc plaslics in domestic area is appraxhnately 2,300,000 t<~nin 1996 base and contmuously increasing more than 12% cvcry ycar. Thc disposal way of these waste plastics arc dlLl malnly rely~ng on landill1 or partially incinuralion So that it hss become a senous social problem due to the second envirnmentd pollution. The tcchnologics iar prducing oil from the waste plastics have hccn dcvelopcd far along pennd and currently some of them are in a commercialiration stage Pyrolysis process in one of the major process m heating waslc plaslics bul still has some restlichons for the cammcrc~dizatian duc lo 11s emnom~cal problems assaciated with a systcmiltlc lecd collcctionidispnsJ ways. Cansldenng cnvaomcnld problems, thc inclease m the charge for waste matcds trcatmcnt and thc lmlitarion ni disposal area, it is inteicstcd that the wastc plastics treabncnt by pyrolysn. which would be the safest and the most eilic~ent process for cnnvcrting fecd wastc to rc-usablc rcsourccs. would he predomhant m ihe near h~lurc Thc shldy aims inr the development of haslc ted~nolagy for scaling up to a com~nercial sire through pyrolys~s process which is cnnduclcd under the absence of air. Furthern~orc the waste plastics can be recycled as iual gas or oil wilhout harmful effects in enviroment, The waste w e d plastics arc pyrolyzed in (he fluidized bcd rcaclor under continuous way and thc ail ylcld gives approx~marcly 47 4%.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.269-297
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• 2021

Bioplastics are attracting attention as a substitute for conventional petroleum-based plastics because they are carbon neutral and can be biodegradable. This study estimated economic and environmental impact of regulating the petroleum-based plastics industry and fostering the bioplastics industry using a Recursive Dynamic CGE Model of the Korean Economy. Results show that the regulation of the conventional plastics industry exhibits a positive environmental impact by reducing greenhouse gases and plastic waste and a negative economic impact with a decrease in GDP. Meanwhile, fostering the bioplastics industry with regulation on conventional plastics industry has similar levels of greenhouse gas and waste reduction effects when there is only regulation on the conventional plastics industry. It is also shown that expanding the production of bioplastics industry offsets existing economic losses as a form of increased GDP. If petroleum-based plastics are replaced through the expansion of bioplastics production, it can contribute to the decoupling of greenhouse gas emissions and plastic waste from economic growth.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2020

Background: The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) is gaining attention as an efficient decomposer of food waste. However, recalcitrant compounds such as plastics mixed into food waste may have negative effects on its growth and survival. Moreover, its efficiency of food waste degradation may also be affected by plastics. In addition, salt (NaCl) can also be present in high concentrations, which also reduces the efficiency of H. illucens-mediated food waste treatment. In this study, we assessed the growth of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) reared on food waste containing polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) and NaCl. The weight of BSFL was measured every 2-4 days. Survival and substrate reduction rates and pupation ratio were determined at the end of the experiment. Results: The total larval weight of Hermetia illucens reared on food waste containing PS was greater than that of the control on days 20 and 24. However, the survival rate was lower in the group treated with 5% PS, as was substrate reduction in all PS-treated groups. The weight of BSFL reared on food waste containing PE was lower than that of the control on day 6. PE in food waste did not affect the survival rate, but the pupation ratio increased and substrate consumption decreased with increasing PE concentrations. Regardless of the plastic type, the addition of NaCl resulted in decreased larval weight and pupation ratio. Conclusions: Larval growth of black soldier fly was inhibited not by plastics but by substrate salinity. Additional safety assessments of larvae reared on food waste containing impurities are needed to enable wider application of BSFL in vermicomposting.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.592-596
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• 2001

A TACUB jig was applied to separate waste plastics [polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)] used in copy machine. The effect of water pulsation including amplitude and frequency on the separation performance was investigated for the feeds containing two or three plastics. Good results are obtained under suitable conditions. Grades of 99.8% PS,99.3% ABS, and 98.6% PET are recovered as the products in the upper, middle and bottom layers respectively. Based on these results, a processing plant fer recycling of plastics from scrapped copy machines is now under construction.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.12-21
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• 1997

Plastics waste constitutes approximately 23% by volume of the municipal solid waste(MSW) generated in the U.S. each year, and have slow rate of degradation in the environment. Therefore, there is a great deal of public pressure to recycle plastics, and more than 100 million people participate in the curbside recycling programs. Despite the high level of public interest, only 3.5% of the plastic are recycled, which is substantially lower than the recycle rates of other materials such as paper fibers, glass, and iron. Although a large part of the reason is due to the low price of virgin polymers, which in turn is due to the low price of oil, it is possible to make the plastics recycling as a profitable business by developing advanced technologies. In this communication, various methods of separating pplastics from metals and from each other are discussed.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.21-28
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• 2008

Using the post-consumer waste and edge scrap mixed PET with small amount PP air filter elements of automobiles. It was studied that these mixed waste plastics of the various types of the PET were practicable for the material recycling. Various waste PET/PP plastics were collected, crushed, dried in vacuum, and extruded to recycled PET/PP chips. These chips were mixed with three kinds compatibilizers, EVA, MBS, and recycled PVB of the ratio of $3{\sim}10wt.%$ for the purpose of the compatibility for the post-consumer waste and edge scrap. We investigated mechanical and thermal properties of PET/PP mixtures which were compound with the weight ratio of compatibilizers. Compatibilizer, MBS application was showed the most excellent mechanical properties in the range of the $3{\sim}5wt.%$ EVA application was displayed good impact strength and thermal property in the range of $3{\sim}5wt.%$ Last, recycled PVB application was showed poor mechanical properties in the whole range ratio of the PVB.

• Journal of Korea Society of Waste Management
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.692-700
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• 2018

In this study, the results of PBDEs and HBCDs of the products and waste that contain BFRs such as domestic electronic products, automobiles and textile products were compared with international management standards, and their excess rates were calculated. Deca-BDE was detected among the PBDEs in TV rear cover plastics, car seats, automotive interior plastics, and automobile shredding residues of products and waste containing BFRs. The comparison with Basel Convention management standards (1,000 mg/kg) for PBDE-containing wastes (4 types in total) shows that the excess rate of all samples was less than 1.5%. The estimated excess rate compared to the EU and Basel convention management standards (1,000 mg/kg) for PBDEs (4 species + deca-BDE) and TV rear cover plastics was 37.5% (30 of 80 samples exceeded the standards). The estimated excess rate compared to the Basel convention management standards (1,000 mg/kg) for HBCD, building materials products and waste was 15.7% (17 of 108 samples exceeded the standards). In the case of PBDEs, it is necessary to remove only the rear cover of CRT TV among the electric and electronic products and treat it in the flame retardant treatment facility to improve the recycling collection system. In the case of HBCD, it is necessary to appropriately dispose of the recycled materials, heat insulation materials, TV plastics, and styrofoam in marine fishery among construction materials and restrict the use as recycled raw materials.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.145-153
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• 2012

The aim of this study is to explore the possibility of re-cycling a waste material that is now produced in large quantities, while achieving an improvement of the mechanical properties and durability of the mortar. This study examines the mechanical properties and the durability parameters of mortars incorporating plastics bag wastes (PBW) as fine aggregate by substitution of a variable percentage of sand (10, 20, 30 and 40 %). The influence of the PBW on the, compressive and flexural strength, drying shrinkage, fire resistance, sulfuric acid attack and chloride diffusion coefficient of the different mortars, has been investigated and analyzed in comparison to the control mortar. The results showed that the use of PBW enabled to reduce by 18-23 % the compressive strength of mortars containing 10 and 20 % of waste respectively, which remains always close to the reference mortar (made without waste). The replacement of sand by PBW in mortar slows down the penetration of chloride ions, improves the behavior of mortars in acidic medium and improves the sensitivity to cracking. The results of this investigation consolidate the idea of the use of PBW in the field of construction.