What is sustainable development?

It is defined as the development that

meets the needs of present without
compromising the ability of the
future generations to meet their
own needs.
What are plastics?
Plastic is any synthetic or semi-synthetic
organic polymer and often consists of many
things. Most industrial plastic is made from
petrochemicals.
Some eye-opening stats:
The total amount of plastic in the municipal solid waste
stream in 2006 was almost 30 million tons (nearly 60 billion
pounds).
In 2006, the US generated 14 million tons of plastic
through containers and packaging.
Americans threw more than 22 billion water bottles in the
trash in 2006.
56 percent of plastic waste is packaging-related. Around 75
percent of this waste comes from residential households.
Plastic bottles are a petroleum product and use 151 billion
litres of oil to produce each year. Thats enough to run
500,000 cars per year
2,500,000 tons of a carbon dioxide was produced in the
manufacturing of the plastic bottles each year
In a 1998 survey, 89 per cent of the litter observed floating on
ocean surface in the North Pacific was plastic.


Thermoforming -Give waste a new shape

What is THERMOFORMING?


Thermoforming refers to the manufacturing process of heating and
molding plastic materials into packaging solutions.
Sample end products include containers, lids, trays, clamshells and blister
packaging.
These packages are used in such a wide range of industries as medical,
food, electronics and consumer products.
We can call it a closed loop recycled process as the no plastic is wasted
and is remolded into new product



Reduced Energy Consumption. Without thermoforming we would need an
additional energy equivalent to 58 million barrels of oil to manufacture
packaging grade plastic.

Recycled Scrap. After the production process, excess plastic is trimmed
and recycled instead of headed to a landfill.

Reduced Packaging. Thermoforming allows retailers to use only as much
packaging as they need for their product thus reducing raw material
consumption.

Preserved Natural Resources. The use of plastics in thermoforming
replaces such natural resources as wood and paper



How Can Thermoforming Be Eco-Friendly?
THERMOFORMING CONSTRAINTS
Thermoforming window-
Amorphous plastics have relatively wide thermoforming
window and semi crystalline plastics have narrow
thermoforming windows
Amorphous plastics include polystyrene, PVC, acrylonitrile-
butadiene-styrene etc.
Semi-crystalline plastic include polyethylene and
polypropylene.
It takes double the energy to heat HDPE to 180
0
C than to heat
polystyrene to same temperature
Shrinkage and draft angles.
P.L.A : Poly-Lactic Acid
Polylactic acid (PLA) is a transparent plastic produced
from corn or dextrose. It not only resembles conventional
petrochemical-based mass plastics (like PET, PS or PE) in its
characteristics, but it can also be processed on standard
equipment that already exists for the production of some
conventional plastics.

PLA and PLA blends generally come in the form of granulates
with various properties, and are used in the plastic processing
industry for the production of films, fibers, plastic containers,
cups and bottles.

HOW IT WORKS
Sustainability of P.L.A
Polylactic acid can be recycled to monomer by thermal depolymerization,
or hydrolysis.
When purified, the monomer can be used for the manufacture of virgin
PLA with no loss of original properties (cradle-to-cradle recycling).
Made from renewable resources
Plastic-like consistency
Freezer safe
Allergen free
Composts in 30-45 days in a commercial composting facility
Produces no toxic compounds when burned, unlike many plastics.
It's made from plants that can be grown in 100 days, not oil that takes 100
million years



PROBLEMS WITH P.L.A
PLA Biodegrades Slowly Unless Subjected to Industrial
Composting
But critics say that PLA is far from a panacea for dealing with the
worlds plastic waste problem. For one thing, although PLA does
biodegrade, it does so very slowly.
Recyclers Cant Mix PLA and Other Plastics
Another issue with PLA is that, because it is of different origin than
regular plastic, it must be kept separate when recycled, lest it
contaminate the recycling stream.
Cannot Withstand High Temperature
Due to PLA's relatively low glass transition temperature, PLA cups
cannot hold hot liquids. However, much research is devoted to
developing a heat resistant PLA
Road To Sustainability Move on
Plastic
Plastic roads mainly use plastic carry-
bags, disposable cups and PET
bottles that are collected from garbage
dumps as an important ingredient of
the construction material. When mixed
with hot bitumen, plastics melt to form
an oily coat over the aggregate and the
mixture is laid on the road surface like
a normal tar road.
Advantages of plastic roads
Use higher percentage of plastic waste.
Reduce the need of bitumen by around 10%.
Increase the strength and performance of the road.
Reduce the cost to around Rs. 5000/Km. of single lane
road.
Generate jobs for rag pickers. Develop a technology,
which is eco-friendly .
100% improvement in fatigue life of roads.
Reduced penetration and ductility, a higher softening
point, less rutting and cold cracking
Plastic-To-Oil
Over 500 billion pounds of new plastic is manufactured each year and roughly 33%
of that is single use and thrown away.


We need to stop polluting our oceans with plastic before it is too late, and start
collecting all plastics suitable for this new fairly simple technology, a technology that is
available now.



The Pros:
All those dirty waste plastics going into landfill and leaching chemicals can be avoided by
this process. It can be utilized in a better way.

Saves both energy and carbon emissions, and depending on regional landfill costs, it can
also be more cost efficient.


The Cons:

In long term, there may be environmental risk from the gas emissions, the impurities and
potentially toxic compounds that will be left behind in this process.

If this oil production process becomes successful, use of plastic may not be put on check.
The Pioneers
UK: Cynar produces a synthetic fuel suitable for all internal combustion engines:
cynarplc.com
20 tonnes per day per module.

Washington, DC: www.envion.com
Boosts easy installation, high efficiency, no second-time pollution.
Plant converts 6,000 tons of plastic into nearly a million barrels yearly.

Circle Pines, MN and International: polymerenergy.com
They have a modular unit that produces 775 liters of fuel for every ton of plastic
waste processed. System capacity is rated at 185 tons per month.

New York/Canada: JBI, Inc. www.plastic2oil.com
20-ton processor, 4,000 lbs. of plastic feedstock per machine per hour.

Phillipines: www.polygreen.com.ph
5,000 kilos of fuel per day

Hong Kong: Ecotech Recycling Social Enterprise
Prototype machine can process three tons of plastic waste into 1,000 liters of fuel
oil per day.

Alka Zadgaonkar wrings plastic waste
for profit
The process invented and patented by Alka Zadgaonkar is capable of
accepting all tribes and castes of plastic waste as input: carry bags, broken
buckets and chairs, PVC pipes etc.
The results of 11 experiments conducted at the Indian Oil Corporation's
(IOC) R&D centre, at Faridabad in Uttar Pradesh, between July 1-10, 2003,
have proved that the plastic-to-petrol process.
The invention yields 40-60% liquid petroleum from a kilogram of waste
plastic.The production cost is a mere Rs 7 per litre.
THE FUTURE SCOPE

According to a 2012 study prepared for the American
Chemistry Council, by the research organization RTI
International, these Pyrolysis conversion technologies that
turn plastic waste into fuel have developed to the point where
they are likely to be commercially viable in just 5-10 years.

The study also points that although theres plenty of plastic
waste available to convert into fuel, plastics-to-oil technology
alone is not likely to be an energy cure-all. This is because the
extent of oil consumption around the world is massive, and
this plastic conversion into oil cannot cater all those needs.


DO WE NEED ALL THESE ALTERNATIVES?


WHY CANT WE JUST BAN PLASTIC?


WOULD IT AFFECT THE ECONOMY OF
THE DEVELOPING NATIONS?


Metallocene Catalyst
Metallocene is a positively charged metal ion sandwiched between
two negatively charged cyclopentadienyl anions.

1. Mpe sacks weighed lighter than their
counterparts.
2. Cumulative energy demand is 39-54% of the
paper sacks.
3. Total green house emissions are 20-25% of that
of paper sacks