stop using plastic bags

Plastic is one of the major elements that constitute the backyard trash.
Typical household trash burned consists of items that would typically be sent to a landfill or recycled. This includes

• • Paper.
  • Cardboard.
  • Food scraps.
  • Plastics.
  • Yard trimmings.
  • Leaves. Now one of the most important part of this project is the hazards caused by burning plastic. 

In the past, the trash burned by residents, especially those in rural areas, consisted mainly of paper and wood. The makeup of trash has changed within the past 50 years and now includes coated paper, plastics, and other materials manufactured by humans. Hence, it is necessary to make people aware about the hazards caused by burning plastic. Because when people will be aware of it, then only they will stop dumping their plastic bags in their bins and will stop burning it. Now, the question is what makes plastic bags so hazardous. The answer lies in chemical composition of plastic and further its physical and chemical properties. So, lets take a trip to the world of plastics......
ok, now the foremost important characteristic of plastic is that it is made up of polymers?? Now, what are polymers? A polymer is a molecule whose structure is composed of multiple repeating units, from which originates a characteristic of high relative molecular mass and attendant properties...

Now, let us see what this picture depicts???
A plastic item with thirty years of exposure to heat and cold, brake fluid, and sunlight. Notice the discoloration, swelling, and crazing of the material. Crazing looks like a network of fine cracks on the surface of a material, for example in a glaze layer. Brake fluid is a type of hydraulic fluid used in hydraulic brake and hydraulic clutch applications in automobiles, motorcycles, light trucks, and some bicycles. It is used to transfer force into pressure, and to amplify braking force. 

MAJOR PLASTICS

                             

                            

HOW THE RECYCLING OCCURS

• The recyclables can be collected from individual homes or from collection points such as tips, schools and supermarkets. After transport to the recycling plant, plastics are hand sorted according to their recycling code. Some materials recovery facilities can mechanically sort different plastic codes. Each plastic type is processed separately. 

• The plastic is sliced into flakes and the flakes go through a washing process.

• The clean plastic flakes are melted together, extruded through small holes, and chopped into pellets. 

• The bags of recycled plastic pellets are taken to factories where they are melted and made into new products.

• In the case of soft drink bottles the recycled pellets are combined with virgin material fresh from petroleum. These are then melted and moulded into preforms. 

• The bottles are blown into another mould to form the full size bottle this is often done at the bottling plant where they are filled and sealed. 

• Once consumed they are delivered back to the recycling plant after household recycling

Recycling Of Plastics Animation

PROBLEMS WITH RECYCLING PLASTICS

 Plastics are much more complicated to recycle than other materials like paper, metal, and glass, in large part because of the many thousands of different types of plastics on the market. for plastics recycling to work, manufacturers must be able to cost-effectively collect and sort plastics for these markets. For communities to create recycling system to recycleevry possible type of plastic packaging that exists now (and will be created into the future), it is not only daunting, expensive, and inefficient, it places all the responsiblity and cost on the costumer.

For many years, communities and recyclers have struggled to create recycling programs for plastics with little success because of these issues:

• Collection is time-intensive, so expensive 

• Sorting of mixed plastic waste is difficult – contamination is inevitable.

•  Removing labels, print, all but impossible at 100% success rate 

• Contamination of any sort compromises re-use in “hi-tech” applications (a carbonated water bottle is a pressure vessel – a failure is unacceptable to the supermarkets that sell them)  

• PET and PVC have many problems with cross contamination as the two polymers appear very similar to the naked eye and share the same specific gravity so cannot be separated by conventional float-sink techniques used in the plastic recycling industry. 

•  The correct separation of plastics is extremely important. Just one PVC bottle in a batch of 10,000 PET bottles can ruin the entire melt! 

• Reclaiming the energy stored in the polymers can be done through incineration, but this can cause environmental damage by release of toxic gases into the atmosphere.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLASTICS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION

The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) established a classification system in 1988 to allow consumers and recyclers to identify different types of plastic. Manufacturers place an SPI code, or number, on each plastic product, usually moulded into the bottom. This guide provides a basic outline of the different plastic types associated with each code number.

BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS

BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS

Biodegradable plastics are plastics that are capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms.

Two basic classes of biodegradable plastics exist: , Bioplastics whose components are derived from renewable raw materials and plastics made from petrochemicals with biodegradable e additives which enhance biodegradation.

The classes of biodegradable plastics considered, in terms of the degradation mechanism, are:

1) Biodegradable

2) Compostable

3) Hydro-biodegradable

4) Photo-biodegradable

5) Bioerodable

BIODEGRADABLE

Biodegredation is degradation caused by biological activity, particularly by enzyme action leading to significant changes in the materials chemical structure. In essence, biodegradable plastics should break down cleanly, in a defined time period, to simple molecules found in the environment such as carbon dioxide and water.

COMPOSTABLE

Compostable plastics are a subset of biodegradable plastics.

Compostable biodegradable plastics must be demonstrated to biodegrade and disintegrate in a compost system during the composting process (typically around 12 weeks at temperatures over 50°C). The compost must meet quality criteria such as heavy metal content, ecotoxicity, and no obvious distinguishable residues caused by the breakdown of the polymers.

HYDRO-BIODEGRADABLE AND PHOTO-BIODEGRADABLE

Hydro-biodegradable and photo-biodegradabe polymers are broken down in a two-step process - an initial hydrolysis or photo-degradation stage, followed by further biodegradation. Single degradation phase ‘water-soluble’ and ‘photodegradable’ polymers also exist.

BIOERODABLE

Many polymers that are claimed to be ‘biodegradable’ are in fact ‘bioerodable’ and degrade without the action of micro-organisms – at least initially. This is also known as abiotic disintegration, and may include processes such as dissolution in water, ‘oxidative embrittlement’ (heat ageing) or ‘photolytic embrittlement’ (UV ageing).

PLASTIC ( POLYTHENE) - BOON OR BANE

Why have we chosen the topic of plastic????

So,let me ask you all first. Why do you think we would have chosen this topic? Some of you might think that the reason behind this is that the use of plastic is becoming a major problem... While some of you might think that it is harmful for all. 
Well,the reason for choosing this topic is that we all use it everyday but have very little knowledge about the same. And this is the reason why it has become a great issue. While some of us might know its ill-effects but not all. So, we have started this project to make more people aware about the same issue and we might take few steps to make our future generations safer. If not for all, think about the future of your children only.   

Well, the reason behind this is very simple yet very devastating and precarious. Its not just that because our country “India” is suffering the undesirable consequences of usage of plastic bags but the truth is that one corner or the other corner of world is suffering with this problem and the detrimental effects of this can be seen worldwide……

Its hard to believe that 1 trillion plastic bags are used annually worldwide. Australia, the second highest producer of waste dumps 429,000 bags every hour. Then another great country, China uses 3 billion plastic bags by consuming an estimated 5 million tons of crude oil annually. Other such countries are Rwanda, Italy, Ireland, South Africa and the list goes on……Its because of the fear of devastating effects of using plastic bags that these countries have adopted bag limits in recent years.

The aim of our project is to minimize the use of plastic bags by coming up with new ideas with alternatives to plastic bags and by creating awareness in the societies that what they are using is a weapon that will swirl the world in such a way that they themselves won’t be able to live in it…Through this project we want to seek measures to solve this worldwide issue because if it is not solved now then this time along with this opportunity to solve it will slip from our hands when we will no longer be able to live the way we are living now. We are exploiting not only our future but our future generations also…

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

All of us are gifted by God in one way or the other.All you need is to explore your hidden potential which no other than you can do the best. YOU are your best judge. The more you know about yourself, the better your performance be.
Always motivate yourself on every   small or a big thing.