EME 2283

Recyling Technology
DR. MOHAMAD BASHREE BIN ABU
BAKAR
bashree.ab@umk.edu.my

PN. ARLINA ALI

mahani@umk.edu.my
EN. MAZLAN MOHAMED
mazlan.m@umk.edu.my

Chapter Overview Questions

What is solid waste and how much do we
produce?
How can we produce less solid waste?
What are the advantages and disadvantages
of reusing recycled materials?
What are the advantages and disadvantages
of burning or burying solid waste?
What is hazardous waste and how can we
deal with it?

Chapter Overview Questions

(contd)
What can we do to reduce exposure to lead
and mercury?
How can we make the transition to a more
sustainable low-waste society?

Core Case Study:

Love Canal There Is No Away

Between 1842-1953, Hooker Chemical Company

sealed multiple 22,000 tons of chemical wastes
(toxic waste) into steel drums and dumped them
into an old canal excavation (Love Canal).
In 1953, the canal was filled and sold to Niagara
Falls school board for $1
The company inserted a disclaimer denying
liability for the wastes.

Core Case Study:

Love Canal There Is No Away
In 1957, Hooker Chemical warned the school not
to disturb the site because of the toxic waste.
In 1959 an elementary school, playing fields and
homes were built disrupting the clay cap covering the
wastes.
In 1976, residents complained of chemical smells and
chemical burns from the site.

Core Case Study:

Love Canal There Is No Away
President Jimmy
Carter declared Love
Canal a federal
disaster area.
The area was
abandoned in 1980
(left).

Core Case Study:

Love Canal There Is No Away
It still is a controversy as to how much the
chemicals at Love Canal injured or caused disease
to the residents.
Love Canal sparked creation of the Superfund
law, which forced polluters to pay for cleaning up
abandoned toxic waste dumps.

WASTING RESOURCES
Solid waste: any unwanted or discarded
material we produce that is not a liquid or
gas.
Municipal solid waste (MSW): produce
directly from homes.
Industrial solid waste: produced indirectly by
industries that supply people with goods and
services.

Hazardous (toxic) waste: threatens human

health or the environment because it is
toxic, chemically active, corrosive or
flammable.

WASTING RESOURCES
Solid wastes
polluting a river in
Jakarta, Indonesia.
The man in the boat
is looking for items
to salvage or sell.

WASTING RESOURCES
The United States produces about a third of
the worlds solid waste and buries more
than half of it in landfills.
About 98.5% is industrial solid waste.
The remaining 1.5% is MSW.
About 55% of U.S. MSW is dumped into landfills,
30% is recycled or composted, and 15% is burned in
incinerators.

Electronic Waste (E-Waste) : A

Growing Problem
E-waste consists of
toxic and hazardous
waste such as PVC,
lead, mercury, and
cadmium.
The U.S. produces
almost half of the
world's e-waste but
only recycles about
10% of it.

Landfills

Definition

Solid waste is placed in a hole,

compacted, and covered with soil.
Reduces the number of rats associated
with solid waste, lessens the danger of
fire, and decreases the odor.

Current Criteria
Landfills cannot pollute surface or groundwater.
Compacted clay and plastic sheets are at the
bottom (prevents liquid waste from seeping into
groundwater)
A double liner system must be present (plastic,
clay, plastic, clay), and a system to collect
leachate (liquid that seeps through the solid
waste)

Oil
Not allowed
Must go to an automotive or
environmental company for recycling.

Tires
Are usually allowed if they are
quartered or shredded.

Antifreeze
Not allowed.
Must be sent to an automotive or
environmental company for
recycling.

Air Conditioner Coolants

Not allowed
Must be sent to an automotive or
environmental company for
recycling.

Lead Acid (Car Batteries)

Not allowed
Must be sent to an automotive or
an environmental company for
recycling.

Composts

Definition

A sweet-smelling, dark-brown,
humus-like material that is rich in
organic material and soil nutrients.

Benefits
Aerates the soil.
Improves soils ability to retain
water and nutrients.
Helps prevent erosion.
Prevents nutrients from being
dumped in landfills.

Needs
6 to 12 inches of grass clippings
leaves or other plant material
shade
garden fertilizer or manure
soil
water
air

Introduction
History and concept of recycling materials (3R)
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Recycling is nothing new. People have been doing it for thousands of years. And
not just people: Nature has been recycling plants, trees, insects, and creatures for as
long as there has been nature. So, recycling is as old and as natural as the earth itse
an essential tool out of a whole toolbox to better
Why recycle? Mostly because it's the wise thing to do. Even the earliest humans
understood that throwing things away was wasteful and created health problems
Today we recycle for a variety of reasons. We understand that recycling helps
conserve limited resources. Recycling also saves energy, creates jobs, and helps
build a strong economy. And it reduces problems associated with litter and trash.
So, recycling is still the wise thing to do. Here is a brief history of recycling,
showing how it has developed and how it has become a way of life for millions of
people.

History of Recycling
65 million years ago
As dinosaurs die off and become extinct, they are recycled into oil and gas. The
process takes place as the decaying remains of dinosaurs along with other sea animals
and plants settle on the seabed. Over time, the animals, plants, mud, and sediment will
gradually compress into sedimentary rock and change into gas and oil through heat and
pressure. Millions of years later they will be mined and refined into petroleum, plastics,
and thousands of other products.
10,000 B.C.
Nomadic tribes begin to settle. Now that they no longer travel from place to place,
leaving their garbage behind, they must learn how to dispose of their trash. The
challenge of what to do with waste begins.
500 B.C.
Athens organizes the first municipal dumps in the western world. Local laws dictate
that waste must be disposed of at least one mile from the city walls
1031
Japan begins the first recorded use of waste paper for making new paper. All
documents and paper are recycled and repulped into new paper sold in paper shop

History of Recycling

More info about A Brief History Of Recycling, please refer:

http://www.motorcityfreegeek.net/index.php?option=com
_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=78 or
http://www.buschsystems.com/2014/05/a-brief-timeline-ofthe-history-of-recycling/

E-Waste

Figure 2: Conventional extraction processes can recovery various elements from

geological ores economically, while much work has to be done to recover all metals
from complex designer copper minerals.

Definitions and Terminology

What is Recycling, Reduce, Reuse?

According to Worrell and Reuter, 2014:
- Recycling is the reprocessing of recovered materials at the end of
product life, returning or converting them into the new
product/supply chain
Recycling has a key role to play in a resource efficient economy.
In past decades, recycling was mainly considered a waste
management issue, whereas today the vision is slowly moving
toward resource efficiency as a driver for recycling

Recycling

Definition

Conservation of resources by
converting them into new product.

Did you know

80% of the contents of your bin can be recycled.
Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to light a light
bulb for 4 hour.
For every tonne of paper used for recycling, 17 trees are
spared, 31,500 litres of water are saved and 4200 KWh less
electricity is used.
Textiles that are not used by charities are shredded into fibres
& used to make new products, such as sound-deadening
materials for the automotive industry, archival-quality paper,
blankets and even plastic fencing!
Plastic production uses 8% of the world's oil production.
For every tonne of recycled glass used, 1.2 tonnes of raw
materials are preserved

Waste Management
In various countries a variation on the waste management hierarchy (for
example, also known as the 3 Rs which stands for reduce, reuse and
recycle):
1. Reduce or avoid waste
2. Reuse the product
3. Recycle
4. Energy recovery
5. Treatment and landfilling

Waste Management
Reduction (or avoidance) describes the impact of material efficiency and
demand reduction to minimize the amount of material that is needed to
satisfy a material service (Worrell et al., 1995).
Reuse allows for the reuse of the product in which the material is
contained, by (re-) designing a product for multiple uses (e.g. refillable
bottle versus single-use bottles) or setting up a market for reusable goods
(of which many can be found, both in industry and households).
Recycling aims at recycling the materials contained in the products that are
recovered from the waste stream.
Energy Recovery generally applies to the recovery of (part of the)
embodied energy in the materials in the products, using a number of
techniques, including the production of refuse-derived fuel for industrial
processes (e.g. in cement making) or specialized boilers, incineration with
energy recovery in waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities, or through anaerobic
digestion of biologic/organic materials in the waste.

Waste Management
Treatment and landfilling are waste
management techniques to reduce the
environmental and health impacts (if properly
controlled) of waste, and do generally not
result in recycling or recovery from resource.

Organic
Comprise over 1/2 of the solid waste
Includes yard debris, wood materials, biosolids, food, manure and agricultural
residues, land clearing debris, used paper,
and mixed municipal organic waste.
Organic materials have been dumped in
landfills or burned. Why not use them!

General Purpose
Recycling saves land,
reduces the amount of solid
waste, energy consumption
and pollution.
Ex. recycling one aluminum
can saves the energy of about
6 oz. of gasoline.

Examples
Gold, lead, nickel, steel, copper,
silver, zinc, and aluminum are
recyclable.

Problems
Recycling does have environmental
costs.
It uses energy and generates pollution.
Ex. the de-inking process in paper
recycling requires energy, and
produces a toxic sludge that contains
heavy metals.

Benefits
Conserves our natural resources
Has a positive effect on the economy by
generating jobs and revenues.
For example, the Sunday edition of the New
York Times consumes 62,000 trees.
Currently, only about 20% of all paper in
North America is recycled.

Specific Recycled
Items

Glass
U.S. recycles about 36% of its glass
containers.
It costs less to recycle glass than to
make new glass.
Mixed color glass cullet is used for
glassphalt, a glass/asphalt mixture.

Aluminum
This is the most recycled material in the
U.S. because of $.
Making a new can from an old one requires
a fraction of the energy than to make a new
can from raw materials.
Approximately 2/3 of cans are recycled
each year, saving 19 million barrels of oil
annually.

Paper
U.S. currently recycles 40% of its paper and
paperboard.
Denmark, recycles about 97% of its paper.
Many U.S. mills are not able to process
waste paper.
Many countries like Mexico, import a large
amount of wastepaper from the U.S.
We export about 19% of our recycled
paper.

Recyclable
Plastics

#1 - PET (Polyethylene terephthalate)

PET is used to make soft drink bottles,
peanut butter jars, etc.
PET can be recycled into fiberfill for
sleeping bags, carpet fibers, rope, and
pillows.

#2 - HDPE (High-density
polyethylene)

HDPE is found in milk

jugs, butter tubs, detergent
bottles, and motor oil
bottles.
HDPE can be recycled
into flowerpots, trashcans,
traffic barrier cones, and
detergent bottles.

#3 - PVC (Polyvinyl chloride)

PVC is used in shampoo and

cooking oil bottles & fast-food
service items.

#4 - LDPE (Low-density polyethylene)

LDPE is found in
grocery bags, bread
bags, shrink-wrap, and
margarine tub tops.
LDPE can be recycled
into new grocery bags.

#5 - PP (Polypropylene)
PP is used in yogurt containers, straws,
pancake syrup bottles, and bottle caps.
PP can be recycled into plastic lumber,
car battery cases, and manhole steps.

#6 - PS (Polystyrene)

PS is found in disposable hot cups,

packaging materials (peanuts), & meat trays.
PS can be recycled into plastic lumber,
cassette tape boxes, and flowerpots.

#7 - Other
A mixture of various plastics, like
squeeze ketchup bottles &
microwaveable dishes.

Nuclear Waste
The safe disposal of radioactive wastes is the
problem.
Radioactive wastes must be stored in an
isolated area where they cant contaminate the
environment.
It must have geological stability and little or
no water flowing nearby.

Packaging
Many packaging items are put into landfills,
including boxes, packing peanuts,
Styrofoam, shrink wrap, etc.
Try to buy things that are not as highly
packaged.
Many companies use peanuts that are made
from cellulose that can be washed down the
drain and not put into landfills.
Reuse containers and buy smart!

Integrated Waste Management

Definition
The most effective way to deal
with solid and hazardous waste and
hazardous waste.
This includes the three Rs:
reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Solutions: Reducing Solid Waste

Refuse: to buy items that we really dont need.
Reduce: consume less and live a simpler and
less stressful life by practicing simplicity.
Reuse: rely more on items that can be used over
and over.
Repurpose: use something for another purpose
instead of throwing it away.
Recycle: paper, glass, cans, plasticsand buy
items made from recycled materials.

What Can You Do?

Solid Waste
Follow the five Rs of resource use: Refuse, Reduce,
Reuse, Repurpose, and Recycle.
Ask yourself whether you really need a particular item.
Rent, borrow, or barter goods and services when you can.
Buy things that are reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and be
sure to reuse, recycle, and compost them.
Do not use throwaway paper and plastic plates,
cups and eating utensils, and other disposable items
when reusable or refillable versions are available.
Refill and reuse a bottled water container with tap water.
Use e-mail in place of conventional paper mail.
Read newspapers and magazines online.
Buy products in concentrated form whenever possible.

Reuse
So many products we buy end up in landfill within the
space of a few months. Clothing, plastic bags, computers loads of everyday items can be reused instead of dumped.
Have you ever reused an empty ice-cream tub for storing
leftovers instead of just throwing it out? That's how easy it
is to reuse everyday products and materials. By reusing
items, we also avoid the costs that would be involved if we
were to recycle them or dispose of them as waste.

REUSE
Reusing products is an important way to reduce
resource use, waste, and pollution in developed
countries.
Reusing can be hazardous in developing
countries for poor who scavenge in open dumps.
They can be exposed to toxins or infectious diseases.

Reuse

Recycle
recycling should be our third option after
reduce and reuse

RECYCLING
Primary (closed loop) recycling: materials
are turned into new products of the same
type.
Secondary recycling: materials are
converted into different products.
Used tires shredded and converted into
rubberized road surface.
Newspapers transformed into cellulose
insulation.

RECYCLING
Composting biodegradable organic waste
mimics nature by recycling plant nutrients
to the soil.
Recycling paper has a number of
environmental (reduction in pollution and
deforestation, less energy expenditure) and
economic benefits and is easy to do.

RECYCLING
Recycling many plastics is chemically and
economically difficult.
Many plastics are hard to isolate from other
wastes.
Recovering individual plastic resins does not
yield much material.
The cost of virgin plastic resins in low than
recycled resins due to low fossil fuel costs.
There are new technologies that are making
plastics biodegradable.

THANK YOU