...RAHMAN UDEC3304 Polymer Chemistry ASSIGNMENT Title | Plastic Packaging Resin Identification Codes | Name | CHONG LING MIN | Student ID | 1103206 | Lecturer’s name | Dr. Chee Swee Yong | Date | 28th June 2013 | Table contents 1. Background…………………………………………….pg.1 2. Resin identification coding system…………………….pg.2 3. Symbols and polymer names…………………………..pg.2 4. Classification of polymer type…………………………pg.2 5. Applications before and after recycling……………..pg.3-5 6. Molecular formula and hazards……………………...pg.3-5 7. Conclusion……………………………………………pg.5 8. References……………………………………………pg.6 Background In modern science and technology, most of the plastic packaging is made with different codes of resin. The Resin Identification Codes assigns these resins with a number from 1 to 6, which are polyethylene terephthalate (PETE); high density polyethylene (HDPE); polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl); low density polyethylene (LDPE); polypropylene (PP); or polystyrene (PS). The coding system also includes a seventh code which is labeled as "other." The principal roles of coding system for these resins are to provide a consistent national system to help consumers and manufacturers efficiently identify and sort plastics for recycling. The coding system is also enable individuals to maintain and perform quality control before recycling, which help to make sure the recycled plastic is as homogenous as possible. Hence, all these seven codes indicate...
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...The Hazard of Household Cleaning Products Cleaning supplies can be surprisingly harmful. In the article “How Toxic Are Your Household Cleaning Supplies?” Published by Organic Consumers Association, which is an online, and grassroots non-profit organization that was founded in 1998. The author effectively argues that using cleaning products have a serious threat not only to our health but also to our environment. In the article, there were various supporting examples to back the claim the author was making. Similarly, in the second article ‘The Hazards of Household Cleaning Products' written by Janice Hughes, She argues that there are side effect of using cleaning household product. Detergents and stain removers used in our everyday life have an undesirable effect. However, Hughes did not support her claim with enough sufficient evidence. In general both articles emphasize the hazard associated with using chemical products. The author in the article ‘How Toxic Are Your Household Cleaning Supplies?' makes a better argument by giving more details and explaining how cleaning products have unwanted effects on our health and environment. The hazard of Chemicals founded in the cleaning products can lead several illnesses. Specific substances are the reason for a particular disease when used. In the article ‘How Toxic Are Your Household Cleaning Supplies?' The writer exactly describes the type of chemical used as well as diseases caused by them. For instance, they explain...
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...Plastic Bag Externalities Audrey Lee ECO305 January 2, 2014 Positive Externalities The positive externalities of plastic bags include the ability to be recycled into other plastic products, lower transportation costs, helping to prevent contamination of hazards. Plastic bags have affected the economy by making the bags cheaper than other bags so they are more readily available. Plastic bags produces 70% less air pollution and 50 times less water pollution than in production than paper bags, and plastic bags require less energy to produce from start to finish; therefore less money is spent on cleaning up the pollution. Plastic bags have greatly helped to reduce the contamination in the health field by allowing healthcare workers to keep contaminated agents from spreading, thus lower the cost of healthcare this is especially helpful in third world countries. Negative Externalities The negative externalities of plastic bags include the following: most plastic bags end up in the landfills, oceans or as litter, all chemicals used to create plastic bags are toxic, plastic bags take 20 to 1000 years to decompose, and kill animals. One of the biggest plastic bag externalities is that plastic bags have a short use life, they are generally used for the short time from the store to home and then discarded. The discarded bags take 20 to 1000 years to decompose but most landfills today are not designed to decompose the products being put into them, so these bags...
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...Why not to use Plastic bags As everyone knows the humble plastic bag has become an integral part of our lives. In fact the plastic bag has become so common that we hardly notice their presence. Yet if you look around you will notice that we are all in a swamp of plastic bags! They are everywhere. We use them to pack clothes, shoes, pens, tools, video games and even fruits and vegetables. At the super market they are soft yet strong packing medium. They are light weight, high strength and very flexible and come at a low cost. All of this might sound wonderful. But do you want to be a person who contributes to one of the latest and difficult of the environmental problems. The plastic bag is an agent of air pollution, cancer and skin disease. People who use these bags have made this an environmental menace which has made many of world's clean and glimmering metropolises a pile of garbage! Did you know they are a slow poison in our daily life? When you use plastic bag do you know how they are made? Many of the plastic bags at the super market are made through recycled plastic; this means the old plastic is burnt at high temperatures and melted down. For this process a large number of hazardous chemicals are used which makes them a severe health hazard. When you use a plastic bag you could be responsible for giving people who are close to you cancer, because when plastic bags and other plastic materials are burnt below 7,000 degrees they produce gasses which can lead to skin...
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...Introduction: Plastic is one of the major toxic pollutants of our time. Being a non-biodegradable substance, composed of toxic chemicals, plastic pollutes earth, air and water. Plastic causes serious damage to environment both during its production and disposal. So the only way to reduce the hazards of plastic is to reduce the use of plastic and thereby force a reduction in its production. Plastic plays the villain right from the stage of its production. The major chemicals that go into the making of plastic are highly toxic and pose serious threat to living beings of all species on earth. Some of the constituents of plastic such as benzene and vinyl chloride are known to cause cancer, while many others are gases and liquid hydrocarbons that vitiate earth and air. Plastic resins themselves are flammable and have contributed considerably to several accidents worldwide. The noxious substances emitted during the production of plastic are synthetic chemicals like ethylene oxide and benzene. Besides hitting hard the eco-system, which is already fragile, these chemicals can cause an array of maladies ranging from birth defects to cancer, damage the nervous system and the immune system and also adversely affect the blood and the kidneys. And, many of these toxic substances are emitted during recycling of plastic, too. Recycling of plastic is associated with skin and respiratory problems, resulting from exposure to and inhalation of toxic fumes, especially hydrocarbons and residues released...
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...The Life Cycle Project for Envi Studies 101 – Due April 3, 2013 Part 2 – Supplemental Information RVCC – Spring - 2013 The over-arching concern is where does a product come from, how is it made and used, and where does it ultimately go in old-age? And how do all these stages and elements of the process impact the environment? The real world is also complicated by the fact that it is not just a composite or final product that has a life cycle, but generally a number of the components within the product have a cycle that plays out too. Our goal then is to gain some degree of understanding of how everything we use goes through a chain of causation and usage that has potentially many impacts on resources, human life and planetary ecosystems. One approach to the research component of this project is given further below for a generic cell phone. You don’t have to follow the approach given for your product as long as what you do is logical, reasonably complete, clearly written and covers the key elements in a Life Cycle Analysis, which are: What are 2-3 key raw materials required to make the product? Perhaps Hydrocarbons (oil, coal or natural gas) are needed somewhere in the process of extracting, refining or processing of raw materials. Such carbon resources may be needed to make fuel, electricity, plastics, industrial chemicals, medicines, etc. Perhaps concrete or other industrial materials are required. Ore may be needed and require smelting for metals such...
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...National Seminar on Innovations in Safety, Health and Environment 1 Agri Science Innovations Focus: Health, Safety and Environment Protection Prakash Apte Managing Director, Syngenta India Ltd. The problem before us today: Global Food production is the highest ever and quality and safety is better than ever before, yet 14 mio people die of starvation every year & 800 mio people are clinically malnourished! And by 2025 we will have more than 8 billion people to feed: Global population is expected to grow from 6.2 Bio to 8 Bio in 2025, while farmland available per capita is shrinking! Secure & sustainable supply of high quality food, particularly in the developing countries; is a basic requirement for continued human development! In India the situation is more acute: • During the last two decades of 20 th century, the population increased by 50% but food-producing land has shrunk by 5 %. Demand for healthier food is increasing with the growing awareness, but the farm land is being nibbled at to meet other economic needs e.g. urbanization & industrial infrastructure Advanced Agricultural Science can help: Agri science has made great progress over last 50 years. This has enabled us to keep pace with the growing needs of increasing population. However, in recent years Indian Agriculture has not kept pace with the technological progress in other sectors of economy. In a country where about 2/3 rd of population derives its livelihood either directly or indirectly from...
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...As everyone knows the humble plastic bag has become an integral part of our lives. In fact the plastic bag has become so common that we hardly notice their presence. Yet if you look around you will notice that we are all in a swamp of plastic bags! They are everywhere. We use them to pack clothes, shoes, pens, tools, video games and even fruits and vegetables. At the super market they are soft yet strong packing medium. They are light weight, high strength and very flexible and come at a low cost. All of this might sound wonderful. But do you want to be a person who contributes to one of the latest and difficult of the environmental problems. The plastic bag is an agent of air pollution, cancer and skin disease. People who use these bags have made this an environmental menace which has made many of world's clean and glimmering metropolises a pile of garbage! Did you know they are a slow poison in our daily life? When you use plastic bag do you know how they are made? Many of the plastic bags at the super market are made through recycled plastic; this means the old plastic is burnt at high temperatures and melted down. For this process a large number of hazardous chemicals are used which makes them a severe health hazard. When you use a plastic bag you could be responsible for giving people who are close to you cancer, because when plastic bags and other plastic materials are burnt below 7,000 degrees they produce gasses which can lead to skin disease and some forms of cancer...
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...tap water. Well, it is not. Tap water has proved to be safer than bottled water as well as it is highly regulated with standards tested for safety. Therefore, it being less safe than tap water makes it not worth the money consumers spend. It as well they cause environmental hazards. Thus, bottled water is not safe and worth the consumer's money. Also, these plastic bottles when disposed are non-biodegradable and pollute the environment when disposed. Bottled water safe and has negative environmental impacts Bottled water organizations are not needed to unveil or inform shoppers of the nature of the water. This incorporates the event of contaminants in the water Furthermore in many states, to tell their clients where the water originates from, how and on the off chance that it is cleaned, and on the off chance that it is only bottled tap water. Additionally bottled water assembling does not hold fast to the same strict testing that metropolitan water does. While city water must be tested all the time (in many regions even a few times each day), bottled water does not experience the same testing. Indeed the bottled water may be tested upon the arrival of creation, however being put in a plastic container and taking into contemplations separation and temperature changes amid shipment and deal the quality can't be ensured when you purchase it, to that of that day it got tested (Doria, 2006). Despite the fact that an organization may contend that the measures...
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...YOURSELF 3. IF YOU CANNOT TURN OF POWER, PUSH OR PULL INDIVIDUAL WITH WOODEN STICK 4. CALL FOR HELP IMMEDIATELY 5. AFTER INDIVIDUAL IS FREE OF CONTACT, MOVE IMMEDIATELY AND BEGIN LIFE SAVING TECHNIQUES WARNING HIGH VOLTAGE High voltage is used in this equipment. Be careful when working with AC power distribution. Observe warnings in technical manual and warning decals on all equipment. Death may occur if warnings are not observed. WARNING DEATH ON CONTACT Never work on electronic equipment unless there is another person nearby who is familiar with the operation and hazards of the equipment and who is competent in administering first aid. When the technicians are aided by operators, they must be warned about dangerous areas. Whenever possible, the power supply to the equipment must be shut off before beginning work on the equipment. Take particular care to ground every capacitor likely to hold a dangerous potential. When working inside the equipment, after the power has been turned off, always ground every part before touching it. Be careful not to contact high-voltage connections or 115 VAC input connections when installing or operating this equipment. Whenever the nature of the operation permits, keep one hand away from the equipment to reduce the hazard of current flowing through the body. Do not be misled by the term “low voltage.” Potentials as low as 50 Volts may cause death under adverse conditions. CAUTION STATIC ELECTRICITY Circuit...
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...particular material it is necessary to understand difference between "toxicity" and "hazard". 1. TOXICITY is the ability of a substance to produce an unwanted effect when the chemical has reached a sufficient concentration at a certain site in the body. The more toxic a material is, the smaller the amount of it necessary to be absorbed before harmful effects are caused. The lower the toxicity, the greater the quantity of it necessary to be absorbed. The toxicity of a chemical is generally measured by experiments on animals (quite often rats). If it is measured in terms of the amounts of material necessary to cause death in 50% of the test animals. These values are called LD50 (lethal dose) or LC50 (lethal concentration), and are usually given in weight of material per kg of body weight or airborne concentration of material per set time period respectively. 2. HAZARD is the probability that this concentration in the body will occur. Toxicity is an inherent property of the material. A material may be very toxic, but not hazardous, if it is handled properly and is not absorbed into the body. On the other hand, a material may have a very low toxicity, but be very hazardous. Example: 1. An open container of an acid is much more hazardous than a closed container of the same material. 2. Two liquids may possess the same degree of toxicity but present different degrees of hazard:- One material may be non-irritating to the eyes and nose and odourless. The other...
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...Protocol, which evaluates new product designs in three key areas: • • • Material Chemistry -- What chemicals are in the materials we specify, and are they the safest available? Disassembly -- Can we take products apart at the end of their useful life to recycle their materials? Recyclability -- Do the materials contain recycled content, and more importantly, can the materials be recycled at the end of the product's useful life? Herman Miller’s commitment to DfE includes requiring all new products be evaluated within the MBDC Protocol. Material Chemistry Assessment When Herman Miller launched its DfE program, the challenges for the DfE team were substantial: Learn how to use and integrate the MBDC protocol into the launch of new products, modify MBDC’s protocol to meet the needs and unique circumstances of Herman Miller, gather the data necessary to meet material evaluation criteria as required by MBDC’s material health protocol, gain acceptance from product development teams for design process changes, and complete all this work on a schedule that would not delay the launch of products. A core component of the MBDC cradle-to-cradle method is its materials assessment protocol, which evaluates the hazards posed by the chemical constituents of materials. All chemical constituents of a material, down to 100 parts per million, are included in the assessment. The goal is to select materials that are based upon non-hazardous chemical inputs. The difficulty...
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...Dangers of plastic bags Plastic bags present various forms of dangers and hazards to human beings and the environment. To start with, pose a hygiene problem as their poor disposal leads to blockage of sanitary and drainage systems. This accelerates cases of water borne illnesses amongst people in the neighborhoods (Mathias, 2009). Moreover, the lack poor disposal of plastic bags affects agricultural activities as it hinders water penetration into the soil besides interfering with the formation of manure. To add to this, the photo-gradable plastics are easily broken down by light into chemicals that are harmful in nature (Bushnell, n.d). The production of the bags results into environmental pollution as chemicals emitted into the atmosphere interfere with the water and rainfall cycles. The manufacture of the bags is also viewed as wastage of natural resources as it depletes the quantities of petroleum that could have been potentially helpful in other areas (Vera, 2010). Animals are also negatively affected as consumption of plastic. Poor disposal results in death and suffocation for aquatic animals. Marine life is affected by plastic bags disposed into the sea, for instance the case spotted at the North of the Arctic Circle as well as the South close to the Falkland Islands (Moorthy, 2010). Studies indicate that plastic bags constitute 10 percent of waste deposited at the U.S coastline. Furthermore, the increased deposit of plastic bags at one location leads to increased...
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...Does Beauty Have a Cost? The Ecological Footprint of the Cosmetics Industry Alexandra Noelle Penny Brown University 2008 Environmental Studies Senior Thesis May 8, 2008 1 Acknowledgements To Caroline Karp, my thesis advisor and primary reader, for her boundless suggestions, ideas, encouragement, and support as I attempted to creatively apply a structured environmental policy analysis to a new problem. To Catherine Goodall, Amit Sheth, and ShaSha at Environmental Packaging International for introducing me to the subject of packaging, guiding me carefully through various analytical techniques, and sparking my interest in redesigning consumerism. To Dave Murray and Joe Orchardo for their assistance running the spectrometer analyses in the Environmental Chemistry Lab as well as their vast patience and willingness to answer my many questions. To Daniela Quilliam and Bill Dundulis at the Rhode Island Department of Health for their honesty in answering my pointed questions and insights into government regulations when funding is a challenge. To my sister, Elena, for her endless patience and support, and especially for her late-night company in the Science Library Friedman Study Center. To my father, Luther, for advising me to work on my thesis early in the year, advice I listened to carefully, agreed with, but never quite followed through. To my mother, Joanne, for never doubting my ability to achieve goals that are seemingly out of reach...
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...Sources of pollution and mitigation measures Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the environment that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or that damage the environment. Pollution takes place because; we process, consume and throw away a high volume of material resources at a very high rate. Then the nature’s way of reabsorbing these resources back into its structure and effectively neutralizing them is much slower than our rates of production or consumption. Hence over production; also inefficient and dirty methods of production and consumptions; careless and thoughtless disposal of post consumption waste resources are the major causes of man-cause pollution. There are fundamental drivers of the pollution; these are the major forces behind the surge in levels of air, water and land pollution throughout the globe. These are Industrialization it set in the motion the widespread use of fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) which are now the mail sources of pollution. Population growth with the exploding increase in the population around the world, the demand for goods and services goes up. This demand is met by expanded production and use of natural resources, which in turn lead to higher levels of pollution. Globalization. It has become an effective facilitator of environmental degradation. Developing countries tend to have loose regulations on pollution levels thus global bigger manufacturers tend to move to these areas rather than...
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