News

Plastic ban okay. But policy on recycling could do more

Before the ban on sale and use of plastic products reached the conceptual stage, there was a belief that “innovation” could see the common waste being transformed to deal with the city’s ill — from repairing bad roads to even producing fuel.

Back in 2002, Rasool Khan and his brother Ahmed Khan were called to help the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) lay roads.

“In the subsequent decade, we supplied over 10,000 tonnes of plastic to pave 3,000 km of roads,” Mr. Rasool Khan said. Their company —K.K. Plastic Waste Management Private Ltd. — is among the few to hold a patent for this technology.

Jeremy Rowsell, a British born pilot, adventurer and environmentalist, is set to fly across America in August of this year in an aeroplane that is fueled by recycled plastic waste. The On Wings of Waste flight is an ambitious, daring and historic initiative to raise awareness about end-of-life plastic waste in our oceans and to highlight its potential benefits as a new source of fuel.

Rowsell was inspired for this flight after his time spent flying single-engined aircraft in the Pacific as a ferry pilot. He remembers looking down and seeing the devastation: “I had heard of the pacific garbage patch, but until I stepped foot on the islands myself, I didn’t realise how big the issue was,” said Jeremy.

Recycled plastics & plastic waste to oil - All you need to know!

Economic growth and change in consumption and production pattern resulted into increase of plastic waste which leads to remarkable impact on environment. Plastic now have become a crucial material and the demand of this is increasing because of its durability, low cost, and diverse applications in industries and households. Growing amount of solid waste globally and the requirement for its removal have created an apprehension regarding the environmental health and economic issues. Waste plastic represents the large fraction of the total waste generated worldwide. Plastic materials are highly durable but requires long period of time for degradation due to their strong molecular bonds that make it resistant to natural processes of degradation. Every year approx. 500 billion pounds of plastic is manufactured. In many countries the process of recycling plastic has been carried out from last several years. Additionally, Ministry of Environment (MOE) have stringent the waste disposal law for industrial sector and many other sectors.

Jeddah researchers explore alternative energy sources

JEDDAH: The ever-increasing energy consumption in the Kingdom has attracted the attention of Saudi scientists and spurred them to explore alternative renewable energy possibilities utilizing local natural resources.

Though fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas are used to fulfill the country’s energy needs, the government plans to double its current energy generating capacity up to 120GW by 2032.

Gurgaon: Putting the idea of recycling into action, a city-based student has founded his own social venture where he aims to recycle all the tyres which have served their time. The web platform, called Tyrelessly, was launched by Anubhav Wadhwa, his third venture at the age of 16.

Wadhwa founded Tyrelesly in December 2015 and has launched his web platform just two days back. The company recycles used tyres to produce bio-fuel and other by-products. All one needs to do is to log in to Tyrelessly web platform and click on the option ‘Tyreless’, following which the team sends their truck to pick up the tyres from one’s doorstep and sends the same for recycling.

Enval’s pyrolysis technology highlighted in plastics report

The recently released Ellen MacArthur report singled out Enval’s microwave induced pyrolysis technology as a way to recycle plastic and aluminium while achieving energy savings as part of the circular economy.

The foundation is named after Dame Ellen MacArthur, record-breaking sailor, and was established to accelerate the transition to a circular economy by influencing business, governments and academia.

The foundation’s report was presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and focuses on the issues associated with the growing use of plastics worldwide.

The new owner of Stawell’s nine million tyre stockpile, Used Tyre Recycling Corporation (UTRC), is keen to start the shredding process having just purchased a $250,000 tyre shredder.

Dr Matthew Starr, CEO of UTRC, said they were working well with authorities such as the EPA, CFA, and Powercor, and have invested considerable resources to help make the site more secure and reduce its fire risk.

“Within the next 12 months we expect to have invested $10 million in infrastructure in Stawell. We are very serious about reducing the stockpile and as soon as our processing plant is operational, we will be working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to do just this.

Wringing power from plastic

YOUR old toothbrushes, plastic bottle tops and bread tags could soon end up powering tractors and forklifts, if the City of Cape Town has its way.

Last month, the city launched a R10m pilot project backed by the Japan International Co-operation Agency to extract oil from plastic that would otherwise have gone to landfill. Japanese companies CFP Corporation and Kanemiya have installed a waste-to-oil plant at the Kraaifontein Integrated Waste Management Facility, capable of converting 500kg of plastic into 500 litres of oil per day.

The city recycles only 16% of its waste, far shy of the 25% target in the government’s 2011 National Waste Management Strategy.

New recycling plant to melt away tire mountain

The massive mountain of unwanted tires in Seth Ward could be gone within a year after Corpus Christi-based NeoWaste opens a planned recycling plant in Plainview.

Two representatives of the company, Vice President Gil Bartee and Sales Manager Tony Altemus, outlined their company’s plan to locate a demonstration plant in Plainview to Hale County commissioners at Friday’s work session.

Company representatives already have met with the Plainview-Hale County Economic Development Corporation and are negotiating to acquire a five-acre tract the PHCEDC owns at 1535 Industrial Blvd. “It’s a perfect site to build our Tire Pyrolysis Plant,” Bartee said at Friday’s session.

A TECHNIQUE TO END THE MENACE OF PLASTIC

A city-based environmental scientist has proposed a technique that can kill two birds with one stone: It will put an end to the menace of non-biodegradable plastic wastes and discarded tyres which host dengue- and malaria-causing mosquitoes; and it will do so by recycling the plastic and tyres by breaking them into smaller molecules transforming them into usable fuel for industrial boilers and furnaces besides in generating electricity.

Dr Rinku Verma, environmental scientist at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS)-Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra (GKVK) has proposed setting up plastic and discarded tyres recycling units which uses a technique called pyrolysis.

Pyrolysis is a chemical reaction which involves molecular breakdown of larger plastic molecules into much smaller ones in the presence of heat ranging between 4500 Celsius and 6000 Celsius. But it has to be done in the absence of oxygen to prevent burning that is extremely harmful for health and environment.

Plastic ban okay. But policy on recycling could do more

Alaska flight will use fuel made from recycled plastic waste

Recycled plastics & plastic waste to oil – All you need to know!

Jeddah researchers explore alternative energy sources

Working ‘Tyrelessly’ for the environment

Enval’s pyrolysis technology highlighted in plastics report

Stawell’s 9 million tyre pile to disappear

Wringing power from plastic

New recycling plant to melt away tire mountain

A TECHNIQUE TO END THE MENACE OF PLASTIC