1. Plastics in Daily Life
Presented by Rafiha Bitar, Dan Braunworth, Lina Chan, Nick Dose, Ben Kong, John Nguyen, Susan Puckett, Canan Schumann, Jason Siefken, Douglas Van Bossuyt, Jessica Varin, Kari Varin, Skip Rochefort
and
P4P class of 2003

2. Plastics
***The word plastic comes from the Greek word plastikos, meaning "able to be molded."
***Thermoplastic is a material that is plastic or deformable, melts to a liquid state when heated. It can be melted and reformed numerous times.
***Thermosetting plastics (thermosets) are polymer materials that cure, through the addition of energy, to a stronger form. The curing process transforms the resin into a plastic or rubber by a cross-linking process. A thermoset plastic cannot be melted and reformed.

3. Resin Identification Numbers
* In April 2000 we received an from a site visitor: "I was picking up pop and beer bottles along the highways of southeast Indiana in 1968 and the bottles had a 2¢ deposit on them before that." Another source gives the date of the first "bottle law" was enacted in Oregon in 1972.

4. Resin Identification Numbers

8. Did you know???? The energy saved by recycling one soda bottle will:
Power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour
Power a computer for 25 minutes
Power a color TV for 20 minutes
Power a washing machine for 10 minutes

9. Plastic Facts Over 6.5 billion pounds of plastic were produced in 2006
Over 16 million tons of plastic waste is generated annually in the U.S. and about 2.2% of all plastics is currently recycled.
It takes about 450 years just for one plastic bottle to break down in the ground!

10. Interesting Recycling Facts
The United States makes enough plastic film each year to shrink-wrap the state of Texas.
If you lined up all the polystyrene foam cups made in just one day, they would circle the earth. 
Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kills as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year !
Americans use 4 million plastic bottles every hour! -- Yet only 1 bottle out of 4 is recycled

11. Interesting Recycling Facts
About 1,200 soft drink and salad dressing containers could carpet the average living room.
Each year American throw away
25 billion Styrofoam cups, enough every year to circle the earth 436 times.
In 1988 we used 2 billion pounds of HDPE just to make bottles for household products. That’s about the weight of 90,000 Honda Civics.

12. McNary Dining Center Plastic Use for 2003
Type of Container
Mass of Each Container
Mass Used per Week
Type of Plastic
Pint of Milk
25.2 grams
54.43 kilograms
#1, PET
Gallon of Milk
67.5 grams
1.35 kilograms
#2, HDPE
Dressing container
140 grams
1.4 kilograms
Syrup container
115.5 grams
1.85 kilograms
Cooking Oil
130.5 grams
1.3 kilograms
To-go-boxes
39 grams
78 kilograms
#6, PS
20 oz. Soda
30.5 grams
13.18 kilograms
Total mass per week: kilograms/week
Weeks in 1 school year: 33
Total mass per school year: kilograms/year

13. Student Consumer
Recycling OSU
Campus Recycling
Corvallis Disposal Company
(bundled and sent on)
Stores
Source Recycling in Albany
Distributors (Pepsi, Coke, etc.)
Materials Recycling in Wilsonville
(separated, shredded, sold)
Melting/Forming Facilities
(sold as raw recycled plastic)
Qualified Rehabilitation Facility
(sorted for deposit)
Landfill
sold
not-sold
not for deposit
for deposit

14. Plastic Recycling Process

15. Biodegradable Plastic Cycle

16. Examples of Biodegradable Plastics

17. Where Are Recycled Plastics Used?
Product
Company
Percentage of Recycled Plastic Used in Product
Backpack
Data Access International
100%
Hats
75%
Frisbees
Amazing Recycled Products
25%-75%
Computer Diskettes
Green Disk
Clean, Deleted, Resold
CD’s
Video Tapes
The Solution Pencil
Stan Miller and Associates
50% Recycled Rubber
PCR Fleece
Patagonia
80%
Bike Water Bottles
Weisenbach Specialty Printing

18. Did you Know? In a Barrel of Crude Oil A Barrel of Recycled Oil…
Gallons of Gasoline
Gallons of Distillate Fuel Oil
Gallons of Kerosene-Type Jet Fuel
Gallons of Coke
Gallons of Residual Fuel Oil
Gallons of Liquefied Refinery Gasses
Gallons of Still Gas
Gallons of Asphalt and Road Oil
Gallons of Petrochemical Feedstocks
Gallons of Lubricants
Gallons of Kerosene
A Barrel of Recycled Oil…
Can generate electricity to run a household for 21 days
Can cook 1008 meals in a microwave oven
Can blow dry hair 4536 times
Will vacuum a house for about 26 years
Can run a television set for 3,780 hours (158 days)

19. Disposable Diaper Recycling
The Knowaste Process
1. The process begins with shredding the incoming materials which breaks apart the diapers. Once the incoming materials are shredded, they are sent to a pulper.
2. The pulping action opens up the diapers. This begins the process of separating the components and exposes them for chemical treatment. Sanitizing occurs at the pulper. The plastic is removed by finger conveyors and is sent to trommels.
3. The plastics are processed in trommels, where residual fibers and waste are removed by washing. Then the plastics are then pressed and pelletized for sale to the market.

20. 4. The pulp stream goes to coarse screening to further remove plastics which are also sent to the trommel. This stream is chemically treated to deactivate the SAP to make it possible to separate it from the fiber.
5. The deactivated SAP, along with residual small plastics, is separated from the fiber through a cleaning process. The deactivated SAP can be collected and reactivated for reuse.
6. The fibers are then put through a fine mechanical washing, cleaning and screening process. This produces a clean, marketable fiber. The reject material is sent to a sludge press.

21. 7. The clean fiber is then pressed, baled and sold into the market
7. The clean fiber is then pressed, baled and sold into the market. These fibers are of excellent quality as they contain very high quantity of Softwood Kraft.
8. The water extracted in the washing and thickening steps is sent to internal treatment using a dissolved air clarifier and recycled in the system as dilution water.
9. The sludge from the clarifier, as well as the fine screening and cleaning rejects, are thickened and sent to composting, for which they are well-suited and break down readily.

22. Disposable Diaper Recycling Process (Knowaste LLC Process)

23. Thanks for coming and remember to: Reduce Reuse Recycle Remanufacture!