07-10-2016, 09:33 AM
1458122595-managementplasticwaste1.pdf (Size: 397.09 KB / Downloads: 33)
1.0 PLASTICS
1.1 What are plastics?
“Plastics are non-biodegradable, synthetic polymers derived primarily from petrofossil
feedstock and made-up of long chain hydrocarbons with additives and can
be moulded into finished products (excluding compostable plastic or polymer
confirming IS/ISO 17088:2008) (Reference: Text Book on Plastic Material by Prof.
J.A. Brydson). These polymers are broken in presence of suitable catalyst, into
monomers such as ethylene, propylene, vinyl, styrene and benzene. These
monomers are then chemically polymerized into different categories of plastics.
1.2 Categories of plastics
A. Recyclable Plastics (Thermoplastics): PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP, PVC,
PS, etc.
B. Non-Recyclable Plastics (Thermoset & others): Multilayer & Laminated
Plastics, PUF, Bakelite, Polycarbonate, Melamine, Nylon etc.
As per BIS Classification, there are seven categories of plastics:
1.3 Description of Plastic Waste
Plastic products have become an integral part in our daily life as a basic need. It
produced on a massive scale worldwide and its production crosses the 150
million tonnes per year globally. In India approximately 8 Million tonnes plastic
products are consumed every year (2008). Its broad range of application in films,
wrapping materials, shopping and garbage bags, fluid containers, clothing, toys,
household and industrial products, and building materials. It is a fact that plastics
will never degrade and remains on landscape for several years. Mostly, plastics
are recyclable but recycled products are more hazardous to the environment
than the virgin products. The recycling of a virgin plastic material can be done 2-3
time only, because after every recycling, the plastic material is deteriorated due
to thermal pressure. Considering, 70% of plastic consumption is converted as
waste, approximately 5.6 million tons per annum (TPA) plastic waste is
generated in country, which equals to 15342 tons per day (TPD).
1.4 Environmental Issues on disposal of Plastic Waste :
Indiscriminate littering of unskilled recycling/reprocessing and nonbiodegradability
of plastic waste raises the following environmental issues:
• During polymerization process fugitive emissions are released.
• During product manufacturing various types of gases are released.
• Indiscriminate plastic waste disposal on land makes the land infertile due
to its impervious nature.
• Burning of plastics generates toxic emissions such as Carbon Monoxide,
Chlorine, Hydrochloric Acid, Dioxin, Furans, Amines, Nitrides, Styrene,
Benzene, 1, 3- butadiene, CCl4, and Acetaldehyde.
• Lead and Cadmium pigments, commonly used in LDPE, HDPE and PP as
additives are toxic and are known to leach out.
• Non-recyclable plastic wastes such as multilayer, metalised pouches and
other thermoset plastic poses disposal problems.
• Sub-standard plastic bags, films etc. pose problem in collection and
recycling.
• Littered plastics give unaesthetic look and choke the drain.
• Garbage mixed with plastics interferes in waste processing facilities and
also cause problems in landfill operations.
• Recycling industries operating in non-conforming areas are posing
environment problems due to unsound recycling practices.
2.0 Salient Features of the PWM Rules, 2011:
(i) The plastic carry bags used for the purpose of carrying or dispensing
commodities but don’t include these bags which are integral part of
packaged products. The thickness of bag shall not be <40µ;
(ii) Carry bags can also be made from compostable plastics conforming
IS/ISO:17088:2008;
(iii) Prescribed Authority for registration, manufacture & recycling shall be State
Pollution Control Board (SPCB) or Pollution Control Committee (PCC).
And for enforcement of Rules relating to use, collection, segregation,
transportation & disposal of plastic waste, shall be concerned Municipal
Authority;
(iv) Multilayered pouches or sachets used for packaging of gutkha etc. shall not use
plastic material in any form;
(v) Every carry bags made from plastic shall bear a label or mark “recycled” as per
IS:14534:1998. Each carry bag made from “Compostable Material” shall bear a
label “Compostable” & shall conform to IS/ISO:17088:2008;
(vi) No carry bag shall be made available free of cost by retailers to consumers.
The concerned Municipal Authority may be notification determine the minimum
price for carry bags in order to encourage re-use so as to minimize plastic waste
generation;
(vii) Each State Government shall for constitute a State Level Advisory (SLA) Body
to monitor implementation of Rules. This body shall meet once in a year and
may invite experts, if it considers necessary.
(viii) The Plastic Waste Management (PWM) shall be as under;
(a) recycling, recovery or disposal of plastic waste shall be carried out as
per the rules, regulations and standards stipulated by the central
government from time to time;
(b) recycling of plastics shall be carried out in accordance with the
Indian Standard IS 14534:1998 titled as Guidelines for Recycling of
Plastics, as amended from time to time;
© the Municipal Authority shall be responsible for setting up, operationalisation
and co-ordination of the waste management system and for performing
the associated functions, namely:- (i) to ensure safe collection, storage,
segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of plastic waste; (ii) to
ensure that no damage is caused to the environment during this process; (iii) to
ensure setting up of collection centres for plastic waste involving
manufacturers; (iv) to ensure its channelisation to recyclers; (v) to create
awareness among all stakeholders about their responsibilities; (vi) to engage
agencies or groups working in waste management including waste pickers, and
(vii) to ensure that open burning of plastic waste is not permitted;
(d) for setting up plastic waste collection centres, the Municipal Authority may ask
the manufacturers, either collectively or individually in line with the principle of
Extended Producer's Responsibility (EPR) to provide the required
finance to establish such collection centre;
(e) recyclers shall ensure that recycling facilities are in accordance with the Indian
Standard: IS 14534:194 titled as Guidelines for Recycling of Plastics
and in compliance with the rules under the Environment (Protection)
Ad, 1986, as amended from time to time;
(f) the concerned Municipal Authority shall ensure that the residues generated from recycling
processes are disposed of in compliance with Schedule II (Management of
Municipal Solid Wastes) and Schedule III (Specifications for Landfill Sites) of the
Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 made under
the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, as amended from time to time;
(g) the Municipal Authority shall incorporate the said rules in the Municipal Bye- laws
of all the Urban Local Bodies;
(h) the Municipal Authority shall encourage the use of plastic waste by adopting
suitable technology such as in Road Construction, Co-incineration etc. The
Municipal Authority or the operator intending to use such technology
shall ensure the compliance with the prescribed standards including pollution
norms prescribed by the Competent Authority in this regard.
(ix) Each SPCB or PCC shall prepare and submit Annual Report to CPCB by 30th
day of September each year. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) shall
consolidate the report on use of plastic carry bags, sachets/pouches etc. and
management of plastic waste. The consolidated report alongwith
recommendations on implementation of the Plastic Waste (Management &
Handling) (Amendment) Rules, 2011 will be submitted to MoEF by 30th Day of
December.
3.0 An Overview of Plastic Waste Management:
Disposal of plastic waste is a serious concern in India. New technologies have
been developed to minimize there adverse effect on the environment. Currently
Worldwide accepted technology used for the plastic disposal is incineration,
however, the incinerators designed poorly, releases extremely toxic compounds
(chlorinated dioxins and furans) therefore, raising several environmental issues.
In India for safer disposal of plastic waste various technologies have been
experimented. Some of these are described as below;
3.1 Utilisation of plastic waste in road construction;
3.1.1 Polymer Blended Bitumen Roads
The process of road laying using waste plastics is designed and the technique is
being implemented successfully for the construction of flexible roads at various
places in India. A brief description is given at Figure 1.
3.1.2 Merits of Polymer Blended Bitumen Roads
• Stripping and pothole formation: Bitumen film is often stripped off the
aggregates because of the penetration of water, which results in pothole
formation. This is accelerated during the movement of vehicle. When
polymer is coated over aggregate, the coating reduces its affinity for water
due to non-wetting nature of the polymer and this resists the penetration of
water. Hence the penetration of water is reduced which resists stripping
and hence no pothole formation takes place on these roads.
• Leaching: Polymer will not leach out of the bitumen layer, even after
laying the road using waste plastics-bitumen-aggregate mix.
• Effect of Bleeding: Waste polymer-bitumen blend shows higher softening
temperature. This increase will reduce the bleeding of bitumen during the
summers.
7
• Effect of fly ash: It is also observed that the fly ash does not leach from
this mixture.
3.1.3 Demerits of Polymer Blended Bitumen Roads
There is no observable demerit either in this process or in the road
characteristics. For the last several years various roads have been laid using
waste plastics are functioning well.
3.2 Co-processing of Plastic waste in Cement Kiln (Link)
3.2.1 Operating Manual for Co-processing of Plastic Waste in Cement Kilns
3.2.2 Introduction
Plastic waste generated from different cities and towns is a part of municipal solid
waste (MSW). It is a matter of concern that disposal of plastic waste is causing
many problems such as leaching impact on land and ground water, choking of
drains, making land infertile, indiscriminate burning causing environmental
hazards etc. Plastics waste being non-biodegradable is littered in most of the
cities/towns and their-by giving an ugly appearance. It is estimated
approximately 15,342 tons/day (TPD) of plastic waste (on per capita basis) is
generated in the country. To get rid of plastic waste disposal problems, Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in association with MP Pollution Control Board
has taken initiative to use the plastic waste in cement plant at ACC Kymore
(Katni, MP). The stack monitoring result revealed that emission values are found
below the standard set for Common Hazardous Waste Incinerators. After getting
encouraging results CPCB has granted permission to many cement plants to coprocess
the hazardous and non-hazardous (including plastic) waste in their kilns
after trial burns.
3.2.3 Co-processing of plastic waste as Alternative Fuel and Raw Material
(AFR):
Co-processing refers to the use of waste materials in industry process such as
cement, lime or steel production and power stations or any other large
combustion plants. Co-processing indicate substitution of primary fuel and raw
material by waste, recovering industry and material from waste. Waste material such as plastic waste used for co-processing are referred to as alternative fuels
and raw material (AFR). Co-processing of plastic waste offers advantages for
cement industry as well as for the Municipal Authorities responsible for waste
management. In other hand, cement producers can save fossil fuel and raw
material consumption, contributing the more eco-efficient production. In addition,
one of the advantage recovery method used in existing facility, eliminating the
need to invest on other plastic waste practices and to secure land filling.
3.2.4 Types of AFR including plastic waste for co-processing:
This refers to waste material used for co-processing such waste typically include
plastics, paper, cardboard, tetra-pack, packaging waste, waste tyres, waste oil,
bio-mass waste cloths, auto-motive, shredder residues, hazardous industrial
waste, obsolete pesticide, outdated drugs, chemical etc. Whereas plastic waste
include carry bags, broken PET bottles, broken trays, pens, discarded plastic gift
items, multi-layer and metalized pouches such as gutka, biscuits, namkeen,
wafer pouches and packagings. However, as per Holcim Policy, some wastes
are banned for co-processing, it include;
(i) Anatomical Hospital Waste;
(ii) Asbestos containing wastes;
(iii) Bio-medical waste;
(iv) Electronic Scrap;
(v) Entire batteries;
(vi) Explosives;
(vii) High concentration Cyanide waste;
(viii) Mineral Acids;
(ix) Radioactive wastes and
(x) Unsorted Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
3.2.5 Pre-processing of plastic waste :
The plastic waste should be received in segregated and bundled form in
HDPE/Jute bags. Then the plastic waste will be sun dried and subjected to
shredding before feeding into cement kilns. However, PVC containing plastic
waste will not be accepted in cement kilns as it impair the cement quality.
3.2.6 Modification in cement kilns:
Different feed points can be used to insert AFR into the cement production
process. The most common ones are;
¾ The main burner at rotary kilns outlet end;
¾ The rotary kiln inlet end;
¾ The pre-calciner burners;
¾ The mid kiln (for long wet and dry kilns).
AFR including plastics waste typically fed to the kiln system as the same way as
traditional raw material e.g. normal raw material supply. AFR containing
components e.g. plastics waste have to feed into high temperature zones and
long residence time in kiln system. The 3 Ts; time, temperature, turbulence in
cement kilns in complete combustion of waste material while absorbing the
energy and material present in it without impacting the quality product. The
alkaline environment of cement process acts as a natural scrubber of the acidic
process, if generated. Before accepting AFR including plastic waste cement
plants shall modify their feeding system and install a conveyor-belt, one hopper,
one winch machine, and one double flap damper. (A sketch flow diagram for
feeding system and plastic waste handling system at ACC Plant Kymore are
shown at above Figures 2. Besides, cement plants shall set-up a minimum
laboratory facility to characterize plastic waste in respect of moisture content,
calorific value, heavy metal contents, ash contents, Carbon ©, Hydrogen (H),
Nitrogen (N), Sulphur (S), Chloride (Cl), and Volatile Carbon to carry out these
test analytical instruments such as Thermo-Gravimetric Analyser (TGA) , BombCalorimeter
and C, H, N & S Analyser.
3.3 Plasma Pyrolysis Technology (PPT)
3.3.1 Introduction
Plasma Pyrolysis is a state of the art technology, which integrates the thermochemical
properties of plasma with the pyrolysis process. The intense and
versatile heat generation capabilities of Plasma Pyrolysis technology enable it to
dispose of all types of plastic waste including polymeric, biomedical and
hazardous waste in a safe and reliable manner. Pyrolysis is the thermal
disintegration of carbonaceous material in oxygen-starved atmosphere. When
optimized, the most likely compounds formed are methane, carbon monoxide,
hydrogen carbon dioxide and water molecules.
3.3.2 Process Technology:
In Plasma Pyrolysis, firstly the plastics waste is fed into the primary chamber at
8500 C through a feeder. The waste material dissociates into carbon monoxide,
hydrogen, methane, higher hydrocarbons etc. Induced draft fan drains the
pyrolysis gases as well as plastics waste into the secondary chamber where
these gases are combusted in the presence of excess air. The inflammable
gases are ignited with high voltage spark. The secondary chamber temperature
is maintained at 10500 C. The hydrocarbon, CO and hydrogen are combusted into
safe carbon dioxide and water. The process conditions are maintained such that
it eliminates the possibility of formation of toxic dioxins and furans molecules (in
case of chlorinated waste). The conversion of organic waste into non toxic gases
(CO2, H2O) is more than 99%. The extreme conditions of plasma kill stable
bacteria such as bacillus stereo-thermophilus and bacillus subtilis immediately.
Segregation of the waste is not necessary, as the very high temperatures ensure
treatment of all types of waste without discrimination.
3.3.3 Environment Related Observations
Stack emission monitoring of different categories plastic waste such as (i) 100%
Polyethylene Waste (ii) 80% Polyethylene + 20% PVC Waste was carried out by
VIMTA Lab. It has been observed that the emission of toxic pollutants such as dioxins and furans from the plasma pyrolysis system developed by FCIPT is
lower than the norms set for incinerator. The summary of the results are
mentioned in the Table 1:
Recycling of plastics through environmentally sound manner:
The main goal for developing green recycling of waste plastic was to design an
extruder, which would have “Zero Significant Adverse Environmental Impact”. This
has been achieved by assigning right motor of minimum capacity, selecting optimum
L/D ratio, heat sealing and right temperature for the processes and trapping all the
emission in pollution control gadget and treating the pollutants to produce byproducts.
The Extrusion & Palletization processes have been redesigned to make the pollution
from the process to a minimum level and as a result to enhance the efficiency of the
process. The details of process are shown in Flow Chart, which is given below:
Assessment and Quantification of Plastic Waste Quantification in Sixty Cities
CPCB has sponsored a study to CIPET for Assessment and Quantification of
Plastic Waste generation in sixty major cities. The objective of study is given
below
• To assess the type, nature and quantum of plastics waste in the country
through field survey and physical assessment at 60 towns and Cities.
• Establish a Co-ordination mechanism with local Municipal/Metro
corporations in identifying the dump grounds/Localities of higher waste
generation for the physical assessment/characterization of MSW as per
the prescribed methodology.
• To report on the existing methodology for collection of waste by urban
local bodies/Municipal bodies in different states of the country.
• To suggest the viable and appropriate recycling technologies at major
cities with investment estimation for effective Plastics waste Management
(based on “Zero Waste Concept”)
7.1 Specifications for Compostable Plastics (ISO 17088:2008)
The Indian standards for compostable plastic is identical with ISO 17088 : 2008
“Specification for compostable plastics” issued by the International Organisation
for Standardization (ISO) was adopted by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The
purpose of this specification is to establish standards for identifying and labelling
and labelling plastic products and materials that will compost satisfactorily in well-
18
19
managed composting facilities where the typical conditions of composting can be
consistently obtained (i.e. a long thermophilic phase, aerobic conditions,
sufficient water content, a suitable carbon/nitrogen ratio, etc.). Products meeting
the requirements outlined below are appropriate for labeling as “compostable”,
“compostable in municipal and commercial facilities” or “biodegradable during
composting”.
7.2 Methodology for testing biodegradable & compostable plastics
7.2.1 In order to be identified as compostable, product and materials shall meet
the requirement of 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5 using appropriate laboratory tests
representative of the conditions found in aerobic composting facilities. When
testing finished articles and products, testing shall be conducted starting with the
articles and products in the same form as they are intended to be used. For
products and materials that are made in several different thicknesses or
densities, such as films, containers and foams, only the thickest or most dense
products and materials need to be tested as long as the chemical composition
and structure remains otherwise the same.
7.2.2 Test samples shall not be subjected to conditions or procedures designed
to accelerate disintegration prior to testing as described in 6.3 or 6.4
7.2.3 If the products or materials under test include fillers, the fillers shall be
present when the products or materials are tested as described in 6.3, 6.4 and
6.5. However, their inorganic carbon content shall be excluded from the
mineralization calculations in 6.4. Products or materials to which fillers are
subsequently added, or in which the filler content is changed shall be retested to
demonstrate that the new material meets the requirements of 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5.
Manufacturers may establish an acceptable range by testing the highest and the
lowest concentrations. Examples of fillers include (but are not limited to) calcium
carbonate and titanium dioxide.
7.2.4 Products or materials to which catalysts are subsequently added, or in
which the content of the catalyst is changed, shall be retested to demonstrate
that the new material meets the criteria specified in 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5.