Green Chemistry
- Created by: Eliza Thompson
- Created on: 11-11-13 21:07
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- Recyling
- Much waste is dumped in landfill sites or burnt. However landfill sites are a blot to the landscape and are becoming harder to find, and burning releases harmful chemicals to the environment and is a waste of valuable energy.
- Due to this recycling and degradable plastics are becoming a more attractive method for waste disposal.
- Recycling reduces carbon emissions as it reduces the amount of polymer production and increases the useful life cycle of polymers.
- Degradable plastics
- Most plastics aren't degradable, however there are 3 types of plastic which are degradable
- SYNTHETIC BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS - broken down by bacteria
- PHOTODEGRADABLE PLASTICS - broken down by sunlight
- BIOPOLYMERS - made by living organisms and broken down by bacteria
- the plastic is expensive and brittle
- made from natural sources and so they're renewable
- Most plastics aren't degradable, however there are 3 types of plastic which are degradable
- Due to this recycling and degradable plastics are becoming a more attractive method for waste disposal.
- Recycling plastics is an obvious answer as most plastics can be reworked without decomposition.
- However it's an expensive and time consuming process as the waste plastics have to be sorted.
- Another approach is to recycle plastics chemically by converting them back in to their monomers and repolymerising.
- However this isn't always practical where there isn't high quality single-material waste.
- A further approach is to crack the plastics and break it into smaller molecules as these small molecules can then be used as feedstock in the chemical industry.
- Much waste is dumped in landfill sites or burnt. However landfill sites are a blot to the landscape and are becoming harder to find, and burning releases harmful chemicals to the environment and is a waste of valuable energy.
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