ABSTRACT
The term “plastic” is derived from the Greek word “plastikos” meaning it for molding, and “plastos” meaning molded (Kent and Riegel, 2007). It refers to the material’s malleability, or plasticity, during manufacture that allows it to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a variety of shapes such as ilms, ibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, and much more. Plastics have versatile qualities of strength, lightness, durability, and resistance to degradation. They have become an important commodity to enhance the comfort and quality of life. They are an essential part of almost all industries and have replaced glass and paper in packaging, but these very desirable properties have now become their greatest problem. Solutions to plastic waste management include source reduction,
incineration, recycling, and bio-or photo-degradation. However, most of these have problems associated with them. Incineration of plastics is potentially dangerous (it yields toxic emissions e.g., dioxin). and can be expensive. Also, during the combustion of plastic waste, hydrogen cyanide can be formed from acrylonitrile-based plastics and may cause potential health hazards. Recycling can be done but is very tedious. The sorting of the wide variety of discarded plastic material is also a very time-consuming process. Moreover, the presence of a wide variety of additives such as pigments, coatings, and illers limits the use of the recycled material. Plastic recycling, though a necessity, yet shows a negative eco-balance, in nearly all cases, to wash the plastic waste as well as the energy consumption during the recycling process phases (waste grinding and plastic processing).
