Plastics and the Environment provides state-of-the-art technical and research information on the complex relationship between the plastic and polymer industry and the environment, focusing on the sustainability, environmental impact, and cost—benefit tradeoffs associated with different technologies.

Plastics and the Environment not only covers how plastics affect the environment, but also how environmental factors affect plastics. The relative benefits of recycling, resource recovery, and energy recovery are also discussed in detail.

The first of the book’s four sections represents a basic introduction to the key subject matter of plastics and the environment; the second explores several pertinent applications of plastics with environmental implications–packaging, paints and coatings, textiles, and agricultural film use. The third section discusses the behavior of plastics in some of the environments in which they are typically used, such as the outdoors, in biotic environments, or in fires. The final section consists of chapters on recycling and thermal treatment of plastics waste.

The contributors also focus on the effectiveness of recent technologies in mitigating environmental impacts, particularly those for managing plastics in the solid waste stream.

Contents

Part I

1. An Environmental Primer
2. Common Plastic Materials
3. Polymers and Energy

Part II

4. Plastics in Packaging
5. Plastics in Agriculture
6. Polymer Coatings
7. Polymers in Textiles

Part III

8. Environmental Effects on Polymeric Materials
9. Biodegradable Polymers
10. Plastics and the Marine Environment
11. Flammability of Polymers
12. Water-Soluble Biodegradable Polymers

Part IV

13. Polymer-Recycling and Sustainability
14. Plastics Recycling
15. Thermal Destruction of Waste and Plastics
16. Recycling of Carpet and Textile Fibers
17. Recycling of Automotive Scrap Plastics

Index

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