Utilization of Plastic Waste Production of Hollow Blocks and Bricks

The objective of this IP is to prove that plastics can be recycled into reusable hollow blocks/bricks and help the environment by lessening plastic waste. In this experiment, plastics were cut into small pieces to use them in bricks/hollow blocks.

The objective of this project is to help prevent water pollution that causes flood, by collecting and using plastic wrappers in making hollow blocks and bricks. Plastic materials are commonly used in or daily lives. Plastic bags, wrappers, and other related products were introduced to substitute paper products. But now different problem arises because of the use of these materials.

Land and water pollution are most common. Those plastic materials are improperly dumbed cause flood because plastic waste takes years to decompose. So one way to lessen those problems is to utilize those plastic waste products, instead of dumping them, and make them reusable. In this experiment we will demonstrate how plastic waste can be used in making hollow blocks and bricks.

The product can only be used as decorative block and is not intended for building houses and the likes. Every day, we throw away large quantities of polymer in the form of plastic bottles, cartons, and yogurt pots. Experts estimate that 25 percent of polymer waste is unsuitable for recycling for three main reasons; it is economically unprofitable; and it is too dirty.

Now, researchers from the Latvian Technological Center and the Institute of Polymer Mechanics at the University of Latvia have come up with a solution. Working with Hormigones Uniland, a Spanish cement company, the researchers have succeeded in turning thermoplastic polymer waste into a binding substance that could be mixed with other materials, like sand, to generate cement-free polymer concrete goods.

“The polymer concrete bricks look like ordinary bricks made from cement,” says Dr. Juris Balodis, project manager at the Latvian Technological Centre. However, he points out that the polymer concrete absorbs less water” so it is very good for resisting temperature variations like freezing.” Both the European market and consumers are expected to benefit from this material, which can work well in a wide range of products, including street furniture and street curbs. Dr. Balodis and his team are now researching how to accelerate the production of bricks. The current rate is three bricks per minute, but the team wants to increase production to between 30 and 60 bricks per minute.

Methodology

• Materials
• Plastic waste wrappers
• Cement
• Red cement
• Wafer
• PVC pipes
• Molder
• Basin
• Measuring cup
• Strainer

Procedure

The waste plastic materials were collected and cut into tiny pieces. A basin was prepared for the cement and plastic wrappers. Thirteen cups cement and 13 cups of plastic wrappers were poured into the basin and mixed well. A molder was prepared for the hollow blocks. Eleven cups of plastic wrappers and 11 cups of cement were mixed thoroughly.

The mixture was then poured into the molder and allowed to dry for two days to ensure that it is firm before it is removed from the molder. For the bricks, two cups of cement, one cup of plastic wrappers, and one cup of red cement were mixed thoroughly. The mixture was then poured into the molder and allowed to dry for at least two days.

Results and Discussion

The following are the observations made on the resulting products:

Ordinary Hollow Blocks

• Long
• Somewhat Brittle
• Thick
• Grayish White

Ordinary Bricks

• Hard
• Thick
• Wide
• Easily Breaks
• Brown

Hollow Blocks with Plastic

• Smaller in Size
• More Durable
• Thicker
• Dirty White

Bricks with Plastic

• Harder
• Thinner
• Wider
• Durable
• Light Red

Conclusion

We, therefore, conclude that plastic waste can be used in the production of hollow blocks and bricks.

Suggestion and Recommendations

Researchers recommend collecting plastic wrappers as well as other plastic waste and use or turn them into alternative products to and help the environment. This project can prove useful in homes. Those plastic wastes can be reused in a more profitable way. Lesser waste means lesser pollution in the environment.

How Water Pollution Effects Marine Life?

For years man has been polluting our vast resource of oceans, not expecting to ever cause harm to them. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Our oceans and other waterways have become a poisonous playground of garbage, chemicals, and sewage. The effects of this ignorance has had devastating affects on the marine life and their habitat. This affects the habitat for marine life by destroying their homes. In doing so the intricate balance between marine animals and their homes can alter our oceans forever. Our very existence depends on the oceans.

“Without oceans, Earth would be too hot and there would not be enough air to breathe. ” (Hogan 10) The immediate importance to stop the destruction of our oceans is clear. Our oceans are not only crucial to our climate, but also provide us with food, jobs, and much loved recreation. The effects of man’s abuse can be seen on a daily basis, from the disappearance of long existing sea life such as whales, to garbage washing up on the shore, to the disastrous oil spoils that cost millions of dollars each year to clean up. In some areas the neglect is already so great that complete clean up is impossible.

Pollution is the introduction of harmful contaminants that are outside the norm for a given ecosystem. Common man-made pollutants that reach the ocean include pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, detergents, oil, sewage, plastics, and other solids. Many of these pollutants collect at the ocean's depths, where they are consumed by small marine organisms and introduced into the global food chain. (oceannationalgeographic. com) The most polluted body of water on Earth is the Mediterranean Sea. Factories and ships dump over 300,000 tons of oil, toxic waste, and raw sewage in the Mediterranean each year. (Hogan12)

Even though most European countries have been working since 1975 to clean up the sea they still are living along the most polluted waters on Earth. With each year of pollutants being dumped into it the water has darkened and the sea floor is covered with deadly slime. Plastic pollution has become a major problem throughout the world. Plastic nets, plastic garbage, and plastic medical wastes are killing millions of marine mammals, turtles, and fish. Animals may become tangled in the plastic debris or may eat it and die. Many governments have banned the dumping of plastics in oceans. (csshome. com)

There are other pollutants that affect our oceans like sediment and thermal pollution. These pollutants are mostly found in the United States. Sediment destroys spawning and feeding grounds for fish, reduces fish and shellfish populations, destroys pools used for resting, smothering eggs and fry, fills in lakes and streams, and decreases light penetration, thus endangering aquatic plants. (csshome. com) Thermal pollution refers to heating or cooling the water which changes the biota in the water. This can harm or kill organisms that rely on the water’s ecosystem.

It can effect the way fish eggs will hatch or the fish will grow. It may even kill all living life unless they adapt to it. Scientist have counted some 400 such dead zones around the world. (ocean. nationalgeographic. com) Oil spills are another huge pollution problem that effects not only marine life but the whole ocean. Tankers spill anywhere from three to six million tons of oil int the ocean every year. It can take anywhere from two to ten years for aquatic life to recover from a spill. (csshome. com) These spills have caused severe devastation not only to marine life but the our country’s economy and livelihood of many people.

Chemical pollution occurs every day all over the world. Factories are pouring deadly chemical waste into our waters. Some are dumped directly and others end up their eventually because they are poured into rivers which eventually end up in our oceans. This toxic dumping has caused severe abnormalities in our marine life and has cause almost all marine life in the White Sea off the coast of the Soviet Union to completely disappear.

In Washington state some company presidents have been thrown into jail for breaking very strict pollution laws. A final type of pollution, toxic runoff, is much harder to control than pollution form factories and sewage plants. Toxic runoff is the wash off of fertilizers, pesticides and weed killers that wash off farmers fields and into our rivers and eventually into our oceans. Some problems of this type of pollution is that fertilizer runoff can cause some ocean plants to grow out of control and eventually crowd out other plants which obviously has a direct effect on the food chains of our oceans. (Hogan 20) Now that the water is so polluted people want to clean it up and change the bad affects it has had on our world’s oceans.

There are many countries who are trying to clean up all their polluted waters, but one big problem is it is very costly. So they designed rules and organizations to help clean up and stop polluting. Lawmakers have made several acts to help stop pollution. The acts are the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, Endangered Species Act, Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. All of these acts were set up for saving animals in the water or cleaning up the water. They are now starting to fine or arrest anyone who is caught dumping in the ocean.

If hindsight is 20/20 surely man would have made better choices about ocean dumping. It is apparent today that our society’s ignorance of many years has caused a lasting and extremely costly deadly effect on our earth. Together we must all work to keep the oceans clean and safe not only for the animals that live these waters but for ourselves as well. The oceans and seas of our world don’t belong to just one country or one person, but rather they are all connected making everybody responsible to protect and prohibit the continuous destruction of marine life and their habitat.

Water Pollution Argumentative Essay

Water is a very important part of our lives. We use it for nearly everything – drinking, food preparation, laundry, dishes, hygiene, etc. We swim in it, boat in it, and play in it. In fact, 70% of our world is covered in water. However, 97% of that water is saltwater and we are unable to drink it, leaving only three percent of the planet’s water drinkable. But two percent of the world’s freshwater is frozen in glaciers and ice caps. Only one percent of this freshwater can be used and consumed. Therefore, it is especially important to care for the very limited amount of freshwater we have.

Unfortunately, we take advantage of this precious resource. We make choices that have a negative impact on water and the creatures that live in and near water. This negative impact is called water pollution. Ningthoujam Sandhyarani wrote that , “Water pollution is an undesirable change in the water contaminated with harmful substances. ” (Sandhyarani, n. d. ) It is one of the most major forms of pollution, second only to air pollution. Every year, 1. 2 trillion gallons of polluted water are discarded into United States waters and once water is polluted, it is complicated and difficult to extract the pollutants from the water.

There are three main sources of contaminants that cause water pollution. These are industrial, domestic, and agricultural sources. Industrial pollutants can be traced back to manufacturing and processing plants. They can consist of chemicals and organic waste. Many large-scale industries have created their own methods of treating their wastewater. But smaller industries do not always have the means to properly care for their waste, leading to industrial water pollution. It is both expensive and laborious to properly treat and dispose of wastewater from industrial sources.

Domestic wastewater is produced by our daily household tasks. It is composed of organic materials, including food and human waste, and inorganic materials, such as detergents, soaps, and the chemicals we use for cleaning. Domestic waste contains phosphates and nitrates that, if not properly treated, can lead to eutrophication and the growth of algae. The Missouri Botanical Garden defined eutrophication as, “The process of rapid plant growth followed by increased activity by decomposers and depletion in the oxygen level. (Missouri Botanical Garden, 2006) Eutrophication leads to the suffocation of fish and other organisms living in our lakes and rivers. The third major source of water pollution is agricultural waste. This includes manure, runoff and silt, pesticides, and fertilizers. The nutrients found in agricultural waste also lead to eutrophication if this waste is not properly disposed. If we do not treat wastewater properly, our health and the health of our environment can suffer. Polluted water can cause major declines in fish and wildlife populations.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U. S. EPA), of rivers in the United States are too polluted to support the survival of aquatic life. Beaches, lakes, and rivers may be closed because of water pollution and polluted water is unsafe for drinking and cooking, as it is capable of carrying harmful diseases and infections. Abhijit Naik noted that, in a study conducted by the World Water Assessment Program, “Two million tons of human waste is disposed in water bodies every single day. ” (Naik, 2010)

Thankfully, there is much being done to try to put an end to the pollution of water. One of the first and most prominent examples is the The Clean Water Act of 1972, put into effect by the U. S. EPA: “The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating and discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters…Under the CWA, EPA has implanted pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. We have also set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters.

The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit is obtained. ” (U. S. EPA, n. d. ) However, we cannot simply rely on the rules and regulations set by others. We must also make decisions that will have a positive impact on our water. We can do this by being more mindful of how we are using water and what we are putting into it. We can also educate others and ourselves about the importance of caring for water and the ecosystems that thrive on it, because we are equally responsible for the care of our most valuable resource.

Related Questions

on Utilization of Plastic Waste Production of Hollow Blocks and Bricks

How plastic waste is utilized for making bricks?

Plastic waste can be used to make bricks by melting it down and mixing it with sand and other materials. The melted plastic is then poured into molds and allowed to cool and harden, creating a durable and lightweight brick. This process is becoming increasingly popular as it helps to reduce the amount of plastic waste that ends up in landfills.

What are hollow blocks made from plastic waste?

Hollow blocks made from plastic waste are blocks made from recycled plastic materials. They are usually made from a combination of plastic and other materials such as sand, cement, and other additives. These blocks are lightweight, durable, and cost-effective, making them a great alternative to traditional building materials.

What is the Utilisation of waste plastic?

The utilisation of waste plastic can take many forms. It can be recycled into new products, used as a fuel source, or even converted into a form of energy. Additionally, waste plastic can be used to create building materials, such as plastic lumber, and can be used in the production of asphalt.

Can plastic strengthen hollow blocks?

Yes, plastic can be used to strengthen hollow blocks. This is done by adding a layer of plastic to the outside of the block, which helps to increase the block's strength and durability. Additionally, plastic can be used to fill the hollow spaces inside the block, which further increases its strength and stability.

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Utilization of Plastic Waste Production of Hollow Blocks and Bricks. (2016, Sep 01). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/utilization-of-plastic-waste-production-of-hollow-blocks-and-bricks/

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