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Utilization of Plastic Wastes and Its Technologies: An Overview

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Handbook of Solid Waste Management

Abstract

Plastic, a highly useful and convenient material, ever since its inception over 110 years ago, has become one of the most useful and versatile material of interest in material science with a wide range of applications. Its uses can be seen from agriculture, medical industry, furniture industry, coating, and wiring to packaging films, IV bags, and containers and are more likely to increase with the ongoing worldwide developments in the plastic industry. It is of no denial that both industry and society are heavily reliant on its usage. The fact that it is heavily used is because of its versatile properties ranging from high resistance to corrosion, lightweight, high strength, transparency, low toxicity to durability, and low manufacturing cost. However, these particular properties that make plastic useful have also made it into one of the world’s greatest environmental problems. Plastics, due to its durability, stay in our environment for hundreds of years in the form of large waste or even in smaller pieces; invisible to our naked eyes, it chokes marine life and propagates up the food chain. Managing plastic waste is one of the most critical sectors of today’s world because of continuous increase in plastic use, its nonbiodegradability, and direct harmful effect to society. In addition to technical and environmental complications, there are administrative, economic, and societal tribulations that must be addressed. This chapter focuses on the overview of plastic wastes, current scenario, and some of the conventional and modern approaches to plastic waste management.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Science and Humanities, National Institute of Technology Nagaland, Dimapur, Nagaland, India

    Arenjungla Kichu

  2. Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

    Nirmala Devi

Authors
  1. Arenjungla Kichu
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  2. Nirmala Devi
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research and Development Center, Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Chinnappan Baskar

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapur, Singapore

    Seeram Ramakrishna

  3. Chemistry and Bioprospecting Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

    Shikha Baskar

  4. Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Rashmi Sharma

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Amutha Chinnappan

  6. Department of Basic science, Sardar Vallabh bahi Patel university of agriculture and technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Rashmi Sehrawat

Section Editor information

  1. Research and Development Center, Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, India

    Chinnappan Baskar

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Kichu, A., Devi, N. (2021). Utilization of Plastic Wastes and Its Technologies: An Overview. In: Baskar, C., Ramakrishna, S., Baskar, S., Sharma, R., Chinnappan, A., Sehrawat, R. (eds) Handbook of Solid Waste Management. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7525-9_50-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7525-9_50-1

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