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Disposal and recycling of consumer items: plastic - Coggle Diagram
Disposal and recycling of consumer items: plastic
Disposal
Landfill
37 percent of waste is disposed of in some form of a landfill
In 2018, about 146.1 million tons of MSW were landfilled.
There are around 1,250 landfills in the United States
Incineration
As it turns out, countries with the highest rates of garbage incineration — Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, for example, all incinerate at least 50 percent of their waste — also tend to have high rates of recycling and composting of organic materials and food waste.
Waste incineration has also grown steadily in the reference period, though not as much as recycling and composting. Since 1995, the amount of municipal waste incinerated in the EU has risen by 31 million tonnes or 105 % and accounted for 61 million tonnes in 2020.
The U.S. Energy Information Agency says about 13 percent of the country's solid waste is burned for energy, while over half ends up in the landfill and about a third is recycled or composted.
Incineration is more polluting than landfills. Incinerators do not avoid landfills. For every 100 tons of trash burned, 30 tons become toxic ash that goes to landfills. The other 70 tons don't turn into energy, but become air pollution.
Recycling
Process
The process of recycling is a very long, expensive and energy consuming process. With several steps ahead the process, you start with the collection, categorizing, washing, shredding, separation and finishing by extruding and compounding.
Possibilities
Exporting
Top countries who export plastic waste; Japan, United States, Germany, China and Mexico
China has banned trash imports
The global waste trade is the international trade of waste between countries for further treatment, disposal, or recycling. Toxic or hazardous wastes are often imported by developing countries from developed countries.
Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam quickly became top destinations for U.S. plastic scrap exports, with Malaysia and Vietnam accounting for roughly 30 percent of U.S. scrap plastic exports in 2020. Meanwhile, Turkey became the main destination for EU waste exports, importing more than 14 million metric tons in 2020
Key facts and statistics
2,500,00 bottles of plastic are consumed every hour in America
Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy and burning it
Every year we dump a massive 2.12 billion tons of waste