Valorization of Plastic Waste through Incorporation into Construction Materials

Evidence for the incorporation of lead into barite from waste rock pile materials.

Because Pb is one of the most toxic elements and is found as a major contaminant in mining environments, this study aims to identify the distribution of this element in host phases issued from the alteration of mine wastes. The sampling location was a former mine near Oakland, California (USA). This mine was once a source of sulfide minerals from which sulfuric acid was made. The material discu...

New energy value chain through pyrolysis of hospital plastic waste

In this paper, the evolution in thermochemical behaviours of hospital plastic wastes and changes in chemical composition and characteristics of pyrolysis liquid products have been investigated by using different fixed bed reactor scales. The main objective is to identify the critical technical parameters enabling thermochemical process adaptation in function of raw materials chemical structure,...

Utilization of Recycled and Waste Materials in Various Construction Applications

More production equals more waste, more waste creates environmental concerns of toxic threat. An economical viable solution to this problem should include utilization of waste materials for new products which in turn minimize the heavy burden on the nation’s landfills. Recycling of waste construction materials saves natural resources, saves energy, reduces solid waste, reduces air and water pol...

Oceans of plastic waste

Net gain: The schooner Tara, on an expedition around the Mediterranean to monitor microplastic pollution, drags a so-called manta net to collect floating debris. (Photo © A. Deniaud Garcia Tara Expéditions.) The research vessel Tara, a schooner built for marine and polar research, spent seven months of the last year cruising the Mediterranean Sea on an expedition to collect an unglamorous mater...

Microwaves and microbes turn household waste into biodegradable plastic