Zhe Feng

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Week 9

In the class last week, we had Adele from Precious Plastics Shanghai to lead us through the process of plastic transformation and recreate the stool. After a brief explanation, Adele showed us how to classify, chop and heat the plastic. Many novel tools and instruments have been used. After that, we will finalize it. This step caused some failures in the finished product due to our negligence and unskillful. What impressed me in this process was the step of heating the melted plastic. This step reminded me of the actual plastic heating scene. According to common sense, I learned that dioxin is produced when plastic is burned, which is a persistent organic pollutant (POP) and can seriously harm the atmosphere as well as cause great harm to human health.

After class, I learned more about the environmental impact of plastics and the main treatments in the engineering practice, and I have thought about it.

Generally speaking, as one of the three major synthetic materials, plastics have brought many benefits to the development of production technology and the improvement of people’s quality of life. But the disposal of plastic waste is a more difficult problem. Due to the large amount of plastics collected and classified, the plastics are often difficult to decompose in the natural environment for a long time, especially the plastic bags and agricultural mulch films that are discarded after use. Plastics scattered in urban areas, scenic tourist areas, water forests, roads and railways, causing serious white pollution to the natural environment and urban landscape, have caused widespread concern and anxiety.

For waste plastics, there are usually four methods from an engineering perspective:

1. Direct regeneration of waste plastics (similar to the crafts in our class)

Direct recycling refers to the method of directly plasticizing waste plastics, plasticizing after crushing, plasticizing after corresponding pretreatment, and then forming and processing the recycled plastic products. Direct recycling also includes the addition of appropriate auxiliaries (such as anti-aging agents, colorants, stabilizers, etc.).

2. Waste plastics production of building materials products using waste plastics to produce building materials is waste plastic flooring and packaging materials are as follows:

2.1 Production of soft assembled floor: using waste plastic as the main raw material, and then pulverizing, cleaning and other processes to produce plastic granules and then adding an appropriate amount of plasticizers, stabilizers, lubricants, pigments, and other admixtures, through cutting and mixing, injection molding and molding process.

2.2 Production of floorboard: using waste agricultural film and calcium carbonate as the main raw materials, after mixing raw materials, mixing, granulating, squeezing, cooling and punching.

2.3 Production of the artificial board: using grass residue, sunflower seed skin, and waste plastic as the main raw materials, plus several auxiliary chemical raw materials, which are mixed and hot pressed.

3. Waste plastic pyrolysis oil

A large number of discarded plastics can be chemically recycled, that is, by heating or adding a certain catalytic plastics to make macromolecules, the polymer chains are broken and petroleum products are produced. The pyrolysis oil production technology is complicated in process, requires high cracking raw materials, cracking catalysts and cracking conditions, and has a large investment, so the method is still being explored and promoted.

4. Waste plastics incineration to recover heat

Waste plastics are used as raw materials to recover energy from combustion. The calorific value of waste plastics is as high as 33492~37565kJ/kg, which is higher than coal and slightly lower than the specific gravity, which has a good effect.

Learn from China
As part of your research for your final project, find local craft techniques, and find local materials that Chinese people have been using. Is there any technique we can replicate using plastic? Do you think we can replicate those materials using plastic?

 

The Chinese crafts that I have always been interested in are blue and white porcelain. Blue and white porcelain is a treasure of the Chinese ceramics firing process and one of the mainstream varieties of Chinese porcelain. It first appeared in the Tang and Song Dynasties,

 and the mature blue-and-white porcelain appeared in Jingdezhen in the Yuan Dynasty. It developed to a peak in the Qing Dynasty. Blue-and-white porcelain is made of cobalt ore-containing cobalt ore, which is painted on the ceramic body, and then covered with a layer of transparent glaze, which is fired once by high-temperature reduction flame. The cobalt material is blue after being fired and has the characteristics of strong coloring power, bright color, high firing rate, and stable color. Through data search and practice comparison, I found that the pattern and status of blue and white porcelain can be made of plastic, but its transparency and luster are never comparable to plastic products, so this Chinese handicraft is especially precious.

 

 

Find References
Research about plastic solutions and post it in your journal.
Everyone has to find at least three interesting solutions that already exist and their impact on a sustainable world. Evaluate them, using the information from the lectures and readings. Choose one between “Design Is The Problem” and “Bio-Thinking” as an evaluation framework or tool for assessing the sustainability of these solutions. 

 

 

 

1 –Metal/glass pipette

Many years ago, through such a video (https://www.bilibili.com/video/av3226450), the damage of plastic straws to marine life has received international attention, and reusable metal straws have become very important. Recall that in daily life, we drink beverages with straws, which are usually used for a short period of time, but they have great consequences of non-degradability. In addition to destroying marine animals, their decomposition of micro-plastics and harmful substances seriously affects them. It is the health of our bodies. From the perspective of Bio-Thinking, we have increased the frequency of use of straws and no longer manufacture a large number of straws. It is a beneficial invention for biological, environmental and human considerations.

 

2 –Leaf plate (https://www.bilibili.com/video/av5695072)

In order to solve the problems of excessive waste and environmental damage caused by the proliferation of disposable plastic products, the Germans want to make changes from the perspective of production. Through years of research and improvement, they have proposed Leaves are made into plates, no plastic, no chemical reagents, no need to cut trees, only leaves. From the perspective of Bio-Thinking, this invention can definitely replace the plastic plate. However, I believe that this product is not very practical, and has the disadvantages of being unsanitary and smelly, and it is not easy to spread widely. In addition, the raw material of leaves is also seasonal and difficult to collect. Therefore, this design is a good idea, but I am not optimistic about its development, but rather semi-processed products made from biomass such as straw and a small amount of chemical reagents are easier to develop.

 

3 –Edible spoon

Plastic spoons are often found in takeaway boxes and are now a growing class of plastic waste. Many years ago, Indians invented edible spoons, which were mainly made of millets, rice and wheat, using special techniques to achieve the hardness of general plastic products and to achieve a longer shelf life. From the perspective of Bio-Thinking, this invention is inventive. The cost of manufacturing edible spoons is not high, equivalent to ordinary snacks, but with reference to the price of plastic spoons, the profit of this product may not be satisfactory. However, with the deepening of environmental protection concepts and the global call, I believe that this type of products will be popular.

The Midterm Project 

 

Research and Inspiration 

In June 2018, the University of Georgia published a study based on data from the United Nations that predicted that 110 million tons of plastic waste would be homeless in the world by 2030.
What does it mean to be homeless in international waste?

This is because China, which has been a major importer of plastic waste in the past 20 years, has stopped importing foreign waste for environmental protection since 2018.
In the past 25 years, nearly half of the world’s non-industrial plastic waste has been shipped to China.
From 1996 to 2016, the import and export volume of plastic waste in various countries was grayish and the export was light green. Data after 2016 is an estimate by the University of Georgia scholars based on United Nations data. China is the 7th country on the right.

According to the study published in Science Advances, China imported 7.35 million tons of plastic waste in 2016, accounting for 52% of the total global plastic waste. If you count Hong Kong, China, the figure will reach 72%.
Plastic bottles are food-grade PET, which can actually be used to make polyester fiber, or chemical fiber, PET fiber, polyester, non-woven fabric, and indeed. The China Plastics Association Expert Committee stated that 98% of the plastic bottles in Beijing were recycled and mainly flowed to the textile industry after recycling.

According to the American Chemical Society, plastic bags are generally made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), or linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and cannot be used to make polyester fibers.
These materials are recyclable, but plastic bags are often dirty and difficult to clean and reuse, and can block the line or be blended into other useful recycled materials. It should be known that if the classified recycled materials contain more than 0.5% of impurities, they will not be sold at a good price, so the plastic bags will be rejected by the recycling stations and will eventually be thrown out into garbage that no one wants.

Some experts pointed out that the clothes made from recycled plastic bottles are the source of micro-plastic pollution.

Mark Browne, an ecologist and postdoctoral researcher at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, Calif., has studied plastic contamination and microfiber for nearly 10 years. He explained that synthetic fiber garments would lose a lot of plastic fibers when subjected to spin and cycle rinsing in a washing machine. Most washing machines do not have a filter to capture these tiny microfibers, and the sewage treatment plant cannot completely remove these tiny contaminants.

According to a study by the University of California, a city with a population of 100,000 people, about 110 kilograms of microfiber per day through the washing machine 

into natural water, is equivalent to throwing away 15,000 plastic bags.
According to a study by the University of California, a city with a population of 100,000 people, about 110 kilograms of microfiber per day through the washing machine into natural water, is equivalent to throwing away 15,000 plastic bags.

My inspirations are from the Chinese super country model who got a hit on Tiktok. He used big plastic bogs to make his own fashional clothes. So I think maybe I could use the plastic bags I could find in my life to make a clock ”in fashion“ by my self

The Process

The Materials I Selected from my life。

Cut the shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And make the hat.

 

Put together plastic sheets.

Here is the final work.

Interviewee: A graduate student in environmental science and engineering at a university in Shanghai

Interview Background: Due to the thought-provoking problem of discarded disposable products, the team members completed the creation of a water-based hand-made product from wastes, aiming to remind the students who throw harmful garbage to reduce the frequency of using disposable products and enhance environmental protection awareness. Consciousness, this is helpful to protect our rivers and land, and ultimately defend the planet on which we live. under the limited time and limited theme, although there are certain limitations, we have done a meaningful and educational creation.

Interview content: (Interviewer Zhang talked about his views on this design and some thoughts on Shanghai garbage classification from both civil and professional aspects)

Zhang: I think the meaning of this design is very good. For me, the warning effect of this design is also very good. Examine your behavior before throwing garbage: If someone is throwing a plastic bottle, after seeing this work, he or she may bring a water cup before the next outside work, instead of buying bottled water; if someone is going to throw disposable take-out tableware into the trash, he or she might think about the harm of garbage to water, next time that person will choose to change habits, use homemade lunch, prefer dining instead of take-out; if someone throws a lot of waste paper, under the warning of this work, he or she may realize this kind of behavior not only wastes forest resources but also cause serious damages to the water and soil environment, after that, the utilization rate of paper is likely to increase substantially.

And as far as my profession is concerned, this design is a very scientific one. First of all, due to a large amount of garbage and its high toxicity, wave and soils have been seriously polluted, including atmospheres. For people’s consumption habits, the amount of garbage produced per capita is increasing. Usually, the final disposal method of a large amount of solid waste is landfill, in addition to large land occupation, this method has the danger of leakage and the groundwater and soil are highly likely to be contaminated. What’s more, plastics and electronic products are increasingly littered, leading to the augment in the toxicity of solid waste. The chemical-biological treatment and heat treatment during the treatment process may produce many poisonous gases, which seriously pollute the environment and affect human health. Therefore, we urgently need to enhance the environmental awareness of the masses and truly reduce the amount of waste, as your design has contributed to this requirement.

Besides, talking about the impact of garbage sorting in Shanghai on waste disposal, as far as I am learning in the professional course, I learned that waste sorting is equivalent to eliminating the sorting process in the waste treatment plant. This link often needs to be based on the type of waste, and each type takes different sorting schemes and steps, including wind selection, magnetic separation, bounce sorting, wet sorting, flotation, etc. Of course, garbage sorting is important, but I personally hope that there is a rule that limits the amount of garbage produced by a person and so that they can be better aware of the severity of the damage to the environment.

Interview experience: Thanks to Zhang for their professional reviews and suggestions.

 

The Video of our Group is in Maya‘s BLOG！

 

Week 3 — Response to the Field Trip 

 

Five team members each perform their duties, successfully completed the drawing of the trash map. From the figure, we can see that the first floor and above are mainly recycled, residual waste and household food waste, while the negative layer- cafeteria garbage contains paper waste. Transport vehicles are often sorted 

out of five types of waste from 1 to 3 pm, from Monday to Saturday.

 

My point of view:

In the figure, the layout of a building is clear, the visualization effect and the visual effect are good. Besides, the main functions and garbage types of each layer are clearly displayed. Thus, it is a detailed and readable map. Among them, the specific time of how the garbage on the negative second floor is transported and the garbage truck is transported is also mentioned.

After careful observation, it was found that there was no harmful garbage and other garbage on the first floor to the 15th floor, but these two types of garbage appeared in the parking garage. It needs explains.

My advice:

①Since there are four students involved in the investigation of garbage types, I think that in the trash map, we can add a part to explain how to deal with these kinds of garbage separately and popularize knowledge.

②Parking garage can draw the corresponding number of grids in proportion, more intuitively showing the proportion of all kinds of garbage in the building of New York University in Shanghai.

③The specific functions and main activities of the third to 15th layer can be explained in the free area of ​​the chart.

The trash map is very readable and aesthetic, but it needs to be considered more in detail.

Week 2 — Plastic Pollution

 

This article is talking about the ideas that author had after listening to Richard Brubaker’s speech, reading two famous essays and searching piles of papers, mainly on three topics: the relationship between business models and ecological sustainable development in various industries, the current situation of plastic products production and the harm of plastics to the environment. The author believes that collective responsibility plays a huge role to the failure of sustainability and that business models and ecological regulations in government and industry are also the priority of our environmental construction.

I largely agree with the author’s view of the PET. Plastic product is a great invention in the period when plastics were just developed. As the article said, “durability and permanence were its biggest selling points.” However, I think that all products should be built and used on sustainable conditions, whether it is in the clean production or recycling section, it is a company’s, an industry’s, and even the whole society’s duty to pay attention to. Speaking of this point of view, I’m reminded of the description of some of the most persistent and toxic pesticides in 《Silent Spring》. After the use of such chemicals, the agricultural output has surged, bringing lucrative economic results, which basically popular around the world. However, gradually as research going deep, scientists had discovered their persecution of the environment and the serious harm to the human body through the enrichment of the food chain. Various countries have banned the production and use of this product.

In addition, through the reading of the article, I learned that micro-plastic is a new concept that is extremely harmful to the earth’s biology and the marine environment. No matter the plastic foam that we use for transportation or the small plastic straws that we use only a few seconds, things like these can all cause chronic diseases and disrupt metabolism in our endocrine and reproductive systems through a series of changes. This confirms the famous phrase in Chinese Buddhism that “there must be fruit.” 

In the article, concerning the six foundations proposed by Kent E. Portney, the author analyzes from the perspective of the business model, and I personally prefer to start from the scientific research point of view. At present, although China’s scientific and technological development is booming and flourishing, there are not so much real scientific researches and outstanding patents that can be combined with current trashing condition. As far as I’m concerned, researches on college students are generally based on the results of laboratory experiments. I believe that each of the six foundations is inseparable from the development of actual technology, and this requires a group of intellectuals in our country who are willing to devote themselves to scientific research.

In conclusion, this article has a wide range of perspectives, profound and scientific knowledge as well as thought-provoking.

Week1

 

The article mentioned that garbage collection is a big problem in China, and now people only pay attention to recycling, classification, however lack of awareness to reduce the amount of production. The current situation of China requires the joint efforts of consumers, governments and various industries.

I hold the view that the government’s actions are often the most direct one as well as the fastest one, concerning to Chinese national conditions, cause once the government gives orders, it often has strong mobility. The article also gives another reminder that I agree with: the government should strengthen the

establishment of the laws and regulations of various industries, not just the recycling industry.

However, in order to truly achieve it, we still need to pay attention to the public. Shanghai’s waste sorting has already achieved better requirements for popularization, but as far as I know about the waste treatment industry, waste sorting is only a small part of solid waste disposal, while the heat treatment, chemical treatment, and biological treatment are the real links and final effective treatments. Since the final requirements of waste are reduced, harmless and resource-resourced, only the public’s consciousness can be drunk and really reduced.

In conclusion, I generally agree with what the author thought about this issue, but the thoughts are not so much suitable for our country.