Development of value-added materials from municipal plastic solid waste

Abstract

Abstract: Continuous consumption of plastic materials that brings about rapid and more plastic wastes (PWs) generation has become an issue of concern globally, specifically in low-income countries (LCs) where waste management services are still at an infant stage and are inadequate and unstainable. The explosion and acute generation of PWs are dependent on many factors including, incessant migration of citizens in search of greener pastures from rural areas to cities and continuous influx of economic migrants from surrounding African nations and other nations of the world to sub Sahara Africa (SSA) region, changes in consumption pattern, rapid economic and industrial growth etc. The most startling thing about the severe plastic waste (PW) generation is that many citizens are not even aware of the negative/damaging impact of their activities on public health and the natural environment. Besides, the management of PW is now a challenge owing to factors like; insufficient budget for waste management (WM), unavailability of land spaces in cities for the construction of new disposal facilities, bad legislation and policies; and poor education and awareness campaigns. Hence, this study aims to enlighten the populace on the need for a change of attitude and behaviour towards municipal plastic solid waste management and to support recycling for greener cities and a sustainable future. To achieve this, a cross section of the students of the University of Johannesburg, South Africa were interviewed via a structured questionnaire survey and a logistic prediction model was developed to evaluate the attitudes and behaviours of the students towards recycling. Moreover, polystyrene plastic wastes (PSPWs) were recycled via solvothermal technique (chemical recycling) where a hybrid organic-inorganic nanocomposite (a value-added material) was developed. The synthesised nanocomposites (NCs) were characterized by XPS and EDX; XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM and DLS; TGA, DSC and BET. Moreover, the neat (control) and unprocessed recycled polystyrene (rPS) were also characterized by NMR and GPC.Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering