Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

3 Plastic Waste and Its Management
Pages 47-72

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 47...
... There can be a short or long lag time between plastic production and its transformation into plastic waste. Plastic waste is created when, intentionally or unintentionally, plastics are taken out of use and enter a waste stream as part of a waste management process or are released into the environment.
From page 48...
... U.S. MANAGEMENT OF PLASTIC WASTE Municipal Solid Waste This chapter describes solid waste management and primarily focuses on MSW, what people throw away every day at home and on the go.
From page 49...
... Information on non-solid waste discharges and leakage is included in subsequent chapters. Municipal Solid Waste Generation The U.S.
From page 50...
... Other waste streams in the United States that may contain plastics also are described in this chapter, although little is known about their contribution to ocean plastic waste. Municipal Solid Waste Characterization U.S.
From page 51...
... in 2018. However, the estimate for annual generation of plastic solid waste has been as high as 42 MMT when using waste generation rates derived from waste disposal data from MSW management facilities (Law et al.
From page 52...
... , or the resident takes the waste to a transfer station or FIGURE 3.4  U.S. annual plastic waste generation from 1960 to 2018 in million metric tons.
From page 53...
... . Although plastic waste quantities generated in urban and rural areas differ and the proportion of plastic waste not collected or captured by waste management systems varies, both are sources of ocean plastic waste (see subsequent chapters)
From page 54...
... Coastal areas might be subject to greater efforts to reduce, collect, and divert plastic waste sources, but inland areas, especially along waterways, should be managed to reduce plastic wastes moving toward the ocean. Municipal Solid Waste Management In 2018, to manage MSW, the United States landfilled 50%, recycled 24%, composted 8.5%, and combusted 12% of all MSW (U.S.
From page 55...
... . Thus, the composition of plastics in MSW is incredibly diverse, which creates challenges in waste management systems, especially when sorting materials for appropriate recycling or composting.
From page 56...
... , are broadly referred to as "chemical recycling" or "advanced recycling". A major goal of chemical recycling is to produce secondary materials of the same or higher quality than the initial plastic waste itself ("upcycling")
From page 57...
... started to regulate, and sometimes ban, plastic waste imports due to waste surpluses and illegally exported wastes (e.g., hazardous waste mixed in with plas tic scrap) (INTERPOL 2020, Staub 2021, Upadhyaya 2019)
From page 58...
... . The two items most commonly recycled were PET bottles and jars at 29.1% (of total PET bottle waste generation)
From page 59...
... . However, there are many barriers, including a substantial mismatch between the materials that are created and the ability of the waste management system to accept and transform these materials into a second use or beneficial product (U.S.
From page 60...
... . Municipal Solid Waste Management Disparities and Environmental Justice U.S.
From page 61...
... Within 1 week of various city, state, or national mandates for public areas to use and wear personal protective equipment, such as masks, these items were reported as litter through the Marine Debris Tracker mobile app and to programs of the Ocean Conservancy (Ammendolia et al. 2021, Marine Debris Tracker 2020, Ocean Conservancy 2021)
From page 62...
... EPA included construction and demolition debris as a separate section outside of the MSW waste generation in its Sustainable Materials Facts and Figures report (U.S.
From page 63...
... Nearly all large plastic items entering sewers and arriving at wastewater treatment plants are removed by bar screens before treatment through biological and chemical processes. Most microplastics remain in the post-treatment sludge (managed typically through landfilling or land application)
From page 64...
... ROLE IN GLOBAL OCEAN PLASTIC WASTE U.S. Pacific Northwest (Tian et al.
From page 65...
... Litter -- solid waste that is intentionally or unintentionally disposed of into the environment despite the availability of waste management infrastructure -- was coarsely estimated as 2% of plastic solid waste generation (owing to a lack of mass-based estimates of litter rates)
From page 66...
... High-Leakage Items Similar to the waste management system categorizing the waste stream by material and products, varying plastic products and materials leak from the solid waste management system in different proportions evidenced by what does, and does not, end up in our environment. Litter surveys and community science efforts (at large scales, see Chapter 6)
From page 67...
... , plastic fragments, plastic bottle or stock and using 86% plastic waste container caps, plastic fragments film, MDMAP 2.0 protocol plastic food wrappers, other plastics, cigarettes, plastic rope or net pieces, processed lumber–building material, plastic beverage bottles, processed lumber–paper and cardboard Marine Debris 2011–July 2021 Plastic or foam fragments, cigarettes/ Tracker (USA only)
From page 68...
... EPA and the states, created a "cradle to grave" solid and hazardous waste management system. This hazardous waste management system prohibited the previous practice of open dumping and replaced it with requirements to use engineered and regulated landfills, composting, and 4 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
From page 69...
... Neither the Clean Water Act nor the Clean Air Act controls or measures releases of plastic waste from littering, mismanaged waste, sewage outfalls, runoff, industrial emissions, or other sources. The legal or regulatory definitions of "pollutants" or "hazardous substances" do not include plastics or plastic pollution, though legal challenges are testing whether some may be included based on toxicity or other regulatory criteria.
From page 70...
... waste generation, there is an opportunity to reduce the amount of waste produced, both for the environment as well as the economy, given that all waste management activities take effort, money, energy, and often transportation. As indicated in this chapter, there are multiple paths by which waste can enter into the environment.
From page 71...
... Conclusion 3: Effective and accessible solid waste management and infrastructure are fundamental for preventing plastic materials from leaking to the environment and becoming ocean plastic waste. Solid waste collection and management are particularly important for coastal and riparian areas where fugitive plastics have shorter and more direct paths to the ocean.
From page 72...
... Recommendation 1: The United States should substantially reduce solid waste generation (absolute and per person) to reduce plastic waste in the environment and the environmental, economic, aesthetic, and health costs of managing waste and litter.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.