Plastic Waste Management

Running head: PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Plastic Waste Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Review of Literature..................................................................................................................5
Importance of plastic sorting as per recycling.......................................................................5
Methods used for recycling in Australia (Brisbane)..............................................................6
Issue of Landfill by Plastic Waste..........................................................................................7
Current Scenario of Waste Management...............................................................................9
Sorting Plastics into Seven Categories and Recycling.........................................................11
Manual Sorting and Automatic Sorting of Plastics..................................................................13
Management Tools...................................................................................................................15
Conclusion................................................................................................................................19
References................................................................................................................................22
Appendices...............................................................................................................................26
Appendix.1...........................................................................................................................26
Appendix 2...........................................................................................................................28

2PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The issue of plastic waste is one of the most common problems around the different
countries of the world and it is associated with the various other environmental problems as
well. Like other countries of the world, Australia is also facing the same issue and thereby
the environmental condition of the country is also getting worse day by day. Therefore, it can
be stated that in order to make the environment safer, it is vital to address the problem of
plastic waste. To do so, it is essential to manage and sort the plastic wastages scientifically
and adequately. In this regard, it can be stated that, for improving the issue of plastic
wastages in the environment, plastic recycling is a useful method and for recycling the plastic
wastages properly sorting of the plastic components from biodegradable materials and thus it
can be stated that the process of soring is very crucial for conducting the proper recycling
methods (Zhu et al., 2019).
From the data of Australian Government, it can be stated that in the year of 2018,
almost 3.4 million tonnes of plastics were consumed by the Australian people and among
them only 320,000 tonnes of plastics were recovered. This data suggested that the rate of
plastic recycling in the country was approximately 9.4 per cent. Moreover, it was reported
that among the 320 000 tonnes of plastics collected for the reprocessing, only 145, 700 tonnes
were reprocessed within Australia and the rest of the plastic waste products were exported
outside for the reprocessing. From the survey data, it was observed that over the year, the
rate of plastic recycle rate in the country had lowered. In the year of 2015-16, the rate of
plastic waste recovery was almost 11.3 per cent. In the year 2016-17, the rate was reduced to
9.8 per cent and then in 2017-18, the condition became worse than the previous two years
(Australian Government, 2018).

3PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
In case of plastic waste management, there are mainly three possible ways such as
landfill, incineration and recycling and in the case of plastic waste, mainly the recycling
methods and landfill technique are used. Although it is always beneficial to reuse the plastic
materials, it can still be stated that the process of the landfill is the primary plastic waste
management strategy for Australia. In this regard, it can be stated that plastic can easily be
used as an energy source as they still have high caloric value and in some cases, plastic can
be converted to the monomers. After forming these monomers, they are again used to form
polymers as well. In various studies, it was identified that the cases of landfilling by plastic
waste are the most common strategy for Australia due to its cost-effective nature. However,
with the advancement of technology and time, various cost-effective recycling technologies
are also used by the local government and authorities for managing plastic waste and most of
the cases, the local governments are opting for recycling process (Redmond et al., 2014). In
recent times, different types of recycling processes are used for the recycling process and this
is very important to sort the plastic properly. According to the study of Ruj et al. (2015), it is
reported that in the process of plastic waste management, the issue of plastic soring is one of
the significant issues and there are different types of methods that are used for this process.
While discussing the difficulties of the plastic soring process, it can be stated that the during
the sorting process, it is challenging to make a difference in between the shredded bottles of
PVC from shredded PET bottles and this separation procedure has to be completed before
next procedure as the existence of PVC may reduce the overall quality of whole plastic. The
process of mechanical separation technique is mainly used to differentiate the plastics from
the other materials present in the waste products. However, for distinguishing between
different types of plastics, different techniques are required. Therefore, in many cases, the
different types of plastics are sorted by using observational techniques such as observing the
colours of the plastics and this technique is mainly used to maintain the quality of the plastics

4PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
and thereby improves the physical appearance of the products made from those recycled
plastics (Zhu et al., 2019). However, it is also quite evident that, presence of PVC up to 15
per cent in mixed plastic waste is not considered as a technical problem for the plastic
recycling process. According to the study of Chavan (2013), it is stated that after the sorting
and recycling of the plastics, those recycled plastics are mainly used in low grade works as
the original texture and structure of the polymer are distorted during the primary use of the
plastics as additives and contaminants are present in the plastic materials during the first time
use and the presence of those materials is responsible for the distortion of the original
polymer structure of the components.
In recent times, in most cases, an automatic system for sorting the plastics is used by
the waste management authorities and it is reported that the use of this automated sorting
process has become prevalent. According to the study of Rani et al. (2019), it is stated that
the automated systems are mainly based on vibrational spectroscopy methods for the
identification of polymer and camera systems for optical identification of vibrant and
coloured components. Along with this, other sorting technologies include Mass spectroscopy
or UV–Vis spectroscopy for identification of hyper-spectral imaging methods, x-ray
detection for specific containers, fluorescence spectroscopy for recognizing heavy metals and
halogens.
In this report, the application of spectroscopy in the plastic sorting method is
discussed and along with this, in the later part of the report, a few other techniques for sorting
plastics are also discussed briefly.

5PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Review of Literature
Importance of plastic sorting as per recycling
In the process of plastic recycling the issue of plastic sorting is very crucial and in the
process of recycling the sorting of plastic is the primary step as it is associated with the
quality of the recycled products. So, proper sorting can improve the quality of the recycled
product and thereby the life cycle of the product will also be enhanced. One of the main
reasons that are why sorting of plastic materials is essential is that in the waste products there
various other materials and many of them are not recyclable. So, it is crucial to sort the
plastics which are recyclable and send them to waste management organizations (Leal Filho
et al., 2016).
On the other hand, it is also noted that in the waste products, there are various
components that can spoil the recyclable plastics and so it is essential to remove those
materials from the recyclable components. For example, it can be stated that the presence
of batteries, appliances in the waste products can hamper the quality of the recyclable plastics
and if such materials are present in the waste products then none of the products can be
recycled properly. Not only can this, but the presence of garbage and food waste also hamper
the process of recycling of plastics in the waste management program (Wong et al., 2016). In
case of Australia, there are various waste management companies that can provide a complete
waste management solution to the local authorities and governments as well. In this context,
the name of the two companies can be mentioned as they are engaged in the process of plastic
sorting and recycling along with the overall waste management process in the country. Suez
is one of the biggest waste management companies that are involved in the process of
managing different types of waste products. The waste collection process of the Brisbane
City Council is the most extensive waste collection system in the southern hemisphere and it

6PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
is associated with the service of Suez and thus the company is servicing almost 1.2 million
residents each week. Brisbane is the third largest city of the country and per year, the
population of the country is growing by 2 per cent and along with this, it is also stated that the
almost 8000 new houses are built in the city. So the amount of waste products is also
enhancing per year. The Brisbane City Council (BCC) takes the help of SUEZ for managing
this massive amount of waste products. This company is providing support to BCC since
2002 and it is reported that the Brisbane’s waste services needs are enormous and so SUEZ
has to provide 120,000 services per day across the different regions including several suburbs
and housing types including high density urban houses through constricted ways to
countryside properties of Brisbane. The main goal of SUEZ is to collect all the waste
products from every single bins and if a bin is missed accidentally BCC’s call centres can
immediately report to the SUEZ team for fast solution. As a part of the sorting of the waste
products, SUEZ uses vehicles with several chambers so that they can collect the waste and
recycling simultaneously and then those products are placed into the separate compartments
of the vehicle (Suez, 2020). Toxfree is another company that is engaged in this waste
management service in the country and this company also provides a complete solution to the
case of waste management and recycling in Australia.
Methods used for recycling in Australia (Brisbane)
In Brisbane, the BCC is determined to make the city cleaner and greener and for this
they have concentrated a lot on keeping the recycling process more comfortable for the
people residing in the city. As per the report of BCC, it can be stated that the in the year of
2017-18 the BCC has collected almost 90,000 tonnes of paper cardboard, plastic, metals and
other plastic components through kerbside recycling service and so it can be stated that the
process of recycling is very crucial for the city (Brisbane City Council, 2020). For the process
of recycling the BCC tries to make the process of different waste products from their sources

7PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
that are from the households in case of household products and after that a collection truck
collects those products from the households. Again a sorting process is conducted and
workers engaged in the recycling process perform manual sorting of the recyclable plastics
and after that a mechanical sorting process is also conducted. The rubbish bin is collected
from the overall waste products, then rest of the materials are taken to the Council facility for
crushing and compacting as much as possible. The compacting process helps in the reduction
of the sizes of materials. After the sorting process, all the recyclable materials are kept
separately and they are used for the production of various products (Brisbane City Council,
2020). Another report of the Queensland government stated that recycling residuals are
material passing through recovery methods which are sent to the disposal basically the
process of landfills. However, in some cases, it is also reported that the recovery methods of
recycling may be hampered due to the contaminations, technical issues, process breakdowns
and lack of demands for the recovered materials (Queensland Government, 2018). For
example, it can be stated that contamination is a crucial problem for the local government
kerbside recycling programs. The rate of contamination by the councils for the yellow bin in
the year of 2017-18 was approximately 5 per cent to 48 per cent (average 16 per cent). In the
case of contamination rate for a smaller green bin was almost 0 to 5 per cent that is much
lower than that of the yellow bins (Queensland Government, 2018).
Issue of Landfill by Plastic Waste
The process of the landfill is one of the oldest methods for managing waste products
around the different countries of the world. For most of the municipal corporation the process
of waste management has become a severe area of threat as due to the growing population the
amount of generated waste products are also enhancing day by day and thereby the number of
plastic waste products is also increasing. From the data, it was reported that the each year,
almost 20 million tonnes of garbage makes their way to landfilling in Australia and it is

8PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
associated with almost 40 per cent of overall waste products in the country. As per the
government data it was reported ta there are almost 600 officially registered landfill sites in
the country. However, apart from the government data, it may possible that there may be
more than 2000 small landfill sites in the country as well. According to the study of López et
al. (2018), it is stated that the massive amount of waste generation have made the condition
more complicated in terms of waste management. Therefore, it can be reported that the lack
of capacity of waste landfills has become a crucial challenge for the municipal corporations
and the problem is greater in the urban areas than that of the rural areas of the country and
thus it has become essential to secure an adequate amount of landfill capacity by managing
the waste products properly. In this context, it has become very crucial to recycle the plastics
properly so that less amount of plastics and related products can be sent for landfill.
According to the study of Redmond et al. (2014), it is stated that a huge amount of waste
products including the plastic wastages are generated from the small and medium industries
of the country and most of those waste products were sent to the purpose of landfill in
Australia. The study result stated that a significant amount of waste products from numerous
streams and subgroups being disposed of through using landfill and the authors stated that the
result is not all surprising as well for them. However, in order to reduce the amount of landfill
in the country the sorting and recycling of plastic waste are very important. Among the waste
products of overall waste materials, plastic wraps is one of the significant contributors and as
they are not appropriately sorted from the waste products they cannot be recycled properly. In
another study by Chidambarampadmavathy, Karthikeyan and Heimann (2017), it was
reported that the less amount of non-biodegradable plastic use is associated with the higher
amount of landfill by plastic waste products as well. Hence, it can be stated that the proper
sorting and recycling process can reduce the percentage of plastic waste products in the
landfilling process in the country. From the data of Australia, it can be stated that the amount

9PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
of landfilling by plastic waste products is a significant area of threats from the environmental
perspective as it is associated with adverse environmental effects. The report stated that in the
year of 2013-14 almost 17 million tonnes of waste materials were generated and among them
almost 7 million tonnes were used for the landfill. From the report of the Australian
Government, it is observed that Queensland has the most landfill sites followed by New
South Wales and Western Australia. Moreover, it is further reported that since the lifting of
dumping levies, almost 10 per cent of Queensland’s landfill comes from different state of the
country. While discussing the landfill sites, it can be stated that Victoria and Tasmania have a
large proportion of medium to large landfill sites and New South Wales (NSW) has most
numbers of large landfill sites. On contrary Western Australia, Queensland and South
Australia have comparatively high quantities of small sites. The study of Gug, Cacciola and
Sobkowicz (2015) stated that the recycling and sorting of plastics from the waste products
could help the government to produce solid fuels from that and as a result the amount of
landfill can also be reduced. Therefore, the study stated that the reformation of waste
products into briquettes that are well-matched with usual coal burning processes. However, it
is quite evident that, in order to match the quality of the coal combustion, this fuel must be
free from contamination and there should not be any hazardous materials as well. In order to
do so, the process of sorting and proper recycling of the plastic waste is very crucial.
Current Scenario of Waste Management
For discussing the current scenario of waste management in Brisbane, Australia it can
be stated that the city is managing condition by using recycling strategy in the city.
According to the report of Queensland Government (2018), it is reported that in the year of
2017-18 almost 870,000 tonnes that are almost 32.4 per cent of overall 2.7 million tonnes of
municipal solid waste were recovered. From the previous data of 2016-17, it was reported
that there was an improvement in the recovery rate of almost by 30.9 per cent. As a

10PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
consequence of this it was reported that due to the process of recycling there is almost 47,000
tonne decrease in the amount of landfill and along with this 38000 tonne of waste products
were recovered additionally (Queensland Government, 2018). Local government reported
among the 2.9 million of industrial waste, almost 47.3 per cent that is 1.4 million tonnes of
waste were recovered. From the data of the municipal corporation of Queensland, among the
municipal solid waste 870,492 tonnes were recovered among the total 1,814,217 tonnes of
generated waste materials. In case of commercial and industrial waste, almost 47.3 per cent
was recovered and in case of the construction and demolition waste 50.9 per cent was
recovered (Queensland Government, 2018).
For the management of the headline waste, the local government of Queensland
provided kerbside bin collection services in the year of 2017-18 and it was mainly used for
domestic waste to 1,893,000 households and recovering paper, plastic and green waste as
well. In Queensland, 91 per cent of the households have the red bin lid service along with a
yellow bin lid service. On the other hand only 11.6% also has a green bin lid service along
with green and yellow services. However, the data also suggested that in the year 2017-18
63000 households have no kerbside bin collection service. In the year 2017-18, there was a
decrease in the number of landfill materials that was almost 19000 tonnes than that of the
amount of 2016-17 (Queensland Government, 2018). On the contrary, more 4000 tonnes of
domestic waste was sent to an alternative waste management system for the recovery
processes by recycling. Moreover, the use of yellow bin service in Queensland the collection
of paper and packaging plastics was enhanced by 1.4 per cent that is almost 4800 tonnes. The
generation of the domestic waste red bin lid was enhanced by 1.2 per cent from 2009-10 to
2017-18 (1,281,000 tonnes to 1,296,000 tonnes). The amount of red bin waste collection was
decreased by 11.1 per cent per capita basis. On the contrary, the amount of collection of

11PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
green and yellow bin lid material was enhanced by 37 per cent that is 297,000 tonnes to
408,000 tonnes (Queensland Government, 2018).
The report stated that the local government was the primary collection point for
domestic waste and in the year of 2017-18 the local government delivered 1.5 million tonnes
of headline waste from the disposal. Overall, 340,000 tonnes of paper and packaging plastics
were sent for recovery by the government in 2017-18 and almost all of the materials were
supplied to the private sector recyclers for processing. Furthermore, it is essential to mention
that almost 5.6 kg per capita of packaging plastic was sent for recovery and it was decreased
by 7.5 per cent than that of the amount of 2016-17. The South Queensland area is responsible
for generating almost 73.7 per cent of paper and packaging which were sent for recovery as
well. Moreover, it was quite evident that, this region is responsible for generating almost 78.7
per cent of packaging plastics. Therefore, the report concluded that in Queensland, almost
5584 tonnes of packaging plastic was sent for recovery and it is almost 14.11 per cent lesser
than that of the amount of 2016-17. In case of non-packaging plastic 13,975 tonnes were sent
for recovery and it is 102.85 per cent higher than that of 2016-17 (Queensland Government,
2018).
Sorting Plastics into Seven Categories and Recycling
While discussing the sorting of plastic in different categories, it can be stated that
there are mainly 7 different categories of plastic components and they are mainly
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Polyvinyl
Chloride (PVC), Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS)
and other type of plastic. The sorting of plastics in 7 different categories is an important step
in the process of recycling as different types of plastic have different types of chemical
structures and so it is very important to differentiate in between so that the recycled products

12PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
can be used properly along with a good product life cycle. Hence, it can be stated that the
lack of sorting the plastics into 7 categories may alter the process of recycling of the plastic.
In this context, it can be stated that the due to the presence of contaminants and additives due
to the alterations of the original structure during their first use, the actual quality of the plastic
is reduced and as a result the quality of the recycled plastic is also reduced and so the process
of sorting in different categories as per their quality. The importance of sorting the plastic
from the waste materials in to different categories before the recycling process is associated
with the different structures of the plastic materials. The study of Rahimi and García (2017)
reported about the different types of chemical composition of the plastic in their study. The
study reported that the PET is a mouldable and tough plastic that is mainly used in the
production of the bottles, fibres and filament. The ductility of PET during the mechanical
recycling process lowers to -218 % from -310 % during after one cycle and after the third
cycle it lowers by 2.9 per cent. So, it can be stated that only a small amount of PET can be
recycled for its original applications. Therefore, most of the materials that are almost 50 per
cent to 77 per cent of materials are converted into fibres for the productions of carpeting.
Thermal degradation of PET is reported above -300 degree centigrade temperature. The
depolymerisation of PET is executed through the trans-esterification of the polymer at the
polymer backbone by the help of nucleophiles (Rahimi & García, 2017). In case of HDPE,
LDPE and PP, it is reported that, approaches for sorting and recycling of this plastic are quite
similar. While discussing the temperature of extrusion, it can be stated that the LDPE can be
extruded up to 100 times at a temperature of 240 degree centigrade; however after the 40
extrusions the mechanical properties of the components starts to alter. PP is fragile to the
oxidation process during the reprocessing due to the activation of the C-H bonds at tertiary
carbon centres. In case of HDPE the thermal depolymerisation occurs at more than 400
degree centigrade temperature. In case of PVC, the thermal degradation starts at the

13PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
temperature of -200 degree centigrade and at this temperature the process of dechlorination
starts. Other types of plastic are polystyrene and it is inexpensive and durable in nature
(Rahimi & García, 2017).
Therefore, it can be stated that the nature of the different plastic is completely
different due to the different chemical nature of the plastic. Therefore, the different chemical
nature of the components the melting points are also different and so mixture of all of the
plastic may cause alteration of the quality of the recycled. So, the sorting of different plastic
causes proper recycling of all the products. Therefore, it can be stated that sorting of 7
categories of plastic will improve the quality of the plastic.
Manual Sorting and Automatic Sorting of Plastics
For recycling the plastics from the overall waste products, it is very important to sort
the plastic properly and for this sorting method, there are mainly two types of techniques. The
first one is the manual sorting technique and the second one is the automatic sorting of
plastic.
The process of manual sorting of plastic is associated with the identification of
materials as per its colour, shape, trademark appearance of the plastic and these physical
appearances are distinguished by the operators through visual identifications. In this regard, it
can be observed that the use of manual sorting techniques are only useful when there are
enough amount of plastic waste in the waste materials and as enough amount of plastic
material can justify the time and effort of the work forces (Jansen, van Velzen & Pretz,
2015).
In case of the automatic sorting technique, the process is divided mainly into three
categories and they are mainly dry, wet and chemical automatic sorting technique. In the dry

14PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
automatic sorting process, there are three sub categories and they are mainly X-ray technique,
mechanical, air and electrostatic sorting. In case of wet sorting process, there are 3 sub-
categories and they are sink float sorting method, hydrocyclons and selective dissolution
sorting method. In the chemical sorting method, again there are three categories and they are
mainly hydrolysis, hydro-glycolysis and glycolysis (Shen & Worrell, 2014). In case of
mechanical sorting process, plastic waste is mainly processed by cutting, shredding, and
flakes of appropriate quality and then it is melted to make new products by extrusion.
However, it is also very important to mention that the reprocessed materials can be mixed
with virgin materials to make the quality of the product better. After the sorting of the plastic
materials are cleaned dried and then directly processed into the end products and as a
consequence the quantity of the waste plastic material is reduced. The main disadvantage of
this method is associated with the fact that the deformation of the products’ properties in each
step of processing and heterogeneity of the waste products.
In the case of automatic sorting of the plastic, it can be stated that the use of
spectrometry has become very popular around the world. The study of Rani et al. (2019),
reported about the use of miniaturized handled near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer in the
sorting of the different plastic polymers. Therefore, it is reported that the use of the automatic
sorting process is beneficial in the recycling of the plastic waste products and this sector, the
use of the vibrational spectroscopy techniques are very common for identifying polymers of
the plastic and along with this camera system is used for optical recognition of the coloured
and clear products present in the waste materials (Moroni et al., 2015). In another study by
Alavi et al. (2014), the uses of the x-ray technology for separation of the different containers
are also reported. On the other hand, it was reported from the study findings of the Mello et
al. (2013), reported the use of fluorescence spectroscopy for the identification of halogens
and heavy metals. Furthermore, for identification of the additives in the waste materials, the

15PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
use of the laser-induced plasma spectroscopy was recommended by the authors. Therefore,
over the years, it is observed that the use of the spectroscopy technique has become
successful in improving the quality of the plastic produced after the recycling process.
However, it is also quite evident that this spectroscopy use in the plastic sorting a few
limitations as well. In this regard, it can be stated that this technique has limitations in
handling mixed plastic and it can affect the quality of the recycled product as well (Zhu et al.,
2019). In another study Zhu et al. (2019) the use of NIR technology was recommended for
sorting process of the plastic. In this study, it was reported that in different countries of the
world, the use of NIR technology is widely accepted and it is one of the growing technologies
that is used by the waste management authorities. Apart from the previously identified
drawbacks of the spectroscopy method in plastic sorting, this study of Zhu et al. (2019)
identified a few advantages of this spectroscopy technique in plastic sorting. It was reported
that this new technology is accurate and non-polluting and thus it could sort plastic from the
waste products quickly as well. Moreover, this technology can also be used as a
fingerprinting technique to contrast and compare among various sample which helped to
reduce the time consumed by the manual technique of sorting. Moreover, by using this
technique various artificial intelligent based plastic sorting methods was also invented by the
researchers. In another study by Shameem et al. (2017) reported that the use of optical fibre is
also very crucial for the sorting of plastic. In this study, it was reported that after collecting
the data of plasma emission by using spectroscopy, they were coupled with the optical fibre
for the identification of the plastic from the waste products.
Management Tool Implimentation
For conducting this current project a few project management tools can be used by the
researchers as it will help the researchers to conduct their work correctly as well in a more

16PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
planned and prominent manner. In this project, the researchers can use SWOT analysis tool,
Six Sigma tool of project management tool and risk probability diagram and risk map.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis or the SWOT matrix is mainly a strategic planning tool that can be
used to analyse the external and internal environment of a particular product, business
organization or even of an individual. This tool is primarily designed to use in the primary
stages of the decision making processes and along with this, the tool can also be used as a
tool for examining the position of a particular strategic decision or a particular project.
Moreover, it is also planned to fix the objectives of the particular project by identification of
the external and internal factors that are positive and adverse in the way of completing those
objectives identified previously (Mor, Kaur & Khaiwal, 2016). According to the study of
Gürel and Tat (2017), it is stated that the SWOT is a well identified and established tool for
strategic analysis of projects as it is capable of identifying the competitive advantages present
in the market. The primary utilization of this tool in a project is associated with the
identification of strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of the project. The study of
Mirzakhani, Parsaamal and Golzar (2014), stated that the weakness and strengths are two
interrelated factors and achieving success in a particular project it is very important to
identify the external and internal factors. In this project related to plastic sorting by using
spectrometry and optic fibres, the SWOT analysis can be used as a project management tool.
Strengths
 The chosen method of sorting or near infrared spectroscopy is a very effective method
of sorting in terms of efficiency and time
 Very few laboratory testings will be required to sort a large quantity of plastics

17PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
 Almost all types of plastics and polymars can be identified through the chosen sorting
method
 Local government support is extremely helpful for finance and facilitisation
Weakness
 Raman scattering efficiency coefficient should be corrected through repeated
callibretion for the chosen plastics
 Large scale plastic extraction process is required with strong workforce and
infrastructure
 Large scale containing systems will be required to execute a inbound, testing
sorting procedures
Opportunities
 The project can revcieve human resource support from local and national level NGO
or non-government and non-profit organsiations
 With the reduction of landfeels of plastics the level of polutents of soil that will
increase the ground water quality and open surface water quality
 Reduction of landfeels will allow enhancement of greenery and open spaces
 Successful implementation of this project will enable more grants and supports from
authority and socity
Threats
 Due to the recent pandemic outbreak of covid 19 accessibility to the required facility
and workforce will be reduced or might be postponded
 The use of biodegradable plastic can reduce the rate of recycling in the future.

18PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Therefore, it can be stated that the use of SWOT analysis before initiation of the project
can help the researchers to identify the possible threats associated with this project related to
the sorting of plastic by using spectrometry and optic fibres. Therefore, if any kinds of
threats or opportunities are identified then the researchers can work on those factors in order
to enhance the project outcome towards positive results.
Six Sigma Tool
Six sigma project management tool is another crucial and useful project management
tool that can help in achieving the project goals. The main goal of the six sigma strategies is
to improve the quality of the recycled products after sorting the plastic from the waste
products in a proper manner (Terro et al., 2013). From the above discussion, it is quite
evident the proper sorting of the different categories of plastic is associated with the quality
of the products. Hence, it can be stated that in order to improve the quality of the process the
use of six sigma tool can be helpful for the project. The application of the Six Sigma model is
always executed through DMAIC method that stands for defining the problems, measuring
the capability of the particular process, analysis of faults, improvements of the process and
control measures for overcoming the identified faults (Sin et al., 2015).
In this project, the application of the Six Sigma model is beneficial for the continuous
quality improvement and minimization of instrumental and human errors of the plastic
sorting process by using the infrared spectrometry. The aim of this error elimination is to
measure the number of wrongly sorted plastics in the different plastic container assigned for
different types of plastics. In the following section the DMAIC method for this project is
discussed:

19PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
 Define: As a part of define section, firstly the researchers have to chose samples from
differen containers assigned for differet types of sorted plastics by defining the plastics
into different groups.
 Measurement: After that in second phase or in measure phase, the samples will be
measured individually with NIR spectroscropy to detect the number of odd plastic
samples in the chosen plastic groups. The measurement is done by errors in 10,000 output
samples.
 Analysis: In analysis phase the measures and ratios are compared using different
statesical method and histogram and control chart. If the error ratio goes above the upper
limit it is interpreted that there is one or more than one sorting problem in the sorting
process by near infrared spectrometry.
 Improvement: In improve phase the, particular NIR spectroscopy detection issue will be
resolved by calibrating and adjusting the frequency and Raman scattering efficiency
coefficient. Through this the detection efficiency and the sorting efficiency of the
particular sorting units can be improved
 Control: In control phase the particular high error sorting operations will be monitored
and calinbrated regularaly, and calibrated the output and error ratio regulary through
using error plot.
After that, they can identify the capability of the project whether it is capable or not
(Drohomeretski et al., 2014). In this case, the researchers can compare this technique with
other techniques so that they can understand the capability of their present project as well. In
the next step of the Six Sigma model, the researchers can analysis the drawbacks of their
project in order to further improvement of the project quality. Following the third step, in the
fourth step, improvement method of the present project should be identified and for the last
stage of Six Sigma methodology, the researchers should find the control measures to improve

20PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
the overall quality of the project. Moreover, it is very important to mention that during the
implementation of the DMAIC methodology as a part of the Six Sigma model, this model
also uses a few quality improvement tools and as a part of this the researcher can use the cost-
benefit analysis so that they can identify whether the project is beneficial or not (Sin et al.,
2015).
Risk Probability Diagram and Risk Map
In each and every project it is very important to analysis the possible risks in each of
the steps of the project. For analysing the risks of the project, the use of risk probability
diagrams and risk map is very crucial. In this context, it can be stated that there are a few
essential steps that can be performed for successful risk management. Identifications of the
risks related to a particular project are the one of the first steps of the risk management
project and as a part of this the use of risk matrix is recommended. In this ccurent project the
identified risks and their potential impacts are are:
Risks Potential Impacts
Lack of worforce support due to pandemic and
lac of NGO cooperations
It can cause delayed work operations and
low work efficiency
Lack of funding from authority Low quality instrumentations and high
level of error in sorting operations
Instrumetnal disfunctions and damages Tempurary or long term termination of
oerpationan cycle
Parmanent termination of the project due to
Covid-19
Parmanent termination of the project
Fire hazards and other major workforce
hazards during operations
Distruction of physical resource and human
resource leading temporary or parmentent
posponding
Minor worforce hazards Workforce isuuses and lower reputation
Lack of logistics system for plastic extraction
from landfills
Delayed operations and temporary
posponding of project

21PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
It is stated that a risk matrix is a useful tool for evaluating the risks by considering the
likelihood or probability against severity connected with the possible dangers of a project
(Pritchard & PMP, 2014). The risk map or the probability diagram consists of a grid with the
probability or likelihood of risks at the Y-axis and the impacts of the risks or the severity are
located in the X-axis of the probability diagram. In the case of predicting risks of the projects
these parameters are considered by the analysts. In the following section the severity of the
risks has been assessed and presented in the following likeliness and impact matrix:
Likeliness
High Lack of funding
from authority
Medium Lack of logistics
system for plastic
extraction from
landfills
Permanent termination
of the project due to
Covid-19
Low Minor workforce
hazards
Instrumental
dysfunctions and
damages
Lack of workforce
support due to
pandemic and lac of
NGO cooperation
Fire hazards and other
major workforce
hazards during
operations
Low Medium High
Impact
From the above risk matrix the following severity analysis can be done for this chosen project
by multiplying the likeliness of the risk with the impact to get the severity level. Based on the
severity levekl the priority will be given.
1= low, 2= medium, 3= high
Risks Likeliness
(L)
Impact
(I)
Severity
(S = L x I)
Lack of workforce support
due to pandemic and lac
of NGO cooperation
1 3 3
Lack of funding from 3 2 6

22PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
authority
Instrumental dysfunctions
and damages
1 2 2
Permanent termination of
the project due to Covid-
19
2 3 6
Fire hazards and other
major workforce hazards
during operations
1 3 3
Minor workforce hazards 3 1 3
Lack of logistics system
for plastic extraction from
landfills
2 2 4
In this project the researchers can use this risk map and probability diagram for
identifying any type of risk and after that they can take possible measures to lower those risks
as much as possible. As per the risk map and probability diagram there are mainly four types
of risks and they must be addressed as per the priority or the importance of the risks (Lock,
2014). In this context, it can be stated that the four primary risk priorities are mainly high
priority risks, significant risks, moderate risks and minor risks. As the name suggests the high
priority risks must be taken care with taking immediate actions. On the other hand, the major
risks are also severe but they are comparatively less risky than high priority risks. Moderate
level risks are mainly medium level risks and no such immediate actions are required for such
type of risks. However project manager should look into the risks and its reason. In case of
minor or low risks, no such actions are required. In case of this project related to sorting of
plastic by using the optic fibre and spectrometry the researchers can use this probability
matrix and risk map for identifying the risks associated with different steps of sorting process
(Duijm, 2015). Therefore, if the researchers can find any risks associated with the projects
then they should take necessary actions to minimize the risks as per the type of risks whether
it is high risk condition or moderate risk condition.

23PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded that the sorting of plastic is very crucial for the process of
recycling and it is stated that a proper sorting of plastic by using optic fibres and
spectrometry. Australia is also facing the same issue and thereby the environmental condition
of the country is also getting worse day by day. Hence, it can be specified that, for improving
the issue of plastic wastages in the environment, plastic recycling is a useful method. In 2018,
almost 3.4 million tonnes of plastics were consumed by the Australian people and among
them only 320,000 tonnes of plastics were recovered and this data suggested that the rate of
plastic recycling in the country was approximately 9.4 per cent. Moreover, it was reported
that among the 320 000 tonnes of plastics collected for the reprocessing, only 145, 700 tonnes
were reprocessed within Australia and the rest of the plastic waste products were exported
outside for the reprocessing. In case of plastic waste management, there are mainly three
possible ways such as landfill, incineration and recycling and in case of plastic waste mainly
the recycling methods and landfill techniques are used. Although, it is always very useful to
reuse the plastic materials, still it can be stated that the process of landfill is the major plastic
waste management strategy for the Australia. In recent time, different types of recycling
processes are used for the recycling process and for this it is crucial to sort the plastic,
accurately. The process of mechanical separation technique is mainly used to differentiate the
plastics from the other materials present in the waste products. Therefore, in many cases, the
different types of plastics are sorted by using observational techniques such as observing the
colours of the plastics and this technique is mainly used to maintain the quality of the plastics
and thereby improves the physical appearance of the products made from those recycled
plastics. In recent time the automatic system for sorting the plastics is used by the waste
management authorities and it is reported that the use of this automated sorting process has
become prevalent. Along with this, other sorting technologies include Mass spectroscopy or

24PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
UV–Vis spectroscopy for identification of hyper-spectral imaging methods, x-ray detection
for specific containers, fluorescence spectroscopy for recognizing heavy metals and halogens.
A proper sorting can improve the quality of the recycled product and thereby the life cycle of
the product will also be enhanced. One of the main reasons that is why sorting of plastic
materials is important is that in the waste products there various other materials and many of
them are not recyclable. In case of Australia, there are various waste management companies
such as Suez and Toxfree that can provide complete waste management solutions to the local
authorities. In Brisbane, the BCC is determined to make the city cleaner and greener and for
this they have concentrated a lot on keeping the recycling process easier for the people
residing in the city. The process of landfill is one of the oldest methods for managing the
waste products around the different countries of the world. For most of the municipal
corporation the process of waste management has become a serious area of threat. As per the
government data it was reported ta there are almost 600 officially registered landfill sites in
the country. The recycling and sorting of plastics from the waste products can help the
government to produce solid fuels from that and as a result the amount of landfills can also
be reduced. The sorting of plastic into seven different categories will help to improve the
quality of the recycled products. In this context, it can be stated for sorting the plastic manual
sorting technique and automatic sorting technique can be used. For analysing the risks of the
current project, the researcher can use the SWOT tool, Six Sigma tool and risk map and
probability matrix and it will help the project in getting the best positive outcome from the
project.

25PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
References
Alavi, S., Thomas, S., Sandeep, K. P., Kalarikkal, N., Varghese, J., & Yaragalla, S. (Eds.).
(2014). Polymers for packaging applications. CRC Press.
Australian Government (2018). Australian Plastics Recycling Survey National Report.
Australian Government. Retrieved from- https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/waste-
resource-recovery/publications/australian-plastics-recycling-survey-report-2017-18
[Accessed on 20th March 2020]
Brisbane City Council (2020). Recycling Guide for Households. Brisbane City Council.
Retrieved from- https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/clean-and-green/rubbish-tips-and-bins/
recycling-and-reducing-waste/recycling-guide-for-households [Accessed on 23rd March
2020]
Chavan, M. A. J. (2013). Use of plastic waste in flexible pavements. International Journal of
Application or Innovation in Engineering and Management, 2(4), 540-552.
Chidambarampadmavathy, K., Karthikeyan, O. P., & Heimann, K. (2017). Sustainable bio-
plastic production through landfill methane recycling. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 71, 555-562.
Drohomeretski, E., Gouvea da Costa, S. E., Pinheiro de Lima, E., & Garbuio, P. A. D. R.
(2014). Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma: an analysis based on operations
strategy. International Journal of Production Research, 52(3), 804-824.
Duijm, N. J. (2015). Recommendations on the use and design of risk matrices. Safety
science, 76, 21-31.

26PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Gug, J., Cacciola, D., & Sobkowicz, M. J. (2015). Processing and properties of a solid energy
fuel from municipal solid waste (MSW) and recycled plastics. Waste management, 35, 283-
292.
Gürel, E., & Tat, M. (2017). SWOT analysis: a theoretical review. Journal of International
Social Research, 10(51).
Jansen, M., van Velzen, E. T., & Pretz, T. (2015). Handbook for sorting of plastic packaging
waste concentrates: separation efficiencies of common plastic packaging objects in widely
used separaion machines at existing sorting facilities with mixed postconsumer plastic
packaging waste as input (No. 1604). Wageningen UR-Food & Biobased Research.
Leal Filho, W., Brandli, L., Moora, H., Kruopienė, J., & Stenmarck, Å. (2016).
Benchmarking approaches and methods in the field of urban waste management. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 112, 4377-4386.
Lock, M. D. (2014). The essentials of project management. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..
López, C. G., Küppers, B., Clausen, A., & Pretz, T. (2018). Landfill mining: a case study
regarding sampling, processing and characterization of excavated waste from an Austrian
landfill. Detritus, 2, 29-45.
Mello, P. A., Barin, J. S., Duarte, F. A., Bizzi, C. A., Diehl, L. O., Muller, E. I., & Flores, E.
M. (2013). Analytical methods for the determination of halogens in bioanalytical sciences: a
review. Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, 405(24), 7615-7642.
Mirzakhani, M., Parsaamal, E., & Golzar, A. (2014). Strategy Formulation with SWOT
Matrix: A Case Study of an Iranian Company. Global Business & Management
Research, 6(2).

27PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Mor, S., Kaur, K., & Khaiwal, R. (2016). SWOT analysis of waste management practices in
Chandigarh, India and prospects for sustainable cities. Journal of Environmental
Biology, 37(3), 327.
Moroni, M., Mei, A., Leonardi, A., Lupo, E., & Marca, F. L. (2015). PET and PVC
separation with hyperspectral imagery. Sensors, 15(1), 2205-2227.
Pritchard, C. L., & PMP, P. R. (2014). Risk management: concepts and guidance. CRC Press.
Queensland Government (2018). Recycling and Waste in Queensland. Queensland
Government. Retrieved from-
https://www.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/93711/recycling-waste-qld-report-
2018.pdf [Accessed on 23rd March 2020]
Rahimi, A., & García, J. M. (2017). Chemical recycling of waste plastics for new materials
production. Nature Reviews Chemistry, 1(6), 1-11.
Rani, M., Marchesi, C., Federici, S., Rovelli, G., Alessandri, I., Vassalini, I., ... & Bontempi,
E. (2019). Miniaturized Near-Infrared (MicroNIR) Spectrometer in Plastic Waste
Sorting. Materials, 12(17), 2740.
Redmond, J., Walker, E. A., Parker, C. M., & Simpson, M. (2014). Australian SMEs waste to
landfill. Australasian journal of environmental management, 21(3), 297-310.
Redmond, J., Walker, E. A., Parker, C. M., & Simpson, M. (2014). Australian SMEs: Waste
sent to landfill.
Ruj, B., Pandey, V., Jash, P., & Srivastava, V. K. (2015). Sorting of plastic waste for
effective recycling. International Journal of Applied Science and Engineering
Research, 4(4), 564-571.

28PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Shameem, K. M., Choudhari, K. S., Bankapur, A., Kulkarni, S. D., Unnikrishnan, V. K.,
George, S. D., ... & Santhosh, C. (2017). A hybrid LIBS–Raman system combined with
chemometrics: an efficient tool for plastic identification and sorting. Analytical and
bioanalytical chemistry, 409(13), 3299-3308.
Shen, L., & Worrell, E. (2014). Plastic recycling. In Handbook of Recycling (pp. 179-190).
Elsevier.
Sin, A. B., Zailani, S., Iranmanesh, M., & Ramayah, T. (2015). Structural equation modelling
on knowledge creation in Six Sigma DMAIC project and its impact on organizational
performance. International Journal of Production Economics, 168, 105-117.
Suez (2020).Reliable Collections in the River City: Local Government. Suez.com. Retrieved
from- https://www.suez.com.au/en-au/our-offering/success-stories/waste/reliable-collections-
in-the-river-city-local-government [Accessed on 23rd March 2020]
Terro, M., El-Hawary, M., Al-Fares, R., & Goldstein, M. (2013). Utilization of Six Sigma in
Quality Improvement of Recycled Aggregates Concrete. Journal of waste
management, 2013.
Wong, J. W., Surampalli, R. Y., Zhang, T. C., Tyagi, R. D., & Selvam, A. (Eds.). (2016).
Sustainable solid waste management. American Society of Civil Engineers.
Zhu, S., Chen, H., Wang, M., Guo, X., Lei, Y., & Jin, G. (2019). Plastic solid waste
identification system based on near infrared spectroscopy in combination with support vector
machine. Advanced Industrial and Engineering Polymer Research, 2(2), 77-81.

29PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Appendices
Appendix.1
Fig.1- Use of Kerbside Bin Services in Brisbane (Queensland)
Fig.2- Waste Materials Sent to Landfill and Recovery

30PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Fig.3- Trends of Recycling by Local Governments
Fig. 4- Amount of Recovered Materials in Queensland in 2017-18

31PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT
Appendix 2.
Fig. 5- Risk Matrix
Fig.6- Six Sigma