EMS2EM Engineering Materials: A Report on Recycling Issues Analysis

This report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using glass, aluminium, and plastic materials for containers, focusing on cost, recyclability, and energy consumption. It highlights that glass is inexpensive and easily recycled, but recycled glass has diminished value and can be contaminated. Aluminium is lightweight and recyclable, but its production is energy-intensive and recycling can be complex. Plastic is lightweight, versatile, and energy-efficient, but its recyclability varies, and improper disposal leads to environmental pollution and health risks. The report also addresses recycling issues, noting that glass recycling reduces quality, aluminium recycling can cause pollution if improperly handled, and plastic recycling is costly and can introduce harmful substances. The document concludes by referencing relevant research on the environmental aspects of these materials.

Engineering materials

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Table of Contents
Advantages and disadvantages of the glass, aluminium and plastic material.......................................2
Advantages of glass...........................................................................................................................2
Disadvantages of glass.......................................................................................................................2
Advantages of aluminium..................................................................................................................3
Disadvantages of aluminium.................................................................................................................3
Advantages of the plastic material........................................................................................................3
Disadvantages of the plastic material....................................................................................................4
Recycling issues with materials.............................................................................................................4
References.............................................................................................................................................6

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Advantages and disadvantages of the glass, aluminium and plastic material
Advantages of glass
The glass is a magical material that has various properties and it is used as the
transparent glazing material in the construction like doors, partition and windows
(Accorsi, Versari, & Manzini, 2015). It is observed that the glass transmits around 80%
of available natural daylight in both directions without any yellowing. There are
following advantages of glass material:
 It is made up of easily available and inexpensive material
 It is very less energy consumption material rather than other material
 Recycled glass has rapid production rates and emits low pollution
Figure: a glass material
(Source: Accorsi, Versari, & Manzini, 2015)
Disadvantages of glass
 Recyclables of glass are diminished because of less value of scrap
 In terms of cost, the glass material is more expensive

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Advantages of aluminium
Aluminium material is a non- refillable and non-biodegradable which is very light in
the weight. Moreover, such kinds of materials are more costly as compare to the PET
bottles (Campolina, et al., 2015). There are the following advantages of this material:
 It is the most abundant and easily available
 Very light in weight
 Large recyclability
Figure: Aluminium material
(Source: Accorsi, Versari, & Manzini, 2015)
Disadvantages of aluminium
 More expensive material
 It is more power consumption material as compared to other
 Recycling contains numbers of issues in the separation of different alloys
Advantages of the plastic material
The plastic material involves the plastic bags, bottles, wrappers and rubber bags and
requires less energy for transporting and distribution purpose. There are many other
advantages of this material which are the following:
 Very less in weight

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 Low energy consumption material as compared to the glass and aluminium
 It can be utilized numbers of times
 Such kind of material can be easily recycled
 The overall cost of plastic material is very less rather than glass and aluminium
 Better isolation properties
 Saves forest
Figure: plastic material
(Source: Yoshida, et al., 2016)
Disadvantages of the plastic material
 The recyclability of the plastic depends on the national law
 Polymer bases are more flammable
 The slow process during decomposing
 Danger for human health and increase the chances of cancer
Recycling issues with materials
The glass is one of the best materials which can easily recycle and reprocessed
with the help of some techniques and methods. The major issue of with the recycling of
glass is that it reduces the overall quality of the glass gathered from another recycling
process. Due to which it is very difficult for consumers to use the recycled glass material
again and it is can be contaminated (Colling, Oliveira, Reis, Da Cruz, & Hunt, 2016).
Therefore, this is a very serious recycling issue faced by the glass material and it also
requires more cost during the recycling process. Moreover, it is very complex to utilize

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and work with the recycled glass because its array of colour shows a challenge for
making into something new (Yoshida, et al., 2016).
Figure: glass, aluminium and plastic material
(Source: Accorsi, Versari, & Manzini, 2015)
In the case of aluminium recycling, the major problem identified by the
researchers is that the improper disposal of recycled material can increase the rate of
pollution. This problem comes from the fact that aluminium cans are non-biodegradable
which means it takes more time during the degradation process. However, the
aluminium material after the recycling process can impact on the health and functions
of the human body because mining of this material produces a large threat to the
atmosphere.
It is observed that the recycling process of plastic is more difficult as compared
to the glass and aluminium materials. The recycled plastic materials are littering oceans,
cities, waterways and impact on the health of individual and animals. Plastic materials
with codes three through seven are not recyclable in the major programs and the
recycled material can increase the rate of cancer in consumers. It is analysed that the
major problem of plastic recycling is a cost that means it is more costly and difficult to
recycle plastic material.

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References
Accorsi, R., Versari, L., & Manzini, R. (2015). Glass vs. plastic: life cycle assessment of extra-virgin olive oil
bottles across global supply chains.
Sustainability,
7(3), 2818-2840.
Campolina, J. M., Sigrist, C. S. L., de Paiva, J. M. F., Nunes, A. O., & da Silva Moris, V. A. (2017). A study on the
environmental aspects of WEEE plastic recycling in a Brazilian company.
The International
Journal of Life Cycle Assessment,
22(12), 1957-1968.
Colling, A. V., Oliveira, L. B., Reis, M. M., Da Cruz, N. T., & Hunt, J. D. (2016). Brazilian recycling potential:
Energy consumption and Green House Gases reduction.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews,
59, 544-549.
Yoshida, A., Terazono, A., Ballesteros Jr, F. C., Nguyen, D. Q., Sukandar, S., Kojima, M., & Sakata, S. (2016). E-
waste recycling processes in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam: a case study of cathode ray
tube TVs and monitors.
Resources, Conservation and Recycling,
106, 48-58.