An estimated500 billion - 1 trillion plastic shopping bagsare used worldwide each year . The EPA estimate that 13 % of these get recycle , and the relaxation of them are send out to the landfill . Well , they are at least think of for the landfill . Because plastic grip are light and trip up the wind incredibly easily , many get blown around very easily , ending up in tree and waterways .
Are isolated moldable bag really a problem ? I ’d say yes , believe cup of tea have been let on at both the North and South Poles , and neither area is in particular known for having an extensive selection of local grocery stores . Not only do the bags appear despicable , but they impersonate a terrible risk to wildlife ; particularly nautical animals . Plastic udder get mistaken for jellyfish , and turtleneck who prove to eat them end up choking . Even if the plastic bag get go bad into small bits , beast are unable to condense them and it ends up build up and killing the animals .
Many major metropolis are posing a ban on plastic udder as a direction to combat the pollution because of stray shopping bag ( along with the energy demand to produce them ) but they are n’t widespread enough to put a big dent on the problem . A group of investigator from theUniversity of Illinoishave grow a new way to convert plastic bags into usable Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel that can be used in a variety of applications , ranging from candle wax to jet fuel . The results of this new method have been detailed in the journalFuel Processing Technology .
When petroleum rock oil oil is extract , only about 55 % of it ends up as fuel . Using the new proficiency with petroleum - found credit card shopping bag , the research worker were able to convert about 80 % of it into usable fuel . This is not the first time that researchers have render to reprocess shopping purse into fuel , but this access goes a bit further . The oil was treated in unlike mode to get biodiesel or ultra - low - atomic number 16 diesel fuel that is more environmentally favorable . The biodiesel created from plastic bags was combine with regular diesel so as to see if it would work . Even with the 30 % of the blend coming from recycled bags , the fuel work just o.k. .
There is presently no information about what it would take to get this applied science applied on a larger ordered series . In addition to creating a larger facility to swear out the plastic bags , the recycling rate would need to be increase dramatically to importantly alleviate the requirement for ecologically - creditworthy Rudolf Diesel fuel .
