Ways to Reduce Your Plastic Waste

When you have a plastic part project in its early stages, you want to have some test runs to optimize the design and the production process. You do not know if it is your final product design, and you do not know if the material selection is right for the application yet. However, when you want to test different plastic materials, you are pushed to purchase in large quantities due to the minimum order size for most manufacturers.

What happens if the material is not a good fit?

A lot of waste material you need to get rid of.

Instead, you can buy various materials in small amounts, perform your tests, and select the best material for the product. It is a big deal. For some, it may be about a cost issue, but it is more than that.

While waste management industry and consumers are responsible for the appropriate disposal respectively processing of consumer waste, the entire plastics industry has to focus on a safe handling of plastic pellets throughout the value chain. Unprocessed, the pellets are unobtrusive and can be easily overlooked. This bears an increased risk for the fine pellets to be spilled and to end up in the environment during production, transport to the customer or further processing into the end product or recyclate. Three-quarters of the garbage found in the sea is made of plastic and about 13.000 plastic particles are floating on each square kilometer of the sea’s surface according to the German Federal Environment Agency.

Nurdles, the colloquial term for “pre-production plastic pellets”, are the little-known building block for all our plastic products. The tiny beads can be made of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and other plastics. Released into the environment from plastic plants or when shipped around the world as raw material to factories, they will sink or float, depending on the density of the pellets and if they are in freshwater or saltwater. They are often mistaken for food by seabirds, fish and other wildlife. In the environment, they fragment into nanoparticles whose hazards are more complex. They are the second-largest source of micropollutants in the ocean, by weight. They are also “toxic sponges”, which attract chemical toxins and other pollutants on to their surfaces.

You can use and store less plastics in your operations by reducing the order size and waste. You can also do your part by implementing these suggested actions below in your workplace:

1 - Identification and removal of identified potential sources of pellet loss (e.g. truck loading and unloading)

2 - Technical improvements of worksites such as installation of special retainers and strainer inserts to collect pellets as well as tools that are integrated in the daily job routine.

Pave loading/unloading areas where unavoidable spills occur to facilitate cleanup. Cordless vacuums may be best suited for outdoor cleanup.
Provide catch trays for use at all car/truck unloading valves.
Properly empty and seal bulk containers.
Storm drain screens are the last line of defense against accidental pellet release. Place screening in all storm drains.

3 - Employee trainings which draw attention to the challenges of pellet loss such as marine litter, occupational safety and environmental safety, prevention practices (cleaning and collecting)

Explain the impact of pellet loss on the environment and the company. Ensure that employees have ready access to:
Brooms, dustpans, rakes, etc. Heavy-duty shop vacuums for inside use. Portable shop vacuums for outside use. Catch trays or tarps. Wide-mouth sample collection jars or poly-bags. Tape for repairing bag or box damage. Scrap pellet containers (drums, bulk boxes, etc.)

Resources:
https://www.basf.com/global/en/who-we-are/sustainability/we-produce-safely-and-efficiently/environmental-protection/resources-and-ecosystems/engagement-against-plastic-waste/operation-clean-sweep.html

https://www.opcleansweep.org/manual/introduction/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/29/nurdles-plastic-pellets-environmental-ocean-spills-toxic-waste-not-classified-hazardous