The public sees plastic as a major contributor to the solid waste problem. Two-thirds believe that the environmental risks of using plastics outweigh benefits; recycling programs are favored in these cases. Four-fifths believe recycling can reduce the amount of solid waste. Rowatt reports that in fact each person discards about 3.6 pounds of material per day, with 80 percent going to landfills, 10 percent recycled, and 10 percent incinerated. Packaging materials make up around 30 percent of the waste and plastic packaging makes up about 13 percent of the packaging. Therefore the waste contains approximately 3.9 wt percent plastic packaging; "plastics make up 7 percent of waste by weight and 18 percent by volume." The real concern is whether the plastics are being effectively handled. A hierarchical program to solve the waste problem includes source reduction, recycling, landfill, and incineration (7:56). Environmental concern includes safety precautions regarding plastic incineration. Research includes the investigation of soot release with potential dangers, during combustion of both polystyrene and polypropylene.
Styrene, when heated to 200 degrees is converted into the polymer, polystyrene. Polystyrene is a clear plastic with excellent insulating properties; it is used for the manufacturing of plastics, synthetic rubber, resins, and as an insulator. Potential symptoms of overexposure include eye and nose irritation, drowsiness, weakness and unsteady gait, narcosis, and defatting dermatitis (4:1514). Lewis reports that polystyrene is a "questionable carcinogen with experimental tumorigenic data by implant. When heated to decomposition it emits acrid smoke and irritating fumes" (3:3146).
Polypropylene is described as a propylene polymer or a class of compounds known as olefins, with three possible forms: isotactic or fiber-forming (methyl groups on same side of plane of zig-zag carbon atom chain); syndiotactic (m...