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Sustainability
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Degradation of Plastics in the Environment
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Degradation of Plastics in the Environment

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 16560

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Evdokia Syranidou

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Guest Editor
School of Environmnetal Engineering, Technical University of Crete (TUC), Chania, Greece
Interests: plastic pollution; marine ecology; bioremediation of organic pollutants; plastic recycling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plastic pollution is a well-acknowledged world-wide issue; it has been found in air, marine, and terrestrial environments and, as expected, has entered the food chain. Plastic particles have been found in tissues of marine and terrestrial animals as well as in human feces. Due to improper management and disposal practices, plastic particles enterthe environment and undergo deterioration, leading to a decrease of their mechanical and physicochemical properties. As a result, they brake down into smaller particles—so-called microplastics. At the same time, they are exposed to the activity of the colonizers. Indeed, plastic degradation occurs at various rates in the environment depending on the activity of enzymes and microorganisms.

Biotechnology may be involved in the whole value chain of plastic products since the role of associated fauna and flora in the fate of discarded plastic in the environment has been inadequately explored. The exploitation of these (micro)organisms and their enzymes towards increasing the percentage and quality of recyclates may boost the recycling industry, while plastic waste can be utilized as a feedstock for high-value products.

This Special Issue aims to present up-to-date information about the fate of plastics in the recipient environment and produce insights about the biodegradation potential of plastics by microbial communities and/or enzymes. This Special Issue focuses on but is not limited to topics such as biodegradation of fossil-based and biodegradable plastics in aquatic/terrestrial environment, the fate of plastics and plastic additives in the environment, enzymatic degradation of waste plastics in a circular economy, biotechnological solutions towards upcycling plastic waste, innovation trends in the development of biodegradable and compostable plastics, and the generation of microplastics in the environment.

Dr. Evdokia Syranidou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plastic waste
  • microplastics
  • marine litter
  • terrestrial plastic litter
  • biodegradation of plastics
  • biodegradable plastics
  • plastic additives

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 2743 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Development Solutions for the Medical Waste Problem Using Thermal Plasmas
by Ahmed Rida Galaly
Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 11045; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141711045 - 5 Sep 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2168
Abstract
Waste-to-energy (WTE) conversion is a vital process in the Middle East, especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which is considered sustainable development for the environmental strategic project. Previous publications dealt with the environmentally friendly plasma treatment of wastes such as municipal [...] Read more.
Waste-to-energy (WTE) conversion is a vital process in the Middle East, especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which is considered sustainable development for the environmental strategic project. Previous publications dealt with the environmentally friendly plasma treatment of wastes such as municipal waste, scrap tire waste, plastic waste, and grey water, using thermal plasmas produced by the cornerstone part of plasma reactors, namely the air plasma torch. In the present paper, with a view to energy recovery from medical waste, the thermodynamic properties of air plasma torches with a flow rate of air ranging from 10 mg/s to 30 mg/s and plasma jet temperatures ranging from 1500 °C to 5000 °C were investigated; these include power loss, enthalpy, plasma flux, and torch efficiency variation with plasma input power and air flow rate. The measured electrothermal efficiency of the plasma torch is in the range of 42% to 80% and increases with the increasing input power and gas flow rate. In Makkah, the number of beds in the hospitals is 10,500; the average annual weight of the medical waste in the hospitals is 2835 × 103 t, with an extracted amount of pyrolysis oil equivalent to 2268 × 103 t and an equivalent energy of 90 × 109 M J. In the proposed plasma treatment project, the amount of diesel oil after the distillation process will reach up to 1928 × 103 t, with an estimated sale profit of the electricity reaching up to 21 × 106 MW·h. The sale profit of pyrolysis oil in 2022 reaches up to USD 34.44 million, and the sale profit of electricity extracted by using the diesel oil in 2022 reaches up to USD 1020 million for households and USD 1445 million for factories. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Degradation of Plastics in the Environment)
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13 pages, 868 KiB  
Article
A Survey on the Use of Plastic versus Biodegradable Bottles for Drinking Water Packaging in the United Arab Emirates
by Himadri Rajput, Munjed A. Maraqa, Fatima Zraydi, Lina A. Al Khatib, Noor Ameen, Rime Ben ElKaid, Safia S. Al Jaberi, Noura A. Alharbi, Reka Howard and Ashraf Aly Hassan
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2664; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052664 - 24 Feb 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7270
Abstract
Due to intensive utilization and extensive production, plastic waste is becoming a serious threat to the environment and human health. The situation is even worse in countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where single-use plastic water bottles add to the load [...] Read more.
Due to intensive utilization and extensive production, plastic waste is becoming a serious threat to the environment and human health. The situation is even worse in countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where single-use plastic water bottles add to the load of plastic pollution. The main objective of this survey was to assess the extent of bottled water utilization by the UAE residents and their awareness of the environmental concerns arising from single-use plastic bottles. The aim was also to evaluate their willingness to shift towards using biodegradable plastic bottles. This study involved the feedback of 2589 respondents living in the UAE. The eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) was applied to determine the most responsible variables explaining the variability of our data set. A chi-square analysis was also used to determine the significance among the responses. Most of the respondents to this survey were UAE nationals (79.8%) of ages ranging from 21 to 35 years (42%), who were educated, with most holding a university degree (69.6%). Regardless of their gender, age, occupation, education, and income, a large group of respondents (40.7%) was concerned about the impact of their purchased items on the environment; however, the frequency of plastic products recycled was observed to be low (49.7%). According to the findings of this survey, 42.4% of the respondents were likely to purchase 100% biodegradable bottles, and about 70% of the respondents expressed a willingness to spend at least AED 1 more for purchasing 100% biodegradable bottles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Degradation of Plastics in the Environment)
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Review

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16 pages, 1814 KiB  
Review
Banning Vs Taxing, Reviewing the Potential Opportunities and Challenges of Plastic Products
by Goshu Desalegn and Anita Tangl
Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7189; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127189 - 12 Jun 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5884
Abstract
Plastic products are used for a variety of services and are then dumped into the earth after use. These dumped plastics affect our health, socioeconomic conditions, coastal and marine environments, as well as our climate. The purpose of this study is to systematically [...] Read more.
Plastic products are used for a variety of services and are then dumped into the earth after use. These dumped plastics affect our health, socioeconomic conditions, coastal and marine environments, as well as our climate. The purpose of this study is to systematically review the potential opportunities and challenges of plastic products under the umbrella of banning and taxing. The discourse analysis approach was used in this study to critically analyze and summarize 42 relevant studies. The study developed two different storylines. The first storyline (S1) used taxing plastic products as an alternative strategy. The second storyline (S2) used banning plastic products as an opposing alternative strategy. The findings of the study show that taxing plastic products is frequently observed in developed countries, whereas banning plastic products is frequently observed in developing countries. Benefits in regards to revenue generation, creating public awareness, employment opportunities, industrial processes, construction processes, and recycling growth are highlighted under the taxing policy. On the other hand, a cleaner environment, tourism attraction, eco-friendly shopping, and a reduced ecological footprint are highlighted under the banning policy. Governments and policymakers play a critical role in developing and implementing the necessary legislative framework for dealing with plastic products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Degradation of Plastics in the Environment)
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