A Circular Economy Use of Post-Consumer Polypropylene Packaging for Low Thermal Conductive and Fire-Retardant Building Material Applications

Wastes from polypropylene(PP)packages are accumulating every year because it is one of the most widely consumed and short lifecycle products.This paper aims to develop low thermal conductive and fire-retardant materials from post-consumer PP(pPP)packages.Ammonium polyphosphate(APP)and hollow glass microsphere(HGM)were further added to improve the fire retardancy and thermal conductivity of pPP.The influence of APP and HGM on the mechanical and thermal properties,fire retardancy and thermal conductivity of pPP were investigated and compared with that of virgin PP(vPP).HGM was constantly added at 5 wt%while the content of APP was varied from 5 to 20 wt%.Experimental results showed that the tensile and flexural strengths were reduced with increasing APP concentrations.A morphological study confirmed the poor interfacial adhesion and debonding of each component during the applied load.Formulations containing APP less than 10 wt%did not show a satisfying fire retardancy rating due to the long self-extinguishing time.Further flame dipping and cotton ignition were observed for these formulations.With 15 and 20 wt%APP,the fire rating was significantly improved from no rating to V-0.The conductive heat transfer coefficient(k)was reduced by the presence of HGM.Based on these results,the formulation with 15 and 20 wt%could be used as a low k,fire-retardant building material.

Analysis of Post-Consumer Solid Textile Waste Management among Households in Oyo State of Nigeria

This research work viewed issues relating to post-consumers’ solid textile waste management among households from a sociological perspective. The study was carried out in Oyo state of Nigeria. It specifically identified sources of post-consumer solid textiles waste, assessed waste management practices in the study area and, examined knowledge of respondent’s on impact of post-consumers solid textile waste on the environment. Eight Local Government Areas were randomly selected from the state and, multistage random sampling procedure was applied in selecting 880 households for the study. Solid wastes generated by each of this household were collected twice a week. Sensitive and micro-census calibrated scale machine and weighing balance was employed in taking weight of the sorted textile wastes. Calibrated cylinder of radius 10 cm and height 40 cm was used in taking volume of the shredded waste. Mean value of post-consumer solid textile waste generated by individual was 0.11 kg ± 0.08, of volume 354 cm3 per day. Major identified waste disposal systems practiced by the respondents were open land surface dumping and open air burning. The respondents (100%) strongly agreed that, wastes are often discards indiscriminately in the street by individuals. Level of awareness on danger created by poor waste disposal system among 78% of the respondents was low. None of the respondents have training on waste management neither is there any accessible training center in the studied area. Part of procedures to solve environmental problems can be by raising levels of awareness of individual household’s, markets and institutional sectors on danger posed by poor handling of textile wastes to life and the environment, and be trained on waste management techniques. A functional and practically ideal waste management scheme should be established by the various organs of government mostly at the Local Government Area levels, and some investors could also be encouraged in instituting such schemes. Research institutes in the country should develop appropriate technologies and trainings on waste management. Apart from salvaging the environment, such schemes will also provide job to cushion poverty mitigation in Nigeria.