Paper+and+Plastic

=Greeting from the Super-recyclers!=

We investigated the disposal and recycling sistem for paper and plastic in and around DIS. //Researc question//: How efficient is the DIS plastic and paper disposal/recycling sistem compared to the avarage Viennese one?

Recycling paper is the process of recovering waste paper and remaking it into new paper products. There are three categories of paper that can be used as feedstocks for making recycled paper: mill brake, pre-consumer wate and post-consumer waste. //Mill broke// is paper trimmings and other paper scraps from the paper manufacture and is recycled internally in a paper mill. //Pre-consumer// waste is material that was discarded before consumer use. //Pre-consumer// waste is material discarded after consumer use such as old news papers, office wate and residential mixed paper. Paper suitable for recycling is called __scrap paper__. . When compared to other materials like glass or metal, plastic //polymers// require greater processing to be recycled. Plastics have a low //entropy// of mixing, wich is due to the high //molecular weight// of their large //polymer chains//. A micromolecule interacts with its enviroment along its entire length, so its //enthalpy// of mixing is large compared to that of an organic molecule with a similar structure. Heating alone is not enough to dissolve such a large molecule. Because of this, plastic must be of nearly identical composition in order to mix efficiently. When different tipes of plastic are melted together they tend to //phase-separate//, like oil and water, and set in these layers. The phase blends cause structural weakness, meaning that //polymer blends// are useful only in limited applications.

Viennese residents are exemplary recyclers. In 2007, a quantity of 72 kg. of paper were recycled per capita, wich outmeasured any numbers in the past worldwide.


 * How many resources do we use for one ton of? ||
 * New white paper || Recycled paper ||
 * 2000 kg. of wood || No wood (-100%) ||
 * 250000 l. of water || 10000 l. water (-95%) ||
 * 11000 kW/h energy || 4000 kW/h (-60%) ||
 * Chemicals (sulphate, chlorine, hydrogen, peroxide) high wastewater contamination || No chemicals. The non-utilisation of chemicals decreases wastewater contamination ||

Aim: Is to improve the recycling system in DIS, which means recycling bins in each classroom, providing spaces for plastic and paper. Research question: How is the DIS, plastic and paper disposal, recycling system compared to the Viennese one? Hypothesis: That the secondary school would have more recycling than the primary one. Materials : 1. Plastic bags 2. Gloves 3. Scale (grams) 4. Bins from the classrooms 5. Paper and Pen to record which classrooms 6. Calculator

Method: 1. From 8.30 to 10.35 2. Take gloves and plastic bags 3. Start from the fourth floor and go down to the first one collecting trash from EACH classroom 4. After the bags are full put them back to the science lab to store them 5. When it is 10.30 take all the bags you collected and mass them 6. When you have the mass (which is in kg) calculate the results into Grams 7. From 10.55 to 12.55 do the same as above 8. Take gloves and plastic bags 9. Start from the fourth floor and go down to the first one collecting trash from EACH classroom 10. After the bags are full put them back to the science lab to store them 11. When it is 12.55 take all the bags you collected and mass them 12. When you have the mass (which is in kg) calculate the results into Grams 13. From 13.45 to 15.05 do the same again 14. Take gloves and plastic bags 15. Start from the fourth floor and go down to the first one collecting trash from EACH classroom 16. After the bags are full put them back to the science lab to store them 17. When it is 15.05 take all the bags you collected and mass them 18. When you have the mass (which is in kg) calculate the results into Grams


 * || ** 08.30-10.35 ** || ** 10.55-12.55 ** || ** 13.45-15.05 ** ||
 * ** Paper /g ** || ** 8085 ** || ** 400 ** || ** 2400 ** ||
 * ** Plastic /g ** || ** 1463 ** || ** 1100 ** || ** 1000 ** ||


 * || ** 08.30-10.35 ** || ** 10.55-12.55 ** || ** 13.45-15.05 ** ||
 * ** A4 Papers /amount ** || ** 1617 ** || ** 16 ** || ** 480 ** ||
 * ** Bottles /amount ** || ** 56 ** || ** 220 ** || ** 38 ** ||

Conclusion: The hypothesis we stated above was wrong, because we thought that secondary kids would be more mature and would recycle the plastic and paper bins, however they did not. We found out that actually more of the primary classrooms had two bins, one for paper and one for plastic. Usually there was more waste found in the morning than after lunch or break time, that is because we took all the trash. No matter what, there was always more paper waste than plastic; this is because people in DIS just throw paper away which can actually be used. However after break time, there was more plastic consume than paper, because everyone drinks their bottles. Seen from those numbers, paper in the morning was 8085 grams which are 1617 papers and in after break there was the mass of 400 grams of paper which is 16 papers. And after lunch the amount of paper went up again to 2400 grams.

Evaluation: On Thursday our entire group had worked accordingly, following the criteria stated to us in the morning. We cooperated in selectively collecting paper and plastic disposals around the school. We accepted each others ideas when deciding on the methods used to find the variables of the experiment and when we decided on the poster. We communicated with other groups and teachers asking for advice and sharing ideas. We could have improved: picked up more trash; start a couple of dais later; could have counted each paper and bottle; put boxes in each classroom for recycling; try out other methods for calculating the mass and number of papers and plastic; taken bigger plastic bags; extend the are of research outside the school; continue the activity for another couple of dais; give out fliers to encourage recycling and stick on each classroom door papers stating the advantages of correct recycling; if we had more time we could have compared the amount of paper and plastic from Thursday to the one collected next week, to see if people actually start recycling.

Well done: Gloria, Yurena, Safa and Vlad.