...plastic islands One marine environmental problem that I have found to be fascinating and terrifying at the same time are the formation of the “plastic islands” that have been found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Millions of tons of plastic have made it’s way into the oceans over the years and now we find that the currents and winds have gathered these pieces into floating islands, some the size of Texas. According to National Geographic “plastic can circulate in this part of the Atlantic Ocean for years, posing health risks to fish, seabirds, and other marine animals that accidentally eat the litter.” This floating trash pieces can kill off all kinds of sea life, from fish to birds and plant life. Calling it an island is a bit misleading, because it’s more complicated than that. There are huge floating piles of plastic, but it’s similar to an iceberg than an island. As it grows the smaller pieces are pushed below the surface and can become almost a soup like texture. While the plastic doesn't truly go away it does change in form. This new form of the plastic is one of the worst parts of the problem, when it becomes too small to be effectively removed through any method that we have today. What can be done about this problem? According to Popular Mechanics “Data from earlier in the study reflects a larger concentration of industrial resin pellets, the raw material of the consumer plastics industry. But the group notes a significant decrease in the concentration...
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...that the common form of plastic has been one of the most revolutionizing invention of the human existence. Plastic is present in just about every field of view at any given time and the sheer amount of products that contain plastic is frightening. We may not think about how much plastic our race actually uses because it’s so deeply embedded into our lives, for example: during a trip to the grocery store The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is what most describe as a massive pool of trash that has accumulated in the northern Pacific Ocean in between Japan and the United States. The garbage gets caught in the current of the North Pacific Gyre, a series of currents that all rotate in a circle with a very calm centerpoint, and enters...
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...Map the Supply Chain Paper My significant other and I recently decided to watch a documentary that changed our outlook on an item everyone uses every day, plastics, specifically plastic bottles or bags. In the Pacific Ocean there is a place called the plastic island. This place is a generalized area near midway where the currents drag plastic bottles and other plastic items into. It’s a lull in the middle of the ocean where they all collect. Tons of plastic, from bottles to bags to buoys and computer monitors that are plastic float to this area and are collected onto the beach and piled up. They affect the wildlife, and kill coral reefs. Plastic bottles are one of the most widely used items today to make up all our soda bottles, water bottles and other consumables and we end up using them quick and throwing them away only to pollute the environment. I will map out each step in the supply chain of the water bottle industry. The first stage where all plastics come from is petroleum, though there are other options available the basic form of making plastics comes from petroleum, this is drilled out of the ground mostly from oil platforms in the ocean. At this point all the oil that is pumped out is stored on the platform or piped across the sea floor to a holding tank. The oil is unrefined petroleum oil that can be used for a multitude of products though it needs to be refined and impurities taken out to make it into those products. The next stage of...
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...Plastics in the Oceans We live in an increasing disposable world. Everything from food to electronics ends up in a landfill somewhere. We are always looking for newer and better products to replace what we already have. The consequences of this behavior are resulting in more and larger landfills, toxic water and a myriad of other problems. With our growing population and excessive consumption, the items we use everyday are becoming disposable so the garbage problem continues to expand exponentially. It is a readily accepted fact that plastics has made our lives both easier and safer, but, at the same time, has also left a damaging imprint on our environment and even our health. The waste management industry has done a very clever job of keeping the inner workings of landfill disposal cloaked in secrecy. As a result we give less and less thought to what actually happens to all the trash we throw away every day. Our culture of convenience is so dominant we do not even see the consequences of our actions. Journalist and filmmaker Heather Rogers, in her essay “The Hidden Life of Garbage” takes us on a journey of garbage disposal that most of us never think about once we take the trash to the curb. She explains one particular method that should give us all pause for thought: In new state-of-the-art landfills, the cells that contain the trash are built on top of what is called a “liner.” The liner is a giant underground bladder intended to prevent contamination of groundwater...
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...Is recycling becoming a familiar habit? [Writing suggestion: Unless in a quote or a title, avoid rhetorical questions in academic writing. A good idea is to provide answers, not questions] Jason Smart COM/156 January 20 2013 Elizabeth Lennon Is recycling becoming a familiar habit? Individuals and large companies are bearing in mind the advantages of going green. There are several statistics that verify the rise of recycling among large companies and individuals. There has been a two year jump in recycling of household containers twice as much as 2008. Statistics show that 29 percent or 238.8 million pounds of non-bottled plastics were recycled in 2010. All though the data about recycling in enlightening, there are still millions of us tossing harmful chemicals in our garbage. There are still items such as discarded bleach bottles, detergent bottles, and commonly used household cleaning chemicals. We may think that it is acceptable to toss these empty chemical bottles in the trash, but it is not because they still contain residue from the compound products. According to EHS (Environmental Health and Safety) rinse procedures should be as followed. All chemical containers, liquid or solid, must be rinsed 3 times before being discarded. A rinse should consist of minimal water being sloshed around the container. The first rinse should be collected as chemical waste, it can be put into any waste container of compatible chemicals, the second and third rinses can then...
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...Bio 324 12/01/12 Plastics in the ocean Imagine the massive breadth and spread of our great state of Texas. Now imagine every milli-inch of that piled high with trash: bottle caps, cigarettes, cigarette lighters, tampon applicators, plastic nets, discarded flip flops, Frisbees, soda bottles, milk jugs, diapers, six-pack rings, busted tennis rackets, empty pens, shampoo bottles, empty squeeze bottles of jam, you name it. Now take that image, double it, and plunk into the water. That's what is floating around the eastern corner of a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Pacific subtropical gyre. Nicknamed the "Eastern Garbage Patch," this buoyant stew of toxic pollution-most of which is plastic-is only one of five such garbage heaps caught in the swirling high-pressure currents characteristic of gyres. The others reside in the South Pacific, the North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. And each year, perhaps unwittingly, each one of us adds to plastic to the heap. Plastic makes it into our oceans in a variety of ways. About twenty percent of it comes from goods lost from boats: i.e. accidental loss of fishing tackle and other recreational gear, massive shipping containers carrying millions of plastic items washed overboard during severe storms; litter from pleasure boats, or illegal dumping of unwanted goods. Beachgoer’s debris is also a contributor. The other eighty percent is swept in from land. Just as Nonpoint Source Pollution from fertilizers...
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...McGraw-Hill Companies srl 540 APPENDIX B Cases TREXEL We’ve never met a customer who wasn’t interested in our technology. —David Bernstein, CEO of Trexel David Bernstein hung up the phone with Alex d’Arbeloff, Trexel’s largest investor, and contemplated an upcoming Board of Directors meeting scheduled for June 25, 1998. The meeting was only 10 weeks away and Bernstein, Trexel’s president and chief executive officer, needed to present a coherent vision of the company’s new strategy. Bernstein believed that Trexel’s patented technology for manufacturing foamed plastics had the potential to revolutionize much of the worldwide plastics industry. His innovative process technology, known as MuCell, allowed the Woburn, Massachusetts company to produce foamed plastic utilizing 25% to 50% less material than traditional solid plastics without a significant decrease in the strength of the plastic. Bernstein believed the market for products produced via this technology could be in excess of 50 billion pounds of material per year representing potential worldwide annual revenues of over $100 billion. To date, Trexel had entered into numerous development partnerships with manufacturers, but no commercial products had made it to market. Bernstein was torn between his desire to pursue a variety of applications for the technology and the view of...
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...Plastic Bags: Cause for Concern Todd Kuchelmeister May 30, 2012 As man continues to develop and his knowledge grows he will continue to be the dominate species on earth. His ability and desire for finding ways to make his life easier have produced many new and innovative things. From electricity to automobiles to fulfilling his dream of putting men on the moon, man has always strived to overcome those things which had earlier seemed impossible. However, with all new the developments that man has accomplished most have come with a downside for the environment. Electricity depending how you produce it has a downside, Nuclear energy comes with radioactive rods that take thousands of years to lose it radioactivity. Coal fired plants cause destruction of to the ecosystem and the emissions pollute the air. Solar and Wind are still in their infancy but their current issues seems mainly to be in the sheer numbers needed to produce enough electricity for an average sized city. One of mans greatest inventions was plastic, its invention back in 1855 called Parkesine has developed into mans most widely used products. Its invention has made man’s life not only easier but safer as well and is even used in the effort to keep people alive. However, as with all of man’s greatest inventions it has a dark side. Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC has phthalates that leech out of the PVC and into our bodies ("Life less plastic," 2007)....
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...500 extraordinary islands G R E E N L A N D Beaufort Sea Baffin Bay vi Da i tra sS t a nm De it Stra rk Hudson Bay Gulf of Alaska Vancouver Portland C A N A D A Calgary Winnipeg Newfoundland Quebec Minneapolis UNITED STATES San Francisco Los Angeles San Diego Phoenix Dallas Ottawa Montreal ChicagoDetroitToronto Boston New York OF AMERICA Philadelphia Washington DC St. Louis Atlanta New Orleans Houston Monterrey NORTH AT L A N T I C OCEAN MEXICO Guadalajara Mexico City Gulf of Mexico Miami Havana CUBA GUATEMALA HONDURAS b e a n Sea EL SALVADOR NICARAGUA Managua BAHAMAS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC JAMAICA San Juan HAITI BELIZE C a r PUERTO RICO ib TRINIDAD & Caracas N TOBAGO A COSTA RICA IA M PANAMA VENEZUELA UYANRINA H GU C U G Medellín A PAC I F I C OCEAN Galapagos Islands COLOMBIA ECUADOR Bogotá Cali S FR EN Belém Recife Lima BR A Z I L PERU La Paz Brasélia Salvador Belo Horizonte Rio de Janeiro ~ Sao Paulo BOLIVIA PARAGUAY CHILE Cordoba Santiago Pôrto Alegre URUGUAY Montevideo Buenos Aires ARGENTINA FALKLAND/MALVINAS ISLANDS South Georgia extraordinary islands 1st Edition 500 By Julie Duchaine, Holly Hughes, Alexis Lipsitz Flippin, and Sylvie Murphy Contents Chapter 1 Beachcomber Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Aquatic Playgrounds 2 Island Hopping the Turks & Caicos: Barefoot Luxury 12 Life’s a Beach 14 Unvarnished & Unspoiled 21 Sailing...
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...and acceptability. Through this paper we’ll discuss the quality improvement systems or processes adopted by Hartman Industries in order to gain and retain more and more customers and success. According to Hartman Industries, LLC (2009) the company is considered to be colossal and a leader in plastic injection molding. To be massive and in top positions Hartman Industries has adopted strategies to manage their accuracy and exactness in regard to plastic injection molding. Hartman Industries succeeded because of their efforts in implementing and improving the ISO 9000 standards. They have come up with their own quality control programs which ensure that the quality delivered is up to the mark and as per the requirements of the present trends. The company is highly renowned for their quality work which they deliver in accordance to their outstanding quality control standards. These standards are set and maintained with the help of Six Sigma, thorough research and pertaining to the advanced technology. Identify a quality management system for process or organizational improvement As per UOP (2009) Hartman Industries can be considered as the leader and on the top position in the field of plastic injection molding. This leadership and renowned position has been attained by the company through the total quality management system which they have adopted to deliver the best quality. According to Goestch (2010) Fredrick Taylor brought the concept of total quality in 1920s. The company does...
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...Delta Plastics, Inc. (A) Stephanie Baldwin Kesterson Strayer University Discuss how an organization can benefit from a Total Quality Management program. An organization can benefit from a Total Quality Management (TQM) program because TQM is focused on meeting the expectations of the customer. Reid and Sanders (2010) define TQM as an integrated effort designed to improve quality performance at every level of the organization. TQM improves business from top to bottom because everyone is working towards a common goal. TQM is also a focused approach to guarantee customer satisfaction which will increase sales as well as increase profits. Having a TQM program also improves working conditions where discussion between managers and employees is open and where employees are motivated to work better. Companies can benefit from TQM simply because it insists on quality and excellence across the whole operation. Analyzing the case more closely, speculate which definition of quality each of the four main players was adhering to and discuss your rationale for each employee. In response to Delta Plastic’s “super plastic” product, there were several key opinions. Isabelle Harrison, Director of Research and Development, believes that the product created is safe, but she would like to have the opportunity to quality test it further and fine tune the product. Jose De Costa, Director of Manufacturing, agrees with Harrison because he believes it is possible the “super plastic” could...
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...ones? Are we just overreacting? There are in fact a large number of different toxins that are put in toys when they are made. One in three toys have harmful toxins in them. Phthalates is one of those toxins. Phthalates is used in toys that are made of plastic; it helps in the softening process. Although it may seem harmless, phthalates can cause cancer in children, it can also cause disrupt in hormone systems, and even spur an early onset of puberty in children. (Boulard, 2008) Phthalates can be found in teething rings, pacifiers, also flexible plastic toys, (Fisher, 2012) and it is also found in sleep masks. Mercury is another toxin found in toys, it is found in a large number of toys, but mainly in bath toys. Mercury is bad for any one that comes in contact with a large amount of it, or even just a little bit of it. For children it can damage their kidneys and also their nervous system. (Boulard, 2008) Cadmium is also a toxin in toys, it is used in all painted toys, and also lunch boxes. Cadmium can damage kidneys; also it can damage the lungs and the intestines. (Boulard, 2008) There is also Bisphenol-A, which is used in the polycarbonate plastic, which is used for baby bottles, (Boulard, 2008) and also the lining of plastic food containers. It can lead to hyperactivity in children, and can also impair their ability to learn. Lead is a big one used in children toys. Lead can be in anything from painted toys to backpacks. It is in little hands love book, and also the Dora the...
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...Albany plant produces plastic bottles and caps. Receiving Department The receiving department accepts the delivery of raw materials shipped to the company by truck. The raw materials, or inputs, are: 1. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic pellets 2. Cardboard 3. Adhesives 4. Ink 5. Solvent cleaners 6. Lubricating oils 7. Mold release agents 8. Electricity 9. Natural gas 10. Light bulbs The desired product is comprised of inputs sent to the molding department. The possible byproducts, wastes, or outputs, from this department are: 1. Off-spec raw materials managed as waste 2. Spilled materials that may cause land and water pollution 3. Wasted energy from lighting, heating, and processing equipment If possible, off-spec raw materials are returned to the vendor for credit. Otherwise, the material is treated as waste and sent to a landfill. Molding Department The Georgia plant does not do custom orders. To help manage costs, the products produced by the plant are offered in a standard palette of colors. Because the colors are standardized, the HDPE pellets are ordered pre-mixed with the necessary colorizing dyes. While this requires more warehouse space to store a larger amount of HDPE pellets, production costs and time are saved by not having to mix dyes and HDPE pellets. The inputs are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. HDPE pellets Lubricating oils Solvent cleaners Mold release agents Electricity Natural gas The desired product is comprised of molded plastic parts for the trimming...
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...Introduction: Plastic is one of the major toxic pollutants of our time. Being a non-biodegradable substance, composed of toxic chemicals, plastic pollutes earth, air and water. Plastic causes serious damage to environment both during its production and disposal. So the only way to reduce the hazards of plastic is to reduce the use of plastic and thereby force a reduction in its production. Plastic plays the villain right from the stage of its production. The major chemicals that go into the making of plastic are highly toxic and pose serious threat to living beings of all species on earth. Some of the constituents of plastic such as benzene and vinyl chloride are known to cause cancer, while many others are gases and liquid hydrocarbons that vitiate earth and air. Plastic resins themselves are flammable and have contributed considerably to several accidents worldwide. The noxious substances emitted during the production of plastic are synthetic chemicals like ethylene oxide and benzene. Besides hitting hard the eco-system, which is already fragile, these chemicals can cause an array of maladies ranging from birth defects to cancer, damage the nervous system and the immune system and also adversely affect the blood and the kidneys. And, many of these toxic substances are emitted during recycling of plastic, too. Recycling of plastic is associated with skin and respiratory problems, resulting from exposure to and inhalation of toxic fumes, especially hydrocarbons and residues released...
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...length Chart Product Mix Product line stretching Product line feeling Page 1 Page 2 Page 2 Page 4 Page 6 Page 7 Page 7 3|P ag e Profile of RFL GROUP: RFL started its journey with Cast Iron (CI) products in 1980. The initial main objective was to ensure pure drinking water and affordable irrigation instruments for improved rural life. Today the company has its wide ranges of CI products like pumps, tube wells, bearings, gas stoves etc and has achieved the prestige as the largest cast iron foundry and light engineering workshop in Bangladesh. With a vision to serve the common people of Bangladesh with quality necessity products, RFL diversified its operation into PVC category in 1996 & in Plastic Sector in 2003. At present it is market leader in all these three sectors-Cast Iron, PVC & Plastic in the country. Sizeable amount is also exported to different countries. It is equipped with in-house R&D facilities to design and develop new products. A well organized own testing laboratory is used to ensure consistency in producing quality products. RFL has been awarded with BSTI certificate and ISO 9001 Certificate for its strict compliance with the standard set by both the organizations. RFL has become a benchmark for competitors on the lines of quality by manufacturing premium quality products to give clients excellent services and true value for money. The unmatched products have given a big name to the domestic market so much so that the name is accepted with trust and quality...
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