DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A SIMPLE LOW COST WASHING MACHINE SUITABLE FOR WASHING POLYETHYLENE MATERIALS. A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
CHAPTER ONE
1.0: INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Industrial and domestic application of polyethylene materials is on the increase and they are non-biodegradable materials ,as thus they are best recycled.
Waste generally render our environment unfriendly and the worst of them all are those waste that are non-biodegradable and as such, waste of these forms (non-biodegradable) pose a serious threat to our environment.
One of these categories of non-biodegradable waste is pure water sachets. They are found in virtually every part of Nigeria and various attempts have been made to biodegrade most pure water sachets. Most plastics and polythene / pure water nylon wastes are usually thrown in public drains, roads and open places to public view in most parts of the country
These wastes are used at times as a combustion aid for burning other organic refuse and this liberates toxic vapours or gases that pollute the air and causes inconveniences to residents living near the landfill sights. (New, 1986). Their values as reclaimed or recycled waste is considerably higher than their values as energy source (Andrew and Subramaman, 1992). Accordingly, well – known destructive techniques such as incineration or pyrolysis (Leidnor, 1981), seem quite wasteful, and hence, recycling of plastic wastes is the best method for solving both the environmental and economic problems associated with plastic waste disposal.
Recycling of plastic waste is rapidly developing in almost every society and this is largely based on the environmental awareness, need to conserve materials and energy, and growing demand to increase production economy (La Mantia, 1993 and Chatterjee and Kumar, 2009). Many private industries and few government agencies are now engaging in recycling of plastic and polythene/nylon wastes.
Recycling of plastic/nylon waste could be achieved through chemical or mechanical recycling method. The chemical means involve sow out recycling process (Kmpouris et al; 1995), floatation (Dilly.louis, 1999) and selective dissolution techniques (Herbery et al; 1992). On the other hand, mechanical recycling involves the use of machines in converting the waste into recycle products, which can be re-used in now application (Jost, 1995). Recycling of plastic using machines involves washing, shredding, extruding and injection molder. A washing machine is used in washing polythene materials as a way to reduce the manual labour spend and to wash the polythene material effectively and it saves time.