Taking Out theTrashthe life and death of a garbage bag

Warren Ersly,2nd Period Engineering

The Product Life Cycle

Raise & Extract Process Manufacture Use Dispose

Step 1 – Raise and Extract Crude Oil is extracted from the earth.

Crude is sent to a refinery, where, via fractional distillation, its various components separate and settle.

Ethylene and Propylene are extracted from the mix.

Ethylene and Propylene monomers are treated via the use of a catalyst to form small, dense polymers. These often take a cylindrical, disc-like shape. These polymer pellets are the simplest, purest plastics, and may be further treated by various chemicals based upon their intended future use.

Steps 2 & 3 – Process and Manufacture

It is up to the plastics manufacture to determine what he wants to do with the pellets – how we will chemically treat them, what dyes he will use, ect.

In the case of garbage bags, the polyethylene pellets are further treated with various agents that increase the density of the plastic, make it stretchier, and make it stronger.

Garbage bags are formed via the process of extrusion. The pellets are dumped into a vat and heated to roughly 200 degrees Celcius (392 deg. F)

The heated pellets are mixed in a vat, and then drawn through a long chamber with a tiny opening.

The heated mass is cooled with air or water; when it cools it settles into a long roll that is comprised of thousands of layers of film-like sheets. Each sheet is then pulled, perforated, and sealed at one end to make a bag.

Step 4 - Use The bag is packaged, marketed, and

shipped to store shelves for consumption.

Trash bags are employed in various ways – manufacturers develop and markets bags for all sorts of target consumers. Target consumers are:

- Heavy Industry & Farming

Offices, Restaurants, Small Business, ect.

Domestic Use & Households

Step 5 - Disposal When a garbage bag is used up, it is

usually transported to a landfill or waste management facility. Where the bag is brought is dependent upon it's molecular make-up.

Most garbage bags are bio-degradeable. Bio-degradeable bags do not decompose readily in sealed landfills, and are thus sent to special recycling or composting facilities. Once fully decayed, their elements are usually re-introduced to the soil as fertilizer, or stored deep under ground in the hopes of producing more crude.

Some garbage bags are oxo-biodegradeable. These bags decompose readily in landfills, and do not need to be separated from the waste they contain, unlike standard bio-degradeable bags. They are decomposed primarily by light, heat, and fungi/bacteria treatment in special facilities; and when decomposed, become a biomass not unlike human feces. These bags are used most in farming waste storage, and the resultant biomass is usually used as a manure.

Works Cited/Consulted

Arnold, T. K. (n.d.). How Are Garbage Bags Made? | eHow.com. eHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Discover the expert in

you. | eHow.com. Retrieved April 30, 2012, from http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5163955_garbage-bags-made.html

Freudenrich, C., & Ph.D.. (n.d.). HowStuffWorks "Making Plastics". HowStuffWorks "Science". Retrieved April 30, 2012, from

http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic5.htm

Freudenrich, C., & Ph.D.. (n.d.). HowStuffWorks "How Oil Refining Works". HowStuffWorks "Science". Retrieved April 30,

2012, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/oil-refining.htm

Plastics. (n.d.). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved April 30, 2012, from

http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/chemistry/plastics/readmore.html

Where Can We Find the Pellet? :: International Pellet Watch. (n.d.). International Pellet Watch. Retrieved April 30, 2012, from

http://www.tuat.ac.jp/~gaia/ipw/en/where.html

Pictures CitedLV garbage baghttp://freshome.com/2008/07/03/ultimate-ridiculousness-louis-vuitton-trash-bags/

Stacked Bagshttp://www.buzzbox.com/news/2011-01-31/nyc:resume/?clusterId=3127703

Force Flex Pichttp://www.theofficedealer.com/COX70358-Glad-70358-ForceFlex-Trash-Bag.html

Samsarahttp://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2011/05/rebirth-wandering-without-end.html

Pelletshttp://www.plasticextrusiontech.net/capabilities/plastic-materials/

Ethylenehttp://www.chemistry.mcmaster.ca/esam/Chapter_6/section_4.html

Plastic Extrusionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastics_extrusion

Packaging Machinehttp://www.machsources.com/garbage-bag-making-machine.html

Bag Dresshttp://blog.americansalonmag.com/edward-tricomi-art-unusual-items/

Glad Bagshttp://www.glad.com/products/trash-bags/small/small-garbage-bags/

Full Trash Baghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Garbage_bag.jpg

Landfillhttp://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=collection/cub_/lessons/cub_enveng/cub_enveng_lesson05.xml

EPI Global Diagramhttp://www.epi-global.com/en/how-it-works.php