Today one of the biggest problems in the globe is management of solid waste. The concept of "green chemistry" and sustainability has been discussed from various ages in many manufacturing processing industries. Recycling of thermoplastic has therefore become a subject of vital importance, keeping in the view of long-term environmental effect of waste disposal. The current concern regarding the disposal of industrial and post-consumer waste in diminishing landfill sites have focused attention on developing effective reclamation and recycling process.

Consumption of polymer in the textile field is at great extent. The highly used textile fiber is cotton, which is a natural polymer and easily biodegradable. Next comes the polyester; which is a synthetic one and not biodegradable. Hence the disposal of synthetic polymers like nylon, PET, polyacrylic, etc, has to be taken into account which is not biodegradable and affects the environment badly.

Recycling is the most feasible approach to reduce the solid waste. It is the reprocessing of materials into new products. Recycling prevents useful material resources being wasted, reuse of the wasted polymer hence reduces the consumption of raw materials and reduces energy usage, and hence greenhouse gas emissions, compared to virgin production. Recycling is a key concept of modern waste management. In this paper the various recycling processes for the polyester (PET) is discussed.

All natural polymers degrade after one year without any significant effect on land by landfilling method. On the other hand, synthetic polymers were hardly degraded but had ill effect on land. So here arises the need to do something with these polymers. Of all the commercially application of textiles the polyester fabric plays a major role either alone or in the combination with other fibers. Hence the consumption of polyester is higher when compared to other synthetic fiber.

The various approaches of disposal of polymers are source reduction, incineration, degradation, composting, and recycling. Each approach has their roles and must be employed in an integrated manner. The appropriate recycling has ecological advantages, but its application is dependent upon the feasibility of collection, sorting, and compatibility of resulting mixtures to produce economically viable products. Our available landfills are becoming exhausted by the landfilling of synthetic polymers. While polymers compose only about 8% by weight (20% by volume) of landfills, there is much focus on polymer accumulation because of their high visibility.

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The authors are associated with the Faculty Textile Tech Dept. SVITS, Indore

Originally published in Textile Review, December 2011