Caracterización del plástico destinado a reciclaje dispuesto en el vertedero de basura de la ciudad de Riobamba

Abstract

The aim of the research was to characterize the plastic waste placed at the Porlón landfill in Riobamba city for its recycling phase, based on 2634:2012 Ecuadorian Technical Standard. It was necessary to carry out field trips to the landfill in order to identify the type of waste received. The sampling process was carried out during ten days in three consecutive months; the samples were pressure washed with a caustic soda solution, dried and weighed; finally, a representative sample was obtained from each study unit. The characterization tests used were: manual separation, considering the coding for each type of plastic established by the standard; density separation, in which distilled water, industrial alcohol, acetone and sulfuric acid were used as solutions; and FTIR infrared spectrophotometry. The tests determined that Riobamba has the following percentages of plastic types: Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) 23.78%, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) 21.6%, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) 14.18%, polypropylene (PP) 19.11%, polystyrene (PS) 14.16%, and other type of plastic 8.13%. It was concluded that 38% of the plastic generated in Riobamba is collected from the landfill. In addition, the city generates the following daily percentages: 3,542.95 kg/day of PET, 3,218.16 kg/day of HDPE, 2,112.66 kg/day of LDPE, 2,847.17 kg/day of PP, 1,960.69 kg/day of PS, and 1,211.28 kg/day regarding other types of plastic. It is recommended to apply different polymer identification techniques.