Task 4

Agriculture and medical are major industry sectors in New York State, that are consumers of a lot of plastic and generators of correspondingly large amounts of plastic waste which does not routinely get recycled.

For example, the agriculture sector produces a lot of film plastic that is typically contaminated. 

The medical sector uses/discards a lot of complex plastic-based materials and also generates medically-contaminated plastic waste. 

Task 4 aims to generate reliable and current information on the status of plastic usage and disposal by the agriculture and medical industries, and to provide recommendations to help these industries in better and more sustainable management of plastics.

Agricultural Plastic Waste (APW): Analytical Analysis

A survey questionnaire was sent to farmers by email, followed by virtual interviews (Zoom or phone calls) to collect data. Some farmers chose to provide data through emails while others provided data through the survey link. Data collected included type of farm, farm area, area of production ground, farm’s annual revenue, types of plastics used, quantity of APW generated, quantity of APW generated by type of plastic, APW disposal method, barriers preventing recycling, distance the farmer is willing to travel to dispose APW for recycling, factors influencing amount of plastics generated, amount farmer is willing to pay to get APW recycled, use of biodegradable plastics and its performance in farms, policy recommendation to improve recycling of APW. Additional data were collected from NYS Counties and Recycling companies on types of agricultural plastic waste accepted for recycling, quantities of APW processed for recycling, management practices, processing costs, factors influencing quantities of APW, and mechanisms to track quantities of plastics originating from farms.

Agricultural Plastic Waste: Statistical Analysis

We apply multiple regression analysis to estimate the amount of agricultural plastic waste generated by farms in NYS. Regression investigates the relationship between a response or dependent variable (volume of waste generated (y)) and predictors or independent variables (type of farm, area of production ground, farm’s revenue); see Equation 4.1. The influence of each predictor or independent variable on the APW generated is described by the standard coefficient Beta (Equation 4.1). We report the correlation (multiple correlation coefficient R) between the dependent variable and the independent variables.

Y (APW Generation) = β₀ + β₁ * Revenue + β₂ * size of production ground + β₃ * type of farm + ε   Eq.4.1 

Medical Plastic Waste (MPW): Analytical Analysis

A data set of 214 New York State Hospitals was extracted from the NYS Department of Health hospitals directory. An additional data set of quantities of RMW (regulated medical waste) generated and/or treated by hospitals or treated by medical waste processors was extracted from Regulated Medical Waste Annual Reports submitted to NYS Department of Environmental Conservation by healthcare facilities and medical waste processors. The survey questionnaire was on types of wastes generated, types of plastics generated, how waste is segregated at the hospital level, common types of plastics used, factors influencing quantities of waste and plastics generated, types of plastic items reused and recycled, steps required for plastics to be reused or recycled, use of reusable sharp containers, availability of on-site medical waste treatment facility, how waste is treated, challenges involved with the reuse or recycling of plastic materials, and the costs involved for the treatment of solid waste, recyclables, and regulated medical waste.

Medical Plastic Waste: Statistical Analysis

Quantification of plastic generated by NYS hospitals was conducted using data collected from Practice Greenhealth, literature data, and case studies on US hospital waste audits. To determine the quantities of plastics generated by NYS hospitals, we use two steps. In the first step we determined the quantities of different categories of waste (i.e., RMW, recyclables) generated by NYS. This includes the quantity of waste generated as solid waste, recyclables, RMW, and sharp containers. The second step is to estimate the quantities of plastics found in each medical waste category.

Faculty Lead: Professor Paschalis Alexandridis
PhD Student: Mr. Cesar Lubongo

Agricultural Plastic Waste: Key Findings

• The vast majority of APW generated in NYS is landfilled, and less than 0.5% of APW is recycled.
• Most farms in NYS do not have access to recycling infrastructure to recycle APW.
• Farmers are willing to take some steps to recycle the APW they generate: They are likely to sort, fold, and transport their APW to a nearby drop-off location. However, they are unlikely to clean or dry the plastics prior to disposal. This implies that quantities of APW available for recycling can be increased, but likely will have high contamination as farmers are less likely to clean or dry them.

Medical Plastic Waste: Key Findings

• Large hospital segregate MPW into trash, recyclables, and RMW.
• Large quantities of plastics are incorrectly segregated as RMW and trash.
• Small generators are less likely to recycle their plastics due to high cost and lack of recycling opportunities.

• Lubongo, C.; Bin Daej, M. A. A.; Alexandridis, P., Recent developments in technology for sorting plastic for recycling: The emergence of artificial intelligence and the rise of the robots. Recycling 2024, 9, under revision. doi:10.3390/recycling7020011
• Lubongo, C.; Bin Daej, M. A. A.; Alexandridis, P., Automated sorting technology for plastic waste, Chapter 2 in Reuse of Plastic Waste in Eco-efficient Concrete, Pacheco-Torgal, F.; Khatib, J.; Colangelo, F.; Tuladhar, R. (Editors), Elsevier (Woodhead Publishing), 2024 (ISBN 978-0-443-13798-3).  DOI: 10.1016/C2022-0-02778-1
• Lubongo, C.; Alexandridis, P., Assessment of performance and challenges in use of commercial automated sorting technology for plastic waste. Recycling 2022, 7, 11. DOI: 10.3390/recycling7020011
• Lubongo, C.; Congdon, T.; McWhinnie, J.; Alexandridis, P., Economic feasibility of plastic waste conversion to fuel using pyrolysis. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 2022, 27, 100683. DOI: 10.1016/j.scp.2022.100683

• Lubongo, C.; Alexandridis, P. “Agricultural Plastic Waste and Medical Plastic Waste in New York State: Analysis of their Use, Quantification, and Management” 2024 NY Annual Solid Waste & Recycling Conference, Federation of New York Solid Waste Associations, Bolton Landing, NY, May 2024.
• Alexandridis, P. “Automated Sorting of Plastic Waste: Rise of the Robots” 2024 Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) International Polyolefins Conference (IPOC), Galveston, TX, February 2024.
• Alexandridis, P. “Automated Sorting of Plastic Waste: Commercial Technology and Research Advances” Plastics in AI: Reducing Plastic Waste Through Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization, Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) (virtual), February 2024. (invited lecture)
• Lubongo, C.; Alexandridis, P. “Techno-Economic Analysis of Mixed Plastic Waste Valorization to Fuel Using Pyrolysis” 13th Panhellenic Chemical Engineering Conference, Patras, Greece, June 2022.
• Lubongo, C.; Congdon, T.; Alexandridis, P. “Conversion of Plastic Waste to Fuel: Assessment of Technologies and Economics” Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) (virtual), November 2021.
• Lubongo, C.; Congdon, T.; McWhinnie, J.; Alexandridis, P. “Chemical Recycling of Plastic Waste in Practice: Assessment of Technologies and Economics” 8th International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management (virtual), June 2021.
• Lubongo, C.; Alexandridis, P. “Assessment of Commercially Available Automated Sorting Technology for Plastic Waste” 2020 Global Symposium on Waste Plastic (virtual), October 2020.

• Further analysis and manuscript on “Agricultural Plastic Waste in New York State: Quantities and Management”
• Further analysis and manuscript on “Medical Plastic Waste in New York State: Quantities and Management”
• Further analysis and manuscript on “Life Cycle Assessment of Fossil Fuel-Based Plastics, Bioplastics and Aluminum Containers: A Meta-Analysis”