Some barriers to the use of materials recovered from municipal solid waste
Abstract Municipal solid waste (MSW) contains materials which could be put to good use, yet it continues to be discarded, which suggests that it contains little or nothing of value under current conditions. This paper discusses the technical reasons for the lack of commercial interest in recovering materials from MSW. After examining the nature of the salvage industry and trends in the use of materials, the paper considers the characteristics of secondary materials, the properties required of them, and the scope for increased salvage activity. The market prospects are described for waste paper, ferrous and non- ferrous scrap, glass and polymers.
Some observations on the recycling of plastics and rubber
Abstract After a discussion of the quantity and quality of plastic wastes of various origin, the different possibilities for recycling these wastes are critically reviewed. Closed-loop recycling of pure, well-defined wastes is a problem only in critical applications. The recycling of mixed wastes, on the other hand, gives rise to a number of technical and economic difficulties. Direct processing is difficult, because of the different melting behaviour and thermal stability of the various components, and moreover leads to polymer “alloys” with poor mechanical properties and marketing potential. Sorting processes still yield fractions of insufficient purity. Compatibilising additives are expensive and not very efficient. The future of recycling depends on the development of new markets for plastics with inferior properties and of processing methods to improve the properties of mixed plastics Pyrolysis and hydrolysis open a range of interesting developments, but their economic and technical feasibility remain to be proven. Incineration, biodegradation and tipping cannot be considered to be fully satisfactory disposal methods, and recycling should be encouraged wherever it is economically and technically feasible.
An Introduction to Property Theory: Utilitarian Property Theories
As a leading property law casebook puts it, “[u]tilitarian theory is, without doubt, the dominant view of property today, at least among lawyers.” This is certainly true, but the story is also significantly more complicated. Although utilitarian analysis provides tremendous insight into the institution of property, it raises a number of important questions when treated as a comprehensive theory of property. Moreover, the term utilitarian masks a great deal of intellectual and methodological diversity. Rather than a single utilitarian theory, it is more appropriate to speak of a number of utilitarian (or even utilitarian-influenced) property theories . For our purposes, these utilitarian-influenced theories include many contemporary theories that refer to themselves as economic or welfarist . In this chapter, we will explore the broad outlines of these theories, focusing on their points of overlap and also on key areas of disagreement. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO UTILITARIANISM Utilitarianism is a consequentialist moral philosophy, that is, one that judges the rightness and wrongness of actions or rules or institutions by the goodness and badness of the consequences they bring about. Utilitarianism assesses the goodness or badness of consequences in terms of their tendency to maximize utility or welfare. Bernard Williams has observed that “[t]he fathers of utilitarianism thought of it principally as a system of social and political decision,” as opposed to “a system of personal morality.” As Williams correctly notes, it is sometimes hard to keep these two domains apart. Nevertheless, it is plainly as a theory of social choice that utilitarianism has been deployed in the context of property theory.