External research
America managed to recover 34% of the waste that was generated in 2009 when there was about 9,000 curbside recycling programs. There was 66.2% recycling rate of steel making steel one of the most recycled product in the country. It means that approximately 20,000 cans of steel are recycled every minute. Yearly statistics shows that steel is recycled even more than plastic, glass, paper and aluminum combined. For the last 50 years, more than 50% of the total steel produced has been recycled.
Currently, different industries employ different strategies for dealing with wastes. Some of the common methods include landfill, incineration, recycling, sustainability, biological reprocessing, energy and resource recovery methods. Landfills were very common in the past but even today the municipal council still use the method to dispose the hazardous waste, demolition and construction waste and household waste. Combustion is a method that help In the reduction of the landfill space required through burning the waste and generates electricity (Fray International Symposium, 2012). Composting is a method used in the agriculture industry whereby the microorganisms are allowed to change waste into manure. When such kind of organic manure is applied in the cultivated land, it improves soil fertility. Animal and agricultural waste can be composted to produce manure. For instance, a dairy cow produces about 40 pounds of waste which can be dried and used as manure.
Disposal of steel drums can have immense negative impacts on the environment that is why it is important to recycle. Recycled steel drums can be used to make a wide range of products. For example, gallon drums made stainless steel 55 can be recycled to produce new mash and boil pots with wood around them that serves as the decoration and insulation, custom made furniture for outdoor and indoor use, roofing tiles among other products.
There are several companies that recycle different kinds of steel drums. For example, Jakacki Bag and Barrel, Incl. that is based in Chicago manufactures, recycle and disposes steel drums of all types and size. The company cleans and disposes drums with capabilities such as crushing and grinding the drums. New Pig is another company that recycles and disposes steel drums dealing majorly with steel and stainless steel drums such as open head and tight head drums. In a research performed on “Environmental life-cycle comparisons of steel recycling: sustainability issues, problems and prospects”covering trends on steel production between 1950 and 2006 in countries such as USA, Ukraine, Japan, Korea and India it was concluded that there are so many environmental benefits associated with recycling steel. Production of Electric Arc Furnace(EAC) steel only produces 9-12.5 GJ/ts (Yellishetty, 2011).
According to U.K Department of the Environment, approximately 6 million steel drums are manufactured yearly in UK of which 5 are recycled. ABOUT 800, 000 are cleaned by passing it through high temperatures while the rest are washed. Drums meant for cleaning and reconditioning are usually empty although it is impossible to avoid the residues. One of the operations used is washing of drums using aqueous solution with a soluble material or furnacing process.
Legal issues
Recycling steel and other metal waste materials must comply with requirements of OSHA Act. According to this Act the employers are expected healthy and safe workplace for the employees. Recycling of the solid waste is a big business in United States. In 2001 alone, the non-ferrous recycling industry reported more than 3,000 injuries of which 701 cases involved several days away from work.
With such alarming statistics employers should evaluate their operations, equipment, and processes to make sure that all hazards in the operations are properly identified and that all members of the organizations are aware of the risks they are exposed to in the workplace. When a recycling plant is setup those who are responsible must put measures in place to ensure that the employees are safe. Failure to put proper mechanisms to ensure safety in the workplace in a recycling plant attracts a penalty or a lawsuit because it is against business ethics and OSHA Act. Therefore, the challenge with recycling steel is meeting the high standards set by OSHA that every business must meet.
Generation of the Concept
Waste stream management focuses on the committed and future to the environment. As such designing, the project that will reduce the ArcelorMittal’s waste stream is of paramount importance. This is because the waste stream from the company might pollute the environment. It is of importance thus to reduce the waste stream from such a company through the generation of ways that will reduce the bulkiness of the waste from the environment. Arcelor Mittal Company is a big company that disposes off the waste into the environment. The waste is of paramount importance and if they are managed well in they will be economical (Ebnesajjad,2013). EDSGN 100 project is designed to assist in recycling of the wastes. The project is designed to be used in recycling the waste products. This is significant because it will reduce the bulkiness of the Arcelor Mitter waste in the environment. The primary objective of the design is to recycle in order to ensure minimum waste being dumped into the environment.
The project also will be a source of employment for many people. The people surrounding the Arcelor Mittal Company will benefit from the recycling of the company. One of the significant benefits to the people surrounding the company concerns the employment that would be provided to those people (Walton,2002). The priority will be accorded to the people who surround the company as they are adjacent to the company and thus the company should consider them as adjacent to the company and wouldb be accorded the priority in terms of employment opportunities. Furthermore, the surrounding people will no longer have problems which relate to the environmental pollution. They will instead enjoy the environment.
The project design would be made in such a way that it would have a vaporization and condensation stage. In this stage, the waste materials that have been collected will be melted first. The melting of the materials will reduce the surface area of such materials. When the surface area has been reduced, the material can easily be made into usable materials. The melted materials are easy to be converted into materials of any shape. Unlike the solid materials, the dissolved materials are transformed into any form would deem fit for the market. The market demands materials of different shapes and sizes, and thus the recycling company will provide the materials in these shapes and sizes. The chemicals from the drum also would be extracted in order to reuse the drum. The design project would be made in such a way that it will ensure there is waste reuse (Walton,2002). The water is applied in cleaning the drums will be sent to the water treatment center.
Vaporization will involve subjecting the liquid to high temperatures to ease the cleaning of the drums. In this case, the drums will go into the vaporizer where the chemicals are removed. After their vaporization, their condensation will then occur automatically (Ebnesajjad,2013). The condensation will result in the collection of cleaner and clear liquid. The machine will be made in such a way that it allows the condensation to occur automatically.
In the De-pressure system, the liquid will be subjected to high pressure. The system will automatically generate pressure that will push the liquid from the drums. The process of the liquid collection will thus be made easy.
When some drums cannot be reused directly, they will be crashed down. The crashed steel drums will be used to make other materials with different shapes. The machine will subject the drums to high temperatures that in turn crash the drums and can easily be made into various materials with different shapes. The system will also be made in such a way that it allows the drum washing to be efficient. The drums machine will have sub-sets that pump water at high pressure to ease the cleaning of the drums.
References
Adama, O., & Nzeadibe, T. C. (2015). Dealing with waste: Resource recovery and entrepreneurship in informal solid waste management in African cities.
Ebnesajjad, S. (2013). Introduction to fluoropolymers: Materials, technology, and applications. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science & Technology.
Fenton, M. D., & Geological Survey (U.S.). (2003). Iron and steel recycling in the United States in 1998. Reston, VA: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
Fray International Symposium. (2012). Metals and materials processing in a clean environment: Proceedings of the Fray International Symposium, Cancun, Mexico, November 27th-December 1st, 2011. Mont-Royal, QC: FLOGEN.
National Research Council (U.S.). (1978). Recycling materials for highways. Washington: Transportation Research Board, National Research Council.
United Nations (2007). Reducing the solid waste stream: reuse and recycling at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Walton, R. (2002) World Water & Environmental Resources Congress, American Society of Civil.
Yellishetty Mohan, Gavin m. Mudd, P.G. Ranjith, A. Tharumarajah (2011). Environmental life-cycle comparisons of steel recycling: sustainability issues, problems, and prospects.
