A compact disc (CD) is a circular, thin disc of plastic and metal that is about 5.5 inches (12 centimeters) in diameter (Coxon, 2015). It has three layers (Coxon, 2015). It is imperative to note that manufacturers of CDs make it out of a brittle and tough plastic called polycarbonate (Coxon, 2015). In the middle of it, there is a thin layer of aluminum. On top of it, there is a protective layer of lacquer and plastic (Coxon, 2015). In essence, the three layers of a CD consist of the polycarbonate plastic, aluminum coating which is over the polycarbonate, and a clear protective acrylic that is a coat over the aluminum layer. Therefore, disposing of a broken CD may be challenging. Nonetheless, several options are available for this purpose.
Four options exist to achieve the goal of disposing of the product. The first one is recycling. Some companies specialize in the recycling of these kinds of products for reuse. According to Ashby (2013), the companies clean, blend, grind, and compound them into the plastic with a high quality and for uses in various ways. Nonetheless, it is imperative to note that recycling has environmental trade-offs. Although it saves natural resources, the trade-off exists on the amount of energy and fuels that the transportation of the recycled materials and the recycling facilities use in the process. There are air and chemical pollution. The second option of disposing of the material is by creating useful items such as tablemats, wind chimes, and tea coasters, among many others. It is a creative option for disposing of the product. Then, there are landfills. Throwing the CD into landfills ends the product life, which is a loss of valuable resources. Thus, it is not a good option. The final option of disposing of this product is incineration (combustion). According to Ashby (2013) and Coxon (2015), incineration is the last option for any product in the product life-cycle. It is the process of waste-treatment for organic substances. Since it has polycarbonate, CDs are candidates for incineration. It converts the waste into ash, which is an inorganic material, heat, and flue gas (processing it makes it non-toxic). Heat, which is also a product of this process, is useful for the production of energy to generate electric power and drive machines in plants. When one considers all the four options for disposing of a broken CD, it is clear that the best way to accomplish this objective is the last option, which is incineration. Although recycling is also a good choice, the environmental trade-off makes it undesirable. Conversely, the community does not have a means of recycling CDs. Hence, the only available measures are incineration, creative use, and landfills. Creative uses and landfills are not as viable and efficient as incineration.
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Figure 4.2 in the textbook provides four options for disposing of materials at the end of its first life. Taking the broken CD as the case study, the figure shows that after collection, stakeholders can recycle the product, use landfills to dispose of it, re-engineer it, or reuse it. Combustion (incineration) is a possibility after the process of “primary sorting” following the implementation of the recycling option. Recycling is an option when one considers the figure, but it is not the best choice. Figure 4.1 also gives similar options. However, the environmental trade-off that occurs in recycling does not make it the best choice to get rid of the material. Nonetheless, since the community lacks a recycling center, the best infrastructure that it should have is a recycling one because it (the recycling infrastructure) has combustion in the process. The sorting equipment in the process of recycling leads to incineration, which is the best disposing option for the CDs.
- Ashby, M. F. (2013). End of first life. Materials and the Environment, 6(4), 79-97.
- Coxon, M. (2015). How to dispose of hazardous waste. BDJ Team, 1(2015), 15037.
