JIMMA UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY
AND ENVIRONMENTAL
ENGINEERING
CBTP PHASE III

IMPACTS OF PLASTIC BOTTLES AND ITS

MANAGEMENT
 Acknowledgment
First of all we would like to thanks to god for giving us health and patience to accomplish this
work successfully and giving us strength on difficult times.

Secondly we would like to give a great appreciation to jimma university for providing this
program (action plan development and intervention phase or tcbtp phase iii) and we would like
also to extend our special thanks to of faculty civil and environmental engineering, departement
of water wupply and environmental engineering for its continuous supervision and guidance.

Finally, we wish to express our genuine gratefulness to our advisor Ms. Seblewongel M. And
Mr. Mamaru D. Whose encouragement, guidance, motivation, intelligence, and expectations are
crucial to our achievements and will serve as a continuous encouragement for our future duty
which started in the anchor of the work.

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Abstracts
The main aims of this proposal were to identify the impact, disposal and management of plastic
bottles after use, find out the effect plastic bottles’ waste brings to our environment and to
identify measures of improving plastic bottles waste management.

Analysis the benefits of reducing, re-using or recycling of plastic bottles’ waste in our country.
This proposal is done with a qualitative analysis by research from many sources and
observations and was found that, most old plastic bottles are usually re-used and that there were
very little to do with reducing and recycling.

Keywords:

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, Plastics, Plastic Bottles, Water Plastic bottles, Abiotic, Biotic,
Recycled, Non-recycled, Impact, Effect, Advantage, Disadvantage

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Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENT................................................................................................................I

ABSTRACTS................................................................................................................................II

CHAPTER ONE............................................................................................................................1

1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................1
1.1. BACKGROUND....................................................................................................................2
1.2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM...........................................................................................2
1.3. OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................................3
1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY........................................................................................................3
1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY............................................................................................3

CHAPTER TWO...........................................................................................................................4

2. DISCUSSIONS OF FINDING.............................................................................................4
2.2. IMPORTANCE OF PLASTIC BOTTLES...................................................................................4
2.3. WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH PLASTIC BOTTLES?............................................................5
2.4. WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?........................................................................................8

CHAPTER THREE.....................................................................................................................11

3. METHEDOLOGY..............................................................................................................11
3.1. LOCATION OF STUDY.......................................................................................................11
3.2. STUDY DESIGN................................................................................................................11
3.3. STUDY VARIABLES..........................................................................................................13
3.4. INPUT DATA.....................................................................................................................13

CHAPTER FOUR.......................................................................................................................14

4. WORK PLAN TIME AND BUDGET ALLOCATION....................................................14

4.1. BUDGET ALLOCATION.....................................................................................................14
4.2. WORK PLAN TIME (SCHEDULE)......................................................................................15
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5. REFERENCES:....................................................................................................................16

ABREVATIONS
TCBTP: Technical community Based Training Program

BTU: British thermal unit

PET: Polyethylene Terephthalate

V: Polyvinyl chloride

BPA: Bisphenol A

HDPE & LDPE: High and Low Density Polyethylene

PVC: Polyvinyl Chloride

CO2: Carbon dioxide

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 CHAPTER ONE
1. INTRODUCTION
The Environment exists in Dynamic Equilibrium of its Biotic (living) and Abiotic (non-living)
elements. These Biotic and Abiotic components are in a Dynamic State i.e. they constantly
depend and affect each other and cannot be dealt in isolation with each other.

Abiotic (Non-living) Environment consists of physical factors Land (minerals, toxic elements,
and nutrients), Water (in solid, liquid and gas forms), sky (sink of various things, noise) and air
(useful and other gases).

Plastics, one of the non-living elements, have been around for a long time now. It has been said
that even before Alexander Parke’s major pioneering contribution to the development of plastics
from cellulose nitrate in the 1850’s, plastic like materials have been in use by mankind for
centuries. However in the current era life without plastic cannot be imagined.

Because of the immensely versatile nature of plastics to be made into products of varying
strength and flexibility that we find plastic products ranging from car bodies, home and office
furniture, computers, Plastic bottles and as package materials for almost everything that needs
transportation and storage.

Plastic Bottles are made from a petroleum product known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET),
Bisphenol A (BPA) and high density polyethylene (HDPE). Mass numbers Of Plastic Bottles
Made from those products are not recycled and only certain types of them can be recycled.

All Non-recycled Plastic Bottles goes somewhere in landfills, floating on oceans, or rivers and
on sidewalks; they does not go away, rather than Polluting the Environment.

Nature does not know how to break down plastic bottles because of what it is made of. So
solving such problem is our Responsibility
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 1.1. Background
Plastic Bottles are a highly useful material all around the world. In our daily life, we use Plastic
Bottles as our regular material in the form of container for food, water (bottled), and other
drinking products. For example, 1500 Plastic water bottles are being used every second (130
million bottles per day) in the United States alone.

The increased use and production of plastic bottles in developing and emerging countries is a
particular concern, as the sophistication of their waste management infrastructure may not be
developing at an appropriate rate to deal with their increasing levels of its waste.

Plastic bottle waste management is a critical issue. Over 300 million metric tons of plastic bottles
are produced in the world annually and about fifty percent of this volume is for disposal
applications, product that are discarded within a year of their purchase. In our countries context
the effect of plastic bottle is increase day to day because of the increments of plastic bottle
production and users. Its waste and the resultant pollution clogs-up our rivers, oceans, lands and
adversely affect the biodiversity.

Disposal of plastics waste has drawn attention of environmentalist due to their non-
biodegradability and an aesthetic views since these are not disposed scientifically and
possibilities to contaminate soil and sub-soil also water because of leachates.

Therefore we need to plan for disposal of new synthetic products in scientifically, or Reuse,
Recycling and above all, Reduce

1.2. Statement of the problem

Due to its wide range of usage, the per capita consumption of plastic bottles in Ethiopia has
grown by about 15% annually over the past ten years, from 0.6 kg in 2007 to 2.4 kg in 2017 and
is estimated to be 3.2 kg in 2020.
Therefore, it is a big potential to recycle plastic bottles, because only certain types of them can
be recycled by certain municipalities. Since many Industries produce plastic bottles in Ethiopia,
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it is possible to recycle and reuse them by introducing different method to reduce its Impact on
Environment.

1.3. Objectives

1.3.1 General Objective

The objective of this proposal is to Analysis the Impacts of Plastic Bottles and its Management

1.3.2. Specific Objectives

To identify the disposal of Plastic Bottles after use.
To find out the Impact (effect) of plastic bottles disposed to our environment.
Identifying measures of improving plastic bottles’ waste management, alternative
disposal ways and mechanisms of controlling the generation of its waste at the
source.

1.4. Scope of the study

This proposal identifies better ways of controlling plastic bottles’ waste generated. As stated in
the objectives, it is to concentrate only on plastic bottles. It further entails:

Alternative ways disposal

Mechanism of plastic bottle reuse
Method of environmental protection from impact of plastic bottles

1.5. Significance of the study

The Significances of reusing plastic bottles for different purpose can be seen as economic,
environmental protection and reduction of its impact.

 It decreases toxic elements in the environment

 It minimize air pollution and CO 2 emission
 It gives good job opportunities
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 CHAPTER TWO

2. DISCUSSIONS OF FINDING

2.1. Plastic Bottles Overview

Plastic bottles are everywhere, in our home, school, work, playground, parks, and beaches. It is
such a popular material because it is flexible, lightweight, moisture resistant, cheap and poorly
made, resistance to acids, alkalis and solvents.

They are manufactured from the following petroleum products:-

 Bisphenol A (BPA)
 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
 High and Low Density Polyethylene (HDPE & LDPE)

Due to the different manufacturing process different plastic bottles have different levels of toxins
that have impacts on Environment.

For Example, the production of plastic water bottles requires up to 17 million barrels of oil each
year. This amount of oil has the ability to maintain up to one million cars fueled for an entire
year. The water bottle production process utilizes the petroleum product polyethylene
terephthalate (PET), this product requires an extremely large amount of fossil fuel to both make
and transport.

Furthermore, the manufacturing of a water bottle requires three times the amount of water
needed to fill it. That large amount of water becomes unusable and is wasted due to its exposure
to chemicals during the production process

2.2. Importance of plastic Bottles

Thousands of plastic factories are producing tons of plastic bottles which are popularly used by
the people because of their ease, cheapness and convenience.
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Plastic bottles are essentially used for packaging of drinking water, soft drinks, cosmetics,
pesticides, laboratory chemicals and other industrial products.

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 2.3. What’s the Problem with Plastic Bottles?
A heavy significance rests on the use of plastic bottles in today’s world. Although plastic bottles
has enabled advances in the quality of life through advantages in processing, ease of packaging,
boom in industry, and overall convenience.

It has proved to be harmful to human, animal, and plant health. Plastic bottles also harms habitat
in the form of pollution, space-usage, contamination, and especially through its quality of
persistence.

Figure 1: Impacts of wasted plastic bottles

2.3.1. The Human Impact

Plastic bottles contain Bisphenol A (BPA)– the chemical used to make the plastic hard and clear.
BPA is an endocrine disruptor which has been proven to be hazardous to human health.
It has been strongly linked to a host of health problems including certain types of cancer,
neurological difficulties, early puberty in girls, reduced fertility in women, premature labour and
defects in newborn babies.
BPA enters the human body through exposure to plastics such as bottled drinks and cleaning
products. It has been found in significant amounts in at-risk groups such as pregnant women’s
placentas and growing fetuses. A study conducted last year (2017), found that 96% of women in
the U.S have BPA in their bodies.

Bottled drinks also contain phthalates, which are commonly used to make plastic bottles such as
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) more flexible. 
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Phthalates are also endocrine-disrupting chemicals that have been linked to a wide range of
developmental and reproductive effects, including reduced sperm count, testicular abnormality
and tumors, and gender development issues.

Many industries didn’t regulate phthalates or class them as a health hazard due to the supposedly
minute amounts present in plastic bottles. This decision does not take into account the significant
presence of plastic bottles in the average citizen’s daily life, the fact that phthalate concentration
increases the longer a plastic water bottle is stored, or the fact that a bottled drink that is exposed
to heat causes accelerated leaching of harmful plastic chemicals into the drink.
Bottling plants also cause problems for the humans who live near them. Water extraction
surrounding bottling plants involved millions of gallons of water to make the bottles.  This often
leads to local water shortages that affects nearby residents, especially farmers who need to
provide food for the surrounding neighborhoods.

2.3.2. The Animal Impact

Plastic bottle tops are currently not recyclable, and as with plastic bags they often end up at the
bottom of the ocean, and in the stomachs of a variety of animal species that mistake them for
food.
Marine life falls prey to this problem on a daily basis. A sperm whale was found dead on a North
American beach recently with a plastic gallon bottle which had gummed up its small intestine.
The animal’s body was full of plastic material including other plastic bottles, bottle caps and
plastic bags.
For Example, Jellyfish are a Turtle’s favorite food! But, Turtles can’t tell the difference between
a Jellyfish and a floating plastic bag. Plastic ingestion causes blockage in the gut, ulceration,
internal perforation and death.

2.3.3. The Environmental Impact

Plastic bottles are made from a petroleum product known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET),
and they require huge amounts of fossil fuels to both make and transport them. If you fill a
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plastic bottle with liquid so that it is 25% full, that’s roughly how much oil it took to make the
bottle. For a single-use disposable item, that’s a lot.
Of the mass numbers of plastic bottles consumed throughout the world, most of them are not
recycled because only certain types of plastic bottles can be recycled by certain municipalities.
They either end up lying stagnant in landfills, leaching dangerous chemicals into the ground, or
they infiltrate our streets as litter.
They are found on sidewalks, in parks, front yards and rivers, and even if you chop them into
tiny pieces they still take more than a human lifetime to decompose.
It gets worse. In the case of bottled water, the plastic-making process requires over two gallons
of water for the purification process of every gallon of water. Environmental impacts are wide
ranging and can be both direct and indirect.

A. Direct Environmental Impacts

Direct impacts occur when marine life is physically harmed by marine debris (plastic bottles)
through ingestion or entanglement (e.g. a turtle mistakes a plastic bag for food) or marine debris
physically alters a sensitive ecosystem (e.g. a fishing net is dragged along the ocean floor by
strong ocean currents and breaks and smothers a coral reef).

B. Indirect Environmental Impacts

Environmental impacts can also be indirect, such as when a marine debris cleanup results in
ecological changes, Ecosystem Alteration and Invasive Species.

2.3.4. Economic Impacts

Marine debris (plastic bottles) can harm three important components of our economy: tourism,
fishing, and navigation. Economic impacts are felt through loss in tourism dollars and catch
revenue, as well as costly vessel repairs.

2.4. What Can We Do About It?

Responsibility to protect the environment and enforcing the existing regulation lies within all of
us mostly an educated person.
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Plastic bottle turns to be waste after serving their useful purpose. The question should raise here
is how to effectively manage and control the countless amount of waste generated in order to
save the environment and health as well as to make the environment effectively and efficiently
for the continuous existence of humankind.

2.4.1. Identifying the Sources of plastic bottles’ wastes

The first step to solve a problem is to identify the source of it. As stated already, industrial plastic
bottles product is the main source of its waste. Plastic bottles’ waste is becoming an increasing
problem because of the rate at which they are replacing traditional metal and glass bottles. Not
only industries, But also commercial and municipal are the sources of plastic bottles’ waste.

2.4.2. Identifying and sorting plastic bottles

Plastic bottles are one of the main engineering materials that need special care and attention so
far as their waste management is concerned. Different grades of plastic bottles cannot be mixed
in the recycling process and few mixed types can result in a total break down or different
chemical, mechanical and physical properties of new product. The situation can become worse if
for example a Polyvinylchloride, PVC is mixed with other plastics. PVC emits hazardous
chemicals like chlorine. Plastic bottles are identified by unique code however, they are not
always seen and when there are large volumes of waste to be sorted, it creates more problems.
The density –based and selective dissolution are other methods aside manual sorting.

2.4.3. Solutions and Preventive Measures

Though commodities made of plastic bottles are handy, it is time to become aware of the harm
that plastic bottles causes to life on Earth. Before the picture turns even uglier, it is better that
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you take some effective preventive measures to reduce this type of pollution. Some of those
measures are Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

A. Reduce

You can save resources by drinking from glasses or water fountains whenever possible when you
are out.

 Reduce the amount of disposable plastic bottles you use

 Purchase plastic bottles that are made of recycled material
 Mothers should be cautious not to use plastic bottles for feeding their babies.
B. Reuse

Invest in a BPA-free reusable bottle. Carry a refillable, BPA-free bottle when you are on the go,
and refill it whenever the option arises. This guide looks at some of the options on the market.

 Use old plastic bottles instead of buying new ones

 Refill your old plastic bottles at home instead of buying water when you’re out Recycle
C. Recycling

Recycling means making new products out of the waste materials. All types of plastic bottles
cannot be recycled. If we recycle the ones that can be, the environment will be saved to some
extent. Compared to other materials like glass and metal, recycling of plastic bottles is expensive
and complex. This is due to the high molecular weight of the large polymer chains that build the
plastic bottles’ material.

Different types of plastic bottles cannot be mixed together because they phase separate. Such a
resulting melting product cannot be recycled to make another plastic product. While making
plastic products many types of filler like dues and other additives are used. These fillers cannot
be separated from the plastic bottles using inexpensive techniques. This makes the process more
complex.

2.4.4. Advantage and Disadvantage of Reuse, Reduce and Recycle

Advantages
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  Use of nonrenewable fossil fuels is reduced.
 To solve the problem of scarcity of landfills.
 To Reduce Global Warming
 To Prevent Water Pollution
 Resource Recovery
 To prevent air pollution

Disadvantages

Following a simple reduce, reuse, recycle, lifestyle does not only mean that you are actively
saving the environment.

Because of, unlike other materials like glass and metal, recycled plastics aren't able to
continually serve the same purpose after Reused and Recycled.

For example, a plastic water bottle may be down cycled to become artificial turf or plastic
furniture. Recycled plastic's limited use places it at a disadvantage compared to new plastic
bottles.

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CHAPTER THREE

3. METHEDOLOGY

3.1. Location of Study

Plastic Bottles will be collected around Jimma University Institute of Technology, Kitto Furdisa
campus.

Figure 2: Different type of Plastic Bottles

3.2. Study Design

3.2.1. Material Used

Materials that needed in our practical designing are:-

 Different Types of Wasted Plastic Bottles

 Steel Bars, Wood and Rope
 Nail and Hammer
 Meter tape
 Scissor
 Plaster

Also different chemicals are needed in our designing. Such as:-

 Different Color of Dyes (ink)

 Binding Chemicals
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  Detergent for cleaning plastic bottles

3.2.2. Ways of Design

The basic steps that are involved in the design of plastic bottles are:

Step 1: Collecting plastic bottles waste from households, commercials as well as industrial
wastes

Step 2: Sorting the plastic waste in different categories such as water bottles, cosmetic bottles,
soft drinking bottles, etc.

Step 3: The Plastic bottle is cut into required shapes such as Circular, Rectangular, Triangular
and etc. using scissors and other cutting machines.

Step 4: Those shaped pieces are thoroughly washed for any dirt or unwanted particles on them
using water and detergents until it become cleaned.

Step 5: After we washed they will be painted with different colors using brush to make it
attractive.

Step 6: Then binding together to form another new design that are required for reuse purpose like
car parking roof, flower frames, household tools, hand bag, decorative purposes and boat using
plaster and other binders.

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Figure 3: Steps of designing different materials from wasted plastic bottles

3.3. Study Variables

There are many variables we should have to consider in our study. These are:

 Types, shapes and sizes of plastic bottles

 Strength, durability and portability of plastic bottles
 Chemical constituents
 Plastics’ BTU value, a unit of energy

3.4. Input data

Depending on the type, strength, durability and chemical constituents the following data will be
required in any condition of plastic bottles design for reuse.

 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), used in soft drinks and water bottles

 High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), used in milk and water jugs. 
 Polyvinyl chloride (V), used in cooking oil bottles
 Cosmetics Plastic bottles
 Detergents plastic bottles and etc.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

4. WORK PLAN TIME AND BUDGET ALLOCATION

After designing what we went to do the next and very important idea is determination of budget
and planning of work time for our project. This is very important:-

To complete the project in required time.

To make our work more perfect and visible.
To participate all student in the project.

To make the workers and managers of the project more responsible.

4.1. Budget Allocation

The source of our project Budget will be from the following:

1. From the local government.

2. From Jimma university.
3. By the students’ labor force and skill we decide to accomplish the project.
4. From Non-governmental organizations and all stake holders & other volunteers.

In order to conduct this proposal the budgets required for raw materials and chemicals will be

indicated below.

Table 4.1 Budget Allocation

Materials Quantities in No Unit Price per Quantity (Br.) Total Price(Br.

Steel bar 10 50 500
Steel pole 7 80 560
Soap(detergent) 2 10 20
Plaster 5 20 100
Scissor 2 30 60
Nails 0.5kg - 20
Rope 2ball 40 80
Color paint 4 25 200
Total=1540birr
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 4.2. Work Plan Time (Schedule)
During our working time the schedule is very important to complete our work on time and to
make all workers more responsible for their works and to control the working time as well as the
number of workers and to study the skill of workers.

During our design the following time is consumed:

 3 days for collecting different types of plastic bottles from University or Jimma town.
 1 day for washing
 2 days for shaping of plastic bottles
 2 days to prepare and clean project design area
 1day for preparation of material for construction
 5 days for construction (Design) of our project
Generally the project design consumes Two weeks.

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 5. REFERENCES:
The environmental impacts of the disposal of plastic pollution-Asgedom, Abraha
gebrekidan(sacha environmental studies volume2 pp.81-94).

The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: Jose G.B.Derraik.

Public health impact of plastic bottles: an overview -Neeti Rustagi, S.K.Pradhan Plastics in
Depth:Recycling,Disposal, Toxicity, Health Impacts.

Down to Earth - Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2015

[Online] Available http://recycleitproperly.wordpress.com [accessed; 19.05.2018]

[Online] Available http://pslc.ws/macrog/ppo.htm) [accessed; 21.05.2018]

[Online] Available http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/

US EPA, Municipal solid waste generation, recycling and disposal in the United States: facts
and figures for 2003. Washington, D.C., USA 2005.