Lifecycle of Rigid Plastic Coolers

Agnes Ma

Professor Christina Cogdell

DES40A A03

6 December 2018

Materials of Plastic Picnic Cooler

Plastic picnic cooler was invented by Richard C. Laramy in 1951. Plastic picnic cooler is an insulated box that people can carry around to maintain food or beverage in a cool condition. Many people carry a plastic picnic cooler on the back of their car and use it for picnic or vocation. This invention is very useful and comes in handy especially in the summer. It keeps drinks cold and prevents ice cream from melting as people are getting to their destination. Ice cubes are commonly used and placed within the plastic picnic cooler to keep the food or beverage cool for a long period of time. The plastic picnic cooler can still work efficiently without the ice cubes, but it only works for a short distance trip; the distance from the grocery store to home. Since the picnic cooler is called the “Plastic picnic cooler”, it is obvious that the major material that made up the picnic cooler is plastic or also known as the polymer. The different components of the plastic cooler are made with different types of polymers to maximize its ability. However, the durability, the property that is shared among all the polymers, makes it hard to be degradated. This long-lasting property makes the polymers becomes problematic to the environment and as one of the large factors that contribute to environmental pollutions. Therefore, causing the plastic picnic cooler to be another contributor to environmental damage. 

Polyurethane foam or PU foam is one of the polymers that made up the picnic cooler. PU foam is a secondary material that produced from the chemical reaction between an isocyanate and a polyol and these two products are derived from crude oil. Isocyanates have two or more isocyanate groups in each molecule. Different types of isocyanates produce a foam in a different density. The isocyanates that are most commonly used are TDI and MDI. These two isocyanates can produce a foam that has a medium-density. TDI and MDI are cheaper and more reactive compared to other isocyanates. The amount of molecular weight of the polyol used determines the hardness of the foam. With the amount of approximately 700 molecules, it produces rigid foams that are generally used for creating a hard and inflexible plastic cooler.

The production of PU foams can be broken into three distinct phases; production of the bulk polymer, further processing and the transformation of PU foam into a finished product. During the first phase, the reacting raw materials passed through a heat exchanger and cause the polymerization reactions which is a chemical reaction of monomers joined together forming polymers, to occur. At the processing phrase, the PU foam is layered with baking paper and cut into its desired length. Lastly, the PU foam is package and ship and ready to use.

The negative side effect of the PU foam is that it causes damage to the environment. PU foam is an extremely resilient material that does not deteriorate as time goes. It is a good thing that the PU foam made a long-life product, but it is harmful to the environment if the product ended up in the landfill. PU foam has the highest environmental impact among other thermal insulation materials. The raw material extraction and the production of the PU foam place a significant role in the environmental issues. Furthermore, transiting the raw materials of the PU foams and the waste of the PU foam to the waste management facilities has also contributed to the environmental impact. In order to reduce the environmental damage caused by the PU foam, the recycling phase is a very important part throughout the life cycle.

Another polymer that made up the picnic cooler is polyethylene. Polyethylene is the most produced plastic in the world. More than 80 million tons of polyethylene are being manufactured each year. Polyethylene has the simplest basic structure than any other polymers. It is composed of only carbon and hydrogen. Although polyethylene has the simplest basic structure, it actually contains many advantages that outweigh other polymers. The advantages include excellent electrical insulation and chemical resistance, low price, toughness and more. In addition, there are three types of polyethylene, each with a different density. There are high-density polyethylene (HDPEs), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPEs), and low-density polyethylene (LDPEs). And HDPE is the one that is used to produce the plastic picnic cooler. The raw material of HDPE is petroleum. 1.75 kilograms of petroleum is able to make 1 kilogram of HDPE. There are also plants that can produce both low-density and high-density polyethylene and it can manufacture up to 650,000 tons of polyethylene per year.

The process of manufacturing polyethylene has changed over time. Beginning from March 1933, commercial polyethylene was produced from ethylene. Until 1954, two other ways were developed. One of the ways was to produce polyethylene with metal oxide catalysts and the combination of aluminum alkyls and other transition metal compound. This method allows the polyethylene to be produced at a lower temperature and pressures and with a modified structure. This manufactured a polyethylene that is harder and had a higher density and softening points which is the HDPE. The process that was used beforehand produced low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Those are the two of the three main forms of polyethylene. The remaining form is linear low-density (LLDPE) that was developed at the end of the 1970s.

Nowadays, polyethylene processed differently. There are many techniques that can be used to produce polyethylene and Compression molding is one of them. Compression molding is a technique in which the polyethylene is heated in a mold and to be cooled after it has been compressed to its proper shape. It is a slow process that is only begin used to make a large sheet of polyethylene. Injection molding is another technique that works more efficiently. In injection molding, the polyethylene is melted and injected into a mold that is at a freezing temperature. The freezing mold allows the polyethylene to harden quicker than it was in the compression molding. The remaining techniques that are also commonly used are blow molding and extrusion molding. Yet, the infrastructure, waste treatment, and the electricity consumption of the injection molding process have significantly impacted the environment. Among all the factors, electricity consumption produces the highest environmental burden. Therefore, electricity consumption measurement is applied to the process to regulate the amount being used.

The last major polymer of the picnic cooler is the elastomer. The elastomer is applicated for the inflatable sealing device of the picnic cooler. The inflatable sealing device is a method that is used to seal the door of the picnic cooler. This device kept the energy within the cooler and insulate the food or drinks from the outside’s temperature. An elastomer is a polymer with elasticity that allows the elastomer to be bend without breaking. The elastomer is mostly known as rubber. The raw material of elastomer can be obtained from certain tropical trees and mostly comes from the Hevea rubber tree. It can also be derived from petroleum and natural gas.

The manufacturing process of elastomer starts by doing polymerization to produce raw rubber. The natural rubber that is collected from tropical trees is already in a polymerized form which it does not need the process of polymerization. Therefore, the manufacture of the natural rubber will start by mastication, a process of molecules getting either physically or chemically shredded to make further manufacturing steps such as mixing and processing easier. When it comes to processing the elastomer, it is separated into many different phases. The phases include mixing raw materials, shaping and curing.

However, similar to other polymers, elastomer also has an impact on the environment. The natural rubber from the rubber tree is a natural resource. Because of the endless consumption, many of the original trees were cropped and used on producing the elastomer. This action can cause the instability of the material. If the endless consumption continues, there is a possibility that this material will run out one day. Furthermore, processing elastomer also needs a large number of fossil fuels which raises the level of the emissions of carbon dioxide. The transportation of the raw materials and the final product also add up the carbon dioxide being released.

As a conclusion, the plastic picnic cooler is a made mostly from different types of polymers such as PU foams, polyethylene, and elastomer. All of these polymers are secondary materials that produced by its raw materials. However, the use of plastic has largely affected the environment negatively. The raw material extraction, the production process, and the transition of raw materials and the waste polymers to the waste management facilities, all place a significant role to the environmental issues. Therefore, causing the plastic picnic cooler to become another contributor to environmental damage.

                                                             Bibliography

1.     Branscum, T. "Ice chest construction." U.S. Patent No. 3,791,547. 12 Feb. 1974. <https://patents.google.com/patent/US3791547A/en>.

The novel lid and receptacle construction of the ice chest allow it to isolate the inner temperature from the outside temperature. The receptacle is a box-like structure with a convex surface which allows people to put in drinks or other foods that they want to retain temperature. The novel lid is used to close the opening of the ice chest. Between the lid and the receptacle, there is something called “rib” that are attached around the lid. The rib is being placed parallel to an overhanging lip in order to be closed evenly. It also helps strengthen the closure of the ice chest. This process minimizes the width of the thin lip and the use of polyethylene.

2.     Smith, Lester, and Roberto Gonzalez. "All purpose portable ice chest." U.S. Patent No.

6,574,983. 10 Jun. 2003. <https://patents.google.com/patent/US6574983B2/en>.

A portable ice chest is a container with an airtight cover that maintain things such as beverages, ice cream in a cold temperature for period of time. The airtight cover of the ice chest is used to keep the temperature within the container. There are two parts of the portable ice chest; an inner compartment and a bottom compartment. In order to maintain the beverages in a cold temperature, a refrigerant coolant is needed to be place in the inner compartment of the ice chest.

3.     Lazonby, John. “Poly(Ethene) (Polyethylene).” The Essential Chemical Industry

Online. <www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/polymers/polyethene.html>.

Polyethylene is the world's most important plastic. Over 80 million tons of Polyethylene is being manufactured each year. Polyethene has three forms: low density (LDPE), linear low density (LLDPE), and high density (HDPE). Each of the forms has a different property. The LDPE and the LLDPE form are used for film packaging and electrical insulation.  HDPE is used to make containers that hold household chemicals. Many plants can produce both LDPE and LLDPE. But when it comes to manufacture polyethene, it is produced by the cracking of ethane, propane, naphtha, and gas oil.

4.     Gracida-Alvarez, Ulises R., et al. "Effect of Temperature and Vapor Residence Time

on the Micropyrolysis Products of Waste High Density Polyethylene." Industrial &

Engineering Chemistry Research 57.6 (2018): 1912-1923.

<https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.iecr.7b04362>.

There are about 22 to 43% of polymers are landfilled. The huge amount of polymers’ wastes generates the problem of air pollution which make recycling polymers essential. The steps of recycling polymers include waste plastic collection, washing, separating into common materials, etc. Some polymers are able to be recycled and processed into polyester fibers which can be later use for clothing. It can also be processed into food packaging. Polyethylene, one of type of polymers, is often recycled into plastic lumber and nonfood-contact applications. However, there is also another way to process those polymers’ wastes which is through chemical recycling.

5.     Elduque, Ana, et al. "Environmental impact analysis of the injection molding process: analysis of the processing of high-density polyethylene parts." Journal of Cleaner

Production 108 (2015): 80-89.

<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615010501>

The infrastructure, waste treatment, and the electricity consumption of the injection molding process have significantly impacted the environment. Among all the factors, electricity consumption produces the highest environmental burden. Therefore, electricity consumption measurement is applied to the process to regulate the amount being used.

6.     Dutta, Aastha S. "Polyurethane Foam Chemistry." Recycling of Polyurethane Foams.

2018. 17-27.

<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780323511339000024#bib1>.

Polyurethane is the component of three main raw materials: di-, tri isocyanates, and polyols. Polyurethane foams are manufactured in three steps, raw materials mixing, foam forming and settling, and lastly curing. During step one, raw materials are stored separately in a different storage tanks and later they are draw into a mixer. During step two, the mixed polyurethane is being solidified in the settling chamber. After it is hardened, it will be cut into 2.2 m long blocks. During the last step, the formed polyurethane foam block need to be sit at room temperature for at least 18 hours before further use. Furthermore, polyurethane foams can be mechanical recycle or chemical recycle. Polyurethane foams that is mechanical recycled will be reuse as it original form. In contrast, polyurethane foams that are chemically recycled will be converted back to its various chemical constituents.

7.     Kylili, Angeliki, Lina Seduikyte, and Paris A. Fokaides. "Life Cycle Analysis of

Polyurethane Foam Wastes." Recycling of Polyurethane Foams. 2018. 97-113.

<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780323511339000097>.

The impact that polyurethane foam brought to the environment is the highest among all the other thermal insulation materials. In addition, the raw materials of polyurethane foam also place a significant role to the environmental impact. Within the life cycle of polyurethane foam, the use phase is considered the most harmful stage toward the environment. People often turn excess foams into waste which ended up in the landfill and create harm to the environment. Instead of throwing away those excess foam, it should be transformed and reused in another way to reduce the amount of waste. However, Polyurethane foam contain energy that is efficient for incineration for heat and electricity generation purposes. Therefore, energy recovery is another method that can be considered other than reuse, recycling, or transform the polyurethane foam waste.

8.     “Inflatable Door Seal for Cold Storage Applications.” Sealing Technology, Elsevier

Advanced Technology, 24 June 2005,

<www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350478905707078>.

A colder has an inflatable or fluid-filled seal system for the closure of the container. The seal system includes a group of pliable tubular seals which will expand as air or other fluid want to go through the seals. The expansion of the seals make the closing of the ice chest stronger and tighter. Within a cold temperature, frost might form near the seals. However, the action of seal continuously circulating fluid, kept the surrounding area of the seal warm which avoid the formation of frost.

9.     McKeen, Laurence W. The Effect of Sterilization Methods on Plastics and

Elastomers.

An elastomer is a polymer that has the property of elasticity. With the property of elasticity, elastomer have a particularly low Young’s modulus but a high yield strain compared to other polymers. The most common name of elastomer that is known by most of the people is rubber. Elastomer is primary use for seals, adhesives, and molded flexible parts. Elastomer can either be thermosets or thermoplastic. Thermoplastic elastomer has bigger advantages than thermosets elastomer in which thermoplastic elastomer have the ability to recycle scrap, it has a lower energy costs for processing, and more.

10.  “Processing of Rubber Materials.” VERT, <www.tut.fi/ms/muo/vert/8_processing/index.htm.>

 The use of rubber is causing environment impacts. The raw material of the natural rubber a natural resource from a rubber tree. Because of the endless consumption, many of the original trees were cropped and used on producing the elastomer. Furthermore, processing elastomer also needs a large number of fossil fuels which raises the level of the emissions of carbon dioxide. The transportation of the raw materials and the final product also add up the carbon dioxide being released.

11.  “Polyurethane.” How Products Are Made, <www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Polyurethane.html.>

The production of PU foams can be broken into three distinct phases; production of the bulk polymer, further processing and the transformation of PU foam into a finished product. During the first phase, the reacting raw materials passed through a heat exchanger and cause the polymerization reactions which is a chemical reaction of monomers joined together forming polymers, to occur. At the processing phrase, the PU foam is layered with baking paper and cut into its desired length. Lastly, the PU foam is package and ship and ready to use.

Jake (Jiehua) Huang

Christina Cogdell

Des 40A

30 November 2018

Choosing a Proper Way to Recycle Plastic Picnic Coolers Is Necessary

            A picnic cooler is commonly used to help food and beverages maintain their freshness at low temperatures. It is made up of a plastic interior, exterior shells, and chest construction. It is difficult to assume that a portable cooler can replace refrigerators, just because of its portability. In the article “Cooler Backpack with Compartments,” Douglas Brown says, “Preferably, separate compartments are provided for holding food, beverage containers, and ice” (Brown). A portable cooler has different sections, which serve different purposes. Many people use portable coolers when they go out for picnics, or when they go on trips, because they can keep drinks cool for several hours. Therefore, the invention of a picnic cooler has allowed its users to be able to drink ice cold beverages, even when they do not have immediate access to a refrigerator.

The life cycle assessment of picnic coolers can be broken down into several parts: the production of each part of the cooler, the use of the cooler as a product, the collection of the used cooler, and the management of wastes and emissions. Since the main part of the cooler is made of plastic, which is toxic to the ecological environment, the management of wastes and emissions after use is important. While recent efforts have been made more sustainable for the processing of waste materials and emissions associated with plastic coolers, the environmental impacts of the production are still evident, due to the remnants of the used and discarded coolers.                      

Because plastic is versatile, light and cheap, many producers use plastic as shells for picnic coolers. However, they are not aware that the increasing use of plastic leads to a series of health and ecological issues. Bruce Thornbloom mentions that a plastic picnic cooler has become a useful tool in people’s daily life, because of its excellent performance when it comes to the isolation of heat. With its versatility, manufacturers are experiencing an increase in the demand for plastics every year. On “A Review on Thermal and Catalytic Pyrolysis of Plastic Solid Waste,” Sultan Al-Salem writes that, “The global production of plastics was reported to be 299 million tons in the year 2013 and an increase of 4% has been reported over the year 2014, reaching a production rate of 311 million tons” (178). Due to the demand of plastic products like coolers, plastic wastes increase constantly and drastically. Moreover, some countries do not have a proper way of dealing with used plastic products, leading to various environmental and health problems. Al-Salem establishes that:

Developing world countries rely solely on landfilling as a strategy for MSW disposal, without realizing the advantages that certain recycling schemes might add to their economic chain value. Increase in landfilling without the right means of feedstock or energy recovery, which is what many developing world countries rely upon, has also been associated with major health and environmental concerns, namely in causing ground water contamination, increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, risk of fire and explosion, human health hazard and sanitary problems. (Al-Salem et al. 178)

Landfilling is a cheap and convenient treatment over plastic processing, but landfilling is not a sustainable solution for the disposal of solid plastic wastes. If the people who live nearby a landfilling ground get overly-exposed to such, their physical health can be affected by the process. Landfilling also affects the quality of water and soil. In addition, some developing countries are still subscribed to burning disposals to process plastic solid waste. However, when plastic is set on fire, it produces toxic gases that may be inhaled or absorbed by plants, animals and humans. Significant amounts of plastic waste also contribute to the large-scale pollution of the oceans (Katsnelson, 2015). Therefore, looking for another effective and sustainable treatment for plastic solid waste is necessary.

For effective plastic waste management, Kamilė Sabaliauskaitė, and Kliaugaitė Daina propose that manufacturers should engage in wood-plastic composite (WPC) production. “The life cycle assessment has revealed that carbon footprints throughout the life cycle of one kilogram of WPC wall panel are 37% lower than those of the same weight of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) wall panel product” (Sabaliauskaitė and Daina). Wood-plastic products produce lower amounts of carbon footprint during emissions stages, compared to regular plastic products. Additionally, lower amounts of carbon footprint cause fewer environmental and health problems. This is an effective solution for the management of emissions.

Even though some scientists have discovered a plastic waste treatment technique which solves the problem of pollution, as well as the recovery of energy, there still exist many discarded plastic products, which have not been recycled. Therefore, manufacturers should provide a wider range of approaches, wherein consumers can ask plastic product sellers various questions about their involvement in the collection and recycling of used plastic products. Al-Salem provides more effective methods of dealing with plastic solid waste:

1) Primary means: where plastic process scrap is re-introduced in the heating cycle of the processing line to increase production; 2) Mechanical recycling (secondary methods): where mechanical (physical) means of treatment are used to re-extrude, process and convert PSW, typically blended with virgin polymers aiming at reducing overall cost. (Al-Salem, et al., 178)

These methods turn used plastic into other forms of energy or use the plastic wastes to create other products. Some people might question if it is worth recycling such, because this treatments require high technology and the process of controlling the pollutant emissions need to be accurately executed. In addition, the premise of executing these treatments needs consumers and manufacturers to have the awareness to recycle plastic goods. In the article “Novel Ways with Waste,” Lou Reade shows that, “in 1950, says EuPR, global plastics production was at 1.5 million tons; by 2008, that figure had ballooned to 245 million tons” (23). The demand for plastic production in Europe has increased dramatically. However, only 50 million tons of plastics have been processed to becoming useable products (Reade 24). To recycle larger amounts of used plastic, manufacturers need to have an efficient approach when it comes to the collection of plastic products, and consumers also need to know how they should deal with discarded plastic.

Another component of a cooler is the polyurethane foam, which is used as a rigid foam insulation panel that can be recycled in different ways. Unfortunately, polyurethane foam wastes also affect the environment. According to the article “Picnic Chest Construction,” Donald Berchtold mentions that, “Rigid polyurethane foams may be prepared by well-known procedures from polyesters, diisocyanatos, and water” (Berchtold). Polyurethane foams are made from polyesters and diisocyanatos, which are bioproducts of crude oil. To recycle polyurethane foam, Chris Braddock introduces that it can be done “in two ways: mechanical recycling, wherein the material is reused in its polymer form, and chemical recycling, which takes the material back to its component molecules” (35). Mechanical recycling is to break down polyurethane foam and then turn it to the components of other products. Braddock also relays that, “A recent industry survey found that rebond composed of nearly 90% of the 462 million square yards of flooring underlay was sold in 2010” (35). These statistics show that a large amount of polyurethane foam have successfully been recycled to become polyurethane underlay in the market. The risk of using polyurethane foam as underlay, on the other hand, is that the process of production of polyurethane product produces a lot of scrap. For instance, if a producer of picnic coolers needs to cut the polyurethane foam material in a rectangular shape to an oval, there will be a fair amount of polyurethane foam that will be wasted. To recycle the wastes of polyurethane foam, manufacturers may collect them and combine them to turn them into polyurethane underlay. Additionally, Braddock also introduces the chemical recycling method. “This process combines mixed industrial and post-consumer polyurethanes with diols at high heat, causing a chemical reaction that creates new polyols – the raw material used to make polyurethanes” (36). Through the chemical recycling method, new polyols function the same as the original polyols. Since this recycling method can be used again and again, more and more manufactures start recycling discarded products. Even though there are two ways to transform polyurethane foam into useful materials, the environmental impacts are still hard to miss. In the article “Recycling and Disposal Methods for Polyurethane Foam Wastes,” Wenqing Yang claims that, “because polyurethane foam plastic pile-up density is small, about 30 kg/m³, stockpiling will take up a lot of area” (Yang 168). People need to have a space which is large enough for storing polyurethane foam wastes. Furthermore, manufactures cannot just leave polyurethane foam waste in a storage room for a long period of time, because it will generate bacteria that can greatly affect the living environment. To avoid these adverse effects, manufacturers must choose an intelligent way to recycle the polyurethane foam wastes.

When looking at the structure of a plastic cooler, its constitution can appear really simple. However, plastic products generate toxic wastes and emissions which lead to environmental costs and environmental impacts. In the same way, if manufacturers don’t deal with waste polyurethane foam properly, the people who live nearby their factories can be affected, especially their health. Even though there are multiple treatments for plastic and polyurethane foam disposals, landfilling is still used by some developing countries. To reduce the problem of pollution, manufacturers need to provide better access to consumers when it comes to returning discarded products. Most importantly, manufacturers may choose to resort to reusable and renewable materials in the production of sustainable products.

Bibliography

Arena, Noemi, et al. "Life cycle engineering of production, use and recovery of self-chilling beverage cans." Journal of cleaner production 142 (2017): 1562-1570.

Al-Salem, S. M., et al. “A Review on Thermal and Catalytic Pyrolysis of Plastic Solid Waste (PSW).” Journal of Environmental Management, 2017, p. 177. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.03.084.

Plastic is used in different fields, such as toys, medical, construction and so on. One of the causes that we use a lot of plastic is economic growth and development increased. Pyrolysis is a plastic waste treatment technique, and it can solve the pollution problem and it recover energy and product. More and more manufacturers will use this method because it is helpful for solving the environmental pollution and reduction of carbon footprint.

Reade, Lou. “Novel Ways with Waste.” Chemistry & Industry, no. 19, Oct. 2011, pp. 23–25. EBSCOhost, ccsf.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=67380379&site=eds-live.

The article is about plastic recycling efforts of European Plastic recycler which is mechanical, chemical and energy recovery in Europe. It mentions that the energy recovery method converts plastic materials into fuel. Furthermore, mechanical make product to be the new product, and chemical occurs in the plastics factory. Overall, this kind of technology technique let raw material transform to the useful resource which is a sustainable method to process plastic material.

Braddock, Chris. “Recovering the ‘Forgotten’ Foam.” Resource Recycling, vol. 30, no. 12, Dec. 2011, p. 35. EBSCOhost, ccsf.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=v1h&AN=67630672&site=eds-live.

Yang, Wenqing, et al. "Recycling and disposal methods for polyurethane foam wastes." Procedia Environmental Sciences 16 (2012): 167-175.

Berchtold, Donald V. "Picnic chest construction." U.S. Patent No. 3,389,824. 25 Jun. 1968.

Another component of picnic cooler is plastic liner which is sheet material. Many designers of picnic cooler tested different materials for building a proper liner, and finally, they decided to make a styrene plastic liner. The liner consists of a polymer of styrene butadiene and acrylonitrile. The advantage of these materials is strong enough for resistance to puncturing. Moreover, the construction of the cooler liner provides a solution to the problem and difficulties discussed in the article.

Thornbloom Jr, Bruce Norman. "Picnic cooler." U.S. Patent No. 3,979,007. 7 Sep. 1976.

Combination lid and handle provides the cooler a hinged-door section, and this section can support the inner surface of the lid. The purpose of having a lid and handle assembly is to prevent outward and downward rotation motion and keep the lid in a horizontal position. Therefore, the design of the handle and lid provide a functional workspace on the inner surface of the lid when the lid is turned on. This handle is functioned as the handle and it can engage in the lid groove, which saves space for the cooler.

Sabaliauskaitė, Kamilė, and Daina Kliaugaitė. “Resource Efficiency and Carbon Footprint Minimization in Manufacture of Plastic Products.” Environmental Research, Engineering & Management, vol. 67, no. 1, Apr. 2014, pp. 25–34. EBSCOhost, doi:10.5755/j01.erem.67.1.6587.

One method to make the plastic product more sustainable is that people need to have highly efficient resource management, waste recycling and reuse renewable resource. This article mentions that if people want to reduce the amount of carbon, people had better use of wood-plastic composite production. Using wood-plastic material may have better management of resources and minimization of carbon footprint. Also, it would have lower negative effects on the environment and increase the efficiency of the resource.

Brown, Douglas M., Donald J. Erickson, and Geoffrey H. Willis. "Cooler backpack with compartments." U.S. Patent No. 5,509,279. 23 Apr. 1996.

Wierckx, Nick, et al. “Plastic Waste as a Novel Substrate for Industrial Biotechnology.” Microbial Biotechnology, vol. 8, no. 6, Sept. 2015, pp. 900–903. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/1751-7915.12312.

Cynthia Osborn
DES 40A - A03
Professor Cogdell
Fall 2018
Research Paper

Energy Usage In The Lifecycle of Rigid Plastic Picnic Coolers In Comparison With New Eco-friendly Technologies 

Picnic coolers are a commonly purchased for BBQ picnics, tailgate parties, camping, and other common activities to insulate ice with food and drinks. The same technology is used to transport human organs from donor to patient, and also aquatic animals. This simple product has multiple uses from social entertainment to saving lives. However, the product is created using plastics and insulating foam material that have long lasting impact on our environment due to their production and product lifecycle energy consumption (Khripko). Minimizing the energy to produce, recycle, and use these products, at least at the common consumer level, will help reduce some fossil fuel usage. This paper will compare the energy usage in the product lifecycle, from production of materials to end waste, be it recycling or carbon waste, of the current methods of creating picnic coolers with some other new technologies such as bacterial eco-friendly plastics and thermoelectric cooling devices. Due to the known environmental impact in production and waste of plastics, creating common food-safe picnic coolers using alternate eco-friendly materials can help our environment the most if the overall lifecycle from production to recycling does not use more energy than the current production method.

Rigid plastic coolers are made up of  polymer rigid and foam plastics (Graser).  Most of the embodied energy in the lifecycle of rigid plastic coolers is used during the acquisition and refinement of raw materials and the manufacturing processes, as it is with fossil fuel products in general (Khripko).  “The production of plastic requires four basic steps: the acquirement of raw material, synthesizing a basic polymer, compounding the polymer into a usable fraction, and lastly, molding or shaping the plastic”(Statista).  The plastic industry energy consumption is generally segmented into four categories of: material melting, equipment operation, product cooling, and manufacturing (Quincy Compressor). There are different methods of plastic molding such as the extrusion method, injection molding, and blow molding (Quincy Compressor). The production of plastics in general “is quite energy intensive, requiring 62 to 108 mega joules of energy per kilogram based on U.S. efficiency averages” (Statista). The plastic industry has grown 500% since 1983 (Khripko). Global production of plastics in general in 2016 was 335 million metric tons (Statista). The plastic “industry contributes directly and indirectly to about 37 % of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and that in the near term, energy efficiency is potentially the most important and cost-effective means for mitigating emissions” (Khripko). The efficiency of high-consumption fossil fuel product manufacturing is dependent upon many factors including technology and climate control of operating temperatures during production (Khripko). It is interesting to note that climate change is not only a product of polymer manufacturing, but also affects energy usage in the manufacturing process.

Petro-chemical-based polymers are not bio-degradable and release toxins such as hydrogen chloride and hydrogen cyanide when incinerated in waste disposal (Muhammadi et al). Many rigid plastics are incinerated or end up as landfill (Rigamonti, et al). Though there are some recycling facilities that will take them, most consumers do not bother with recycling them in general, much less rigid plastic, as can be witnessed on a daily basis. “According to EPA, 9.1% of plastic material generated in the U.S. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) stream was recycled in 2015” (LeBlanc). Recycling plastic uses less energy than producing virgin plastic (LeBlanc). However, recycling petro-chemical plastics produces major GHG emissions (Astrup, et al).

Raw material acquisition, manufacturing, and waste of bio-polymers from sugar and ethanol has the potential to use significantly less energy than carbon-based plastics (Nonato). However due to non-standardization, bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates plastic  (PHA) “applications are limited by high production cost, low yield, in vivo degradation, complexity of technology and difficulty of extraction”  (Muhammadi, et al).  PHAs are biodegradable, recyclable, and non-toxic (Muhammadi, et al).

The embodied energy in the production of ice required in the usage should be considered, though there isn’t adequate data because consumer use variables. Thermoelectric materials could reduce embodied energy for cooling, but those materials do not appear to reduce embodied energy in manufacturing or production. Thermoelectric semi-conductor technology requires a mechanical component manufactured with metal products (II-VI Marlow). The raw material production of steel uses 6 times more energy than petro-chemical polymers (Gutowski). As with other mechanical cooling devices, this device would be difficult to recycle due to the design of the materials in proximity and accessibility to each other (II-VI Marlow). The use of thermoelectric freezing to produce ice isn’t feasible at large already because of its low efficiency (Sales).  Though thermoelectric devices may be more eco-friendly in their application, they do not appear to reduce embodied energy usage in manufacturing, and may actually use more embodied energy in recycling if they can be recycled at all in the future, only because recycling of rigid plastic materials is not adequately implemented as is and there is limited data on new eco-friendly thermoelectric material.

This paper does not offer information on the energy usage of the distribution and warehousing energy usage of rigid plastic coolers, or the energy usage of the retail display and warehousing space. Since the coolers range from a six-pack of canned soda to  marine mammal sizes, it is difficult to determine an estimate on transportation and storage energy usages based upon weight and volume. 

The acquisition of raw materials and production of petro-chemical plastic in general is energy intensive. The recycling of petro-chemical plastic is less energy intensive than virgin production. However, GHG emissions are high in the manufacturing, waste incineration, and recycling processes of petro-chemical plastic. The consumer use of rigid plastic coolers often requires ice that uses additional energy to produce.  In contrast, bio-polymers have the potential to use less energy in raw material acquisition, production, and recycling; however, without standardization the process is costly and inefficient.  Bio-polymers emit less GHG in raw material acquisition and production, and are recyclable and biodegradable. Thermoelectric technology could reduce the energy usage of producing ice, however thermoelectric technology isn’t as efficient as common refrigeration technology and would suffer the same issues of high energy production and limitations in recycling as other refrigeration technologies. Unless the weight and sizes of bio-plastic and/or thermoelectric rigid cooler products and/or demand for them differs greatly from the petro-plastic coolers generally available today, there will not be much of a energy change in distribution or warehousing of these products. Therefore, it appears that the best method of reducing energy usage in the overall product lifecycle consisting of acquisition of raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, usage, waste/recycling of food-safe, eco-friendly, rigid plastic coolers is through the standardized production of bio-plastics. Until this standardization is in place, the limitations of bio-plastic production and recycling will hamper energy efficiency in the product lifecycle. 

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