Waste polymers, essentially plastic packages, make up a significant fraction of solid wastes in a crewed space habitat. While logistic limitations preclude consideration of recovery/recycling technologies that have proven viable on Earth, the challenge in space is to provide materials and processes that minimize the volume of stored waste plastics and which allow recovery at the completion of a mission.
Curlee, T.R. (1986), The Economic Feasibility of Recycling. New York: Praeger Publishers.
2.
Erwin, L. (1990), Packaging and Solid Waste: Management Strategies . The American Management Association.
3.
Finlayson, K.M. (1990), Plastic Film Technology: Vol. 1; High Barrier Plastic Filmfor PackagingLancaster, PA: Technomic Publishing.
4.
Gill, S.E. & Olson, T.M. (1990), Study of Plastic Waste Management aboard USS Doyle (FFG39), Report DTRC/SME-88/71-April. David Taylor Research Center, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.
5.
Leidner, J. (1981), Plastic Waste-Recovery of Economic Value. New York: Marcel Dekker.
6.
Modern Plastics (1990), Waste solutions. April Supplement.
7.
Olson, T.M., Gill, S.E. & Alig, C.S. (1989), Study of Solid and Plastic Waste Management aboard USS Emory S. Laud (AS39). DTRC/SME-88/46-March. David Taylor Research Center, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.
8.
Plastic World (1990), Earth Day 1990—plastics meet the challenge. April 22 issue.
9.
Porter, J.W. (1989), The Solid Waste Dilemma: An Agenda for Action , EPA Report No. PB89-187637-LBR. Cincinnati, Ohio: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
10.
Tesoro, G.C. (1987), Recycling of synthetic polymers for energy conservation , Polymer News, 12, 265-268.
11.
Tesoro, G.C. (1990), Polymers and the environment. Part (a) an overview , Polymer News, 15, 282-285. Part (b) The state of the art on secondary recycling, Polymer News , 15, 312-313.