Testing of a Plastic Melt Waste Compactor Designed for Human Space Exploration Missions

Low temperature ozone oxidation of solid waste surrogates

“…Compaction, pyrolysis, incineration, and microbial and ozone oxidation have been investigated because of their promise for safening wastes, reducing volume, recovering water and producing useful commodities such as methane, carbon dioxide and water. For example, NASA Ames Research Center has investigated the heat melt compaction of wet and dry wastes to reduce volume by ten-fold and recover water (Pace et al 2011;Jones et al 2013). Hard tiles will be produced if the waste stream contains a sufficient amount of plastics (approximately 20% or greater) to bind and enclose the other wastes.…”

Reducing Volume to Increase Capacity—Measures to Reduce Transport Energy for Recyclable Waste Collection

“…Another study by Pace et al [38] analyzed a heat melting compaction device developed by NASA to melt the plastics in the waste collected and encapsulate the waste in it. However, this kind of device does not allow for easy recycling of the waste collected as the plastics are melted and combined in an undistinguishable material.…”

An urgent call to think globally and act locally on landfill disposable plastics under and after covid-19 pandemic: Pollution prevention and technological (Bio) remediation solutions

“…Another strategy to reduce plastics for landfills (here, only the waste volume) involves plastic compactors. Such technology melts plastic waste into a disk, reducing water and consequently the surface area available for biodegradation, adsorption of contaminants, and leaching of monomers and additives [94]. All the previously mentioned approaches require, however, the separation of plastic waste from mixed wastes.…”