Recycled Resin: The Horizon of Recycling The Dawn of Technology for Transforming into Construction Materials (1994)
In 1994, Japan was in the midst of a contradiction created by mass production and mass disposal. Waste plastic, still being discharged in the afterglow of Japan's rapid economic growth, had accumulated to over 8 million tons per year, and landfills were chronically short of space. With the lack of places to bury the waste in many parts of the country, the industrial world and the government were confronted with the reality that the old disposal methods would not work. Amid this sense of crisis, the Recycling Law was enacted in 1991, and society as a whole made a major shift toward treating plastics as a recyclable resource.
The construction industry focused its attention on this situation. Construction materials such as roads, seawalls, landscape panels, and temporary construction materials were in huge demand, making them ideal for receiving large quantities of recycled resin. The characteristics of resin, which does not rust like metal, does not rot like wood, and is light and easy to process, began to show new value as a material for public spaces. ZEON's RIM molding technology for DCPD resin was suitable for manufacturing large components, and demonstrated the application of recycled resin to construction materials as a reality.
This trend was also synchronized internationally. In Europe, waste directives were being tightened, and in the United States, the EPA was pushing recycling policies. As the world sought to end the mass-waste society, the use of recycled resin in the construction sector became a symbolic technology. Plastic, which had been discarded in large quantities, became a material for shaping the urban landscape, turning the end point of disposal into the starting point of circulation. At this turning point, the application of recycled resin in construction quietly emerged.
No comments:
Post a Comment