FACULTY OF RESOURCE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
STK 3093 – ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
ASSIGNMENT 4: WASTE MINIMIZATION FOR FRST GENERAL
OFFICE
DATE OF : 11th December 2019
SUBMISSIO
N
LECTURER : DR WEE BOON SIONG
NAME
No Matric No Name
1. 62662 SUNNY DESHWEEN ANAK DESHON KAMAN
2. 64245 HANIF BIN MOHD TEDDY
3. 64138 SHARIFAH ZULAIKHA BINTI SYED SAHIMI
4. 63207 FATIN IZZATI BINTI MOHD FAIZAL
5. 63349 MOHAMMAD SHAHRIL NAZRIN BIN ZULKEFLE
TABLE OF CONTENT
1
CONTENT PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
OBJECTIVE 3
FINDINGS 4-6
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS 7 – 10
REFERENCES 11
2
INTRODUCTION
Collecting office waste is certain because it is a common waste for every type of office
including for Faculty of Resource Science and Technology (FRST) general office. FRST general
office handling various tasks such as student’s registration as well as schedules, class
management, the printing of examination papers, record keeping and provide services to student
and staff. A certain task that the office needs to handle uses a lot of paperwork, packaging and
other materials. Our task is to conduct a visit and collect all the information on how FRST
general office handling the office waste after generates it. In this report, we will list up all the
findings and suggest the innovative and practical way to manage the waste in the office. Hence,
more space, time and resource can gain from minimizing the waste in the office.
OBJECTIVES
The main objectives for this report are to identify the types of wastes produced in the
FRST general office and providing the recommendation on minimization of the waste from the
office. Hence, with the findings on waste in FRST general office, the office can “Go Green
Office” and a few recommendations to handle the waste can be applied.
3
FINDINGS
The results from the waste audit carried out as Step 1 will indicate the waste streams generated in
the office, which can be used as the basis for a segregation strategy. Typical waste streams may
include the following:
a) Paper
b) Cardboard
c) Printer and toner cartridges
d) Plastic, Paper Cups, and Aluminium
e) Drinks Cans
f) Stationery
g) Food packaging
h) Furniture
i) Batteries
j) Electrical equipment
Stationery
One of the main waste products produced in the facility is paper. These papers are originated
from the many kinds of documents that are collected and handled by the general office. These
include various kinds of forms required for procedures, SOPs, etc. Furthermore, it is found the
office also stores a large amount of student thesis including duplicates that are no more in use.
This further escalates the accumulation of paper waste produced and stored by the general office.
There are several types of stationeries waste found at the general office which are pens,
pencils, correction fluids, glue sticks, envelopes and files. Pens and pencils are used to record
information regarding undergraduate students and staffs. Once the ink of the pen is fully used,
the pens become waste at the general office. Same goes to the pencil, it is used and sharpened till
it becomes short and cannot be used anymore. Correction fluid is used but not as important as
pens and pencils. A glue stick is commonly found at an office like FRST General Office where it
is used to adheres two papers together or applied to the envelopes. The must-have stationery
would be the files and folders where they are used to store documents and bills. Without files and
folders, important documents belong to an organization cannot be managed.
4
Cardboard
Based on our survey, we have also found an amount of cardboard being strewed about. It
is speculated that the cardboard was once used during meeting presentations as well as various
presentations such as information booths as well as various decorative purposes.
Printer and toner cartridges
Empty printer and toner cartridges that have been used are also found to be one of the
types of waste that are produced. This is due to the frequent printing of documents using up ink
and toner.
Plastic/Paper Cups and Aluminum Cans
Waste such as plastic and paper cups are also present. This could be due to using
disposable utensils to consume food. Furthermore, recyclable trash such as aluminium cans fills
the trash bins indicating frequent consumption of canned/vending machine drinks. This trash can
be easily recycled both on one’s own and by sending it to appropriate recycling factories.
Food packaging
Another waste that is found during the visit to the general office is food packaging. It is a
common waste to be found at any office since certain staffs bring their own food for lunch. They
will usually be gathering the food packaging in a small bin near their desks. So, it looks more
organized and cleaner.
Furniture
Furniture is used to make the general office more comfortable to staffs and it includes
desk table, cubicle desk, seating chair and sofa. But there are several units of furniture at the
general office that are no longer used such as the sofa. It is not used anymore because it has some
tears with sponges came out from it which make anyone that is sitting there feels uncomfortable.
This waste needed to be cleared as soon as possible since it takes much space and obstructs the
path.
5
Batteries
Used up batteries are the among waste found at the general office. They are previously
used to empowering the sound system at the tutorial room and TMM such as the microphone.
The FRST General Office supplies batteries to every classroom in the faculty. After a certain
time, the batteries are fully used up and it is returned to the general office. This make general
office is storing the batteries waste.
6
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the waste generated from the general office can be handled in another way rather
than recycling the paper.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Implementing the 3R concept.
Referring to reduce, reuse and recycle, the 3R is a very popular and well-known concept,
especially in terms of consumption and production. Particularly paper waste, cutting back on the
paper use by setting printers and photocopiers to double-sided settings can reduce the number of
papers used. Working with electronic documents and files instead of hard copy versions can
further reduce paper usage.
Introducing an upcycle station in the office is a great way to implement the 3R concept. Old
staplers, hole punchers, labels and files are some of many things that, as long as they are not
crushed, can be used for a very long time. One may not need them anymore so they can put them
at the upcycle station so it could be used by other people in need. Some envelopes can be reused
by simply place a new address sticker over the old address and send it away. This also cuts the
cost of buying new things.
In addition to recycling paper, there are plenty of other waste items the general office can be
diverting from landfill. Recycling nowadays goes above paper, cans, and bottles. Conducting
a waste audit of the facility to help gain a better understanding of what materials are being
trashed and if any these items can be recycled instead can help encourage the workers to recycle.
To make this concept a complete success, the company should put recycling bins in the office at
least as accessible as bins for waste going to landfill.
7
2. Recycle gadgets and electrical equipment.
Computers, cell phones, and other e-waste items are a few of the vast materials recycling
companies can reclaim and repurpose. For example, wires that are broken have components in it
like the copper core that can still be used for other equipment. Other than that, the usage of
rechargeable batteries is recommended as it can cut the amount of non-rechargeable batteries
used and save money in the long run.
3. Compostable materials are collected and processed properly.
When an organic matter like food waste goes to the landfill, it ends up
decomposing anaerobically or without oxygen. This process creates methane, a greenhouse gas
20 to 35 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. Separating items into
categories of what can be decomposed and the one that cannot be the first step of decomposing.
Food does not belong in landfills. Therefore, if food and other organic waste are composted
instead of throwing it away, fewer landfills will be left and they would emit less methane gas.
4. Recycling old furniture.
Unwanted furniture can be donated or sold in a garage sale provided they are still in a usable
condition. If they are not, by sending them to a professional restoration expert, refinishing the
furniture should be considered to get a new look. Reupholstering the old chairs and couches with
a new fabric should be done if needed. On the other hand, if the old furniture is beyond saving,
repurpose them may be the best way to conserve it. For example, old lockers can be used as shoe
storage, the broken ladder can be used to hang towels in the pantry of the office, and a wooden
packing crate can be repurposed as a side table to stack documents or magazines.
5. Envelope
The used envelope can be reused to reduce municipal waste. There are many ways to reduce
the waste of the envelope by reusing them back. One way to reuse the envelope is by
deconstructing the envelope and reconstruct the envelope. The step involves switching the inside
of the envelope with outside the envelope. Another than that, apply creativity on the envelope
such as cover the envelope with arts.
8
6. Extraction of cellulose fibre from wastepaper.
Cellulose fibre from wastepaper can be used to produce a new product. Cellulose fibre can be
used to create composite material such as polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and polyurethane. The
product produced from the wastepaper can generate the income of the faculty and reduce waste
of paper. Extraction of cellulose fibre from wastepaper is possible because of most of the paper
created from pulp of wood. After that, because of paper contain cellulose fibre so the chemical
compound present in the paper are Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. So, the extraction can be
done using a suitable solvent.
The extraction of cellulose fibre from wastepaper can be carried out using alkali treatment,
the bleaching treatment and acid hydrolysis. The method was carried out by Nurain Johar et al.
(2012) when she did her treatment through extraction, preparation a well as characterize the
cellulose fibres and nanocrystals from rice husk. First, the alkali treatment will be removing
lignin and hemicellulose from the wastepaper fibres to purify the cellulose. An alkali solution (4
wt.% NaOH) will be used to treat the wastepaper. The mixture will be transferred to a round
bottom flask and a 2-hour reflux temperature treatment will be performed. The solid will then
filtered and washed with distilled water several times. The process treatment will be repeated
three times.
Then, following alkali treatment, the bleaching cycle will be completed by applying a buffer
solution of acetic acid, aqueous chlorite (1.7 wt.%) and reflux distilled water (using a 100–130 C
silicon oil bath) for 4 hours. The mixture will be allowed to cool, and the excess distilled water
will be used to filter. the bleaching process will be repeated four times.
Lastly, after alkali treatment and bleaching at a temperature of 50 C using 10.0 mol L−1 of
sulphuric acid (pre-heated) for 40 min under continuous stirring, the acid hydrolysis treatment
will be performed on the fibres. For 10 minutes, the hydrolyzed material will be washed at
10,000 rpm by centrifugation. This centrifugation stage will repeat several times before the
suspension was dialyzed for several days against distilled water before constant pH was reached
in the range of 5 to 6. The resulting sample will be cellulose fibre after sonicated 30 minutes.
9
However, the extraction can lead to another waste such as chemical waste. For example,
hydrolysis with acid can lead to acid pollutants. Thus, an eco-friendly method for the extraction
of cellulose is needed. While for eco-friendly method, the extraction can be done using
ultrasonication and various mechanical pretreatment (Feng et al., 2018). Pretreatments included
continuous steam explosion, hydrothermal treatment with alkali-catalyzed dilution (0.4 wt.%
NaOH), and hydrogen peroxide bleaching.
10
REFERENCE
Feng, Y. H., Cheng, T. Y., Yang, W. G., Ma, P. T., He, H. Z., Yin, X. C., & Yu, X. X. (2018).
Characteristics and environmentally friendly extraction of cellulose nanofibrils from
sugarcane bagasse. Industrial Crops and Products, 111, 285–291. doi:
10.1016/j.indcrop.2017.10.041
Johar, N., Ahmad, I., & Dufresne, A. (2012). Extraction, preparation and characterization of
cellulose fibres and nanocrystals from rice husk. Industrial Crops and Products, 37(1),
93–99. doi: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2011.12.016
Lawson, E. (2017, July 7). 5 ways to recycle your old furniture. Retrieved December 10, 2019,
from https://www.greenhomeguide.com/know-how/article/5-ways-to-recycle-your-old-
furniture.
11
