The excessive amount of global plastic produced over the past century, together with poor waste management, has raised concerns about environmental sustainability. Plastic recycling has become a practical approach for diminishing plastic waste and maintaining sustainability among plastic waste management methods. Chemical and mechanical recycling are the typical approaches to recycling plastic waste, with a simple process, low cost, environmentally friendly process, and potential profitability. Several plastic materials, such as polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, and polyurethanes, can be recycled with chemical and mechanical recycling approaches. Nevertheless, due to plastic waste’s varying physical and chemical properties, plastic waste separation becomes a challenge. Hence, a reliable and effective plastic waste separation technology is critical for increasing plastic waste’s value and recycling rate. Integrating recycling and plastic waste separation technologies would be an efficient method for reducing the accumulation of environmental contaminants produced by plastic waste, especially in industrial uses. This review addresses recent advances in plastic waste recycling technology, mainly with chemical recycling. The article also discusses the current recycling technology for various plastic materials.

Aflatoxin is a dangerous secondary metabolite produced by some species in the Aspergillus genus. Aflatoxin contamination is considered as critical indicator for good quality of agricultural product, due to its carcinogenic effect to human and animal health. The contamination of aflatoxin in maize occurred at pre-and post-harvest stage when the environment condition is optimum for the mycotoxin growth. The contamination is possibly appeared along distribution chain from field to maize storage. However, the high risk of aflatoxin contamination point along maize distribution chain still unknown. Therefore, identification of high risk aflatoxin contamination along maize distribution chain for preventive handling is necessary. In this study, the aflatoxin contamination risk was determined along maize distribution chain, from field to maize storage. This study was conducted in one of maize enterprise in East Lampung. The distribution chain scope starts from harvest in the field until the maize ready to sell to feed company, without drying treatment. The distribution chain point was determined become 3 point: maize field (Point 1), before threshing/corncob in storage (Point 2) and before send to feed company/maize threshed (Point 3). The maize kernel was collected from each point for further analysis. Our results suggested for maize enterprise actor to put concern in maize handling at storage after threshing, especially controlling in environmental storage condition and time storage, to reduce aflatoxin contamination.

Zanthoxylum acanthopodium, locally known as Andaliman, is exotic spices which grown in North Sumatera. Several investigation shown that the special taste and aroma comes from pericarp of Andaliman. However, the pericarp of Andaliman is easily degraded. The proper postharvest handling of Andaliman is necessary to preserve fresh Andaliman for long time. Previously, Andaliman has been preserved in packaging under room temperature storage. Further investigation of Andaliman preservation in packaging under low temperature storage would help reduces the postharvest losses. In this study, the physical changes of Andaliman in various packaging under low-temperature storage were observed. The results shown that within 2 days, the pericarp of Andaliman in paper packaging was shrunk, similarly found in control without packaging. Meanwhile, the pericarp of Andaliman in aluminum foil and PP plastic were found normal in day 3. This result indicated that in low-temperature, Andaliman in Aluminum foil was recommended for best postharvest handling.

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