title: Minimizing waste polymers in space.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, New York 11201, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tesoro
mesh_terms: D018504:Ecological Systems, Closed; D018857:Food Packaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D008021:Life Support Systems / Q000295:instrumentation; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D013026:Space Flight / Q000639:trends; D018531:Spacecraft / Q000295:instrumentation; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers