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Are reliable and emerging technologies available for plastic recycling in a circular economy?
Citation:
Glaser, John A., E. Sahle-Demessie, AND T. Richardson. Are reliable and emerging technologies available for plastic recycling in a circular economy? ACS National Meeting San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, April 05 - 30, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
Plastic use has led to the widespread population of our environment with undesirable plastic waste. Claims that plastic materials could be effectively recycled has never shown the expected impact. Today's plastic recycling hovers around 10% which is unacceptable for our desired recycling objectives. The proper utilization of this source calls for a more sustainable answer to how we transform plastic materials into reuse chemicals and materials to complement the use of virgin polymeric materials. Each recycling process deserved the proper scrutiny to ascertain how well a process meets sustainability objectives and how it contributes the the formation of a circular economy which supports plastic recycling and reuse.
Description:
A spectrum of plastics has been produced by US production across the last 70 years. Plastic debris has become ubiquitous to the landscape and aquatic resources leading to human health concerns and sustainability issues. In the intervening time, plastic production increased faster than that of any other manufactured material. Current recycling of all plastic materials is pegged at 10% or less. Plastics’ social value is reflected in its myriad uses for engineered durability to single-use applications. Past disposal practices relied on waste plastic flows to certain countries for disposal but these have been summarily curtailed. Disposable or single-use plastic items have become a major problem with severe environmental consequences. Increased use of disposables continues to challenge resource management efforts aimed to achieving sustainability. The closing of past recycling pathways has led to the investigation of alternatives as productive and environmentally conscious recycling technology. The repurposing of used plastics can be accomplished through use of technologies based on purification, decomposition or conversion approaches to waste plastic utilization. Established and emerging mechanical and chemical technologies ranging for bench-scale demonstrations to full scale implementation are becoming investment targets across the globe. Notable examples involve thermal, chemical and biological depolymerization processes. Pyrolytic technologies using plastics-to-fuel strategies are prominent in the catalogue of processes under investigation. The ideal of closed supply chain constraints offers optimal solutions to the recycling needs of our society. Evaluation of new processes require performance assessment that can provide a more complete understanding of how used plastics recycling technology development can contribute to the environment and the sustainable reuse of plastic materials. Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this abstract have not been formally disseminated by the USEPA and should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy.