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Defining Aspects of Plastic Recycling in a Circular Economy?
Citation:
Glaser, John A., E. Sahle-Demessie, AND T. Richardson. Defining Aspects of Plastic Recycling in a Circular Economy? American Chemical Society National Meeting- Atlanta, GA, Atlanta, GA, August 22 - 26, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
The importance of a circular economy is manifestly important to the recycling efforts of plastic materials. Society has become enamored with a linear economy system based on generation, use and disposal. When applied to single use plastic objects insufficient care is applied to the wasted item and poor disposal is a result. Furthermore, a recycle system based on a circular economic system provides for the extended use of plastic materials as they are reprocessed after use and incorportated in new plastic items of desired utility. There are many considerations associated with the circular economy application to plastic recycle such as the economic support, proficient recycling technology, and society's committment to recycling waste assets.
Description:
Plastics have become ubiquitous pollutants across the globe. The value of plastic is easily seen in its myriad uses ranging from durable to single-use applications. Current information suggests that the chemical building blocks of plastics might harm people and the environment. These chemicals can be absorbed by humans and some of these building blocks have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health effects. Wildlife can be injured or poisoned through contact with plastic debris possibly contaminated with toxic chemicals. Our overuse of disposable plastic items is seen to be a major problem with potentially severe environmental consequences. Increased use of disposable plastics has challenged current resource management efforts. International changes to available recycling pathways have opened a field of alternatives for consideration as productive and environmentally conscious recycling technology. The repurposing of used plastics can be accomplished through technology based on purification, decomposition or conversion approaches. Depolymerization technologies ranging from bench-scale demonstration to full scale implementation are becoming investment targets. Notable examples involve liquefaction, methanolysis, or cross alkane metathesis processes. Plastics-to-fuel strategies are prominent in the catalog of processes under investigation. The importance of a circular plastic economy to these aspects of recycling enterprise need to be investigated to determine how sustainable these efforts can be. Clearly, it is important to provide sustainable management of used plastics while employing these emerging technologies. Closed supply chain constraints offer optimal solutions to the recycling needs of our society. A variety of assessment approaches can contribute to a more complete knowledge of used plastics recycling technology development. 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.