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Scientific analysis and media coverage of rampant plastic pollution has taken a toll on the material's reputation in recent years, fueling talk of a “plastic crisis”. Brand owners have made ambitious pledges to overcome this crisis—but can voluntary commitments turn the tide? In this paper, we analyze the current flow of polyethylene terephthalate...
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... To broaden the reach of waste-collection services, a collaboration between start-ups and other parties such as the government and industry is crucial [61]. Another mitigation strategy is to involve producer companies in helping to invest and build waste recycling facilities as a form of responsibility for the waste generated by their companies [62,63]. ...
Household waste management is still a problem that has not been fully solved in various countries, regions, and even in households, due to various factors from within and outside the individual. Nevertheless, efforts to improve waste management continue, including the Willingness to Pay (WTP) model for better waste management. The research hypothesizes that various important factors that influence WTP can lead to a circular economy. The research data is collected through an online survey with a total of 255 respondents, which overall discusses waste and the strategies in its management. Based on factor analysis, the area of residence (rural or urban areas) and the income of respondents have a significant effect on WTP decisions. Furthermore, the WTP decision is tested through respondents’ perceptions of various aspects of the circular economy that have an impact on health, awareness, desire, ability, and marketing prospects of waste which, when tested using the Spearman correlation, shows correlation between all aspects. We recommend these results to stakeholders to improve the management system of household waste management in both rural and urban areas through the WTP system, to achieve a circular economy.
... In all these cases, consistent and intelligent tracking can support bringing plastic products with a competitive advantage to the market. In addition, technological advances in physical and chemical tracking can contribute to circular economy ambitions [32]. A sustainable business model for plastics is defined as minimizing environmental damage through improved waste management, recovery of plastics from the environment, or reuse of plastics [33]. ...
... intelligent tracking can support bringing plastic products with a competitive advantage to the market. In addition, technological advances in physical and chemical tracking can contribute to circular economy ambitions [32]. A sustainable business model for plastics is defined as minimizing environmental damage through improved waste management, recovery of plastics from the environment, or reuse of plastics [33]. ...
At the moment, it looks like the plastics recycling industry is skimming only low-hanging fruits of its business. To reach intended targets, a greater effort and disruptive innovations are necessary. Physical- or digital-information-based solutions for tracking plastic material can support the circular economy and help to overcome hurdles along the value chain. In this paper, the scientific literature and initiatives in four different technology areas for information-based tracking solutions are reviewed and analyzed. Physical markers can improve sorting efficiencies on short notice but adhere some technical difficulties. Blockchain as a new concept promises high transparency and security, with the drawbacks of energy-intense verification and technical uncertainties. As a third group, the digital product passport claims a combination of physical and digital solutions with open questions on data ownership. The fourth and last group includes standards and certification systems that aim for maximum consensus with slow market implementation. To enable an integrated circular economy of plastics, plastic material tracking solutions must experience broad acceptance by all players along the value chain in the plastics industry and they should additionally be supported by society.
... In recent years, many well-known brands have made public commitments on plastic packaging recycling and taken action to improve the design of plastic packaging [75,76]. For example, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestle promised to achieve 100% recyclability or reuse of their packaging by 2025. ...
Confronted with serious environmental problems caused by the growing mountains of plastic packaging waste, the prevention and control of plastic waste has become a major concern for most countries. In addition to the recycling of plastic wastes, design for recycling can effectively prevent plastic packaging from turning into solid waste at the source. The reasons are that the design for recycling can extend the life cycle of plastic packaging and increase the recycling values of plastic waste; moreover, recycling technologies are helpful for improving the properties of recycled plastics and expanding the application market for recycled materials. This review systematically discussed the present theory, practice, strategies, and methods of design for recycling plastic packaging and extracted valuable advanced design ideas and successful cases. Furthermore, the development status of automatic sorting methods, mechanical recycling of individual and mixed plastic waste, as well as chemical recycling of thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic waste, were comprehensively summarized. The combination of the front-end design for recycling and the back-end recycling technologies can accelerate the transformation of the plastic packaging industry from an unsustainable model to an economic cycle model and then achieve the unity of economic, ecological, and social benefits.
... 4 Approximately, 73 million tons of PET were produced globally in 2020, whereas only 9% of PET was recycled. 5 Most of these disposable plastics ended up as trash accumulated in landfills or in the oceans, causing significant harm to the environment in terms of water, air, and land pollution. The decomposition of PET can take several decades; so, it is not surprising that biomagnification and bioaccumulation in oceans and other water bodies have transferred these materials to humans. ...
Plastic production has steadily increased worldwide at a staggering pace. The polymer industry is, unfortunately, C-intensive, and accumulation of plastics in the environment has become a major issue. Plastic waste valorization into fresh monomers for production of virgin plastics can reduce both the consumption of fossil feedstocks and the environmental pollution, making the plastic economy more sustainable. Recently, the chemical recycling of plastics has been studied as an innovative solution to achieve a fully sustainable cycle. In this way, plastics are depolymerized to their monomers or/and oligomers appropriate for repolymerization, closing the loop. In this work, PET was depolymerized to its bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) monomer via glycolysis, using ethylene glycol (EG) in the presence of niobia-based catalysts. Using a sulfated niobia catalyst treated at 573 K, we obtained 100% conversion of PET and 85% yield toward BHET at 195 °C in 220 min. This approach allows recycling of the PET at reasonable conditions using an inexpensive and nontoxic material as a catalyst.
Due to the increasing production of plastic soft drink bottles, accompanied by the accumulation of plastic waste in landfills, our society is encouraging the development of recycling industries around the world, with a special focus on recycling post-consumer PET (polyethylene terephthalate, the world's third most dominant plastic) for food contact applications (i.e., for single-use items). Plastics have indeed become a threat to the environment because of the lack of recycling technologies, which could instead enable the production of high-quality polymers from scrap materials, at an equal or lower cost compared to the production of the corresponding virgin polymer from crude oil.
PET has a great recycling potential if compared to the other most diffused plastics, and it can be treated in many different ways. In this chapter, the very broad spectrum of all the available technologies for PET recycling is presented (from the zero-order to the fourth-order recycling) with particular attention to mechanical and chemical recycling. Indeed, the former is currently the best available technology for PET recycling at the industrial level, while the latter represents the best perspective for PET recycling in terms of circular economy, allowing to get back the monomer building blocks from complex waste materials and using the monomers to produce a new recycled polymer. Advantages and disadvantages of the current state of the art are highlighted, aiming to identify the viability of every process at the industrial scale.
To achieve a sustainable circular economy, polymers need to start transitioning to recycled and biobased feedstock and accomplish CO2 emission neutrality. This is not only true for structural polymers, such as in packaging or engineering applications, but also for functional polymers in liquid formulations, such as adhesives, lubricants, thickeners or dispersants. At their end of life, polymers need to be either collected and recycled via a technical pathway, or be biodegradable if they are not collectable. Advances in polymer chemistry and applications, aided by computational material science, open the way to addressing these issues comprehensively by designing for recyclability and biodegradability. This review explores how scientific advances, together with emerging regulatory frameworks, societal expectations and economic boundary conditions, paint pathways for the transformation towards a circular economy of polymers.
To achieve a sustainable circular economy, polymers need to start transitioning to recycled and biobased feedstock and accomplish CO2 emission neutrality. This is not only true for structural polymers, such as in packaging or engineering applications, but also for functional polymers in liquid formulations, such as adhesives, lubricants, thickeners or dispersants. At their end of life, polymers need to be either collected and recycled via a technical pathway, or be biodegradable if they are not collectable. Advances in polymer chemistry and applications, aided by computational material science, open the way to addressing these issues comprehensively by designing for recyclability and biodegradability. This review explores how scientific advances, together with emerging regulatory frameworks, societal expectations and economic boundary conditions, paint pathways for the transformation towards a circular economy of polymers.
The challenge for a circular plastics economy transition is to focus policies on key leverage points that initiate actual system transitions. This requires a systemic perspective on the plastics industries. This study takes such a systemic perspective by employing a network approach to examine the often-underestimated complexity of interrelating markets in a circular plastics economy, and their structural sensitivity to governance interventions. Based on the case of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) markets in Germany, we investigate the structures and underlying dynamics of increasing circularity in the PET industry. Concerns about plastic litter accumulating in the natural environment have facilitated the development of niche markets for the recycling of plastic litter recovered from the environment. We systematically reveal that recycling markets connecting diverse waste sources with a broad range of new applications are key areas of intervention in the structural transitions towards circular industries. By connecting otherwise disconnected parts of the system, the recycling of recovered plastic litter is a key leverage point for the circular economy transition. We recommend to focus governance efforts on such key leverage markets as powerful venues to initiate systemic change.
