J. Martin, M.J. Hogg, A. Coleman, D. Chatman-Moore, V. Shah, E. Ruiz
Dow Inc.,
United States
Keywords: plastic, packaging, waste, recycling
Summary:
The future of plastic waste is rapidly evolving as value chains seek to identify opportunities to effectively collect, recycle and reuse plastic in multiple market sectors including packaging, automotive, and infrastructure. Thought leaders envision that waste will be viewed as a valuable resource that can be used to create new jobs and an effective set of ecosystems by which it is transformed into new materials or building blocks. Established processes to convert plastic waste, such as mechanical recycling, will continue to evolve with the implementation of technologies that effectively sort, clean, and convert back into feedstocks that approach the performance delivered by virgin plastic resins used today. Additional advances in recycling systems that convert plastic back into hydrocarbon or oligomeric feedstocks will be a vital part of the ecosystems where the demand for food-contact approved materials or routes to materials employed outside of the packaging sector require more innovative developments. Across the material recovery and repurposing systems, low-carbon solutions will continue to be demanded as the concepts of circularity and low-carbon become more entwined in both policy and infrastructure investment. This talk will discuss the options available and considerations for global and regional implementation.