With only a small percentage of plastics recycled, determining the best way to recycle and reuse these materials may enable higher adoption of plastics recycling and reduce plastic waste pollution. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) examined the benefits and trade-offs of current and emerging technologies for recycling certain types of plastics to determine the most appropriate options.
Overview of the analysis scope. A cradle-to-gate approach is used to assess the recycling technologies from the materials recovery facility plastic bale through to recycling, repolymerization (if applicable), and extrusion to pellets; production, use, and collection of the original plastic are not included. Virgin polymers are assessed for fossil feedstock extraction, monomer synthesis, polymerization, and extrusion; use and disposal are not included. Credit: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c05497 The researchers provided a comparison of various technologies for closed-loop recycling, which allow for the reuse of plastic through mechanical or chemical processing, eliminating the need for fossil-fuel-derived virgin materials. They considered technical metrics such as material quality and retention, as well as environmental metrics including energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. "We know cost is one of the primary—if not the primary—drivers for recycling for companies wanting to invest in it," said Taylor Uekert, lead author of "Technical, economic, and environmental comparison of closed-loop recycling technologies for common plastics," which appears in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. "But I think it's just so important to remember that there are other things that are equally important for our life on this planet, and we need to be considering those environmental impacts as well." Her co-authors, all from NREL, are Avantika Singh, Jason DesVeaux, Tapajyoti Ghosh, Arpit Bhatt, Geetanjali Yadav, Shaik Afzal, Julien Walzberg, Katrina Knauer, Scott Nicholson, Gregg Beckham, and Alberta Carpenter. The article outlines how effectively…