Advances and approaches for chemical recycling of plastic waste

Abstract The global production and consumption of plastics has increased at an alarming rate over the last few decades. The accumulation of pervasive and persistent waste plastic has concomitantly increased in landfills and the environment. The societal, ecological, and economic problems of plastic waste/pollution demand immediate and decisive action. In 2015, only 9% of plastic waste was successfully recycled in the United States. The major current recycling processes focus on the mechanical recycling of plastic waste; however, even this process is limited by the sorting/pretreatment of plastic waste and degradation of plastics during the process. An alternative to mechanical processes is chemical recycling…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 1708844, CHE-1708844
• DF
  Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences

  Awards: CHE‐1708844, CHE-1708844
• DO
  Division of Chemistry

  Award: CHE-1708844