Recycling of polymeric materials

Abstract

Plastic is a ubiquitous material in modern society, used in everything from packaging to consumer goods to industrial applications. Plastic is versatile, durable, lightweight, chemical resistance, flexible and cost-effective, making it the popular choice for many applications. In 2016, the production of polymer reached approximately 300 million metric tons (Mmt). The availability of raw material to manufacture plastic are abundant, achieving high-yield production globally, resulting in lowered manufacturing cost. The lifespan of plastic varies based on its usage. For example, single use plastic like food packaging can be used once, and for some plastic used in construction industry, it can last around 35 years.

The increasing use of plastic has led to significant costs to the environment. Plastic is a synthetic material, which can be hard to decompose, leading to the accumulation of plastic waste annually. Plastic waste is a threat to the environment as most of the waste as most of it ends up in landfill, shorelines, or oceans. This threatens the marine ecosystem as microplastic or particles from plastic were detected in the bodies of marine life. Also, large land acquisition is required for disposal of plastic waste. Despite the negative impacts on the environment, the recycling rate for plastic remains relatively low with around 16 % of plastic being recycled globally.

Recycling is the most promising approach to reduce the amount of plastic waste as well as the need for virgin plastic. However, there is no perfect solution as there are challenges with plastic recycling. The process of purposing plastic waste into pellets emits carbon and toxic gases, which can leak into the atmosphere. To address these issue, an alternative method is introduced to repurpose plastic waste for mass recycling. Polymer block is introduced in an investigation to minimise the amount of energy required to break the chemical bonds, and to reduce carbon emission during the process. This will reduce the repetition of recycling and increase the lifetime of plastic waste. These polymer blocks will be embedded into various applications to investigate the effectiveness of recycling large amount of plastic waste, as well as minimising the dependency on raw materials.