Three ways to solve the plastics recycling problem
It is easy to say we don’t want plastics in our environment. The hard work is figuring out how we do that while preserving the functionality of packaging materials and their role in shelf life and the reduction of food waste. Mars and the Department of Energy (DoE) put 150 of the top scientists and industry experts in a room together last December to solve for this dilemma. Their recent report that summarizes the outputs of those discussions, states:
"Current recycling methods often do not allow for profitable recycling of commonly used plastics. As a result, only 14% of the 78 million tons of plastic packaging produced each year are collected for recycling, and only 2% are recycled into the same-or similar-quality applications."
Only 2% recycled! Now that’s a tough challenge to fix. From the discussions that took place at the DoE’s Plastics for a Circular Economy Workshop, the group of scientists and experts identified three areas of innovation that really try and get to that "hard part" of the recycling plastic challenge. I think of them as 1) upcycle, 2) design and 3) measure. So, what do they mean by these three ideas?
- Upcycle the old - Innovate deconstruction methods for breaking plastic down into valuable components as opposed to waste. Without economic models for plastic recycling it will continue to "leak" or should we say flood, into the environment.
- Design the new - Create new materials that are recyclable by design and provide a new value stream that reduces environmental accumulation and incentivizes closed-loop collection. Alternatively design new materials that are truly biodegradable or compostable and maintain critical functionality.
- Measure what matters - Develop standardized specifications for mixed recycled waste and frameworks for assessing the energy and environmental impacts of new materials.
I’m excited by the work of my colleague Dr. Eric Klingenberg at The Mars Advanced Research Institute (MARI) to seek collaborations across industries and find solutions for our plastic waste challenge.
#sustainability #circulareconomy #recycling #sustainable #environment #proudlymars #marswrigley #TomorrowStartsToday