ISTC researchers look for ways to keep plastics useful when they can no longer be recycled. One approach is to turn plastics back into the original petrochemicals to make other valuable products like fuels, waxes, and lubricants. These options not only avoid the landfill, but also create new industries and job markets.
About Plastics
Plastic is durable, lightweight, and convenient, which is why it is used so often in packaging. Its low cost also makes it popular for single-use, disposable products. However, that convenience comes with an environmental cost. Landfilled plastics take anywhere from 10 to 1,000 years to break down into smaller and smaller pieces (called microplastics), depending on the plastic type and landfill conditions. Furthermore, petrochemicals, the building blocks of plastics, come from petroleum oil, which is a finite resource.
Although recycling is an option, only some plastics are recyclable. They are:
- 1 (PET: polyethylene terephthalate),
- 2 (HDPE: high-density polyethylene),
- 4 (LDPE: low-density polyethylene), and
- 5 (PP: polypropylene)
Although polystyrene (#6, also known as Styrofoam) is recyclable, not all recyclers accept it.
Unlike glass and many metals, plastics cannot be recycled infinitely. The chemical structure of the plastic polymers degrade each time it is heated and molded into new products. In addition, some impurities from other types of plastics are incorporated each time plastic is recycled. These impurities from other resins change how the plastic performs (fixability, durability, resistance to UV breakdown, etc.). Degraded plastic polymers often get mixed together to form composite plastic products that are no longer recyclable.