The role of technological innovation in plastic production within a circular economy framework

Abstract

The growing plastic waste problem has been highlighted by nature programmes like the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) War on Plastic series with the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2016 report estimating that by 2050, there could be more plastic than fish in the world's oceans. This has prompted the call for a shift from the linear model of tackling the plastic waste issue to that of a Circular Economy model with increasing demand for recycled resin to be incorporated into the plastic production process alongside virgin resin. However, recycled content are often associated with problems like lack of stability between various combinations of virgin/recycle polymers, which may lead to variations in temperature and inconsistency in the ease of flow attributable to the different temperature and pressure regimes under which virgin raw material and recycled feedstock melt and cool. In this paper, our main contribution is a proposed framework for integrating an enhanced AI/DB interface for analysing historical and real time information/data into a joint DSC-TGA system that allows for simultaneous quality control checks and thermal stability tests on different virgin-recycled resin mixing ratios. The database comes equipped with proven estimation methods, testing and statistical analysis results of different resin specimens to serve as a reference point for production engineers in arriving at desired check and test conditions. The information will be particularly useful to plastic product manufacturers when making decisions regarding the right virgin-recycled mix ratio conditions when using different batches of recycled resin or when they switch a supplier.

Bibliographic mapping of post-consumer plastic waste based on hierarchical circular principles across the system perspective

“…Another dealt with chemical recycling of plastic waste-to-fuel from disused landfills within the EU [ 65 ]. The remaining articles covered the following topics related to mechanical recycling: healthcare waste analysis using the case study of a general public hospital in Pakistan [ 5 ]; an analysis of the life cycle of agricultural plastic waste (APW) [ 28 ]; the framework integrating an AI/DB (Artificial Intelligence Database) interface into the DSC-TGA (Differential Scanning Calorimetry-Thermogravimetric Analysis) system with a virgin-recycled mixing ratio database beneficial to the manufacturer [ 71 ]; optimizing recycling management in terms of emptying holding containers [ 129 ]; and plant bottle packaging company programs in China [ 188 ].…”

“… [ 65 ] X Plastic waste-to-fuel recycling from old landfills in EU. [ 71 ] X Framework combines AI/DB interface into DSC-TGA system with database of mix virgin-recycled ratio. [ 100 ] X X Propose improvement of Recyclability Benefit Rate and the Recycled Content Benefit Rate indicators.…”

Lifting the Sustainability of Modified Pet-Based Multilayer Packaging Material with Enhanced Mechanical Recycling Potential and Processing

“…Plastics have become the number one material for many applications since World War II, starting with rather cheap bulk materials, and delivering more and more high-quality niche products during recent decades [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. This has led to a total annual production of plastics that reaches over an astonishing 330 million tons [ 5 ]. One of the main plastics applications is food packaging.…”

“…This multilayer structure results in recycling difficulties and might lead to more waste that is incinerated or landfilled. Lack of recyclability also implies a higher need of ‘virgin’ material, either crude-oil-based or biobased, which results in an even larger pressure on the environment [ 5 , 11 ]. It is obvious that there is a need for thermally stable materials that are, in addition, easy to be recycled.…”

The economic assessment of the environmental and social impacts generated by a light packaging and bulky waste sorting and treatment facility in Spain: a circular economy example

“…The waste sorting plants play an essential role in MSW management, as they allow the materials to be prepared for their later reuse and recycling. On the other hand, these facilities promote the circular economy, and they allow to keep the resources in use for as long as possible, the maximum value extracted from them while in use by recycling products into the same or similar quality application, and product recovery and regeneration at the end of life [8,9].…”