Plastics for a Circular Economy Workshop: Summary Report
(U.S. Department of Energy) The Plastics for a Circular Economy Workshop, coordinated by the Bioenergy Technologies Office, the Advanced Manufacturing Office, and Mars, Inc., brought together stakeholders from industry, academia, and National Laboratories to discuss opportunities and challenges facing the development of new technologies to address plastic waste.
This workshop was held as part of the Plastics Innovation Challenge, a comprehensive U.S. Department of Energy program to accelerate innovations in energy-efficient plastics recycling technologies. A series of keynote presentations, plenary presentations, lightning talks, and breakout sessions provided an interdisciplinary framework for sharing information and building collaboration.
This report provides an overview of the content discussed in the presentations as well as a summary of each breakout session discussion. READ MORE
Excerpt from Summary Report: By the conclusion of this workshop, interdisciplinary groups coalesced around the most critical challenges facing the development of a circular plastics economy, including the need for:
• Innovative deconstruction methods: Novel methods for deconstructing existing plastic waste provide a new value stream for plastics collected for recycling. These processes should tolerate high degrees of contamination in the waste stream.
• New materials and upcycling strategies: New materials that are recyclable by design provide a new value stream, an avenue to reduce environmental accumulation, and incentivize closed-loop collection.
Alternatively, new materials that are biodegradable or compostable, particularly for flexible packaging, provide another material stream that may reduce environmental plastic persistence. New materials may require functional barrier properties and mechanical performance matching or exceeding the incumbent materials, constituting a major R&D challenge. Beyond new materials, new upcycling technologies are necessary, particularly for flexible packaging and multilayer materials which are currently not recyclable. New strategies for upcycling may further enhance the value of plastic wastes.
• Improved assessment and modeling frameworks: Standardized specifications for mixed recycled waste
may enable more effective deployment of novel materials and recycling approaches. Further, frameworks for assessing the energy and environmental impacts of new materials and new recycling approaches will support deployment of economically and environmentally viable processes. Improved standards for composting and biodegradability may also accompany the successful deployment of new materials, as well as environmental and toxicity modeling.
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Parallels Between the Use and Deconstruction of Plastics and Biomass
BETO has historically invested in developing solutions to convert lignocellulosic biomass into fuels as well as value-added chemicals. The composition of this biomass poses the first challenge. Lignocellulosic biomass is composed of a heterogeneous mixture of polymers that were evolved in nature to be resistant to degradation in order to prevent plant material decay. Then, in the process of harvesting, aggregation, and transportation, the biomass can become dirty and contaminated, complicating technology development for processing and upgrading an already recalcitrant material. Plastics were similarly designed to avoid degradation for material durability and are often highly contaminated and dirty prior to recycling. Significant advances have improved our ability to degrade lignocellulosic biomass and to upgrade the derived monomers into value-added chemicals and fuels. We envision that capabilities built and lessons learned from biomass valorization programs may be leveraged to tackle the challenge of degradation and upgrading of plastics into new, functional, and intrinsically recyclable materials.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................... iv
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 The Challenge................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Workshop Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 2
BETO Mission ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Parallels Between the Use and Deconstruction of Plastics and Biomass............................................... 3
AMO Mission ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Mars, Inc., Workshop Organizer – Mission........................................................................................... 4
2 Workshop Structure ............................................................................................................................. 4
Breakout Session Structure..................................................................................................................... 5
3 Presentations ......................................................................................................................................... 6
3.1 Keynote Presentations .................................................................................................................... 6
3.1.1 Mike Biddle, Evok Innovations – Connecting the Dots: The Intersection of Plastics,
Energy and Planetary Health................................................................................................ 6
3.1.2 Eric Klingenberg, Mars Incorporated – Rethinking Packaging for a Circular Economy..... 7
3.1.3 Jill Martin, Dow – Plastics for a Circular Economy ............................................................ 7
3.1.4 Gregg Beckham, NREL – Introduction to the BOTTLE Consortium.................................. 8
3.2 Presentations on New Plastics and Materials to Address Recycling Challenges........................... 9
3.2.1 Matt Terwillegar, Danimer Scientific – Monomers and Polymers Derived from Biological
Sources: Opportunities and Challenges.............................................................................. 10
3.2.2 William Orts, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Western Regional Research
Center – Agriculturally Derived Polymers and Composites Targeted Toward a Circular
Economy ............................................................................................................................ 10
3.2.3 Shannon Pinc, NatureWorks – Lightning Talk .................................................................. 11
3.2.4 Carson Meredith, Georgia Tech – Lightning Talk............................................................. 12
3.2.5 Brett Helms, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Lightning Talk.......................... 13
3.2.6 John Dorgan, Michigan State University – Lightning Talk ............................................... 14
3.3 Presentations on Novel Strategies for Dealing with Existing Plastics.......................................... 14
3.3.1 Amy Waun, PureCycle Technologies – Recycled Resins with Virgin-Like Properties..... 15
3.3.2 Frederique Guillamot, Carbios – Carbios, The First and Only Company to Have
Developed Biological Processes Based on Enzymes to Break Down Plastic Waste into
Monomers.......................................................................................................................... 15
3.3.3 Aaron Sadow, Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University – Lightning Talk ................. 16
3.3.4 Justin Siegel, University of California, Davis – Lightning Talk........................................ 16
3.3.5 Bob Allen, IBM Research – Lightning Talk...................................................................... 17
3.4 Presentations on Existing Recycling Technologies...................................................................... 17
3.4.1 Stacy Katz, Waste Management – Recycling: A Collector & Processor’s Perspective..... 17
3.4.2 Jason Locklin, University of Georgia – Assessing the Biodegradation and Compostability
of Plastics........................................................................................................................... 19
3.4.3 Scott Farling, Titus MRF Services – Technology and Business Model Approaches for
Maximizing Material Recovery ......................................................................................... 19
3.5 Presentations on Analysis Frameworks........................................................................................ 19
Plastics for a Circular Economy Workshop: Summary Report
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3.5.1 Cristina Negri, Argonne National Laboratory – Science to Shape a Bio-Benign Future... 19
3.5.2 Birdie Carpenter, National Renewable Energy Laboratory – Lightning Talk ................... 20
3.5.3 VeeAnder Mealing, Colorado School of Mines – Lightning Talk..................................... 20
4 Breakout Session Summaries ........................................................................................................... 20
4.1 Introducing New Plastics: Challenges and Opportunities ............................................................ 21
Conclusions.......................................................................................................................................... 22
4.2 Biological Recycling: Challenges and Opportunities................................................................... 22
4.3 Chemical Recycling: Challenges and Opportunities.................................................................... 24
Session Outcome.................................................................................................................................. 24
Conclusions.......................................................................................................................................... 26
4.4 Composite Recycling: Challenges and Opportunities.................................................................. 26
State of Technology............................................................................................................................. 26
Key Challenges and Considerations .................................................................................................... 27
Opportunities ....................................................................................................................................... 27
Recommended R&D Areas of Focus................................................................................................... 28
4.5 End-of-Life Considerations: How to Match Use with Material Design? What Are Potential
Unintended Consequences?.......................................................................................................... 28
Circularity and the Problem with “End of Life” .................................................................................. 29
Conclusions.......................................................................................................................................... 30
4.6 Redesigning a Recycling System for the Future........................................................................... 30
4.7 Flexible Packaging: Challenges and Opportunities...................................................................... 32
Session Outcome.................................................................................................................................. 32
Conclusions.......................................................................................................................................... 33
4.8 Manufacturing Recycled Content: Challenges and Opportunities ............................................... 34
State of Technology............................................................................................................................. 34
Key Challenges and Considerations .................................................................................................... 34
Research Opportunities and Recommendations .................................................................................. 35
5 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 36
Appendix A: Attendees ............................................................................................................................ 37
Appendix B: Agenda ................................................................................................................................ 45
Appendix C: Breakout Session Questions ............................................................................................. 47
References ................................................................................................................................................. 50
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