Future Days: Why recycling is just the start of plastic’s circular future

Would you eat plastic soup? How about a snack made from car tires? We wouldn’t recommend trying either option – but there’s growing concern that the large quantities of plastic pollution worldwide, already harmful to the environment, are posing a risk to human health in the form of microplastics entering the food chain. It’s clear we need to build a better future. But how?

Building momentum

Perhaps the most obvious first step is to stop throwing plastic away. Momentum toward reducing, reusing, and recycling plastic is snowballing, both at the societal and the governmental level – with the European Union already working on a Design for Recycling (DfR) policy planned to shape future laws and a new packaging directive. Designing for recycling can look like minimizing the number of materials used in a product (as more materials make recycling more challenging), as well as finding better materials that have less of an impact.

But it’s not as simple as recycling all our plastic (which would not be simple to achieve!). Post-consumer products are often shredded for recycling, which creates tiny microplastic particles – and careful monitoring is needed to stop them escaping in wastewater.

We don’t yet understand the full extent of microplastic toxicity and the potential for harm, but it’s clear that they have an impact on our ecosystems – and potentially, on our bodies. This makes a connected approach key as we explore new ways to create a more circular future for plastics.

The future of plastic begins now

But there’s good news, too: this is the best time in history for us to tackle a problem like this. Technology is advancing at a rapid pace, giving us better tools to understand the problem as well as innovative potential solutions.

Ongoing research and testing, like the projects that are part of Circular Plastics NL, are essential for the wider scientific and industrial community to understand exactly what we’re dealing with. Researchers are studying and measuring microplastics in order to gain a better picture of their impact, as well as characterizing the best materials to use in the plastic applications of the future. What’s becoming clear very quickly is how interconnected all the various factors are, and how important it is to take a correspondingly holistic approach – both within research and at the manufacturing level.

Some of these groundbreaking efforts will be discussed in detail at our upcoming Future Days event on October 4 – more details below! As Taco van der Maten (Energy, Chemicals, and Polymers Segment Manager at Malvern Panalytical) said, “These kinds of programmes will create the future by completely changing how we think about plastics”.

Innovation, big and small

Perhaps surprisingly, there’s even more good news: the innovation landscape is very diverse and active for plastics and polymers. Some of the largest energy and chemical companies in the world are committing significant resources to researching new recycling technologies, bio-based materials, and infrastructure developments. But it’s not all about who has the deepest pockets – in fact, some small independent projects are also working on amazing innovations that could revolutionize the way we use and recycle our materials. One great example is the application of AI, where machine learning can support much more efficient waste stream sorting and analysis.

This dynamic landscape is key to creating a more circular future for plastics, as no single effort is likely to be the solution. For example, designing for recycling is a great idea – but when you redesign a multi-layer orange juice carton into a single layer polymer package, you also affect the shelf-life. When you drive an electric car, your tires may release more microplastics due to the additional weight of the battery. There’s a lot to consider!

Sharing bright ideas: join our Future Days event on October 4

This is why collaboration and dialog are fundamental to overcoming today’s challenges. A multi-disciplinary community, sharing bright ideas and working together, will be key to creating the circular future we need.

This is the inspiration behind our upcoming Future Days event, focused on plastics and polymers. We’ll hear from some of the experts who are working on projects related to measuring microplastics, a circular economy, and innovative recycling methods. We’ll also ask them questions as part of a lively roundtable discussion – exactly the approach we believe is essential today!

Find out more and register for Future Days Plastics and Polymers here. Explore our full range of analytical solutions for polymers and plastics here.

To discuss your processes with an expert, get in touch with us today!