We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Can Non-Recyclable Plastic Waste Be Made Environmentally Sustainable?
Summary
This perspective paper explores chemical strategies for making non-recyclable plastic waste environmentally inert so it can be safely stored rather than degrading into microplastics. The author draws an analogy to how natural organisms leave behind durable, environmentally stable remnants like shells and bones.
After death the fraction of living matter which is not biodegraded (shells, bones, corals, carbonaceous deposits) becomes environmentally sustainable. This is not the case for plastics so that these wastes should be either recycled or made environmentally inert and stored in secure repositories as a resource for future generations. Chemistry has offered different solutions to this problem, and each brings about advantages and disadvantages when compared to other options. One further possible route could consist in the enrichment of the plastics waste in carbon content (“carbonization”), in analogy with the production of charcoal from wood, but we hope to stimulate a debate about all the other possible routes among scientists and engineers in the involved fields.