Where do our recycled plastics go?
Many types of plastic are difficult to recycle, especially because plastic waste often consists of a mixture of different polymers, which must be separated in order to be recycled. This separation is challenging, and when done poorly, the quality of the recycled material suffers.
A PET bottle, for example, is easy to recycle, but packaging made from multiple layers of different plastics contaminates a recycling stream that should only contain one type of polymer. Due to such challenges, the quality of some recycled plastics is lower than that of new plastic: they may be more brittle, discolored, or less durable. As a result, recycled plastic is often not suitable for high-quality reuse and ends up in lower-quality products. This is known as downcycling.
Improved methods
One way to more effectively separate plastic mixtures is by knowing precisely, down to the smallest level, what material you're dealing with. This means knowing the exact composition of a product and what can be extracted from it, and how.
That’s why researchers from the Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM) and the Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES), based at the Faculty of Science, are developing a kind of scan that captures the ‘fingerprint’ of plastic in the project 'Munition for Optimalisation of Plastic Recycling' . In addition, they are conducting an environmental impact analysis to map different scenarios for the collection and processing of plastic waste.
“Collaborating across disciplines is a major challenge, especially when it involves bridging the gap between natural and social sciences. But it’s the only way to truly address the problems our society faces every day. And once you learn to speak each other’s language, as a chemist you begin to see what all those molecules do in society, and as a psychologist how our behavior and the value of our waste are so deeply connected,” says chemical researcher and member of the MUNITION team Jeroen Jansen.
The researchers are also examining relationships between demographic factors (such as building type, urban vs. rural settings) and the composition of collected plastic waste. This could make the collection, sorting, and processing of waste more efficient, enabling more high-quality recycling of plastics.
The impact of better plastic management
If we gain control over the plastic cycle and break the downward spiral of recycling, we could produce many more products using genuinely high-quality recycled plastic, reducing our dependence on fossil resources.
Moreover, better recycled plastic could become more attractive to industry. If the quality of recycled materials improves, companies will be more likely to switch to sustainable alternatives instead of relying on “virgin” plastic straight from the factory. This could lead to a circular economy in which the plastic in our waste bin is seen as a reusable resource.
A key principle of the project is the chain-wide understanding of household plastic waste. The effort and knowledge of citizens, the hard work of waste collection services, and the high-tech sensors used in today’s plastic sorting, all elements contribute to creating value from the plastic that has fulfilled its household purpose. Only in this way can more plastic truly be reused instead of being incinerated or dumped.
Circular Economy
At a time when plastic pollution is a growing global problem, advanced recycling methods can play a crucial role in reducing our ecological footprint. By no longer viewing plastic as waste but as a raw material, we take a step toward a more sustainable society. And thanks to scientific innovations such as chemical fingerprints, transdisciplinary collaboration, and digital simulations, we are getting ever closer to a circular future.
“We live in a world where patterns of thinking, including economic ones, are still entirely linear. Every product made in a factory now ends up in a landfill or incinerator. We’re only just beginning to understand how concepts like value, quality, and trust function in a circular world,” Jansen says.
BetaBoost
Each month in the BetaBoost, you'll get a sneak peek into ongoing research at the Faculty of Science and its social impact. Do you have a question about a current topic you'd like a scientific perspective on? Contact us on communications-science[at]ru.nl.