The Limits of Giving Plastic a Second Chance
Recycling has become over the years an ecological necessity and an important economic issue, as the current use of food packaging (among others) is constantly increasing and generates the production of a great diversity of waste [1], [2], [3], [4]. The interest in developing processes for processing consumer materials such as food containers is great, since this will make it possible to overcome the environmental problems of waste storage and will contribute to significantly increasing the lifespan of the material.
High impact polystyrene (HIPS) is an amorphous polymer known for its use in plastics industries especially of consumer products [5]. Its advantage is that it has good mechanical and chemical properties, with good barrier properties (permeability to gases, to contaminants). The recycling of this material by transformation in the molten state has been the subject of numerous researches, in order to study the degradation processes which, lead to a loss of the macroscopic properties of the polymer. Despite the interest in this material, its reconversion in the second hand industry is still problematic, since it ends quickly in the landfills again [6], [7], [8]. (El Bhilat et al., 2021)
This article links to the problem space we are exploring with Local Loops because it examines both the technical challenges of recycling and giving new life to HIPS and the environmental motivation for it as well. The article discusses how the increasing consumption culture is generating large amounts of plastic waste, making recycling an ecological necessity and an important economic discussion. The article states that HIPS is a polymer that has useful mechanical and chemical properties, but the process of reusing this material can become difficult because of degradation, which can lead to a loss in material performance. This directly relates to the problem space that is being addressed at Marble Plastics because it is not a discussion of whether or not the material can be recycled; it is about what applications remain possible after the material has gone through the manufacturing and recycling process.
References:
El Bhilat, H., El Had, K., Salmi, H., Mabchour, S., & Hachim, A. (2021). Characterization and processability of post-consumer, double-recycled high impact polystyrene from disposable cups. Materials Today: Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.10.667
