Design and Management of Sustainable Plastic Value Chains to Support a Circular Economy Transition

Plastics are an important class of materials, bringing many social and economic benefits. Global production of plastics reached 380 million tons in 2018 (a 20-fold increase since the 1960s) and its further growth is expected. Due to the long decomposition time and low recycling rates, large quantities of plastics are accumulated in the natural environments and landfills. Less than 30% of such waste is collected for recycling, where majority of it comes as a single use origin. This issue of disposable plastic products leads to extensive usage of mostly fossil-based raw materials and a large amount of plastic waste, which causes severe environmental damage, impact on human health and wildlife and economic loss. Therefore, more research is needed to improve our understanding of the source and impact of plastic materials, formation of micro and nano plastics, and their impact on the environment. Therefore it is needed to provide theoretical support for the sustainable and circular design and management of various plastic value chains. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the entire world, leaving significant consequences. One such serious problem is the pollution caused by plastic waste - face masks and packaging waste. The project aims to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the economic value of plastic use through an economically and ecologically optimal increase in the circularity and overall plastic value chains. The degrees of freedom to be exploited include Industrial Symbiosis, and material, and chemical recycling. This project aims to develop the syntheses of different plastic materials in the most sustainable way. The basic idea is to complement the earth's natural cycles and integrate them into industrial supply networks to minimize waste and aim for zero-waste in future developments. Options and solutions for degradation, reuse, recycling, and valuable upcycling of products will be explored, including various options for faster degradation of plastic materials. The performance criteria to be used include environmental, economic, social and energy dimensions. The project will focus on at least two plastics types: at least one thermoplastic and one thermoset plastic material. We will focus on widely used type of plastics and specialized industrial plastics. Although various biodegradable and alternative plastics are used, their value chains, degradation processes and environmental impacts have not yet been clarified. A comparative analysis will be performed for different plastic value chains and compared with their alternatives. The main research tasks in developing the sustainable methodology for circular design and management of plastic value chains in this collaboration are: * Synthesis of sustainable value chains of different plastics using renewable and waste materials (water, air, sun, waste) and energy based on the Mathematical Programming approach. * Minimization of the environmental footprint of the plastics value chain through Process Integration and resource substitution (e.g. raw material, renewable energy). * Develop the plastic waste footprint to measure the circularity of a given process system (waste recovery and disposal, including the supply chain). * Exploring different degradation options and leaching behaviour of plastics, including laboratory studies, to understand the degradation process under different soil and marine conditions. * Investigation of chemical recycling options and upcycling of plastics value chains to recover monomeric components or other valuable chemicals. * Techno-economic assessment and environmental and social impacts of different plastic waste recovery processes. * Comparative analysis of the environmental footprint of the different plastic value chains (conventional and improved) compared to their alternatives (e.g. paper, glass, metal).