Division/Committee: [POLY] Division of Polymer Chemistry

Over 400 million tons of solid plastics are globally produced annually, but less than 9% of this plastic is currently recycled. Traditional mechanical recycling of commodity polymers typically produces a product with degraded properties due to undesirable degradation, oxidation, contamination, and altered molecular weight or composition (downcycling). On the other hand, chemical recycling of polymers provides multiple paths for upcycled plastics. This symposium aims to feature the most recent advances on chemical recycling of polymers. Specifically, the focus of the symposium includes synthesis of new polymers with closed-loop circularity, chemical upcycling paths for commodity plastics, synthetic paths for depolymerization and reconstruction of polymers, and other polymer chemistry advances in chemical recycling. This symposium is part of “Sustainable Polymers: A Multidisciplinary Challenge (Convergent Research Community Innovative Project)”, which is co-organized among POLY, PMSE, and CATL.

Dr Brett Helms

Staff Scientist, E O Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Appearances