Charting the course to a circular plastic economy

August 9, 2023

Plastics, technically called polymers, have become vital to the functioning of modern society. However, as images of sea creatures trapped in plastics, islands of trash drifting in oceans and microplastics in the environment go viral, plastics’ impact on the ecosystem is becoming more conspicuous, and concern about environmental harm caused by nondegradable plastics is mounting.

As part of a solution to the problem, some researchers want to help develop what they call a circular plastic economy — an economy in which materials retain their value through repeated reuse, repair and recycling, and are discarded only as a last resort.

ASU Professor Tim Long leads a hands-on laboratory course to teach students to innovate with a circular economy in mind. The next generation of sustainable engineers will rethink each step of the production of polymers — from resource extraction to design, manufacturing, supply chain distribution, product usage and refinery of waste. Graphic by Erika Gronek/ASU

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Arizona State University is one of five universities awarded $500,000 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), within the U.S. Department of Commerce, to develop new curricula about such an economy for students interested in helping to reduce plastic waste.

The Training for Improving Plastics Circularity Grant Program aims to help prepare the future workforce needed to grow a circular economy for plastics. A circular economy requires new manufacturing methods, chemical processes and separation capabilities, as well as new approaches for optimizing how plastics cycle through the industrial supply chain.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU, along with a collaborator at Virginia Tech, are taking on the challenge of developing a course to train the next generation of environmental sustainability leaders.

Modular learning for diverse application

To cover the wide variety of topics integral to economic circularity, the yearlong course consists of modules taught by experts in a range of fields.

The team is led by Tim Long, a professor of chemical engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing, or SM3. He is also jointly appointed in the ASU School of Molecular Sciences.

Kevin Dooley, a Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management in the W. P. Carey School of Business, will lead a module on supply chain management. Jennifer Russell, an assistant professor in Virginia Tech’s Sustainable Biomaterials division, will teach a module on integrating circular economic systems and practices in sustainable biomaterials. Jay Oswald, a Fulton Schools associate professor of mechanical engineering, will teach a module focused on the optimization of sustainable manufacturing processes.

The team is rounded out by a group of ASU chemical engineers, including Matthew Green and assistant professors Renxuan Xie, Chris Muhich, Eileen Seo, and Kailong Jin.

In preparation for teaching her module of the course, Seo joined the Engineering for One Planet fellowship, an initiative to better inform educators on ways to incorporate sustainability into their curriculum. Seo’s section of the course will explore strategies to develop composite materials capable of using phase change properties to degrade materials like plastic.

Jin, who has expertise in thin film materials, will present students with strategies to develop degradable packaging plastics designed with gas barrier properties.

Modules will begin with a lecture focus and then transition to lab work, giving undergraduate and graduate students hands-on opportunities to work with the latest technology to help them understand next-generation tools they can use to catalyze a circular plastic economy.

Unconventional technologies for out-of-the-box thinking

A portion of the project funding will be used to install new instrumentations, termed sustainability tools, in ASU’s Biodesign Institute SM3 center, where the course will be based.

Long emphasizes the importance of accessibility to the technologies being used to improve circularity.

“Our goal is to train the next sustainability leaders in the workforce,” Long says. “To do that, we need novel tools, tools that you wouldn’t normally expect. We want to develop an affordable tool that could find its way to a municipal landfill, or it could find its way to a university that doesn’t have the resources to purchase current highly priced, more-sophisticated instruments.

Students will help to develop these tools and experiments to measure properties such as degradation rates, gas permeability and waste stream separations. They will also learn to analyze and present their results.

The next generation of sustainability professionals

Developing a circular economy is essential to the health of the planet, and public interest has put pressure on industry to develop solutions. Jin points out that companies and universities alike are seeking sustainability experts for a variety of reasons.

“Right now, sustainability is a real focus with a lot of companies. Many are setting goals to be carbon neutral by a certain date, and plastic circularity is certainly one of the criteria,” Jin says. “When graduate students complete their doctoral or master’s degree, they are expected to walk in and join the research and development team within a company. They are the future of the company, driving the innovation of materials.”

Since the challenge of developing a circular economy requires changes to each step of manufacturing, Long sees this course as a fit for a student in any academic discipline who is interested in sustainability.

“Eventually, any student at the university could take this

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 14: Life Below Water
• SDG 15: Life on Land

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• Target 12.4: By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.
• Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
• Target 14.1: By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution.
• Target 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Indicator 12.4.1: Number of parties to international multilateral environmental agreements on hazardous waste, including electronic waste, and other chemicals that meet their commitments and obligations in transmitting information as required by each relevant agreement.
• Indicator 13.3.1: Number of countries that have integrated mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning into primary, secondary and tertiary curricula.
• Indicator 14.1.1: Index of coastal eutrophication and floating plastic debris density.
• Indicator 15.5.1: Red List Index.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

SDGs	Targets	Indicators
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production	Target 12.4: By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.	Indicator 12.4.1: Number of parties to international multilateral environmental agreements on hazardous waste, including electronic waste, and other chemicals that meet their commitments and obligations in transmitting information as required by each relevant agreement.
SDG 13: Climate Action	Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.	Indicator 13.3.1: Number of countries that have integrated mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning into primary, secondary and tertiary curricula.
SDG 14: Life Below Water	Target 14.1: By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution.	Indicator 14.1.1: Index of coastal eutrophication and floating plastic debris density.
SDG 15: Life on Land	Target 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.	Indicator 15.5.1: Red List Index.

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Source: news.asu.edu

 

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