Plastics for a Circular Economy Workshop: Summary Report

Executive Summary 

The Plastics for a Circular Economy Workshop, coordinated by the Bioenergy Technologies Office, the Advanced Manufacturing Office, and Mars, brought together stakeholders from industry, academia, and National Laboratories to discuss opportunities and challenges facing the development of new technologies to address plastic waste. This workshop was held as part of the Plastics Innovation Challenge, a comprehensive U.S.Department of Energy (DOE) program to accelerate innovations in energy-efficient plastics recycling technologies.1 A series of keynote presentations, plenary presentations, lightning talks, and breakout sessions provided an interdisciplinary framework for sharing information and building collaboration. This document provides an overview of the content discussed in the presentations as well as a summary of each breakout session discussion. Diverse stakeholder perspectives were gathered and collectively provide an update on the state of the field. Key areas for consideration are discussed that may inform future research opportunities.

Problems resulting from plastic waste accumulation present an opportunity for innovative technologies to transform our approach to plastic material design and recycling. Real barriers exist that lead to poor recycling outcomes, as exemplified by the fact that only 2% of all plastic packaging is recycled into same-or similar-quality products. A lack of circularity has led to the accumulation in the environment of 80% of the 7 billion tons of plastic ever produced. This workshop provided a forum for interdisciplinary stakeholders to discuss the barriers to plastics circularity, how research and development (R&D) may overcome these barriers, and the highest-impact areas on which to focus efforts.

The workshop focused on four fundamental aspects of plastics recycling: recycling existing plastics using current methods, recycling existing plastics using new methods, developing new plastics and recycling using current methods, and, finally, developing both new plastics and new recycling technologies. A common framework for discussion was established by the keynote speakers. The plenary and lightning talk presenters provided their unique perspective on what barriers exist in these areas, potential solutions, and unintended consequences to developing new technologies to address plastic waste. Breakout sessions further enabled cross-pollination between research groups and organizations and helped to gather broad stakeholder input to help prioritize R&D goals (see Section 4). 

By the conclusion of this workshop, interdisciplinary groups coalesced around the most critical challenges facing the development of a circular plastics economy, including the need for: 

• Innovative deconstruction methods: Novel methods for deconstructing existing plastic waste provide a new value stream for plastics collected for recycling. These processes should tolerate high degrees of contamination in the waste stream. 

• New materials and upcycling strategies: New materials that are recyclable by design provide a new value stream, an avenue to reduce environmental accumulation, and incentivize closed-loop collection. Alternatively, new materials that are biodegradable or compostable, particularly for flexible packaging, provide another material stream that may reduce environmental plastic persistence. New materials may require functional barrier properties and mechanical performance matching or exceeding the incumbent materials, constituting a major R&D challenge. Beyond new materials, new upcycling technologies are necessary, particularly for flexible packaging and multilayer materials which are currently not recyclable. New strategies for upcycling may further enhance the value of plastic wastes. 

• Improved assessment and modeling frameworks: Standardized specifications for mixed recycled waste may enable more effective deployment of novel materials and recycling approaches. Further, frameworks for assessing the energy and environmental impacts of new materials and new recycling approaches will support deployment of economically and environmentally viable processes. Improved standards for composting and biodegradability may also accompany the successful deployment of new materials, as well as environmental and toxicity modeling. 

The information and feedback generated at this workshop will help guide programmatic decisions at DOE to ensure that investments in R&D address the most critical barriers to successful technology development. The DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office and the Advanced Manufacturing Office, and Mars would like to jointly thank all of the participants for their valuable input.