INSIGHTS | P E R S P E C T I V E S
cies continue to improve and the associated
monomers can be produced economically.
Fundamental research in polymerization
catalysis has been essential in the search for
highly effective systems that can tolerate
impurities, exhibit large turnover numbers,
and allow for controlled polymerizations.
The renaissance in olefin polymerization
triggered by the advent of metallocene
catalysts is today being relived with new
discrete metal acetates, carbonates, and
alkoxides and an array of organocatalysts in
the biobased polymer world.
OUTLOOK
Biobased polymers can frame the future
of plastics, provided that scientists con-
tinue to develop efficient, often catalytic,
conversion of biomass to useful polymer
ingredients; generate new and established
monomers from biomass in high yields
and purities; and discover new polymers
with outstanding properties that are com-
parable or superior to their petrochemi-
cal analogs. An exciting contemporary
example of this future is the substitution
of terephthalic acid with the bioderived
2,5-furandicarboxylic acid to produce a
high-performing fully biobased PET re-
placement (15). Support for this type of
research should come not only from gov-
Toward plant-based monomers
for commodity plastics
Most plastics are made from a small subset of
monomers. Efforts are under way to replace
petrochemical-based source materials for these
important monomers with plant-based ones.
Monomers Petrochemical Plant based
Ethylene
Ethylene glycol
Isoprene
Propylene
Terephthalic acid
Styrene
Under development In use
870 17 NOVEMBER 2017 • VOL 358 ISSUE 6365
ernment. University-industry partnerships
can be very effective at producing basic
research that is couched in the economic
realities of the polymer marketplace.
For polymers from renewable resources
to penetrate the marketplace, they must
outcompete traditional materials in both
price and performance. But as the funda-
mental research in the conversion of bio-
mass to polymer precursors continues to
evolve, the resultant technologies will be-
come more and more practical. Similarly,
as the basic research on converting these
compounds into polymers with exceptional
property, processing, and performance
profiles continues to be established, the
resultant materials will be increasingly
competitive. If the economic and environ-
mental costs of extracting fossil resources
and converting them into plastics continue
to rise, there will likely be an inversion
point where biobased polymers become
the less expensive alternative, akin to what
is starting to happen in the renewable en-
ergy sector. Societal pressures and policies
that are conducive to environmental stew-
ardship will only help the cause. We are
not there yet, but there is good reason to
stay the course and continue to push the
frontiers of biobased polymers for the sake
of sustainability. j
REF ERENCES AND NOTES
1. E. MacArthur, Science 358, 843 (2017).
2. World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation
and McKinsey & Company, The New Plastics Economy:
Rethinking the Future of Plastics (2016); www.
ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/the-new-
plastics-economy-rethinking-the-future-of-plastics.
3. R. Geyer, J. R. Jambeck, K. L. Law, Sci. Adv. 3, e1700782
(2017).
4. J. M. Garcia, M. L. Robertson, Science 358, 870 (2017).
5. A.-C. Albertsson, M. Hakkarainen, Science 358, 872 (2017).
6. A. Morschbacker, J. Macromol. Sci. C 49, 79 (2009).
7. O. A. Abdelrahman et al., ACS Catal. 7, 1428 (2017).
8. H. Chung et al., Curr. Op. Biotechnol. 36, 73 (2015).
9. J. T. Claypool, D. R. Raman, L. R. Jarboe, D. R. Nielsen, J. Ind.
Microbiol. Biotechnol. 41, 1211 (2014).
10. A. Gandini, T. M. Lacerda, A. J. F. Carvalho, E. Trovatti, Chem.
Rev. 116, 1637 (2016).
11. M. Hong, Y.-X. E. Chen., Nat. Chem. 8, 42 (2016).
12. F. S. Bates, C. M. Bates, Macromolecules 50, 3 (2017).
13. M. Xiong, D. K. Schneiderman, F. S. Bates, M. A. Hillmyer, K.
Zhang, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 111, 8357 (2014).
14. M. J. Sanford, L. P. Carrodeguas, N. J. Van Zee, A. W. Kleij, G.
W. Coates, Macromolecules 49, 6394 (2016).
15. A. Gandini, A. J. D. Silvestre, C. P. Neto, A. F. Sousa, M. Gomes,
J. Polym. Sci. A 47, 295 (2009).
ACKNOWL EDGMENTS
The Center for Sustainable Polymers at the University of
Minnesota, a National Science Foundation–supported Center
for Chemical Innovation (CHE-1413862), is recognized for
support. Thanks to F. Bates, P. Dauenhauer, T. Hoye, L. Seifert,
and D. Schneiderman for feedback and suggestions. The author
has equity and royalty interests in, serves as secretary for, and
is on the board of directors of Valerian Materials, a company
involved in the commercialization of b-methyl-d-valerolactone.
The University of Minnesota also has equity and royalty interests
in Valerian Materials. These interests have been reviewed and
managed by the University of Minnesota in accordance with its
conflict of interest policies.
10.1126/science.aao6711
Published by AAAS
POLYMER CHEMISTRY
The future
of plastics
recycling
Chemical advances are
increasing the proportion
of polymer waste that can
be recycled
By Jeannette M. Garcia1 and
Megan L. Robertson2
Downloaded from https://www.science.org at Raffles Institution on June 22, 2023
T
he environmental consequences of
plastic solid waste are visible in the
ever-increasing levels of global plas-
tic pollution both on land and in the
oceans. But although there are im-
portant economic and environmental
incentives for plastics recycling, end-of-life
treatment options for plastic solid waste
are in practice quite limited. Presorting of
plastics before recycling is costly and time-
intensive, recycling requires large amounts
of energy and often leads to low-quality
polymers, and current technologies cannot
be applied to many polymeric materials. Re-
cent research points the way toward chemi-
cal recycling methods with lower energy
requirements, compatibilization of mixed
plastic wastes to avoid the need for sorting,
and expanding recycling technologies to tra-
ditionally nonrecyclable polymers.
Roughly half of the annual global produc-
tion of solid plastics, or 150 million tons,
is thrown away worldwide each year. The
United States generates ~20% of the global
amount of plastic solid waste generated (1).
Not only is plastic waste residing in landfills
harmful to the environment, but it also rep-
resents missed economic opportunities. For
example, the commodity market value of the
total landfilled packaging material waste in
the United States has been estimated to be
$11.4 billion dollars; $8.3 billion of this is at-
tributed to plastic waste (2). Furthermore,
recycling plastic for reuse saves energy com-
pared with producing virgin materials; 1
ton of recycled plastic can save up to ~130
million kJ of energy. The potential annual
energy savings that could be achieved from
GRAPHIC: N. CARY/SCIENCE
recycling all global plastic solid waste is
1
IBM Almaden Research Center, Chemistry and Materials, 650
Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120, USA. 2University of Houston,
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
Houston, TX 77204, USA. Email: jmgarcia@us.ibm.com
sciencemag.org SCIENCE
 equivalent to 3.5 billion barrels of oil, worth
approximately $176 billion dollars (3).
CURRENT RECYCLING APPROACHES
Mechanical recycling is the only widely ad-
opted technology for large-scale treatment
of plastic solid waste. The main steps are
the removal of organic residue through
washing, followed by shredding, melting,
and remolding of the polymer, which is of-
ten blended with virgin plastic of the same
type to produce a material with suitable
properties for manufacturing.
There are limitations to mechanical re-
cycling technologies because each type of
plastic responds differently to the process
depending on its chemical makeup, me-
chanical behavior, and thermal properties.
Temperature-sensitive plastics, composites,
and plastics that do not flow at elevated
temperatures (as in the case of thermo-
sets) cannot be processed mechanically.
Consequently, only two types of plastic are
recovered and recycled with mechanical pro-
cesses: poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)
and polyethylenes, which represent 9 and
37% of the annual plastic produced, respec-
tively. All other plastic solid waste is either
not recovered or in amounts representing
less than 1% of production (1). According to
the most recent U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency report, a mere 8.8% of all plastic
produced in the U.S. annually is recovered
from municipal solid waste and then incin-
erated, recycled, or industrially composted
(1). The recycling rate is slightly higher in
Europe, at ~30% for plastic waste (3).
Current technologies that move beyond
mechanical recycling include pyrolysis (ther-
molysis) to selectively produce gases, fuels,
or waxes through the use of catalysts (4); this
is referred to as chemical recycling. Chemi-
cal recycling is not a widespread recycling
practice, mainly because of energy costs. A
further option is the incineration of materi-
als and collection of energy in the form of
heat. Incineration is convenient for the treat-
ment of mixed waste because it avoids the
need for sorting, but it does not allow for the
recovery and reuse of the starting compo-
nents once burned. It also does not save as
much energy as recycling (3).
ADVANCING PLASTICS RECYCLING
Three ongoing research directions have
great potential to advance plastic recycling
practices: improving chemical recycling ef-
ficiency and selectivity through catalyst de-
GRAPHIC: N. CARY/SCIENCE
velopment, minimizing the need for sorting
through compatibilizer design, and expand-
ing recycling beyond thermoplastics.
Chemical recycling with thermolysis of-
fers a recycling strategy through decomposi-
tion of a polymer to lower-molecular-weight
SCIENCE sciencemag.org
products. However, depolymerization to
monomers will require the development of
catalysts that are selective and efficient yet
preserve the functional groups in monomers
while meeting requisite cost and energy
metrics. Jia et al. recently reported the low-
temperature (~150°C) depolymerization of
polyethylene through cascade reactions with
a cocatalyst system (5). Although they did not
achieve complete depolymerization to mono-
mer, the work represents a promising proof
of concept that can be further developed.
Researchers are also working on ap-
proaches that allow direct processing of
commingled plastic waste. Current technolo-
gies for recycling plastics mainly rely on ac-
cess to pure waste polymer feedstocks, which
require costly and time-intensive sorting of
municipal solid waste. The greatest chal-
lenge in recycling commingled plastic waste
Moving beyond PET/PE recycling
Most plastic waste cannot currently be recycled. New methodologies hold
promise for recycling a wider range of plastics, including mixtures.
Current plastic waste treatment
Recovered
(mostly PET/PE)
8.8%
Research advances
• New polymers
Landflled
91.2% • Compatibilizers
• More efcient catalysts
• Advanced sorting
streams is that most plastics are immiscible
with one another, producing phase-sepa-
rated mixtures with diminished properties.
Even small amounts of contamination of
one plastic type with another may change
the properties and potentially hinder use of
the recycled material. This problem can be
overcome through the development of com-
patibilizers that control the phase behavior
of polymer mixtures (6).
Polymer compatibilizers are generally
multicomponent polymers of various archi-
tectures—such as block copolymers, graft co-
polymers, and random copolymers—that are
designed to have tailored thermodynamic
interactions with the immiscible polymers
in the mixture. They are analogous to sur-
factants developed for stabilizing immiscible
oil/water mixtures. Applying polymer com-
patibilizer design principles to plastic solid
waste would allow for more widespread
recycling without presorting. For example,
Eagan et al. recently developed a highly ef-
fective copolymer for blending polyethylene
and polypropylene (7, 8). Ongoing areas of
research include developing effective, and
Published by AAAS
likely customized, compatibilizers for diverse
plastic mixtures of varied compositions, ac-
counting for polymer degradation during
processing before recycling (9), and applying
highly effective reactive compatibilization
approaches to plastic solid waste (10).
All current recycling technologies focus on
thermoplastics and take advantage of their
processability in the high-temperature melt
state. Cross-linked polymers, found in ther-
mosets and elastomers, are not suited to these
traditional mechanical recycling processes
(although they can be ground into particu-
lates or powders for limited applications).
New developments that overcome these lim-
itations include polymers with cross-links
that reverse (11) or exchange (12) at elevated
temperatures, which allow for reworking
of the materials before reuse. Alternatively,
Downloaded from https://www.science.org at Raffles Institution on June 22, 2023
polymers that can undergo chemical (13, 14),
Recycling of diverse polymers
Thermoplastics Mixed plastics
beyond PET/PE and composites
New polymers with Thermosets
high recycling efciency and elastomers
thermal, photo-, or biodegradation (15) may
be recast into a new product or—in the case
of complete depolymerization—repolymer-
ized. An ongoing challenge is ensuring that
material performance during its useful life-
time is not hindered while allowing for end-
of-life degradation and/or reprocessing.
OUTLOOK
Enhancing plastics recycling beyond the
current level (see the figure) has many po-
tential societal advantages, such as reduc-
ing greenhouse gas emissions, avoiding
waste buildup in the environment, decreas-
ing the dependence on finite petroleum re-
sources for its production, and recovering
the economic value of plastic solid waste.
Expanding recycling to a diverse array of
polymeric materials will, however, require
sustained research efforts.
To increase the recycling rate of plastics,
new low-energy catalysts for chemical recy-
cling must be designed that target polymers
by type. In addition, decontamination tech-
niques for the rapid cleaning of spent plastic
and more efficient sorting in recycling plants
17 NOVEMBER 2017 • VOL 358 ISSUE 6365 87 1
INSIGHTS | P E R S P E C T I V E S
to access higher-purity polymer feedstocks
will be required to minimize the dependence
on consumer separation of materials manu-
ally during disposal for collection.
Strategies for recycling mixed or contami-
nated feedstocks are also needed. Current
compatibilizers must be customized for a
given waste composition, which is not going
to be practical on the large scale. More ver-
satile methods are needed for controlling the
physical behavior of plastic waste mixtures,
which are diverse and variable in composi-
tion. Of similar importance is the ability to
recycle composites containing more than
one type of material (typically polymers,
metals, or ceramics). Low-energy separations
of mixed materials such as composites and
multilayer packaging will require further
development; there is currently no effective
way to achieve such separation mechanically.
Successful adoption of new recycling ap-
proaches will require cooperation among
researchers, industry, and government. New
practices are already beginning to find their
way into cities. For example, startup com-
panies are scaling up chemical recycling
methods for polystyrene waste and develop-
ing sorting processes for separation of ma-
terials into pure feedstocks. Such efforts are
enhanced by programs to educate the public
on the benefits of recycling. Furthermore,
advanced computational modeling and data
analytics for new catalyst, compatibilizer,
and polymer discovery (with the ultimate
goal of developing predictive capabilities)
will aid in the optimization of recycling pro-
cesses.  Such efforts raise hope that before
long, recycling rates for plastics will be much
higher than today. j
REFERENCES AND NOTES
1. EPA, Plastics (2015); www3.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/
tools/warm/pdfs/Plastics.pdf.
2. As You Sow Report, “Unfinished Business: The Case for
Extended Producer Responsibility for Post-Consumer
Packaging”; www.asyousow.org/ays_report/
unfinished-business-the-case-for-extended-producer-
responsibility-for-post-consumer-packaging.
3. A. Rahimi, J. M. García, Nat. Rev.Chem. 1, 0046 (2017).
4. R. Aguado, M. Olazar, M. J. San José, J. Bilbao, Energy Fuels
16, 1429 (2002).
5. X. Jia, C. Qin, T. Friedberger, Z. Guan, Z. Huang, Sci. Adv. 2,
e1501591 (2016).
6. K. Hamad, M. Kaseem, F. Deri, Polym. Deg. Stabil. 98, 2801
(2013).
7. J. M. Eagan et al., Science 355, 814 (2017).
8. C. Creton, Science 355, 797 (2017).
9. S. E. Luzuriaga, J. Kovářová, I. Fortelný, Polym. Deg. Stabil.
96, 751 (2011).
10. H. Li, X. Sui, X.-M. Xie, Polymer 123, 240 (2017).
11. J. T. Wertz, J. P. Kuczynski, D. J. Boday, ACS Appl. Mat.
Interf. 8, 13669 (2016).
12. M. Röttger et al., Science 356, 62 (2017).
13. J. M. García et al., Science 344, 732 (2014).
14. D. K. Schneiderman et al., ACS Macro Lett. 5, 515 (2016).
15. S. Ma, D. C. Webster, F. Jabeen, Macromolecules 49, 3780
(2016).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The National Science Foundation (DMR-1611376) is acknowl-
edged for support.
10.1126/science.aaq0324
872 17 NOVEMBER 2017 • VOL 358 ISSUE 6365
POLYMER CHEMISTRY
Designed to degrade
Suitably designed degradable polymers can play
a role in reducing plastic waste
By Ann-Christine Albertsson and
Minna Hakkarainen
A
round 50 years ago, interest arose
in making plastics that can degrade
in the environment (1). Since then,
a stream of research efforts has
chased the dream of environmen-
tally friendly materials that disap-
pear without leaving behind fragments or
harmful products. Such environmentally
degradable plastics are, however, difficult
to produce in practice. Durability is one of
“Even plastics…that rapidly
degrade in compost might
not readily degrade in
seawater or even soil…”
the requirements for plastic in most tech-
nical applications, whereas degradability is
necessary for recycling in nature. Although
advances are being made in developing
degradable materials with suitable proper-
ties for particular applications, it is crucial
that they are seen as part of a range of ap-
proaches and that degradation will always
require particular conditions that depend
on the specific material and its chemical
and physical structure and composition.
CHALLENGING CONDITIONS
In biomedical applications, degradable poly-
mers, including polyglycolide, polylactide,
polycaprolactone, and polytrimethylene
carbonate, have been used successfully for
decades. The materials can be kept under
safe conditions such as low temperature and
nitrogen until used, after which they start to
hydrolyze. Through designing the polymer’s
molecular architecture, it is possible to tune
the degradation rate and even degradation
products (2). The human body is a relatively
controlled environment with known temper-
ature and degradation conditions, making it
possible to create these materials with opti-
mum degradation properties.
Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology, KTH Royal
Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden.
Email: aila@kth.se
Published by AAAS
By comparison, natural environments
have much wider diversity in variables
such as humidity, microorganisms, oxy-
gen, sunlight, and temperature, making
it extremely difficult if not impossible to
control and ensure the complete degrada-
tion of even potentially degradable plastic
materials. Controlled conditions can be
created in commercial composting plants,
allowing plastics classified as compostable
Downloaded from https://www.science.org at Raffles Institution on June 22, 2023
to be successfully degraded through the
combined action of heat, moisture, and mi-
croorganisms. In a compost, degradation of
a material to acceptable degradation prod-
ucts can be sufficient; this is, however, dif-
ferent from complete mineralization. One
of the major problems connected to the
development, use, and disposal of degrad-
able materials is that none are degraded
in all natural environments; a specific en-
vironment is needed, and the conditions
required depend on the type of plastic.
Claims of degradability or environmental
degradability should thus always be con-
nected to a specific environment. This is of
course quite difficult, if we consider envi-
ronmentally degradable plastics as an an-
swer to the problem of plastic litter.
For example, plastic debris in marine
environments is now widely recognized
as an enormous environmental problem,
requiring critical improvements in plas-
tic handling and waste management (3).
However, degradable plastics might not be
the solution, because the conditions in sea-
water are not ideal for rapid degradation.
Even plastics such as starch-based plastic
carrier bags that rapidly degrade in com-
post might not readily degrade in seawater
or even soil, because the favorable degra-
dation process achieved in compost is not
always achieved in the sea and in other
natural environments (4). The degradation
rate and the degradation products are also
highly dependent on local characteristics
such as the presence of light, oxygen, bac-
teria, and the temperature. This can cause
serious problems; both conventional and
degradable bags can rapidly alter marine
assemblages and the ecosystem services
they provide (4). A further complication
arises from the fact that although we want
the material to rapidly degrade in natural
environments, it should not degrade during
its shelf and service life.
sciencemag.org SCIENCE
 The future of plastics recycling
Jeannette M. Garcia and Megan L. Robertson

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DOI: 10.1126/science.aaq0324

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