How far away are we from technology that can engineer plastics so that they decompose and can be regenerated into new products instead of being dumped and polluting the world?
For consumer products companies, construction and manufacturing companies that use plastics in their products (airplane components, automotive interiors, plumbing, for instance), waste management and the recycling of plastics is becoming a very significant issue. Moreover, this is a big issue for corporate officers with responsibility for sustainability goals and for procurement officers. They look at long-term sourcing agreements and what might potentially be replaceable at a lower cost and now need to consider how waste management and plastics recycling will affect their operations.
To be clear, I am talking about large-scale industrial-use plastics; I am not talking about single-use plastic recycling.
