We rely on plastics for our everyday lives. Plastics perform critical functions especially in sectors like healthcare and packaging. Decarbonizing the plastic sector is possible but can only be achieved if we stop throwing them away or incinerating them. Currently, most plastics are produced without a plan for their end-of-life: how they will be collected, reused, recycled, or composted, and this has created the environmental disaster involving plastic waste. Net zero plastics are possible only if we switch to a circular economy of plastics.
In this policy brief, researchers from the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub at UCL outline a Vision for the Future of Plastics.
Read 'Vision for the future of plastics'
Image by pasja1000 from Pixabay
View our other resources for policy makers.
Authors
Teresa Domenech (UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, t.domenech@ucl.ac.uk)
Helen Hailes (UCL Department of chemistry)
Paola Lettieri (UCL Dept of Chemical Engineering)
Francesca Medda (UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering)
Susan Michie (UCL Psychology and Language Sciences)
Mark Miodownik (UCL Mechanical Engineering)
Beth Munro (Institute of Making)
John Ward (UCL Department of Biochemical engineering)
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