The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $13.4 million in funding to advance technologies that combat plastic waste and reduce plastic industry emissions across seven research and development projects, a Jan. 11 release states.
The selected project recipients include Braskem, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Michigan State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, TDA Research Inc., University of Massachusetts Lowell and the West Virginia University Research Corp.
"Congrats, @BraskemSA on being selected for @ENERGY funding for your bio-based #plastics project. Learn more about the seven selected projects — led by industry and scholars — geared toward improving plastic films’ recyclability and biodegradability. @BraskemBio,” American Chemistry Vice President of Plastics Division Joshua Baca said in a tweet Jan. 12.
According to the release, the seven selected projects will work to develop affordable solutions to transform plastic films into more valuable materials. They will also design new plastics that are more recyclable and biodegradable.
This comes as the release states single-use plastic production accounts for more than 3% of the total U.S. energy consumption, with many of these materials ending up in landfills or the environment. Less than 10% of plastics are currently recycled, with most being repurposed into low-value projects. The projects will look for affordable solutions to repurposing plastics into more valuable materials.
Alongside others, the University of Massachusetts Lowell will integrate delamination and carbonization processes for the upcycling of plastic films, Braskem will develop infinitely recyclable single-polymer chemistry bio-based multilayer films and Michigan State University will design for inherently recyclable plastics, the release states.
