Plastic – Production, Markets and End of Life

According to a study published August 25, 2020 in Environmental Research Letters by researchers with the University of Michigan “… plastics are accumulating in landfills and natural environments, impacting resource utilization and ecosystem function … we offer the first contemporary plastics material flow by resin type through the US economy … This roadmap … provides stakeholders with a system-scale context for understanding challenges, opportunities and implications of future interventions. More than three-quarters of the plastics reaching end of life went to landfill, and less than 8% was recycled. Packaging was the largest defined use market for plastics, but two thirds of the plastic put into use in 2017 went into other markets … In nearly all uses, increased coordination between material and product innovation and design and end-of-life recovery and recycling are needed. Alignment of technology, policy and market drivers will be necessary to reduce plastic waste and improve the circularity of plastic materials …” #PlasticWaste #SingleUsePlastic #Recycling #FoodPackaging