2021 PLASTICS’ FRONTIERS – A 10 PART WEBINAR SERIES

Written by  Dr Richard Thwaites, FRACI CChem

Published 10 May 2021

Organised by a collaboration between the RACI, the SCI and the SPE-ANZ.

Benjamin Braddoock is the recent college graduate played by Dustin Hoffman in the film “The Graduate” set in America in the mid 1950s. In a memorable scene a well-meaning middle-aged neighbour advises him about a future career and suggests it should be: “In One Word:  PLASTICS”.

When I think of plastics, I always recall the scene in the Jacques Tati film “Mon Oncle” when a machine extruding plastic pipe goes berserk, and Monsieur Hulot (played by Tati) has the unenviable task of capturing the seemingly uncontrollable mass of distorted shapes rapidly being disgorged all over the factory floor and finding somewhere to hide them.

The four webinars that have already been held in the “Plastics Frontiers” series have had their memorable moments, too, although not quite the same as those in these Award winning feature films.  Nevertheless, our webinars have been outstandingly successful, informative and thought provoking, and have featured speakers from Australia and around the world talking about various aspects of plastics.

Plastics have been a real boon to most aspects of human life:  problems with plastics arise when they are not disposed of properly after use.  The first speaker in our first webinar spoke about medicinal applications of plastics, pushing back the frontiers of science in this vital area of improving human health.  Then we have had people talking about recovering plastic waste and converting it into new products – such as making bath toys from HDPE milk bottles and bollards and decking from waste collected by councils in their recycling bins.  We have also been treated to outstanding presentations about the circular economy, both here and overseas, where plastic products are recovered and recycled, thus minimizing the use of fresh resources.  Speakers have also touched on the “National Plastics Plan 2021” released by the Australian government earlier this year, and the very ambitious targets for recovery and recycling of plastic waste. 

Problems arise when plastic waste ends up in the wrong place like waterways and oceans.  If plastic materials are broken down into small particles (microplastics) and then ingested by fish and sea birds, we have a major potential disaster on our hands.  What we must do is to educate people and prevent plastic waste from ending up anywhere other than in recycle bins (for recovery and re-use) or land fill, where the carbon is locked away and prevented from contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.  This requires re-educating people to be more careful about disposing of plastic waste and maybe adopting a deposit scheme for old containers (carrot) or fines and taxes where plastics are not disposed of properly (stick).  Where plastics are recovered and recycled, options include: separating into the different types of polymeric material and re-using the recovered polymer to replace virgin polymer in plastic products;  chemically breaking down the recovered plastic into monomers, and incorporating these monomers into new polymer;  converting the mixed recovered and recycled plastic materials into completely new and different products.

In 2000, Coca Cola Amatil was separating and recovering PET from kerbside plastic waste, and incorporating recycled PET into new bottles at rates of up to 25%.  Now they incorporate recycled PET into new bottles at close to a 100% rate. 
Where plastic waste is converted into new materials for things such as garden furniture and decking, it is usually replacing alternative materials, such as plantation timber, a renewable resource.  And before we completely replace the single use plastic bag, for example, we need to think about the alternatives, and the resources consumed and environmental impact of making these alternatives (like paper bags).

A controversial and thought-provoking presentation from Professor Tony Ryan OBE from the University of Sheffield, UK, demonstrated that up to now, plastics made from virgin polymer produced by the petrochemical industry were cheaper and had less impact on the environment than alternatives.  Bioplastics tended to produce more carbon dioxide during manufacture, for example, and biodegradable and compostable plastics also released carbon dioxide when they are disposed of.  A key point made by Tony is that disposing of plastics into landfill has the benefit of locking up carbon, which is important when we know that release of carbon dioxide or methane into the atmosphere contributes to greenhouse gas warming effect.  

What this suggests is that as long as there are sufficient fossil fuel hydrocarbon resources in the ground to support the petrochemical industry, making virgin polymer from natural gas, say, is probably the most economic and may have the least adverse impact on the environment.  But that shouldn’t stop us investigating better ways of more efficiently recovering plastic waste, economizing on the use of new polymer where appropriate, and making sure waste plastics don’t enter streams, rivers and oceans.  Fossil fuel resources aren’t infinite after all!

We are nearly half way through the series of webinars.  Further episodes are planned for May 4th, May 18th, June 1st, June 15th, July 27th and August 3rd.  Future topics include dealing with litter and pollution, hearing the industry perspective, suggesting sustainable solutions, challenges to packaging, and developing a roadmap to a sustainable and future circular economy.  Expert speakers from around Australia and the globe have been invited to participate.
You could probably rent a copy of “The Graduate” or “Mon Oncle” or play it on YouTube.  But if you don’t take this opportunity to register for future webinars in the “Plastics Frontiers” series, you could miss out altogether on something really important.  So do please register and attend!!