The Circular Economy Challenge
Humanity faces an enormous task
to mitigate plastic pollution
Increased world population, together with higher levels of urbanization and the growth of the middle classes, have promoted the dramatic expansion of the plastics industry. According to Plastic Change, a Danish-based organization focused on the problem of plastic pollution, production of plastic has increased from 15 million tonnes (mt) in 1964 to 311 million mt in 2014, and this figure is expected to double again in 20 years. According to the organization, marine plastic waste will double in just 10 years and, if no action is taken, by 2050 oceans might contain more plastic than fish by weight.
The solution to this involves several components, including more stringent regulations, the development of the right infrastructure and handling processes for recycling, education at all levels of society, and an innovation push by the industry to ensure products are easily reused and recycled.
Regulation is a key driver of transformation as it has the ability to prompt change at all levels, from industry to consumers, as long as it is comprehensively drafted, systematically enforced, and accompanied by financial support and education to make it work in a sustainable manner. Having said this, industry initiatives can also have far-reaching effects, if the large players lead the way – in Australia, for instance, the decision of two major retailers to stop offering single-use disposable plastic bags is reported to have prevented the introduction of around 1.5 million bags into the environment, in a matter of just a few months.
Enrique Flaiban, general manager of Petrocuyo, an important petrochemical player in Argentina, emphasized that a solution cannot be reached without a joint effort: “We participate very actively in Ecoplas, an organization that provides information about the need for recycling. It is a great effort, because in Argentina there is not a strong recycling culture. We give support to some recycling cooperatives, through the donation of defective product, but the legislation in Argentina does not help. In Buenos Aires, for instance, there is no separation of waste.”
In Colombia, local association Acoplásticos is also involved in wide initiatives to promote a better recycling culture, including the Dale vida al plástico (‘Give life to plastic’) campaign. Daniel Mitchell, president of Acoplásticos, also commented on the responsibility of both industry and government: “From the design stage the products need to be recyclable and environmentally sustainable. Then, the authorities need to do selective collection of waste, and informal recyclers need to be organized to improve their activity.”
Brazilian chemical association Abiquim is also putting a lot of emphasis on education, working together with Plastivida, an institution that deals with the environmental and social aspects of plastics and implements education programs in schools. “Overall, we believe the most important issue to address in this subject is education. Well educated people will not cause ocean pollution,” said Fernando Figueiredo, CEO of Abiquim.
INNOVATION MUST BE THE INDUSTRY'S RESPONSE
Achieving a fully circular economy is indeed an enormous challenge, and while banning some products like single-use plastics may have other undesired impacts, change is already happening and all stakeholders need to see how they can adapt and contribute to it. In Mexico, for instance, there are already regulatory initiatives in 26 of the country’s 32 states to ban the use of single-use plastic bags, straws or packaging.
Miguel Benedetto, general director of Mexican chemical association ANIQ, noted that in parallel to regulatory changes in the country, the resins industry recently made three firm commitments: “The first one is to meet the zero-pellet target across the entire value chain. The second is to assure that 100% of the industry’s packaging is recycled or recyclable by 2030. Finally, by 2040 we will have to work with plastic converters and the retail industry to ensure that 100% of all packaging produced in Mexico is recycled or recyclable.”
In this context, the largest players must be the agents of change when it comes to promoting recycling and preventing plastic waste from reaching the oceans. Jim Seward, vice-president of Technology, Sustainability, O&P and Joint Ventures at LyondellBasell, said: “The circular economy is particularly relevant for plastics as they are uniquely suited to recycling and have a very long lifespan. Our vision is that, after use, plastics should not become waste but should be viewed as a feedstock or raw material for other uses.”
In this respect, companies are working on two main fronts: traditional mechanical recycling, and the more complex chemical recycling, which is viewed as the potential long-term solution to the issue, as long as it is made economically viable at an industrial scale.
Fabiana Quiroga, Recycling and Wecycle Platform director at Braskem, provided more details on how mechanical recycling can be improved: “We are focused on eliminating barriers to using recycled materials in some applications. For example, we announced a competition to eliminate odors in recycled plastic.”
LyondellBasell is also contributing to progress in the area of mechanical recycling through the recent creation of a joint venture company in Europe called Quality Circular Polymers (QCP), together with waste management specialist SUEZ. Located in the Netherlands, QCP’s facility has the capacity to convert consumer waste into 30,000 tonnes per year (mt/y) of polypropylene and high-density polyethylene. “LyondellBasell has added QCP’s recycled products to its range of existing PE and PP materials to meet rapidly expanding customer demands,” explained Seward.
Furthermore, in its work on the chemical recycling option, LyondellBasell has teamed up with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), with the aim of developing a new catalyst and process technology to convert plastic waste into feedstock, which could then be reused in polymerization processes. “The added advantage of chemical recycling is the ability to manage mixed composition and multilayer plastic materials which cannot be easily recovered by mechanical recycling,” Seward pointed out.
Of course, it remains to be seen if this can be done economically at an industrial scale. The company is cautious about this, but Seward acknowledges that this is the clear focus of the program. Talking about this research initiative, Bob Patel, CEO of LyondellBasell, declared: “This is a bit more longer term, but it could be a great solution for a more sustainable circular economy around plastics.”
The issue of plastic pollution has only hit the headlines relatively recently, and the different stakeholders have only started introducing the changes needed to solve it, so a lot remains to be done. Humanity, however, is ingenious, and one must believe that change is possible. To give an example, not so long ago, the current move towards battery electric vehicles would be unthinkable – today, it is unstoppable. If the current initiatives towards addressing plastic pollution gain traction very soon, and if the world governments, the industry and the wider society work closely on this, we will be able to clean up the oceans for a better future