Sustainable Transformation of Waste Soft Plastics into High-Quality Flexible Sheets

Md. Shahruk Nur-A-Tomal (), Farshid Pahlevani, Saroj Bhattacharyya, Bill Joe, Charlotte Wesley and Veena Sahajwalla
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Md. Shahruk Nur-A-Tomal: Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT@UNSW), School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Farshid Pahlevani: Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT@UNSW), School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Saroj Bhattacharyya: Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Bill Joe: School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Charlotte Wesley: Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT@UNSW), School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Veena Sahajwalla: Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT@UNSW), School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 23, 1-17

Abstract: Post-consumer soft plastics often face inadequate management practices, posing threats to both human life and the environment while also leading to the loss of valuable recyclable materials when not recycled. Traditional mechanical recycling methods are unsuitable for waste soft plastics due to their thin and flimsy nature. This study presents an effective, user-friendly process for converting waste soft plastics into new products, generating value, and expediting their collection and recycling without the need for pelletization. The outcome of this process was compared with products derived from traditional recycling and commercially available alternatives through various analytical techniques including tensile testing, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The findings suggest that waste soft plastics can be transformed into flexible sheets without significant alterations to their properties. In particular, the ultimate tensile strength of samples recycled using the developed process in this study and traditional recycling were found to be 25.9 ± 0.4 and 25.2 ± 0.8 MPa, respectively, surpassing commercially available products by nearly 15 MPa. Additionally, a life cycle assessment revealed that producing flexible sheets from waste soft plastics using this innovative approach, rather than virgin polymer, could reduce fossil fuel depletion and global warming by 99.4% and 94.6%, respectively. This signifies the potential of the process to mitigate environmental pollution and produce high-quality products exclusively from 100% waste plastics.

Keywords: plastic waste; waste to valuable product; cleaner production; environmental-friendly; sustainability; circular economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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