(306d) Waste Valorization and Sustainable Biocomposites Towards a Circular Economy: Current Status and Future Opportunities

Innovative and sustainable solutions are required to combat the world’s growing waste and pollution problem which is contributing to GHG emissions. Currently, the linear economic model of “make-use-dispose” is rapidly increasing the amount of generated waste and our ability to process it in a way that doesn’t harm the environment. A closed loop approach of managing resources is essential. Developing new products is an integral part of this approach, also called a circular economy concept. New products should be designed to minimize waste or utilize waste as a resource. This presentation will focus on valorizing waste from various industries such as plastic, agriculture, food, biorefining, manufacturing, automotive, and packaging to develop sustainable biobased plastics composites. The incorporation of waste from these industries provide potential value-added uses in materials, if appropriately integrated in the design and engineering. Plastic makes up the majority of the municipal solid waste, where only about 9% is recycled, while the remainder is incinerated or ends up in the landfill. Similarly, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) approximates that 1/3 of the food produced - 1.3 billion tonnes - goes to waste which is estimated to cost $990 billion US per year. Highlights of this presentation will include the use of recycled plastics and industrial wastes (including food processing waste) as renewable feedstocks for innovative industrial applications. Wider applications of these materials will help lessen the waste entering the landfill, therefore reducing pollution and GHG emissions.

Acknowledgements: (i) The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) – University of Guelph, the Bioeconomy Industrial Uses Research Program Theme (Project Nos. 030486 and 030578); (ii) OMAFRA-University of Guelph Gryphon’s Leading to the Accelerated Adoption of Innovative Research (LAAIR) Program (Project No. 030416); (iii) the Ontario Research Fund, Research Excellence Program; Round-9 (ORF-RE09) from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Canada (Project No. 053970); and (iv) the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Canada Research Chair (CRC) program Project No. 460788.