A Concise Description on Plastics- Resilience, Sustainability, and Circular Economy | AIChE

A Concise Description on Plastics- Resilience, Sustainability, and Circular Economy

Authors 

Talwar, R. B. - Presenter, S.L.I.E.T, Longowal, India

Polymers are of great importance due to its high specific strength, modulus, easy fabrication, good resistance to fatigue, non-corrosive ability and economic ability.Thermoplastic composites reinforced through bio-polymers such as starch, wood cellulose, etc. can be obtained.

A sustainable polymer is a plastic material that addresses the needs of consumers without damaging our environment, health and economy. The environmental impacts of plastics are not limited to their end- of- life degradation.Economically sustainable plastics include recycle, reuse, and the degradation of plastics that replace metals, ceramics, etc. with comparable properties.

Economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services by different agents. In general, it is defined ‘as s social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the production, use, and management of resources’.

The circular economy is an alternative to the current unsustainable linear economic model, which involves circularity of resource flow by preventing loss of material out of the system. However, circular economy models go well beyond simple concepts of recycling as it approaches a system level approach that integrates economic activity with environmental and social sustainability. The circular economy concepts have developed from approaches to sustainability and incorporate ideas where products and materials in the system are maintained at their highest value for the longest time possible, removing reliance on non- renewable resources, designing in reduction of waste from the outset, as well as avoidance and elimination of contamination, toxicity and pollution.