Scaling Up Closed Loop Plastics Recycling

Abstract

Over the course of the 20th century, plastics have transformed the way we use, design and manufacture the products that define our everyday lives. Yet as our global demand for plastics increases, so does the amount of plastic waste that is created. Currently only a small amount of the material value of this waste stream is retrieved through global recycling practices. Closed-loop recycling, in which the material is brought back to an equal or comparable level of quality, currently represents only a small amount of all plastics recycling activities (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2016). This system urgently needs a re-think. This first part of this project describes the result of a study that was done to help companies to significantly scale up closed loop plastics recycling. The main goals of this collaborative project, initiated by several corporate members of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s CE100 community, were to evaluate existing closed loops of post-consumer plastics, provide recommendations to overcome common barriers to closing these loops and scaling up the use of recycled plastics. Consumer products, rather than plastic packaging items, were the main focus of the project. The second part of the project describes the development of an online course on the topic of design for closed loop plastics recycling. This course is aimed at designers and design students. Initially the scope of this second phase involved applying the insights that were gained during the first phase to the development of a set of guidelines for design for plastics recycling, including the application of recycled plastic material. However throughout the research it became clear that several sets of guidelines, including those aimed specifically at plastics parts and products, exist within the literature. A problem with such rules concerning the design for recycling of plastic parts that their effectiveness is highly dependent on the end-of-life context, the type of product and the recycling technologies that are used. It was therefore decided that the focus of this second phase should be on the development of something that could help designers obtain the right mindset with which they could navigate and resolve these kind of issues themselves.