Recycling: Facts and Fiction?

The discussion about plastics and especially waste is sometimes quite polarised and nuance is only occasionally sought; everything is reduced to for or against and not infrequently public opinion is fed with half-truths.

To immediately set the tone: Plastics good or bad?... My opinion is: Good!

Yes, plastics are made from oil and its CO2 footprint and nuisance have a severe impact on the environment. On the other hand, I would argue that the use of plastics has also brought many benefits to the world, such as making cars lighter and, to a greater or lesser extent, complex designs and objects that make our daily lives, in areas such as mobility, healthcare, electronics and interiors, much more pleasant, safer and also more sustainable (!).

Sometimes I think the human factor is too easily sidelined. After all, it is human to sometimes (?) seemingly carefree throw waste from the car into the roadside, it is human to leaves empty bottles and bags everywhere outside of ones home and it is human behaviour to dump waste “on land, at sea and in the air”. There are decades behind us in which we pretended all our actions and consumption might not ever have a downside: lead and mercury in fish, particulate matter (or particle pollution) and nitrogen (NOx/NH3) in the air, microplastics even in drinking water, just to name a few.....and a huge mountain of plastics waste.

Now, I am positive by nature and I think in terms of opportunities and possibilities. But first it is necessary to take a closer look at the current state of technology and to value the many corporate and government initiatives. An attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff.

First of all, I would like to see a little more realism in the discussion:
The EU ban on disposable plastic is partly good, you don't need a bag for everything and awareness, re-use of bags or take your own jars to the shop is positive. But is it really necessary to stop using plastic straws, for example, while a good alternative is hardly available? Those bamboo straws break easily, so people with disabilities cannot work with them. We are very enthusiastic about separating our waste, but if you read that this is then (partly) thrown back together, it seems that we are wasting unnecessary labor costs. The mechanical separation at the waste processors has now been professionalised to such an extent that about 85% is properly separated, which is really not possible in an average household. Possibly a good collaboration between local government and commercial waste processing in combination with relevant wheelie bins at people's homes can optimise or increase the efficiency of the waste processes. Decades of produced plastics and rubber are recycled only to a very limited extent (about 10%) and now form a gigantic mountain of plastics waste that remains as a landfill or, in a worse scenario, is incinerated: a lot of CO2! By using various types of plastic in one application, this makes separating and recycling them very difficult. An average packaging film often already contains several layers of PE and Polyamide, which is very good for protecting the cheese, but not so great when it comes to recycling. Small companies are constantly appearing on TV (at least in Netherlands) that can “easily recycle their plastics” and turn them into new applications. But those new applications are of a lower quality in terms of material properties and very often black. Imagine the millions of worn car tires, the majority of which are burned and a small part finds a new application such as rail blocks, asphalt road construction underlayment or play mats. Imagine natural Polyamide fishing nets, of which about 10-15% is added to virgin material and about 85% is not. Plastics producers often advertise with Bioplastics, “Biobased”, biodegradable and bio-compostable. Although these are not made from fossil fuels, they are only applicable to a limited extent (approximately 2% sofar). And be aware that every potato or maize polymerised bioplastic, will put even more pressure on the food supply chain. And the question is which bioplastics will degrade or compost and under which conditions; the “plastic soup” in our seas will not benefit from this. There are also some comments to be made about the various sustainability programs of companies, with the emphasis on saving water and energy and "100% sustainable purchased electricity". Because what sustainable electricity are we talking about? If the water saving is 50%, is the remainder still too much? The last year implemented EU (and Dutch) CO2 tax, with a noble intention to stimulate greening, is, in combination with the already existing EU ETS (emissions trading system), so complex that it is questionable whether the targets are really being achieved, all the more so due to the limited control on compliance.

But the realism is also that there are many initiatives. Processes are being developed to cost-competitively depolymerise polymers into the original building blocks, which allow you to produce high-quality plastics again without using new oil or plants and to reduce the mountain of plastics waste. There are companies that sell products where re-use is already included in the design and definition (“tag to bring it back”), such as Niaga® by Covestro carpets and mattresses. There are collaborations between companies and universities, for example by Vepa and Bywyd, in Netherlands, in the development of the Blue Finn chair, made from Bluewrap that is used in hospitals (keeping instruments sterile). There are universities and (small!) companies that are working on all kinds of new raw materials to make plastics that have less impact on the environment and food supply, such as the use of algae (biorefinery) by Wageningen University and Studio Klarenbeek & Dros, both Netherlands. And even all those, sometimes somewhat opportunistic, companies that re-process part of the waste or save energy, have their contribution in reducing the mountain of waste and a more sustainable society. Politicians nowadays have a vision for the future, such as the EU's “Green Deal” for example. And there is an increasing awareness among citizens that things have to change and that everyone has a role to play in this.

With everything that is going on in the world, there is now a clear momentum for change. Innovative entrepreneurs and universities seize their opportunities and possibilities. In my view, in this it is important that the government has a vision that matches our society, has sufficient flexibility to adapt the strategy with advancing insight, keeps an overview of what is happening and its relevance, facilitates that universities and companies can develop the necessary technologies and involve society in the sustainability process through good communication and support.