Innovation

Plastic waste has become an increasingly larger problem year after year, “Plastic consumption has quadrupled over the past 30 years... Global plastics production doubled from 2000 to 2019 to reach 460 million tonnes.” Our consumption of plastic at a pace this rapid can do irreversible damage, and this process has already begun. “Only 9% of plastic waste is recycled (15% is collected for recycling but 40% of that is disposed of as residues). Another 19% is incinerated, 50% ends up in landfill and 22% evades waste management systems and goes into uncontrolled dumpsites, is burned in open pits or ends up in terrestrial or aquatic environments, especially in poorer countries.” Chemical recycling is one of the first steps to reducing this waste problem and starting to clean our environment instead of continuing our overuse and careless disposal of plastics.

Chemical recycling was inspired by multiple factors, one of which is the possibility of making an extra profit by recycling previously used plastics, melting them down, and cleaning them of any contaminants so they can be used to create new products for consumers. Another factor is the ability to save money by reprocessing old plastic goods instead of incinerating used plastics and creating more plastic to restart the cycle of destroying and recreating plastic. While being able to make more profit off of this innovation, it in turn increases recycling rates and decreases energy use and emissions from plastic incineration.

Mura Technology has the mission and means to achieve UN SDG 12; “Mura's mission is to eliminate plastic pollution and create sustainable societies. Their technology can recycle all plastic waste and produce ingredients for new products.” Their partnership with Dow, “a global materials science company that operates manufacturing sites in 31 countries”, began in 2022 and has already resulted in a plant being built in Teesside, U.K. in 2023. This plant is a first-of-its-kind “Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Solution” that can process both flexible and rigid plastics, along with films thought to be unrecyclable. This plant is capable of these feats thanks to Mura’s technology, to heat plastic waste to the point of liquefaction or gasification to be further broken down and remove contaminants, and finally be reused in an array of products such as food and medical uses. The innovation of chemical recycling and the partnership that brought forth this innovation comes with plans for the future. Plans to build more than one “Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Solution” plant in both Europe and the U.S. “adding as much as 600 kilotons of recycling capacity by 2030”, which directly relates to target 12.5.

Inspiration

Our inspired business role model and leader is Mr. Corey Gautreaux. Mr. Gautreaux is an Activity Coordinator/Gatekeeper in the environmental operations department at Dow Inc. Louisiana Operations (LAO) in Plaquemine, LA. As an Activity Coordinator/Gatekeeper he is highly involved in both operations and maintenance aspects of the plant. Both roles become one in which Mr. Gautreaux uses software to plan and schedule the efficient use of resources and maintains the needed tools for the plant to achieve its daily objectives. While he is not specifically involved in the innovation of chemical recycling, he is a pillar on the team that handles water treatment from the Mississippi River that has flowed through the plant and must go back into the river. He is an integral part of the machine that keeps LAO on its feet and operating efficiently. Mr. Gautreaux said “Knowing I am playing a small part of a team that cleans millions of gallons of water a day that came from the Mississippi River and puts it back in river cleaner than it was before.” His inspiration to help the environment is beyond commendable; without him and his team, innovation such as chemical recycling may never have hit the ground.

Overall impact

The impact of this innovation in the short term specifically is the publication of the partnership that has brought it to light and the future of recycling chemically along with hope for the future in the realm of plastic recycling. Sustainable Plastics’ Karen Laird stated, “Once deployed at scale, it has the capability to prevent millions of tons of plastic and carbon dioxide from entering the environment every year.” This recent hope and publicity are reasons to hold a brighter outlook toward the future. 

Chemical recycling, though a newer innovation, can and will have long-term effects on the world, which includes how humanity recycles plastic and reduces the creation of plastic. This form of recycling can begin to reduce the consumption of plastics, the waste of plastics not usually recycled, and the gasses that come from the plastic when incinerated. Chemical recycling can be “...used to produce new, virgin-grade plastic with no limit to the number of times the same material can be processed, creating a true circular economy for plastic waste.” Dow’s corporate website here hints at the possibility of a circular plastic economy, meaning to reuse the plastic that has already been created over and over instead of creating new plastic.

Business benefit

This innovation has many benefits, some have already begun while others may yet be seen for some time. Since Dow and Mura began their partnership at least one plant has been created leading to an increase in jobs and employees for the companies, especially in Teesside, U.K. This plant has resulted in over 100 new jobs in the plant alone, with multiple plants in the works in the U.S. and Europe many more will follow as they begin to build those plants and hire the staff to run them. Because of these businesses coming together, they have and will continue to provide jobs to the people in the surrounding areas. 

As these plants continue to grow in number, their revenues follow, and the reuse of plastics to create other products that can be sold once more allows these companies to earn more. This revenue can continue to expand, as Dow states “As advanced recycling technologies expand and mature, progress in increased recycling rates, less energy use, CO2 emissions reduction, and improved economics will be realized — when compared to incineration.” Incineration is costly to these companies and to the environment, being able to work around a common practice such as this while earning more opens doors to new worlds of possibilities.

Social and environmental benefit

Chemical recycling as an innovation has already started to benefit society in the sense that as it takes a larger foothold in the recycling process and industry the benefits will be measurable by both us and future generations. The more it becomes a common practice in the recycling industry the less carbon dioxide gets into our atmosphere from the incineration of used plastics. Dow and Mura working together and building new plants in the future can only increase the impact this innovation will have on society and the future of our world. As society sees the effect of chemical recycling and the practice of incineration decrease, society may become even more interactive with the future of this innovation. 

Environmentally the impacts of chemical recycling will be monumental, the decrease of carbon dioxide along with the reduction in the use of fossil fuels to create plastic. Dow, as one of the largest material and chemical companies in the world, chose to reduce its use of incineration. It may not have a substantial impact on the environment immediately, but the push to get away from incineration in any case is positive for the environment to not release more carbon dioxide than we already do as a species. Similarly, the use of fossil fuels will decrease with the reduction in the creation of plastic as new since these companies will be partaking in the reuse of already once-used plastic to create a circular plastic economy. The partnership between Dow Incorporated and Mura Technology has resulted in an innovation that could be on the way to changing the world in terms of plastic use, destruction, and creation, which could be felt and seen for generations to come.

Interview

Corey Gautreaux, Activity Coordinator/Gatekeeper