Six Experts Discuss Innovations in Sustainable Products from Plastic Waste

The Thermo Fisher Scientific webinar series, “Sustainable Products from Plastic Waste,” sheds light on cutting-edge advancements in recycling technologies, analytical methods, and material development aimed at tackling plastic waste challenges. Here’s a concise summary featuring insights from six leading experts in the field, focusing on recycling complexities, characterization techniques, and novel hybrid approaches.

1. Understanding Plastic Waste Types: Pre-Consumer vs. Post-Consumer

Dr. Madina Shamsuyeva explains the critical distinction:

• Post-industrial (Pre-consumer) waste: Generated during manufacturing; purer and easier to recycle due to a known composition.
• Post-consumer waste: Comes from used products; more complex and variable, requiring stringent classification to ensure transparency and effective recycling targets.

2. Polymer Rheology and the Weissenberg Effect

Dr. Ophélie Ranquet highlights the relevance of rheological behavior in plastics recycling:

• The Weissenberg effect occurs when polymers climb rotating tools, similar to spaghetti wrapping around a fork.
• This phenomenon can distort viscosity measurements, but switching to oscillatory shear modes allows polymers to relax, yielding more reliable data crucial for product development.

3. Challenges of Using Recycled Materials in a Circular Economy

Felix Mehrens and Niklas Rode discuss real-time analysis during extrusion processes:

• Recyclates have heterogeneous properties due to degradation and mixing of different plastics, unlike consistent virgin polymers.
• Temperature significantly influences Raman spectroscopy used for material composition prediction, requiring temperature-controlled conditions to build accurate analytical models.

4. Recycling Marine Plastic Waste

Dr. Annika Völp addresses issues with marine plastic waste:

• Marine plastics face contamination and degradation challenges.
• Blending marine waste with virgin low-density polyethylene (PE) can preserve or improve thermal stability, though severely degraded materials (e.g., certain polyamides) necessitate careful sorting for quality recyclates.

5. Limitations of Chemical Recycling and Hybrid Solutions

Professor João Maia outlines current setbacks and innovations:

• Chemical recycling offers valuable recycled products but suffers from low capacity, high costs, significant CO₂ emissions, and inefficiencies due to contamination.
• Hybrid mechanical-chemical recycling, particularly via reactive extrusion, merges the strengths of both methods to enhance throughput, reduce contamination impact, and improve polymer quality for scalable recycling solutions.

Key Takeaways for Sustainable Plastic Waste Management

• Differentiating waste types (pre- vs. post-consumer) enhances recycling strategies.
• Understanding rheological properties like the Weissenberg effect aids in better polymer processing.
• Real-time material analysis and temperature considerations improve recyclate consistency.
• Marine plastic waste recycling requires innovative blending and sorting approaches.
• Hybrid recycling technologies present a scalable pathway to overcome traditional chemical recycling limitations.

Watch the Full Webinar Series

Thermo Fisher Scientific provides an in-depth, multi-week webinar series rich in industry expertise and technological breakthroughs, ideal for researchers and industry stakeholders invested in sustainable plastics recycling.

Reference

Thermo Fisher Scientific – Materials Characterization. (2025, October 02). Six Experts Talk Sustainable Products from Plastic Waste. AZoM. Retrieved October 19, 2025, from https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=24662

This expert panel’s insights contribute significantly to advancing sustainable practices in plastic recycling, fostering a circular economy, and guiding future research and industry applications.

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