We need to uncomplicate recycling for the consumer, says plastic expert

plastic
ENB Pub Note: This story only highlights part of the problem. There can be no energy transition without a total reevaluation of “Sustainability,” including fiscal responsibility, land reclamation, and total recyclable systems for windmill blades and solar panels. We will be starting a series on technology, systems, and financial solutions for the energy transition. 

We need a uniform rubbish collection system so there’s no confusion.

This is what Adela Putinelu, Head of Policy and Sustainability at Plastic Energy, said in this week’s Net Hero Podcast.

‘It’s really confusing for the consumers and that is the first thing that we need to think about and change.

‘Because in reality, consumers don’t really need to understand all of these very complicated issues around the production process, around the use life, around the environmental impact.

‘What they do need to understand is what to do with the plastic that they use at the end of life.

‘And that’s where the rules should be quite clear for the consumer to be able to adopt and be incentivised to do the right thing.

‘Because the more complicated you make it for the consumer, the more you’re not going to get the behaviour that you want to get from the consumers.’

She told us that there are several reasons why recycling infrastructure and policy continues to  be a struggle.

‘Consumers in the past have not been incentivised to adopt the right behaviours. Quite frankly, governments have not been made enough of an effort to make [recycling] a part of policy.

‘Businesses, too, haven’t been proactive at all. So it’s really a combination of all of these factors.

‘But I think the landscape is very quickly changing and that’s very good to see.’

Adela said that certain plastics such as crisp packets don’t get recycled at all.

‘Polyethylene, polypropylene, the sort of stuff that’s mainly plastic, flexible films, packaging, crisp packets, plastic bags, things like that.

‘These at the moment, are not recycled at all.

‘Mechanical recycling doesn’t really deal with it. It ends into incineration landfill.

‘So, in broad terms, mechanical recycling does not change the chemical structure of the polymeric waste.

‘Whereas chemical recycling does exactly that. So the polymeric waste gets transformed into a hydrocarbon oil. So you sort of switch back the chemistry a little bit to go back to some of its component chemical structures.

‘So you obtain a hydrocarbon oil and the way you obtain this is by heating the plastic waste in the absence of oxygen to obtain this hydrocarbon oil.

‘And this is what [Plastic Energy] has been doing. We provide a solution for plastic waste that has no solution to be recycled at present time and by doing this we’re displacing the use of virgin oils in the production of plastic.’

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The post We need to uncomplicate recycling for the consumer, says plastic expert appeared first on Energy Live News.

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About Stu Turley 4195 Articles
Stuart Turley is President and CEO of Sandstone Group, a top energy data, and finance consultancy working with companies all throughout the energy value chain. Sandstone helps both small and large-cap energy companies to develop customized applications and manage data workflows/integration throughout the entire business. With experience implementing enterprise networks, supercomputers, and cellular tower solutions, Sandstone has become a trusted source and advisor.   He is also the Executive Publisher of www.energynewsbeat.com, the best source for 24/7 energy news coverage, and is the Co-Host of the energy news video and Podcast Energy News Beat. Energy should be used to elevate humanity out of poverty. Let's use all forms of energy with the least impact on the environment while being sustainable without printing money. Stu is also a co-host on the 3 Podcasters Walk into A Bar podcast with David Blackmon, and Rey Trevino. Stuart is guided by over 30 years of business management experience, having successfully built and help sell multiple small and medium businesses while consulting for numerous Fortune 500 companies. He holds a B.A in Business Administration from Oklahoma State and an MBA from Oklahoma City University.