In this next video Peter Rem discusses how consumer demand and technological innovations are changing the dynamics between the polymer manufacturing and plastics recycling industries.

MAIN TAKEAWAYS

• Polymer manufacturers have little interest in making the ‘perfect’ polymer, because (unlike other material manufacturers) they have not integrated recycling into their own processes.
• Because of a growing consumer demand for sustainable packaging, brands have started exploring the possibility of recycling their own plastics. This, in turn, puts pressure on polymer manufacturers to produce plastics that are easily recyclable.
• Plastics are manufactured in hundreds of different colours, which can complicate the recycling process. New sorting technologies may provide a solution to this problem.
• If a recycled material is pure enough it requires little or no extra processing to use it in new products.