Sustainable waste management through polymer upcycling

Plastic waste management is challenged by the inefficiencies and environmental impact of traditional chemical recycling methods. Here, the authors explore the chemoenzymatic cascade depolymerization approach, which offers a promising and sustainable solution for transforming plastic waste into valuable products.

The escalating plastic waste crisis stems from limitations in conventional recycling methods, which are energy intensive and produce lower-quality materials, leaving a substantial portion unrecycled. Here, the authors report an organo-photocatalytic upcycling method employing an easily accessible phenothiazine derivative to selectively deconstruct a wide array of commodity polymers.

Recycling of commodity plastics remains challenging due to the presence of additives and mixed waste streams. Here the authors develop a strategy for co-upcycling polycarbonate, and polyethylene terephthalate, two types of waste commodity polymers, into polyarylate, a high-performance transparent engineering plastic.

Chemical depolymerization is a promising approach to recycle plastic waste, but complete depolymerization is energy-intense. Here, the authors show upcycling of mixed plastic waste to highly-crosslinked, reprocessable vitrimers through incomplete depolymerization using glycerol as a cleaving agent.