Sustainable Polymer Materials for Circular Economy: Recycling, Waste Valorization and Advanced Composites
A special issue of Clean Technologies (ISSN 2571-8797).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 189
Special Issue Editors
Interests: polymer biocomposites with natural fillers; production and processing of biocomposites; computational methods; microstructural calculations of composites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: biopolymers; biodegradability; machine learning and applications on materials and agriculture; farm structures; sustainable materials from agri-waste
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: polymer composites; polymer electrolytes; biodegradable polymers; kinetic analysis; polymer recycling; injection molding; material characterization
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The transition toward a circular economy requires the development of advanced materials that enable efficient resource utilization, waste valorization, and sustainable product design with reduced environmental impact. In recent years, increasing attention has been directed toward biodegradable polymers, recycled plastics, and bio-based composites as promising alternatives to conventional petroleum-based materials. In particular, the incorporation of waste-derived fillers, industrial by-products, and recycled polymers into polymer matrices offers significant opportunities for reducing environmental footprint while maintaining desirable functional properties.
This Special Issue will present recent advances in the development, processing, characterization, and applications of sustainable polymer-based materials designed in accordance with circular economy principles. Particular emphasis will be placed on the environmental impact of these materials, including aspects such as resource efficiency, waste reduction, recyclability, and life cycle assessment (LCA). Contributions addressing biodegradable polymers, polymer recycling technologies, bio-based composites, additive manufacturing with recycled materials, eco-design strategies, and sustainable processing techniques are especially encouraged.
The Special Issue will provide a comprehensive overview of current trends and future perspectives in sustainable materials engineering. Both original research articles and high-quality review papers summarizing recent progress in this field are welcome. Submissions focusing on the relationships between material structure, processing technologies, environmental performance, recycling strategies, and functional properties are particularly encouraged.
Dr. Grzegorz Janowski
Dr. Chrysanthos Maraveas
Dr. Irena Krešić
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Clean Technologies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- circular economy
- sustainable materials
- environmental impact
- life cycle assessment (LCA)
- waste valorization
- polymer recycling
- biodegradable polymers
- biocomposites
- bio-based materials
- natural fiber composites
- eco-design
- resource efficiency
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