Advances in Polymer Recycling and Upcycling: Toward a Circular and Sustainable Future
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Circular and Green Sustainable Polymer Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 717
Special Issue Editors
Interests: polymer recycling; chemical recycling; composites; circular economy; sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: polymer recycling; upcycling; enzymatic recycling; circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue will explore critical advances and challenges in polymer recycling and upcycling, highlighting innovative strategies to enhance material circularity and reduce environmental impacts. It aims to cover the following topics:
- Recycling Technologies: this refers to progress in mechanical, chemical, and biological recycling methods, improved sorting and separation techniques, and innovations to retain polymer properties during processing.
- Upcycling Approaches: examples of these approaches include converting plastic waste into higher-value products, developing functionalized polymers, and employing advanced methods like reactive extrusion and catalysis.
- Sustainability and Circular Economy: by incorporating life cycle assessments (LCAs), we can gauge environmental impacts, present industrial case studies, and examine policies and market trends driving polymer recycling and upcycling.
- Novel Materials and Composites: utilizing recycled content in polymer blends can create biocomposites and biologically derived materials as alternatives to conventional plastics, developing hybrid materials for better performance and recyclability.
- The Integration of Safety and Sustainability: from the outset of polymer design and recycling, environmental impact can be minimized, enhancing material performance and supporting circular economy goals through advanced recycling and upcycling innovations.
- Challenges and Future Directions: this involves addressing polymer degradation, contamination, and mixed waste streams, leveraging emerging technologies like AI and robotics in waste management, and setting research priorities to improve recycling efficiency and material quality.
This Special Issue aims to foster collaboration among academia, industry, and policymakers, driving innovation in polymer recycling and upcycling for a sustainable future.
Dr. Nuno Gama
Dr. Alessandra Lorenzetti
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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. Polymers 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 2700 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
- polymer recycling
- upcycling
- circular economy
- sustainable materials
- waste valorization
- environmental impact
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