Polymer Recycling: Degradation, Processing, Applications

The environmental concerns regarding the final fate of polymer objects is a very important challenge for the plastic industry. Among the different strategies to decrease or to eliminate the presence of plastic waste in the environment and to decrease the amount of plastic coming from oil, recycling is one of the more important tools. Indeed, recycling can mean recovery of the same polymer to be used as a secondary material, recovery of the monomer to be used to produce new virgin polymers, recovery of energy, use of the post-consumer plastic as fillers in other materials (concrete, bitumen, etc.).

As for mechanical recycling, the main problems are related to the degradation during lifetime and reprocessing operations, the loss of properties of the secondary material, and the reprocessing of mixed plastics.

This Special Issue will follow the life of post-consumer plastics from the reprocessing operations to the applications. Papers on thermomechanical degradation, reprocessing, applications, chemical recycling, energy recovery, and mixed plastics are welcome.