New Plastics Innovation Center to Lead Fight Against Plastic Waste

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The University of Delaware (UD) has announced the establishment of a new research center aimed at dealing with rising plastic waste.

The Center for Plastics Innovation (CPI) is being funded by $11.65 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. This is one of the six new Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs), established with the aim of bringing together creative, multi-disciplinary scientific teams to tackle the toughest scientific challenges. Incidentally, plastic waste that enters ocean bodies poses serious health threats to humans and marine life. Moreover, these plastics take too long to decompose.

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As part of the project, researchers from UD, the University of Chicago, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Pennsylvania and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will collaborate to upcycle plastic waste by chemically transforming them into useful materials such as fuels and lubricants. The research will be led by LaShanda Korley, Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UD.

CPI is touted as a dynamic force that will help in tackling one of the most important challenges facing the world.

As per estimates, only around 12% of the 350 million tons of plastic waste produced in 2018 were reused or recycled.