Could That Plastic Bag Someday Be The Sustainable Alternative

In this case study, you will be introduced to the challenges that plastic waste places on our environment, as well as to the solutions offered by ideas like a circular economy and chemical upcycling. If you look around, you will notice that plastics are almost everywhere in our society. They increase our standard of living by providing us with convenient, sturdy, and cheap options in transportation, electronics, food storage, and medical equipment, just to name a few areas. However, we are paying for the convenience and affordability that plastics provide us by having to create solutions to the enormous burden plastics are placing on our environment in the form of waste, pollution, and resource depletion. Thankfully, ideas like a circular economy, which strives to eliminate waste by using the materials at the end of a product’s life as a resource for another high-value product, have inspired scientists to come up with creative solutions for our waste plastic.