The Role of Green Leaders of the Next Generation

Role of Green Leaders

Written by Caleb Paik

Up until these past years, green leaders have been pretty lax. Human leaders disregarded the austerity of climatic changes and with the increase of environmental hazards around the world, it is crucial that the world now needs future green leaders that will play an essential role in helping to restore the earth back to its healthier, former state. One of these roles can be partaking in the development of green technologies or products. Green products or technologies are sustainable articles designed to minimize environmental impact. 

Whether you realize it or not, green products are all around us. These products can include reusable cups, reusable lids, reusable shopping bags, recyclable cutlery, recyclable plates, and etc. All of these products have a common purpose of being eco friendly by being reusable or recyclable. They also aid in the process of keeping pollution, specifically plastic, widespread to a minimum. Still, with these products only about 9% of the plastic is reused or recycled. Around 12% is incinerated and the rest is unused, and either accumulated in landfills or natural environments. 

With these products in mind, it is significant to recognize that the priority in environmental restoration is shallow. Therefore, it is also crucial to spread the fact that future green leaders have a very important role in impeding the continuation of environmental harm.

Resource Recirculation

Resource Recirculation

Written by Caleb Paik

When we think about waste, we tend to think about materials that bring harm to nature. These materials can be perilous and most often they are unwanted. Plastic waste, for example, is definitely one that brings harm with huge effects. Most of the millions of tonnes of plastic collected are brought to landfills, but some believe that this itself is a waste of a valuable resource. With the determination to change this, the chemical industry of the Cefic organization developed solutions to recycle plastic waste that would normally be sent to landfills, or incinerated.

With the help of chemical recycling technologies, the chemical industry was able to figure out a process. These technologies can break down plastic waste and transform them into secondary raw materials, materials that are recycled to be used instead or alongside the original source, to produce new chemicals and plastics with nearly identical quality. As of now, the organization successfully developed consumer products such as food packaging, mattresses, refrigerator parts, etc. However, they plan on taking it to an industrial scale. 

This infographic shows how chemical recycling technologies work. It shows how they can transform waste into a reusable product, creating a cycle. This can be done through three processes: Dissolution, Depolymerization, and Conversion. These processes handle the plastic waste that would otherwise be disposed of. The first process, dissolution, takes the idea of extracting plastic. It uses heat and solvents to dissolve the plastic into polymers and additives. While the polymers are untouched, the additives are replaced to produce the new recycled plastic. The second process is the depolymerization method, which takes the idea of breaking the waste down into basic building blocks. Using different combinations of chemistry, solvents, and heat, the polymers within the waste are broken down into monomers. Potential contaminants are then removed from the monomers. Finally, these monomers are “fed back” into the normal plastic production process, as a secondary raw material. Finally, the last process is conversion. Conversion takes the idea of turning it into raw materials. Using heat and chemistry, the waste is turned into either liquid or gas. Depending on which one, it takes place with the absence of oxygen, or the presence of oxygen respectively. Similar to the depolymerization process, potential contaminants are then removed. The liquid or gas then reenters the chemical production chain as a secondary raw material. 

• https://cefic.org/a-solution-provider-for-sustainability/chemical-recycling-making-plastics-circular/