1) Plastics production and use has grown exponentially since the 1960s from virtually nothing to over 100 million tonnes annually produced globally in 2019. 2) The ease of processing plastics led to widespread use but also global plastic pollution problems on land, in the sea, and air. 3) While science, innovation, and commercialization led to new plastic technologies and global scale-up of production, unintended environmental consequences were not fully appreciated for decades. 4) Improving plastic recovery and recycling technology alongside reducing plastic incineration will be needed to control global plastic pollution problems.

1. By
Malcolm Mackley.
Emeritus Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and
Biotechnology
University of Cambridge
Polyethylene “single crystals”
The 1960s
“Plastic Free Kingsbridge”
The 2016s
Fribourg November 2019
Helping to make the world a better place using plastics

2. https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
Plastics pollution
1950-2015
Global
Plastics
Production
Born in 1947
Polymer Physics
PhD 1970
Realised extent
of plastics global
problem
Polymers, Plastics
and Innovation

3. Plastic Pollution
Land. End of life Plastic objects.
Plastic packaging and litter.
Plastic Microparticles.
Sea. Plastic litter.
Plastic Microparticles.
Air. Plastic incineration 𝐶𝑂2
Plastic Microparticles.

4. 1967 “The Graduate” film with Dustin Hoffman
“Go into plastics” clip

5. 5
1970s Two great scientists
(My Bristol Physics PhD Supervisors 1970s)
Sir Charles Frank (1911-1998)Andrew Keller (1925 –1999)
World leading
Polymer Scientist
World leading
Physicist
At this point of time, Plastic and CO2 pollution not appreciated

6. Polyethylene
Unit cell
Diamond If PE chain fully
aligned in crystal.
Expect PE Stiffness
E=285 GPa
Not usual
E=1 GPa
Frank 1970
C.W.Bunn 1945
Sir Charles Frank prediction; High Modulus Polyethylene
An example of Unexpected Consequences creating a “Technology Monster”
High Modulus Polyethylene.
1970. Step 1. Great Science
(My PhD topic)

7. Oriented High Modulus
100 GPa Polyethylene
1980s Step 2. The Innovation
Gel Drawing
of Low Entanglement, Ultra High Molecular Weight (UHMWPE)
Piet Lemstra
TU Eindhoven
Low entanglement UHMWPE
polymer gel. 1% polymer in
solvent
Unoriented Gel fibre
Quench bath
Unoriented Low entanglement semi crystalline fibre
. Hot draw
Solvent recovery
Piston
Ex Groningen Ex Bristol
Paul Smith.
ETH

8. 1990s. Step 3. The Commercial Technology
Continuous Processing of DSM Dyneema fibre.
Screw extruder
UHMWPE Polymer
powder
Solvent
Low entanglement polymer gel
Spinneret
Gel fibres
Quench bath
Low entanglement semi crystalline fibre
Hot draw
Solvent recovery
High Modulus
Polyethylene
Han Meijer. DSM & Eindhoven

9. 1. Science. Then…..
2.Innovation. Then…..
3. Commercialisation. Then sometimes…
4. Global scale up. Then….
5. Almost certainly, A problem?
Dyneema ropesDyneema and Endumax
Body armour
Endumax
Bomb protection
1990-2019. Step 4. Global Scale up.
High Modulus PE
Endumax
sails

10. “I worked with Bp to help improve their polymer processing!”
25 kg bag of PE every 3 seconds.
250,000 Tonnes/annum
1990s. Ineos (ex Bp). Grangemouth Scotland
Sir Jim Rarcliffe 60% Owner of Ineos
At this point in time Plastic and CO2 pollution still not appreciated

11. Polyethylene (PE) Global manufacture.
1934-2019
Globally, 2019
> 100 million tonnes/annum
= Fill Salcombe Estuary / annum
with PE

12. Temperature
50 100 150 200
C0
DH
Melt
Processing
The “good” and “bad” properties of PE
• Low melting point.
• Low density.
• High strength and toughness.
• “Low cost?”.
• Ease of processing.
Polyethylene £ 1000/tonne (Paper £ 300 /tonne)
Plastic floats!
Good for low temp
processing.
Bad for flammability.

13. Ease of melt Processing ;
A significant reason why plastic is used so much.
1
10
100
1000
10000
1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000
S7
S8
S9
S10
S11
S12
Log
Apparent
Viscosity
Pas
Entanglement
of chains
Shear Thinning
Simulation. Experiment.
Birefringence stress fields
Stress field birefringence
Cambridge Multipass Rheometer (MPR)
(David Hassell)
Strain rate

14. Thirty years of research results for
example in the ability to mathematically
model and optimise plastic bottle blow
moulding.
Whilst at the same time…Thirty
years is enough time to create a
global plastic bottle nightmare.
Plastic Bottles !
UK; 35 million plastic bottles /day

15. https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2018/10/21/uk-household-plastics-found-in-illegal-dumps-in-malaysia/
2018. UK plastic dumped in Malaysia.

16. Film blowing and blow moulding.
technologies that can produce
“Problematic Plastic Products”
Plastic packaging and bottles are a Global problem
( particularly in underdeveloped countries)

17. 17
Recovery and Reuse
of used plastics (and other materials)
is an interlinked problem and is at
the heart of acceptable use.
2019. “A conclusion”

18. Coloured plastic bags to save the world from plastic pollution!
Collect in coloured plastic bags
2016. A multi material and plastic recovery solution.
Eskilstuna – Sweden
A clean and colourful solution to domestic waste collection
Optical separation of bags to
different reuse streams

19. 19
Chemical Recycling; The pyrolysis option.
Recycling Technologies
(Reading UK)
Surely the future
Is to have,
Chemical Recycling
providing
“fresh feedstock”
alongside all major
Polymerisation reactors?

20. 2

21. Plastics are not alone !
Other technologies with global problems.
• Minerals. Mining
toxic tailings (waste pits)
• Mobile phones. 1 Billion/annum.
Materials recycle, Society and social
aspects.
• CO2 Global warming
• Transportation.
• Mathematics!
• The internet of things.
• Drones.
• ……………….
Burst tailings dam. Brazil Jan 2019

22. 22
2019
Plastic Pollution can be controlled.
However globally;
Plastic Use, Recovery and Recycle Technology
needs to be significantly improved
and Incineration of plastics reduced.