Many plastic packaging materials manufactured today are composites made of distinct polymer layers (i.e., multilayer films). Billions of pounds of these multilayer films are produced annually, but manufacturing inefficiencies result in large, corresponding postindustrial waste streams. Although relatively clean (as opposed to municipal wastes) and of near-constant composition, no commercially practiced technologies exist to fully deconstruct postindustrial multilayer film wastes into pure, recyclable polymers. Here, we demonstrate a unique strategy we call solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP) to deconstruct multilayer films into their constituent resins using a series of solvent washes that are guided by thermodynamic calculations of polymer solubility. We show that the STRAP process is able to separate three representative polymers (polyethylene, ethylene vinyl alcohol, and polyethylene terephthalate) from a commercially available multilayer film with nearly 100% material efficiency, affording recyclable resins that are cost-competitive with the corresponding virgin materials.

Abstract:The chemical composition of the ambient air not only affects the health of human beings, but also the health of the planet. This study examined how the decay of waste matter

With the exponential growth of the human population and the focus on "Westernizing" the globe, waste and landfill use has spread. This makes the search for better remediation methods imperative. This paper describes the environmental impact of an active and a retired landfill. Carbon dioxide levels in ambient air and heavy metal concentrations in runoff water were monitored at both landfills and a control site. Data showed a significant difference in carbon dioxide levels among the sites, with the active landfill having the highest concentration and the control site having the lowest. Heavy metal tests revealed higher concentrations of lead and copper at the retired landfill compared to the active landfill and control site. The collected data is not sufficient to make a broad conclusion about remediation effectiveness; therefore, the researchers encourage continued investigation of this topic.

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