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Simon Brown

CMMS aims to tackle plastic waste


University Relations photo Presenters and contributors pose for a photo at the CMMS symposium.

The Center for Materials and Manufacturing Sciences (CMMS) held an Interdisciplinary Academic Symposium this past Thursday. Professors from various institutions from all over the United States attended and presented on topics from their field of study.   


“I am really excited for this symposium,” said Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Zhiyong Wang. “We are here to discuss the biggest challenges that we face as scientists, especially the challenge of recycling plastics.   


“We have the solutions, but the difficulty is making them practical and scaling them up. We wish to explore different fields of study to gain the knowledge to potentially make a dent in solving these problems.”   

Ansley Miller photos


One of the challenges the attendees discussed was how to market their recycling solutions to corporations. Stephanie Baker, director of market development for KW Plastics, led the conversation.


“Our company was founded on this message: if we can't dispose of it, then we can find a way to use it,” Baker said. “The demand for recycling has never been larger than it is now.   


“Some of KW Plastics’ customers are some of the largest brands in the world. We need the research that you create to become products. We need your work to be scalable on a large, commercial level. KW Plastics is eager to see how your research translates to commercially viable products and processes that help us keep plastics sustainable.”


Dr. Selvum Brian Pillay, professor and director of materials processing and applications development from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, spoke about his findings regarding plastic permeation as well as potential solutions.


“Everyone knows there’s a big problem with plastics,” Pillay said. “Our unrecycled plastic gets everywhere -- scientists even found plastic in shrimp found in the depths of the Mariana trench.


“I strongly believe that legislative action needs to be taken to preserve our health and environment. I believe that for every pound of plastic that is produced by a manufacturer, there should be a recycling charge that is attached to it.”


Throughout the day, topics such as development of absorptive membranes for selective water treatment, low-temperature catalytic depolymerization of LLDPE into valuable compounds using H-ZSM-5 catalysts in aqueous media and optimized heparin adsorption using modified resins were also discussed. The symposium concluded in the evening with a dinner held in the CMMS’s lobby.

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