(290c) Convergent Research & Innovation at the NYS Center for Plastics Recycling Research & Innovation

This talk will provide an overview of plastics recycling research being conducted at the NYS Center on Plastics Recycling Research & Innovation at the University at Buffalo. The Center focuses on addressing a range of contemporary issues related to plastics recycling, with the goal of advancing plastics recycling in NY state and beyond. The Center is based on multidisciplinary, convergent research and involves faculty and students from several schools and colleges spanning the disciplines of operations research, environmental engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, economics, physics, data science and communications. Ongoing Tasks include: 1: Mapping the reverse supply for plastics in NYS and deep dive into the structure of the collection, disposal, and recycling industries; 2: Improving the efficiency of businesses involved in collecting and processing plastics; 3: Plastics in NYS agriculture/food and medical industry; 4: Further understand contemporary attitudes toward recycling and current recycling behaviors and to design and test campaigns to increase recycling knowledge and minimize contamination in recycling; 5:Microplastics in Natural Environments; 6: Advanced High-Speed Plastic Sorting Technique by Molecular Contrast Infrared Imaging for advancing plastics recycling; 7: Determining percentage of recycled plastic content in plastic products via transformative new technologies. The talk will provide a summary of results obtained from these projects.

Acknowledgements: The NYS Center on Plastics Recycling Research & Innovation at the University at Buffalo acknowledges funding and support from NYDEC.