Polymer

The spread of microplastics in rivers showed that along a given waterway there are sources as well as sinks. Thus, dams and reservoirs constitute important but until now hardly investigated parts of a water system that serve as examples for risk vs. usefulness of sedimentation of microplastics.

The aim of the project was to develop concepts and preliminary planning for the implementation of an infrastructure for the collection, ship-based treatment, and marketing of plastic waste in order to reduce the input of plastic waste into the environment and marine ecosystems. The project's target regions were primarily less developed countries in the Global South.

As part of the revolPET project, a solvolytic recycling process for waste PET plastics (Polyethylene Terephthalate) from multilayer and other mixed materials was elaborated and experimentally tested.

In view of climate change, environmental pollution, population growth, and resource dependency, the transition from a linear economy to a closed-loop economy is both ecologically and economically necessary. Within the ResolVe project, a logistics and an industrial plant concept for the economic use of polystyrene waste as a raw material for high-quality new plastic products were developed.

The methods currently available for the analysis of microplastics in environmental matrices were primarily designed for particles in the size range of 1 μm to 5 mm. Smaller particles below 1 μm were hardly detected. However in contrast to larger particles, these are able to enter cells and have a higher potential for adsorption of pollutants due to their relatively larger surface.

The common element of all investigations in PLASTRAT was the development of solution strategies for sustainable limitation of the spread of plastic residues in the aquatic environment on technical, environmental, scientific and social-ecological levels. The objective consisted of developing a multi-criteria evaluation approach for the environmental compatibility of different types of plastics.