Industry Leaders Join Task Force to Make Better Use of Unrecovered Polymers in Liquid Formations
LONDON — Some of the world’s largest companies are uniting to find ways to make a group of key ingredients — worth approximately $125 billion to the global economy — more sustainable and more valuable. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is bringing industry together to plan a strategy to make better use of unrecovered polymers in liquid formulations (PLFs).
Polymers in liquid formulations (PLFs) have a number of practical uses and are found in millions of products from paints, adhesives and sealants to fertilizers, lubricants and cosmetics. They are also used in water treatment, inks production and even household cleaning products such as washing detergent. There are very few ways to recycle PLFs; more than 36.25 million tonnes are not recovered after use every year – enough to fill 14,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools or Wembley Stadium 32 times. Now, the Royal Society of Chemistry is convening an industry task force to plan a way to tackle this poorly known waste stream and drive innovation to tackle the issue, improve waste management and introduce a circular PLF economy. Scott Bader, Crown Paints, Unilever, Croda and Afton Chemical are among the first to join task force and commit to improving the sustainability of PLFs.