A Journey from Processing to Recycling of Multilayer Waste Films: A Review of Main Challenges and Prospects

Polymers (Basel). 2022 Jun 8;14(12):2319. doi: 10.3390/polym14122319.

Abstract

In a circular economy context with the dual problems of depletion of natural resources and the environmental impact of a growing volume of wastes, it is of great importance to focus on the recycling process of multilayered plastic films. This review is dedicated first to the general concepts and summary of plastic waste management in general, making emphasis on the multilayer films recycling process. Then, in the second part, the focus is dealing with multilayer films manufacturing process, including the most common materials used for agricultural applications, their processing, and the challenges of their recycling, recyclability, and reuse. Hitherto, some prospects are discussed from eco-design to mechanical or chemical recycling approaches.

Keywords: circular economy; coextrusion; eco-design; multilayers; recycling.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This research was funded through financial support from the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Council (ARC, AURA 2017–2020), the MESRI (Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Innovation) and the French National Research Agency (ANR, grant no. ANR-11-RMNP-0002 and ANR, grant no. ANR-20-CE06-0003). L.J. thanks CSC program for support.